On October 6, 2013, Abdelrahman Mohamed Mostafa El Gendy was sitting in the family car, with his father, when they were both arrested by two men in civilian clothes without a warrant. That day, El Gendy and his father had driven to take photographs of the demonstrations, however, it is believed that they were considered by the authorities to be affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and therefore involved in the demonstrations, because El Gendy’s father had a beard.
25 hours after his arrest, El Gendy was brought before the prosecution and formally charged with multiple offences including “murder”, “illegal gathering” and “belonging to a banned group.” Despite being only 17 years old, El Gendy was detained with adults and subjected to humiliating maltreatment during his pre-trial detention. On April 17, 2014, a mass trial began whereby El Gendy and 67 other defendants were tried indiscriminately, with no attempt by the prosecution to establish individual culpability. During the trial, El Gendy’s lawyer asserted that he was a minor at the time of the alleged offences. However, El Gendy and 62 other defendants were still convicted as adults and were each sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of probation and a fine of 20 thousand Egyptian pounds.
Within 60 days of the judgement, an appeal was filed before the Court of Cassation, however, because El Gendy’s birth certificate had not been included in the appeal documents, his sentence was still confirmed. Despite the court’s obligation to ensure that potential minors are identified and sentenced accordingly, further legal efforts to have El Gendy’s sentence reconsidered have subsequently failed. In March 2016, the Court of Cassation annulled the fines for all 68 defendants, including El Gendy’s. The five defendants who were sentenced as minors also had their sentences reduced from ten to three years imprisonment and had their five year probation periods cancelled. However, as El Gendy had been sentenced as an adult, his sentence was still confirmed.
On March 31, 2017, El Gendy’s name was included in the official list of prisoners awaiting presidential pardon. El Gendy’s father was released that same year, however, El Gendy remained imprisoned in the high-security block of Tora Prison, Cairo. Following a review of his case by the Public Attorney and after six years in prison, on January 12, 2020 El Gendy was released pending trial. On September 14, 2020, El Gendy’s sentence was decreased to five years’ imprisonment by Court of Cassation of the Criminal Court in North Cairo. At the time of his release in January 2020, El Gendy had already been detained for six years, and therefore had completed his sentence.
