Egypt jails activist who called to free prisoners amid pandemic

An Egyptian court sentenced prominent female activist Sanaa Seif to a year and a half in prison on Wednesday for spreading false news, her sister and judicial sources said.

Seif was detained in June 2020 outside the public prosecutor's office as she tried to file a complaint about an assault on her and her mother as they campaigned to communicate with her jailed brother Alaa Abdel Fattah, one of Egypt's best-known activists, rights groups say. She and her family were among the activists who had campaigned on social media for the release of some prisoners amid fears that coronavirus would spread in prisons.