Two Egyptian courts convicted dozens of anti-coup Egyptians on Wednesday, including nine minors, handing out sentences that range anywhere between one and 25 years.
A judicial source, speaking to Anadolu news agency on condition of anonymity, said that the Assiut Criminal Court in southern Egypt convicted eight people of charges related to terrorism, sentencing them each to one year in prison, as well as 25 others, who were sentenced to three years.
The same court reportedly convicted seven minors to one year in prison on unrelated charges, while acquitting seven others.
Those sentenced were reportedly convicted of "gathering in commemoration of the 25 January revolution and joining the Muslim Brotherhood, which aims at hindering the workings of the constitution and the state as well as uses violence against the authorities."
Meanwhile, another judicial source told Anadolu that the terror department at Al-Zaqaziq Criminal Court, in the Nile Delta, convicted nine Egyptians on charges related to inciting violence.
According to the source, the court convicted 25 people in absentia, sentencing them to 25 years. Three others, who attended the hearing, were found guilty and sentenced to ten years.
All those convicted were charged with inciting violence, joining a banned group (the Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned last year by the post-coup military regime) and involvement in violent incidents, including activities during and after the Rabaa protests.
On 14 August 2013, the Egyptian coup authorities violently dispersed two anti-coup protests in the Rabaa Al-Adawiyah and Al-Nahda Squares in Cairo, killing more than a thousand and arresting around 8,000. Some statistics suggest that the current number of prisoners in Egypt exceeds 40,000
