An Egyptian court convicted 20 students from an Islamist university in Cairo on charges of rioting during a protest last year in support of former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, and sentenced most of them to five years in prison on Saturday, a judicial official said.
The verdicts came two days ahead of Egypt’s presidential election, which former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is widely expected to win. Al-Sisi led the military when it ousted Morsi in July last year, after days of mass street protests against his rule.
Egypt’s military-backed authorities have cracked down heavily on Morsi’s supporters. The campaign has seen more than 16,000 people jailed and facing trial, including the former president and leading members of his Muslim Brotherhood group.
Hundreds have been killed during violent dispersals of pro-Brotherhood protests, while militant groups have stepped up attacks across Egypt against the police and military.
Authorities have defended the crackdown, accusing the Brotherhood of advocating violence and seeking to destabilize the country, a charge the group denies.
On Friday, three Islamist protesters were killed in clashes with armed local residents during pro-Morsi rallies in Cairo and the oasis town of Fayoum, southwest of the Egyptian capital.
Authorities are expected to deploy an estimated 400,000 policemen and soldiers during the voting today and tomorrow to prevent outbreaks of violence.
Islamist students have been at the forefront of near-daily rallies denouncing Morsi’s ouster. The Al-Azhar University campus in Cairo has seen some of the worst violence when rallies descended into clashes with police. Several students were killed, many were suspended for taking part in the protests and exams were interrupted several times.
In Saturday’s ruling, 19 Al-Azhar students were sentenced to five years in prison each. One defendant got three years while another was acquitted, a judicial official said. The 19 were also fined US$2,860 each for property damages, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
The crackdown has recently expanded to include non-Islamist government critics, who were among the most prominent icons of the country’s 2011 uprising against former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and who also opposed Morsi.
The government has used a protest law passed last year that bans rallies without prior police permission, imposing heavy sentences and fine on violators.
On Saturday, hundreds marched through downtown Cairo chanting against al-Sisi and the military and demanding the protest law be scrapped.
“The country is turning into a big prison,” said Rasha Azab, one of the protesters.
The marchers chanted: “The people want to bring down the regime” — a slogan that first appeared during the revolt against Mubarak.
Angry Cairo residents broke up the march, pelting the protesters with glass bottles. At least three protesters were detained, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
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