Egypt court jails 26 for alleged 'acts of violence'

CAIRO (AA) - An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 28 people to prison terms of varying length for alleged “acts of violence” committed in 2017 and 2018.

According to local news outlets, Giza’s criminal court sentenced five people to 15 years in jail, while another 21 people received five years behind bars.

Many of the defendants, about whom little else is known, were reportedly tried in absentia.

The sentences can still be appealed before Egypt’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appellate court.

Rights groups frequently criticize Egypt’s practice of trying political opponents on trumped-up criminal charges.

The Egyptian authorities, for their part, insist that all defendants enjoy fair trials and due legal process.

Egypt has been roiled by violence since 2013, when Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader, was ousted and imprisoned in a bloody military coup.