Cairo: 20 January 2020

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has welcomed the decision issued by the Court of Cassation to accept the appeal No. 15776 of the judicial year 89, submitted by lawyers of Bilal Khalil Fathi, Muhamed Nasser Ibrahim and others challenging the prison sentence issued against their clients pending Case No. 291 of 2014 Abdeen Misdemeanor (registered under No. 12069 of 2014 and No. 1561 of 2014 Central Cairo), which is known in the media as “The Oppressed of the Downtown”. The court ordered a retrial for the defendants with the release of all of them and set the hearing of 3 February 2020 to consider the case before the Court of Cassation.

On 26 March 2019, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the plaintiffs along with 126 other defendants to prison terms ranging from one to three years, while placing them under police surveillance for a year, on charges of taking part in a gathering, possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, and display of force. The court, on the other hand, acquitted the defendants of the charges of murder and attempted murder.

It is noteworthy that on 26 February 2017, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the plaintiffs in absentia to 10 years in high-security prison, while placing them under police surveillance for one year, before they appealed against the ruling, and accordingly the court ordered the defendants’ retrial procedures to be carried out.

The case dates back to 25 January 2014, when 227 citizens- including women- were arrested from the vicinity of the Journalists Syndicate and Downtown Cairo, in conjunction with the third anniversary of the January Revolution. They were then referred to the Public Prosecution for investigation pending the above-mentioned case and then they were brought to a criminal trial.

ANHRI demands from the Public Prosecution an immediate implementation of the court’s decision by releasing all those detained pending the case.