Azhar students slam court’s harsh sentencing of fellow students

The Cairo Misdemeanor Court’s decision to sentence 12 Brotherhood-affiliated students to 17 years in prison with fines of LE64,000 each was met with harsh criticism on Thursday.

The Al-Azhar University students were found guilty of rioting after they clashed with police forces in front of the university’s administration building earlier this month.

The lawyer representing the 12 students appealed the verdict on Thursday, reported the privately owned ONA news agency. They were also charged with illegal gathering, thuggery, vandalizing public property, attacking public servants and illegal arms possession.

Earlier in November, thousands of Al-Azhar students — including the 12 now serving time in prison — protested against the institution's support of what they called the military coup that removed Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi from power in July. The students allegedly attempted to storm the university’s administration building in the course of the protest.

Also on Thursday, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the Nasr City prosecutor released three other Azhar students pending investigations, but not without levying an LE5,000 fine on each student for allegedly attacking security forces in a separate incident.

Ahmed al-Bakry, the head of Al-Azhar University Student Union and a leader in the Brotherhood student movement, issued an official statement arguing that “the forces of the coup have lost their minds amid the unprecedented anger of the student movement.”

In a separate statement, the students of the ultra-conservative Salafi Front released a statement supporting their fellow imprisoned students, condemning what they described as an "unjust court verdict.”

"[The verdict] is a continuation of oppression and injustice against the best of the country's students in Al-Azhar University," the statement said, slamming the university administration’s stance on the issue, and laying particular blame on Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb.