3 arrested outside Alexandria courthouse after Mahienour al-Massry, Moatasem Medhat verdict acquitted

An emergency state security misdemeanor court acquitted three people on Tuesday who were arrested while waiting to hear the verdicts issued against activists Mahienour al-Massry and Moatasem Medhat in December, according to lawyer Hamdy Khalaf.

The court acquitted the defendants, Mohamed al-Hadidi, Mostafa Tawfik and Haitham Abdel Qader, during the trial’s second session of charges of protesting without a permit, illegal assembly, thuggery and assault of a public employee, Khalaf told Mada Masr.

They were among dozens who gathered outside an Alexandria courthouse on December 30 to meet Massry and Medhat as they were being led outside the courtroom, after an Alexandria misdemeanor court sentenced them to two years in prison on protest-related charges.

Police arrested Hadidi, Tawfiq and Abdul Qader while dispersing the crowd.

The arresting officer, from the Mansheya Police Station, testified in court on Tuesday that the defendants created a “commotion” and assaulted police personnel. This was refuted by the defense team, which argued that none of the police personnel present show signs of injured and asserted that there is no evidence of the charges against the three.

The charges leveled against Massry and Medhat were related to a protest that took place on June 14 in Alexandria against the ratification of the Tiran and Sanafir maritime border agreement in which Egypt ceded sovereignty of the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.