Egypt court upholds sentence against activist

Egypt’s highest appeals court on Saturday upheld a 15-year-sentence against one of the leading activists behind the country’s 2011 uprising, for his conviction of taking part of clashes between protesters and security forces later that year.

The Court of Cassation also confirmed a fine of $372,000, against Ahmed Douma, a secular activist over the same violence-related charges.

Douma was one of 230 people sentenced in 2015 by the Cairo Criminal Court to life in prison.

All defendants were tried in absentia except Douma who was serving a three-year-sentence for breaking a draconian law regulating protests.

The case concerns clashes in Cairo in December 2011, during which a fire gutted parts of a library housing rare manuscripts and books.

Other government buildings, including the parliament, were damaged during the protests.

The nearly week long clashes that left some 40 people dead erupted after young activists took to the streets to protest the post-Mubarak political transition overseen by the military.

The clashes caught world attention when riot police were filmed beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square.