An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading dissident in the 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak, to five years in prison over an illegal protest. The remaining 24 defendants in the case received sentences ranging from three to 15 years. The defendants in the caged dock mockingly applauded when the judge…

Cairo (dpa) – Their faces pale with grief, wearing white prison uniforms, Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his sister Sanaa Seif were pictured by the press in a Cairo cemetery late last year. They had been let out of jail for a day to bury their father, veteran rights activist Ahmed Seif al-Islam. Abdel-Fattah was facing trial for…