[OMANTRIBUNE] An Egyptian court on Wednesday locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
for 15 years prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, a symbol of the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, for allegedly assaulting a policeman during an illegal protest.
Abdel Fattah, who has been out on bail since March, was placed in durance vile
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
along with two co-defendants immediately after the ruling was issued as they were waiting to be allowed to enter the makeshift court at a Cairo police academy.
The court handed down similar sentences to 24 co-defendants, none of whom were in court, after finding them guilty on charges ranging from taking part in an illegal protest to rioting, blocking roads and assaulting coppers, judicial sources said.
Because the verdict was pronounced in absentia, Abdel Fattah will be granted a retrial while he is in jug, said his father Ahmed Seif, who is also his lawyer.
"According to Egyptian law, the ruling is in absentia because the defence lawyers had not presented their case," Seif said.
The sentencing comes just days after the swearing in of President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who has vowed to return Egypt to stability rather than to pursue democratic freedoms.
Since Sisi ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi in July last year, the military-installed authorities have waged a harsh crackdown on Mursi's supporters as well as the secular opposition.
Abdel Fattah and the other defendants were accused of stealing a walkie-talkie from a policeman during a November protest organised to denounce increased powers given to the military in a new draft constitution. 
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