Documentary Filmmaker Sentenced To Jail

After being held in pretrial detention for over 100 days and enduring a two month hunger strike, Egyptian political activist Sanaa Seif, who served as an editor for the Oscar-nominated documentary The Square, has been sentenced to three years in Egyptian prison. The offenses, which ranged from assaulting police officers to defacing public property, also applied to 20 others who participated in a public demonstration in June. “They were charged with protesting the protest law,” Jehane Noujaim, The Square’s director said. The June protest, which took place at the presidential palace in Cairo, took aim at the country’s strict anti-protest laws, which state that political demonstrations must be approved by security forces. “They’re lining people up and accusing them of being enemies of the state or Mossad,” Karim Amer, The Square’s producer said, claiming that the crew had been accused of such trumped-up charges during filming. Amnesty International has urged for the activists to be released, calling the rules “draconian.”