An Egyptian appeals court on Monday upheld the jailing of three leading figures of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising, tightening a crackdown on secular activists opposed to the army-backed government, according to the Associated Press.
The European Union and the United States had urged Egypt to reconsider the verdict but the court handed out three-year sentences to the three liberal activists, Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel, last December for protesting without permission and assaulting the police, according to the AP.
The jailing of the three activists are being seen by critics as an attempt to stifle the kind of street activism common since the uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak three years ago as Egypt prepares for presidential elections next month, the AP reported.
The verdict was the first under a new law that requires police permission for demonstrations, according to the AP. The case stemmed from protests called in defiance of the law.
The three men appeared in court on Monday inside a metal cage wearing blue prison suits and chanting: "Down down with the army rule, our country will always be free," the AP reported.
The three men have one final chance to appeal before a higher court but analysts see little hope of the verdict to be overturned, according to the AP.
Already pressing a crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed president Mohamed Mursi, the army-led authorities have arrested a number of secular activists in recent months for breaches of the new protest law, the AP reported.
Security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood members and arrested thousands of others, including Mursi and many other top leaders who are also on trial, according to the AP.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the general who toppled Mursi last July following mass protests against his rule, is expected to easily win next month's presidential election, the AP reported.
European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian officials, the state news agency said, according to the AP.
