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CAIRO – An Egyptian court sentenced an activist to two years in prison for posting a video criticizing the government for failing to protect women from sexual harassment.
Amnesty International has described the verdict against activist Amal Fathy as a "scandalous affair of injustice".
Ms. Fathy, a member of the now-banned youth movement of April 6 that played a role in the 2011 protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down, also faced a $ 562 fine, said one of his lawyers, Tarek Abuel Nasr, and the state press agency. MENA.
According to the Associated Press, the court issued a suspended sentence on Saturday, claiming that because Ms. Fathy was incarcerated for other reasons – including membership in the illegal group – and accused of having disseminated false information threatening national security – she was not allowed to walk freely.
Doaa Mustafa, one of Ms. Fathy's lawyers, told AP that she was being held in a detention cell and that she was not in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
"I went to see her after the verdict," said the lawyer. "She was sitting on the other end of the cell, crying and screaming. She was shaking and did not want anyone to come near her.
After the verdict, Ms. Fathy's husband, Mohamed Lotfy, human rights activist and executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, said, "This is unjustified and incomprehensible injustice. We provided all the evidence to prove that she did not spread false news. "
"When a woman suffers sexual harassment and is sentenced to two years and a fine, it means that we say to all Egyptian women:" Shut your mouth, "he said.
Government officials were not immediately available to comment.
Ms. Fathy will appeal the decision, her lawyers said.
The activist was arrested in May, a few days after posting a 12-minute video in which she expressed her anger at the poor public services of a local bank, the intense traffic, the sexual harassment of a driver taxi and the general deterioration of living conditions.
Her husband and son, Ziad, who turned 3 last month, were also arrested, but both were released several hours later.
In a statement, Amnesty International said that Ms. Fathy was "a human rights defender and survivor of sexual harassment, who told her the truth and highlighted the vital issue of women's security in Egypt". and should not be punished for his bravery.
Ms. Fathy is the last target of the campaign of Egyptian authorities against activists who oppose the government. Since leading the overthrow by the army in 2013 of the elected but divisive president – Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood – President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has led the crackdown on dissent.
The government has imprisoned thousands of Islamists, as well as secular advocates of democracy; imposed strict control of the news media; and the freed freedoms won during a popular uprising of 2011. In July, Egypt passed a law giving the state the power to block social media accounts and penalize journalists required to publish fake information.
On Friday, 17 UN human rights experts criticized Egypt for using anti-terrorism laws to detain women activists fighting for women's rights and against corruption, torture and extrajudicial executions.
