The lawyer representing Al Jazeera reporter in Suez Abdel Rahman Shahin said he will appeal the three-year prison sentence handed against his client on Tuesday over charges of inciting violence against security forces and breaking the protest law.
Shahin, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood correspondent who works for the Qatari-based Al Jazeera satellite network, Freedom and Justice newspaper and Masr 25 satellite TV channel, was arrested in April over charges of inciting violence, attacks against police and burning of police vehicles through his posts on social media platforms.
His lawyer, Ashraf Hussein, said in statements Thursday that the appeal is "a legal right provided by the law," noting that "a date for the appeal is yet to be set."
According to national security agency investigations, Shahin was dismissed from Al-Azhar University before January revolution in 2011 over involvement in the university militias lawsuit, which was said to have been led by Brotherhood figure Khairat al-Shater, whose last prison stint was due to allegations that he was forming combat militias after a martial arts exhibition by Brotherhood Al-Azhar students in 2006.
After the revolution, he was allegedly engaged in several attacks against youth outside the Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in Suez. He also incited against citizens and security personnel in Suez after 30 June revolution.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
