"“The conviction against Hassan Mostafa is the latest blow to freedom of expression in Egypt, where we see case after case of opposition activists, bloggers, comedians and protesters facing trial for criticizing the authorities or ‘defaming religion’,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. On 21 January this year, Hassan Mostafa had gone to the Manshiya Prosecution office in Alexandria with a group of lawyers to inquire about the whereabouts of dozens of protesters and passers-by who had been arrested a day earlier. He was arrested later that day inside the adjacent Alexandria Court complex and charged. At his first appeal hearing on 4 May – which an Amnesty International delegate attended – defence witnesses testified that, while a verbal altercation did occur inside the Manshiya Prosecution office between the two, Mostafa did not slap or otherwise physically assault the public prosecutor. At the next appeal hearing on 18 May, two prosecution witnesses also said Mostafa did not slap the public prosecutor. Only one prosecution witness claimed to have seen the activist slapping the public prosecutor on the right cheek. However, the medical report presented by the prosecution alleged the redness was on the plaintiff’s left cheek. This was not the first time Mostafa faced detention in relation to his activism. In April 2010, he was detained during a protest demanding the end of emergency laws, which the then-President Hosni Mubarak had kept in place for decades. “We fear that Hassan Mostafa was falsely charged with assaulting the prosecutor to punish him for his activism,” said Hadj Sahraoui. “The conviction should be quashed and he should be released.”" amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-activist-faces-jail-sentence-bogus-charges-2013-06-17
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:00:53 +0000
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