Egyptian activist sentenced to 18 months for ‘fake news’

Egyptian activist sentenced to 18 months for ‘fake news’

Three other members of her family were briefly detained in March 2020 for protesting over the same issue.

An Egyptian court has sentenced prominent activist Sanaa Seif to a year and a half in prison for 'spreading false news'.

A Cairo criminal court on Wednesday convicted Seif for spreading and broadcasting false news that would cause panic, the false allegation of the spread of the coronavirus in prisons and misusing social media sites. Seif has the right to appeal the ruling within 60 days, judicial sources said.

Seif was detained in June 2019 outside the public prosecutor’s office as she tried to file a complaint about the detention conditions of her brother Alaa Abdel Fattah, one of Egypt’s best-known activists, their family says. She was also among the activists who had campaigned on social media for the release of some prisoners amid fears that coronavirus would spread in prisons.

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Three other members of her family were briefly detained in March 2020 for protesting over the same issue.

Seif's brother Alaa, a leading activist in the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak, was detained in September 2019, six months after his release from a five-year prison term.

Western countries, meanwhile, have called on Egypt to end the prosecution of activists, journalists and perceived political opponents under counter-terrorism laws, and to unconditionally release them.

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