Mahienour al-Massry’s sentence reduced to 6 months

An Alexandria court reduced a two-year sentence handed down to leftist activist Mahienour al-Massry to six months and a LE50,000 fine for protesting last year outside a court trying two policemen accused of killing Khaled Saeed.

Massry was jailed last May after an appeals court affirmed a two-year sentence against her and eight others for breaking the Protest Law.

The activists were protesting in front of the Alexandria Criminal Court in early December during the retrial of police forces accused of killing Khaled Saeed, an iconic figure whose torture and death at the hands of security forces is often seen as a spark for the January 25 revolution.

Arrest warrants were issued to five of the activists based on charges of inciting violence and destroying a police car.

Former presidential candidate Khaled Ali is a member of the defense team and his appeal focused on the unconstitutionality of the Protest Law, under which Massry and many others have been imprisoned.

Ali is appealing the constitutionality of the Protest Law, passed in November by former interim president Adly Mansour, in Egypt’s law courts. The law requires police permission to stage a protest and imposes heavy fines and prison sentences to whoever oppose it.

During Sunday’s court session, the judge ordered that the courtroom be cleared of attendees save for some journalists, lawyers and family members before he announced the verdict.

Since Massry’s detention, she has won the French 2014 Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, given annually to a lawyer for contributions to the defense of human rights. The first award in 1985 was given to South African leader Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment.