Jury Ludovic Trarieux Prize deplores sentencing of Mahienour El-Massry
Egypt
The Ludovic Trarieux Award Jury deplores the sentencing of Mahienour El-Massry, Human Rights Lawyer and 2014 Ludovic Trarieux Prize recipient. In a statement, the jury urges the Egyptian authorities to reconsider the convictions and sentences imposed on El-Massry and her colleagues.
On 31 May 2015 the Court of Appeal in Raml sentenced Mahienour El-Massry, along with nine activists, to one year and three months imprisonment on charges of, amongst others, “assaulting security forces”. She had been in preventive detention since the first appeal hearing on 11 May 2015.
In February 2015 El-Massry was sentenced to two years imprisonment on charges of “assaulting security forces” after, in March 2013, she and other lawyers went to Raml police station to provide legal assistance to three activists who were arrested and sent to the police by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood (the “Raml police station” case). The lawyers were attacked by the police in the police station, and Ms. El-Massry was detained briefly before the Prosecution decided to release her and the others. Ms. Mahienour El-Massry was not detained after the issuance of the verdict, as she paid bail (approximately EUR 580) pending appeal.