The Emergency State Security Criminal Court sentenced 22 people to three to five years in prison in connection to el-Mahalla incidents during the strike on April 6 and 7. The court also acquitted them from the charges of rallying, plundering, damaging and hampering means of transportation. The court acquitted 27 others, while 550 relatives of the accused stage a demonstration in front of the court screaming against what they defined the injustice against their loved ones. The police arrested two demonstrators and closed the streets leading to the court while the accused were being transported amid tight security measures. The accused also shouted against the government and the sentence passed on them. Before the sentence was handed down, the jury read out a statement saying it had been totally independent and free while considering the case. It also praised the prosecution's efforts during the investigations (4,000 pages, 300 accused) and added that the court had acted wisely and fairly. The court said a call to go on strike and protest against rising prices and unsuitable salaries had been used by some social trends and forces, also outside the city, to incite el-Mahalla's local residents to rally and stage that demonstration. The court called on businessmen in Egypt to play their expected patriotic role and affirmed that the accused were a group of people with criminal records and poor education, adding that such people only live for themselves and had no mastermind. The court also said it could not blame the people it had condemned for the material losses which occurred during the incidents.
