Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah gets five years in jail

An Egyptian court sentenced an icon of the 2011 uprising to five years in prison yesterday, in the latest sign of authorities’ determination to stifle dissent in spite of promises by the president to release “wrongly jailed youths”.

The verdict in the retrial of well-known activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah reduced a 15-year prison sentence for organising an unauthorised protest and allegedly assaulting a police officer. The ruling was condemned by defence lawyers and supporters, who said he should have been set free.

The retrial began in October and involved 25 defendants, five of whom are fugitives. Beside Abdel-Fattah, only one other defendant, Ahmed Adel-Rahman, received a five-year prison sentence. The rest were sentenced to three years.