37 Pro-Morsi students sentenced to four years in prison

An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced 37 students from Al-Azhar University to four years in prison over accusations of rioting, committing acts of violence and demonstrating without a license.

A judicial source told Anadolu News Agency that the Misdemeanour Court at the Police Academy sentenced 37 students, who all support the ousted president Mohammed Morsi, to four years in prison and will keep them under surveillance for a period of another four years, in addition to fining each of them 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,250).

According to the same source, the sentenced students include 26 already in detention and 11 who had been released earlier pending the court’s decision.

The ruling is subject to appeal.

This is not the court’s first ruling against students. After Egypt’s elected president was overthrown in a military coup last July, a number of students at Al-Azhar University were given prison sentences by the Egyptian courts. Others were dismissed from the university.

The Egyptian government alleges that the assembly law it issued last November does not preclude the right to demonstrate, but instead organises this right by compelling any group that wants to protest to notify the Interior Ministry of the details beforehand, or else they will face penalties such as jail sentences and fines.

Egyptian and foreign critics say the law restricts the right to assembly.

Source: Assabeel