The appeal of 32 Al-Azhar University students was accepted Monday, commuting their four-year prison terms to one year in jail, which they have already served,Youm7 reported.
The students were also fined 30,000 EGP ($3,930) each. They were arrested in December 2013 on charges of forcibly preventing fellow students from attending exams and violent protesting.
Egyptian law allows detention pending investigations for up to two years, but the time spent in remand is deducted from subsequent prison terms.
The academic year of 2013/2014 witnessed wide-scale violence in Egyptian universities, especially the universities of Al-Azhar, Cairo and Ain Shams, all are based in Greater Cairo. The students’ protests followed the dispersal of Rabaa al-Adaweya sit-in in August 2013, which demanded the reinstatement of President Mohamed Morsi.
