CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Wednesday convicted a prominent human rights activist of spreading false news and insulting a police officer, and sentenced her to 18 months in prison, her family and lawyer said.
Sanaa Seif, of Egypt's most well-known family of activists, was arrested in June last year. She was accused by prosecutors of "broadcasting fake news and rumors" about the country's health conditions and the spread of the coronavirus in prisons.
She was also convicted of insulting a police officer on Facebook, her lawyer Hesham Ramada said. He said they would appeal Wednesday's Cairo Criminal Court ruling to a higher court.
Seif, who has been in custody since her arrest, has denied the accusations.
The verdict has stirred outcry by international rights groups, which accuse Egyptian authorities of waging a broad crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands — mainly Islamists, but also others, including several well-known secular activists.
Amna Guellali, Amnesty International's regional deputy director, condemned the court ruling as "another crushing blow for the right to freedom of expression in Egypt."
"Egyptian authorities have yet again demonstrated their unrelenting intent to punish any criticism of their dismal human rights record," Guellali said.
Seif was arrested while she and other family members were at the public prosecutor's office to file a complaint about an attack against them outside Cairo's Tora prison complex a day earlier, her sister Mona Seif, also an activist, said at the time.
