The co-founder of April 6 Youth movement Ahmed Maher was released from prison on Thursday after finishing a three-year prison sentence on charges of breaking the protest law.  

Maher will be on probation for another three years according to the court sentence.

Maher will have to report to a police station on a daily basis for 12 hours, from 6 pm to 6 am.

Ahmed Maher, along with April 6 Youth Movement co-founder Mohamed Adel, and longtime activist Ahmed Douma, were charged in late November 2013 with illegally protesting and assaulting police officers outside a Cairo court. At the time he was handing himself in for questioning over accusations of illegally protesting on 26 November.

In December 2013, an Egyptian misdemeanour court sentenced all three activists – who were at the forefront of Egypt's 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak – to three years in jail and fines of EGP 50,000 each on charges that included organising protests without seeking a police permit.

Mohamed Adel is expected to join Maher and will be released later in January according to their lawyer Khaled Ali.

Ahmed Douma, however, is serving a life sentence in another case and is awaiting an appeal trial in April.