Egyptian court rejects Douma's request to suspend life sentence
El-Sayed Gamal El-Din, , Saturday 7 May 2016
The activist-who was given a life in prison sentence in February 2015-has asked to suspend the verdict until Egypt's Court of Cassation issues a decision on his appeal

Egypt's court of cassation rejected Saturday a request from jailed activist Ahmed Douma to suspend his life in prison sentence over charges of involvement in the December 2011 cabinet clashes case.

The rejection of Douma's request means that he will continue to serve his sentence until the cassation court looks into the appeal of the initial verdict presented by his defense.

The court did not specify the date on which it will issue its verdict on Douma's life sentence appeal.

According to the Egyptian penal code, a life in prison verdict carries a sentence of 25 years in jail.

Douma has been a long-time rights activist who protested against the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak, the military council in 2011-2012, as well as ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. He is already serving time in prison.

The activist was among 229 others named in the case who were sentenced to life in prison. Some 39 minors were also sentenced to ten years in prison.


Meanwhile, Douma is serving time for two different verdicts in different cases. He is serving three years in prison on charges of holding an unauthorised protest, and six-months for assaulting a police officer.