Egypt's Court of Cassation accepted Thursday the appeal of activist Ahmed Douma against a three year prison sentence for "insulting the judiciary" during one of his trial sessions in the case commonly known as "the cabinet clashes" of 2011.

 

The court ruled that Douma be retried before another judicial district. 

 

In December 2014 during a trial session, Douma accused the judge presiding over his case of publishing hostile political statements on his Facebook account which reflected his bias and violated a law which bans judges from publicly expressing political views. 

 

Douma was handed a fine of EGP 10,000 in addition to the three year jail term for insulting the judiciary. 

 

In February 2015, Douma was initially handed a life sentence in the same case on charges of attacking the cabinet building and security personnel, as well as setting fire to the Scientific Institute in Cairo in 2011. 

 

He appealed the sentence before the Court of Cassation, the country's highest court, which is currently looking into the case.

 

The cabinet clashes erupted when demonstrators staged a sit-in at the cabinet building in Cairo, following the dispersal of a sit-in organised by a number of the families of those killed in the 25 January revolution on downtown's Mohamed Mahmoud Street. 

 

Douma, the co-founder of the 6 April Movement along with activists Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel, has already been serving a three year jail sentence since 2015 for violating the country's protest law .