Egypt sentences researcher to 3 years in prison for 'spreading false news': rights groups

An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced researcher Ahmed Samir to three years in prison for "spreading false news", according to rights groups.

Samir, who was a postgraduate student at the Central European University in Vienna, was arrested in February 2021 while on a family visit to Egypt.

The researcher had his sentence commuted in a retrial after he had been sentenced to four years in prison in June 2021 for "spreading false news on social media" - an accusation frequently levelled at dissidents in Egypt.

🇪🇬Today is the retrial of Ahmed Samir Santawy. #Egypt has promised that the state of emergency has been lifted, but continues to use "exceptional measures".

Ahmed, an academic and @CEU student is a #PrisonerOfConscience

📢Egypt, simply #FreeAhmedSamir@AlsisiOfficial pic.twitter.com/fEZh9oCieq

— Mounir Satouri 🌍 (@MounirSatouri) July 4, 2022

Egyptian rights group the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression reported the three-year sentence in a Facebook statement on Monday, condemning it as "unjust".

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies meanwhile called "on the president to rescind" the sentence.

Annemarie Schlack, the executive director of Amnesty International in Austria, said the case was "just one example of the Egyptian government's abuses".

Egypt has faced frequent criticism over its human rights record, with rights groups saying there are currently about 60,000 political prisoners in custody, many facing brutal conditions and overcrowded cells.

The case of one such prisoner, prominent British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah, was raised Monday at a London meeting between Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Lord Tariq Ahmad, Britain's Minister of State for the Commonwealth and United Nations, the UK minister tweeted.

Authorities are launching this week a "national dialogue", bringing together political parties and opposition factions at the behest of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

But despite recent presidential pardons and the release of several high-profile political prisoners, the initiative has been met with scepticism.

Samir was sentenced "for a Facebook post", historian Khaled Fahmy tweeted.

"I hope those who are enthusiastic about the national dialogue wake up and realise the limits the regime has set for the dialogue: We speak, you shut up."