Twelve prominent Egyptian dissidents were given one-year suspended jail terms on January 5 in a case brought over an attack on the campaign headquarters of defeated presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik during the 2012 election. The activists include siblings Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mona Seif, leading figures in the protest movement that triggered the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak but is now facing a widening crackdown by the army-backed authorities.
The Cairo court convicted them of “displaying force” and setting fire to the building during the attack, charges they had denied. “The ruling was political,” Mona Seif reportedly told Reuters TV after the verdict was announced. She said there was no evidence or witnesses to back up the ruling against the dozen defendants.