Egypt activist sentenced to five years

Alaa Abdel Fattah, who also allegedly assaulted a police officer, was previously sentenced, along with 24 other defendants, to 15 years in jail.

At the retrial on Monday, however, 21 of Fattah's fellow protesters were each handed down prison sentences of three years and fine of 11,449 euros ($13,000). The remaining three were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after failing to appear in court.

The convicted protesters were arrested in November 2014 after demonstrating outside parliament against a law banning all unauthorized demonstrations, which had been passed two days earlier.

Following Monday's verdict, whilst the defendants mocked the court with a round of applause, relatives and supporters of the leading secular dissident chanted "down with military rule!"

The case was among the most prominent in a series of trials of secular dissidents who have been jailed along with thousands of Islamists since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Fattah was a leading secular figure in the revolt against veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak in January 2011. After 18 days of thousands of protesters taking to Egypt's streets, Mubarak finally stepped down.

ksb/rc (Reuters, AFP)