Leading anti-Mubarak activist handed 15 years

CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to 15 years in jail on Wednesday for violating a protest law and on other charges, his lawyer said, a move that outraged human rights groups.
Abdel Fattah, 33, became a symbol of the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak through his leading role in the protests and on social media. Twenty four other people were also sentenced to 15 years in jail on similar charges.
The protest law passed last year heightened fears about the future of political freedoms in Egypt. The law, which rights groups say is deeply repressive, gives the Interior Ministry the right to ban any meeting of more than 10 people in a public place.
Abdel Fattah was ordered arrested over accusations he called protests against provisions in a new constitution that allow civilians to be tried in military courts.
He had been out of jail on bail, but he was detained following the judge’s ruling, according to security sources.
His sister Mona Seif wrote on her Facebook page that authorities had stopped the defendants attending the trial, which in this case under Egyptian law meant that they be given the maximum possible sentence and retried if they surrendered themselves.
His father, lawyer Ahmed Seif El-Islam, who was also the head of his legal team, called the proceedings a “trap” to arrest his son and other defendants and to force a re-trial with them in prison instead of free.