Egyptian military court jails five Gazan fishermen for one year

An Egyptian military court on Wednesday sentenced five Palestinian fishermen, kidnapped by the Egyptian navy while fishing in the Palestinian-Egyptian maritime borders, to one year in jail.

The five Gazan fishermen identified as the two brothers Ismail and Khaled Basalah, Maher Mazen, Mahmoud Nahed and Khaled Shalouf.

Dean of the Palestinian fishermen Nizar Ayyash told Quds Press that the families of the detainees hired a lawyer to defend them, but they were surprised when they attended the trial that the judge was biased against their relatives and condemned them with no evidence.

In addition to the one-year imprisonment sentence, each of the fishermen was ordered to pay a penalty of 500 Egyptian pounds, Ayyash added.

Ayyash pointed out that the new military regime in Egypt banned fishing in its border waters after it had been previously permissible because of the Israeli restrictions on the Palestinian fishermen.

He considered this court verdict a grave shift and reversal in the Egyptian policy towards the Palestinians.

“The verdict was unjust and unexpected from Arab and Muslim brothers,” he stated.