7 detainees sentenced to 8 years in prison for Red Sea island transfer protests

A court sentenced seven detainees to eight years in prison and a LE500 fine on Saturday for protesting in Kerdasa without a permit against the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia. 

The defendants were also convicted of spreading false news and plotting a terrorist act based on their online activity, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

They were arrested from their homes on April 27, two days after nationwide protests against the transfer of the sovereignty of the Red Sea islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

Sources at the Freedom for the Brave campaign told Mada Masr the group was not aware of this particular case.

Lawyer Yasmine Hossam al-Din claimed the defendants were abducted from their homes and families without being permitted to notify lawyers, who have been trying to contact them.

Presiding judge Ahmed Abdel Meguid also sentenced 101 protesters, including 51 in absentia, to five years in prison and a LE100,000 fine in May for protesting against the island transfer on April 25.

The appeals court later reduced the verdict to LE100,000 fine and the detainees were released after a popular campaign to raise money for their fines, except for Syrian refugee Hesham Zoheir, who is currently facing deportation.

In another case, 51 protesters were sentenced to two years in prison in May (18 of them in absentia), for protesting in downtown Cairo on April 25. The appeals court reversed the verdict last week and acquitted all the defendants.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has come under fire for agreeing to transfer the two Red Sea islands, which have been controlled by Egypt for over 60 years, to Saudi Arabia. 

The agreement is still to be voted on in parliament and has been largely unpopular among the Egyptian populace, prompting the largest nationwide protests in years, which, though initially focussed on the island deal, were also used to decry the detention of political prisoners, among other issues.