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Egypt jails 17 for life over 2014 unrest

By AFP
February 12, 2018

CAIRO: A Cairo court on Sunday handed 17 people life sentences over unrest that saw the deaths of three civilians, including a journalist and a teenager, during anti-government protests in 2014. The court sentenced 16 others to prison terms ranging from seven to 15 years. Fifteen others were acquitted in the verdicts, announced live on state television. Mayada Ashraf, who worked for privately owned newspaper Al-Dustour, was shot in the head while she was covering clashes in Cairo´s northern Ein Shams neighbourhood on March 28, 2014. A Coptic Christian woman and a 13-year-old boy were also killed in the unrest. They were all killed as clashes broke out between security forces and supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the army the previous year.