3 days after activist Amal Fathy is released from detention, court upholds 2-year sentence in separate case

Three days after Amal Fathy was released from detention in Case 621/2018, a Cairo appeals court upheld a two-year sentence against the activist in a separate case.

On Sunday, the Maadi Misdemeanor Appeals Court upheld a two-year sentence and a LE10,000 fine against Fathy in Case 7991/2018 over a controversial video the activist posted in May, according to her lawyer Doaa Mostafa.

Fathy was handed a two-year prison sentence in the case in September, which comprised a one-year prison sentence for calling for the overthrow of the regime, and another one-year prison sentence, as well a LE10,000 fine, for spreading false news with the intent to harm national security. Fathy appealed the sentence, which the court rejected on Sunday, upholding the initial sentence issued against her.

Fathy was arrested on May 11, along with her husband — head of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms Mohamed Lotfy — and their three-year-old son. Both her son and husband were later released, while she remained in custody over a video she had published on social media.

The video in question was posted on Fathy’s personal Facebook account on May 9. In it, she criticized the crackdown on Egypt’s political opposition, discussed socioeconomic issues and recounted a recent incident of sexual harassment.

Fathy is party to another case (Case 621/2018), which she was added to on May 13, two days after she was arrested and questioned in relation to the controversial video.

Fathy has been held in remand detention as part of the two cases until she was ordered a conditional release on December 18 in Case 621/2018. She was released on Thursday.

In Case 621/2018, which involves other activists, bloggers and lawyers, including satirical blogger Shady Abu Zeid, blogger Mohamed Oxygen, activist Shady al-Ghazaly Harb and April 6 Youth Movement member Sherif al-Rouby, Fathy faces charges of joining a terrorist organization, spreading false news and misusing the internet.