Activists acquitted of incitement charges in Brotherhood HQ attack

Twelve activists, including Alaa Abd El Fattah, Nawara Negm and Ahmed Douma, were acquitted by the Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday of inciting violence outside the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Moqattam in March.

On his Facebook page, Abd El Fattah wrote that he is no longer banned from travel, adding that the case was “sloppily fabricated by a prosecutor general who lost his office, a position he got through manipulating a constitution now suspended, by a president now deposed.”

The “Friday of Reclaiming Dignity” on March 22 this year saw clashes between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and opponents, leaving hundreds injured.

The Muslim Brotherhood headquarters, which has frequently been a site of clashes over the past year, was ransacked and set on fire by protesters on June 30, “months after the false accusations,” Abdel Fattah wrote.

Douma, an activist with the Popular Current Party, was granted release without bail on Saturday after serving two months of a six-month sentence on charges of inciting violence against the Muslim Brotherhood by calling on anti-regime protesters to storm its Moqattam headquarters.

Meanwhile, charges against human rights lawyer Hassan Mostafa, accused of assaulting a prosecutor in Alexandria, have been dropped, according to his lawyer Amr Imam.

Mostafa had been handed an initial sentence of two years in jail, which was later reduced to one year. On Sunday, Imam said Mostafa is being released after the prosecutor he allegedly insulted dropped the charges against.

Mostafa was accused of slapping the prosecutor after filing a complaint about police torture of peaceful protesters in fierce clashes that took place months ago in Alexandria.