Cairo: An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release on bail of Ala’a Abdul Fattah, a prominent activist of the 2011 revolt against former president Hosni Mubarak, a defence lawyer said.
Abdul Fattah was being retried after he was sentenced to 15 years in jail in an earlier trial on charges of assaulting a policeman during an illegal protest.
“The court ordered the release on bail of Ala’a Abdul Fattah and two other detainees,” defence lawyer Mohammad Abdul Aziz said.
“The court also recused itself because of the defendants’ lack of respect for it,” he said.
Abdul Aziz said the court has “demanded an investigation into the prosecutor’s use of personal videos belonging to Abdul Fattah which violated the accused’s privacy”.
At a previous hearing of the retrial, the prosecutor showed personal videos of the activist which had no connection to the case, Abdul Aziz said.
Abdul Fattah and 24 others were sentenced in absentia to 15 years in jail on June 11 in an earlier trial presided over by the same judges who delivered Monday’s verdict.
On June 11, Abdul Fattah and two co-defendants were waiting outside the court and were denied entry when the verdict was announced. They were arrested immediately afterwards.
More than 15,000 people have been jailed following Mursi’s ouster.
The crackdown was initially restricted to pro-Mursi Islamists but was later expanded to target some youth movements which spearheaded the anti-Mubarak revolt. Dozens of activists from these groups have been sent to prison.
