Egyptian activist Mahinour El-Masry sentenced to 15 months in prison
An Alexandria court has sentenced Egyptian activist and human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Masry and two others to one year and three months in prison over “storming” a police station in 2013 during the reign of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Ten defendants were originally handed a two-year prison term before the sentence for three of them was reduced on appeal on Sunday. They were accused of storming the Al-Raml police station in Alexandria and attacking its officers, as well as torching Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in March 2013.
El-Masry, Journalist Youssef Shaaban and poet and activist Loay El-Ahwagy, who is already in jail in another case, were present for the appeal.
Egyptian activist Mahinour El-Masry (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Seven other defendants, who are part of the lawsuit, received the original sentence in absentia and did not show up after and hence their sentence was not appealed.
Both Shaaban and El-Masry were arrested on 11 May during an appeal session to the case. This is not the first case in which El-Masry has received a prison sentence.
The human rights lawyer and revolutionary socialist activist was released from jail in September 2014, after having served four months of a six-month sentence in a different case for charges of "illegal protesting" during the Khaled Said murder retrial in December 2013.
During her four months in jail, before the sentence was suspended, El-Masry was awarded the 2014 Ludovic Trarieux Award for her contributions to the defence of human rights.
Related News
- Saudi Arabia: release of women's rights advocates
- Hijab-less Iranian women arrested while protesting compulsory cover-up
- British-Iranian prisoner of conscience Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces fresh criminal proceedings
- A Statement from Homa's Family, in Light of New Details on Her Arrest
- WE MUST PRESSURE IRAN TO RELEASE CANADIAN ACADEMIC HOMA HOODFAR
Related Actions
- ACTION ALERT: Dr. Homa Hoodfar
- SUDAN: URGENT ACTION - WOMEN RISK FLOGGING FOR ‘INDECENT’ CLOTHING
- Please acquit and release Asia Bibi
- KURDISH WOMAN LOSING SIGHT IN IRANIAN PRISON
- URGENT ACTION NEEDED: INNOCENT SUDANESE MOTHER WILL FACE PUBLIC FLOGGING AND EXECUTION, SIHA CONDEMNS TODAY'S RULING IN HAJ YOUSIF COURT IN KHARTOUM
Relevant Resources
- The Relationship between Feminism and State Policies for the Elimination of Violence against Women: The National Strategy for the Elimination of Violence against Women as an Example
- Sudan: Beyond Trousers
- Reclaiming the Streets for Women’s Dignity: Effective Initiatives in the Struggle against Gender-Based Violence in between Egypt’s Two Revolutions
- The Politics of Mobilising for Gender Justice in Egypt from Mubarak to Morsi and Beyond
- No One is Safe: Abuses of Women in Iraq's Criminal Justice System