Alexandria Misdemeanour Court postponed on Monday the trial of prominent activist and lawyer Mahienour El-Massry to 13 October to summon witnesses for the defence and prosecution. El-Massry, alongside 12 other activists and lawyers, is accused of breaking into El-Raml police station in March 2013. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the sentencing of El-Massry to six months of prison for another case on Sunday, calling the ruling "unjust". ANHRI also said that the ruling is part of a series of targeting human rights activists through issuing oppressive laws such as the Protest Law and the obstinacy in using them. "This is a clear violation of freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to peaceful protest which is guaranteed in all international charters and conventions," said ANHRI in a Sunday statement. The Alexandria Court of Appeals had accepted El-Massry's appeal, reducing her prison sentence from two years to six months while upholding her EGP 50,000 fine after the Mansheya Misdemeanour Court had upheld on 20 May a ruling sentencing El-Massry to two years in prison and the fine. El-Massry was arrested for taking part in a protest in solidarity with torture victim Khaled Said on 2 December 2013. The protest was scheduled to take place during the trial of two former police officers charged with torturing and killing Said. ANHRI called upon the Egyptian government to immediately release El-Massry and all activists arrested based on freedom of opinion and expression cases and on the Protest Law, as well as dropping all charges against them. ANHRI stressed its demand that the Protest Law be canceled the right to peaceful protest be respected.
