Egypt activist jailed for ‘contempt’ of court

An Egyptian court has sentenced a prominent activist to three years in prison “for contempt” of the court after the defendant said his trial has become political.

The court issued the sentence against Ahmed Douma, 29, on Tuesday after he told the judges “to rescue themselves from the case because they have transformed it from a criminal one to a political one,” his lawyer Sameh Samir said in an interview.

Douma is already serving another three-year term for participating in a protest without permit.

Samir said Douma’s defense team stopped representing him after the presiding judge, Mohamed Nagi Shehata, ordered the lawyers to be put under investigation.

“Five members of the defense team were referred to the prosecution for insulting the judiciary in some previous sessions,” Samir added.

Judge Shehata has presided over several trials targeting the supporters of ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, which have ended in heavy sentences against the defendants.

On December 2, the judge sentenced 188 individuals to death for a deadly attack on security forces in a village near Cairo on August 14, 2013, when a police raid against pro-Morsi sit-ins left hundreds dead.

Shehata also raised international outrange after he condemned three al-Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison.

The heavy sentences against Egyptian activists have raised concerns about the North African country’s setback under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the repressive era of former dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

The government of president Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with security forces since the ouster of Morsi in a military coup in July 2013.

On November 28, a court dismissed charges against Mubarak in connection with the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his decades-long rule.

It also acquitted Mubarak of a corruption charge. However, the toppled president will remain in prison as he is serving a three-year sentence at a military hospital for a separate graft case.

Seven of Mubarak’s commanders were also acquitted in relation to the deaths of some of the roughly 800 demonstrators killed during the uprising.