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New trial opens for leading figure of Egypt 2011 revolt
[IsraelTimes] A leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 revolution, blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah, appears in court along with two other co-defendants at the start of a new trial, his defense team says.

Abdel-Fattah, his lawyer Mohammed al-Baqer and another blogger, Mohammed Ibrahim, face charges of "broadcasting false news" in their trial before the State Security Misdemeanours Court in Cairo.

Rulings in the exceptional courts are final and cannot be appealed.

The next hearing in the case was set for November 1, their lawyer Khaled Ali tells AFP.

Abdel-Fattah, a computer programmer and prominent figure in the uprising that toppled former autocrat Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, has been in pre-trial detention since September 2019.

He was arrested in the wake of rare, nighttime protests prompted by an exiled construction contractor calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi on claims of corruption.

His lawyer Baqer and Ibrahim, also known as "Oxygen," were also detained in a massive crackdown.

Abdel-Fattah has spent most of the past decade in jail.
Mr. Abdel-Fattah was arrested in September 2019, six months after he was released after serving a five-year sentence for protesting without a permit in violation of a 2013 law. In Egypt prison is a lifestyle concept.
Another Times of Israel article adds:
Rights groups say there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt facing brutal unhygienic conditions and overcrowded cells.

In a 2019 interview with 60 Minutes on CBS, Sissi said there were no political prisoners in Egypt.

The former army chief became president in 2014 after leading the military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi a year earlier.

He has since overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent.

Those jailed for criticizing the political status quo have included academics, journalists, lawyers, activists, comedians, Islamists, presidential candidates, and MPs.
Posted by: trailing wife 2021-10-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=615424