CAIRO – An Egyptian court has convicted 23 activists, including prominent rights campaigners, of staging an illegal demonstration and sentenced them each to three years in jail.
The Cairo court also fined the defendants 10,000 pounds (about $1,400) each.
The case is rooted in a peaceful demonstration the defendants had allegedly participated in last summer near the presidential palace in Cairo’s Heliopolis suburb. The demonstration was called to protest a law adopted late last year severely restricting the right to stage street protests.
The conviction of the 23 is the latest in a government crackdown against liberal pro-democracy activists, many of whom were iconic figures of the popular uprising that forced longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak to step down in February 2011. The crackdown has also killed hundreds of Islamists and jailed thousands.
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