CAIRO — Egyptian authorities on Saturday released two dozen Islamist women and girls convicted for staging a street protest. An appeals court reduced their harsh penalties, including prison terms of 11 years, to suspended sentences.
The initial verdict, handed down last month, caused an international and domestic outcry.
“This is God-given,” Ola Alaa, 18, a medical student who was initially sentenced to 11 years, said by telephone after reaching her home in the coastal city of Alexandria. “I think (the authorities) wanted to calm things down,” she said.
The 14 women, mostly around the age of 20, were originally sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted in connection to an Oct. 31 protest in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
