Cairo - (AFP) - An Egyptian court sentenced, on Monday, three years in prison to the young Egyptian researcher, Ahmed Samir Sentawy, on charges of "publishing false news," according to human rights organizations.

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Human Rights Expression in Egypt wrote on its official Facebook page that it "condemns the ruling issued today by the Emergency State Security Court for misdemeanours, imprisoning Ahmed Samir Sentawy, researcher and master's student at Central European University in Austria, for a period of three years."

The Foundation called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to "cancel this unjust sentence and release Sentawy unconditionally."

The researcher was arrested in February 2021 during a family visit to Egypt, and in June of the same year he was sentenced to four years in prison, but the sentence was overturned and it was decided to re-try him before another court, so he was again convicted of “spreading false news,” which is a common accusation among many. Of those arrested on charges of opinion.

Annemarie Schlack, executive director of Amnesty International in Austria, where Samir University is, believes that the case is "just one example of the Egyptian government's violations" of human rights.

It called for the "immediate and unconditional release of all those imprisoned solely for exercising human rights."

Egypt is the largest Arab country in terms of population, with 103 million people, and human rights organizations estimate the number of political prisoners in it at about 60,000, and accuse Cairo of violating human rights in all fields, but Sisi always denies this.

Since the end of April, Egypt has witnessed a wave of releases of dozens of political activists, especially after Sisi reconfigured the presidential pardon committee, which raised expectations of the release of a large number of prisoners of conscience.

This week, the "national dialogue" that Sisi called for in order to coordinate and agree between the various political forces begins, although some are skeptical about this initiative.

Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy wrote in a tweet on Twitter, Monday, "The verdict on Ahmed Samir Sintawy to 3 years in prison because of a post on Facebook ... If only people who are enthusiastic about national dialogue would wake up and understand the limits of dialogue that the regime is prepared to accept: we speak and you keep silent."