CAIRO: An activist convicted of assaulting police officers during a demonstration in May has still not been released despite the fact that his prison term ended on Sept. 28, 2010. Ahmed Abu Douma was sentenced to six months imprisonment in May, reduced to three months on appeal at the end of July. He was found guilty of attacking the police officers during a demonstration in downtown Cairo on May 3, 2010, during which riot police charged protestors when the latter attempted to force their way through the police barricade in order to march to parliament. According to the Masrawy website, Abu Douma has filed legal charges against Interior Ministry Habib El-Adly and two police officers he accuses of filing a false complaint against him. The trial will begin on Nov. 7, 2010. On Saturday youth activists demonstrated outside the public prosecutor's office and a court in Abdeen, Cairo, in protest at the delay in releasing Abu Douma. The Masrawy website reported Saturday that the activists broke up the protest after being informed that public prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud has ordered that Abu Douma be released. Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, said that the release order “reviewed by State Security”. Rights groups are frequently critical of state security investigations' use of detention orders against individuals whose release has been ordered by the judiciary.
