Egypt court jails 13 policemen up to 5 years over wages protest

CAIRO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian criminal court sentenced on Saturday 13 policemen, including two fugitives, between three and five years in jail over illegal protests against the Interior Ministry in 2015 and 2016 to demand higher wages.

The non-commissioned policemen were convicted of holding illegal assembly, going on an illegal strike, provoking their colleagues against the police apparatus and attempting to distort the image of the police through spreading false news, according to official media.

Eleven of them have been sentenced to three years in prison while the other two fugitives have been handed five-year jail terms.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said in early March that offending the army or the police would "equal high treason."

"This is not a matter of freedom of speech," he said, stressing that offending the country's army or police was an offense to all Egyptians. Enditem