Egyptian rights activist Hassan Mostafa case postponed

After a court adjourns the case of Alexandria activist Hassan Mostafa to 4 May, supporters march to his home in Moharam Bek to show solidarity

Hundreds of protesters turned out in support of activist Hassan Mostafa at the Mansheya Court Complex in central Alexandria on Saturday.
The Borg El-Arab Court adjourned Mostafa's case to 4 May after he appealed a two-year prison sentence for assaulting a justice ministry official.
The case was postponed because the prosecutor, Ahmed Darwish, who accused the 30-year-old marketing manager of assaulting him did not attend the session.
Ragia Omran, activist and human rights lawyer, said on Twitter earlier on Saturday that she and 20 other lawyers from Cairo and Alexandria attended Mostafa's court session.
They submitted appeal requests, asked to hear witnesses and to obtain copies of hospital records, she said.
In a surprise twist, according to Ahram Arabic news website, Salah Haridi, one of Mostafa's lawyers, requested a hearing for all eye-witnesses again, saying that a witness for the prosecution testified that Mostafa, who is bald, had long hair.
Mostafa was arrested on 21 January after attempting to file a complaint with the Alexandrian prosecutor-general about the absence of lawyers for dozens of detainees arrested on 20 January during a protest.
Mostafa was charged with physically attacking and verbally abusing prosecutor Darwish while attempting to file his complaint.
According to activist Mahinour El-Masry, an eyewitness to Mostafa's arrest and a member of the campaign to free him, the charges are fabricated.
"The ruling regime is acquitting Mubarak and detaining political activists," El-Masry said in a TV interview on ONTV on Friday.
Ousted president Hosni Mubarak is currently being retried for killing protesters in the 25 January 2011 revolution after he appealed a life-sentence last June.
The protesters marched to Mostafa's home in Moharam Bek, Alexandria.
Protesters chanted against the interior ministry, calling its members "thugs" and adding: "Mostafa is not afraid, the [ministry] is scared of him."
In addition, protesters criticised what they described as a lack of freedom of expression in the country, saying that the "Muslim Brotherhood is standing in its way."
"The court could have released Mostafa on bail until the next session," El-Masry told Ahram Online via phone.
"However, it ordered he remains in jail and so we feel that the court is closer to the [accusing] prosecutor than Mostafa," El-Masry, who was arrested herself and held overnight by the Alexandria police two weeks ago as she attempted to help locate detained anti-President Morsi protesters.
"We will continue to expose all prosecutors who deviated from the path of justice. We will continue informing the people of Mostafa's case and those of all the detained activists"
Mostafa was detained twice during Mubarak's rule.
He was accused of assaulting a policeman during a protest in the case of Khaled Said who was killed by the police in 2010 and was also arrested in 2008 workers' demonstration in Nile Delta's Mahallah.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/69113.aspx