An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh to 15 years in prison on Sunday for “spreading false news” and “incitement against state institutions,” according to judicial sources.
Aboul-Foutouh, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood and the leader of the opposition Misr al-Qawia and 25 others were sentenced on Sunday.
Former Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat, who is already serving multiple life sentences on other charges, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Misr al-Qawia deputy head Mohammed Qassas was sentenced to ten years.
Aboul-Fotouh, 71, was arrested in 2018 after participating in a boycott of that year’s presidential election, which was easily won by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Since being charged with spreading false news with the intent to harm national interests, he has been held in pre-trial detention.
The State Security Prosecution decided to release him in June 2021, dropping some of the charges he had faced since his arrest, but his detention was extended after the prosecution filed new charges against him pending another case.
While Egyptian law stipulates a two-year maximum period of pre-trial detention, it is common practice in Egypt to file new charges against political detainees after the two-year period has expired, a practice described by rights groups as “recycling of existing cases” in order to allow indefinite detention.
Mohamed Morsi, a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, was deposed by Sisi, the country’s first democratically elected president. Morsi is one of several Muslim Brotherhood leaders who have died in custody in recent years.
Sisi deposed the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader. Several Brotherhood leaders, including Morsi, have died in custody in recent years.
Among the charges leveled against the defendants are “joining a terrorist organization” and “attempting to overthrow the regime.”
According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, more than half of all Egyptian prisoners are political.
https://www.tvcnews.tv/2022/05/nepalese-plane-with-22-on-board-goes-missing/In March 2021, the country had 120,000 prisoners, at least 26,000 of whom were held in pre-trial detention.
