Outside these Cairo prison gates, a mother reacts to news she didn't want to hear.<br/> <br />Her son, Ahmed Maher, has been sentenced to three years.<br/> <br />Maher and two others from Egypt's secular activist movement were charged with inciting unlawful protests and assaulting policeman.<br/> <br />Together, the three men are symbols of Egypt's 2011 uprising and youth protest movement.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) UNNAMED MOTHER OF ACTIVIST AHMED MAHER, SAYING:<br/> <br />"He is a man who fights for the rights of the people, for bread, freedom and social justice. That is all he is responsible for. So why should he be imprisoned?"<br/> <br />Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Doma and Mohamed Adel also received hefty fines equivalent to 7,200 U.S. dollars each.<br/> <br />Their lawyer Waleed Abdel Raouf accused the army-backed government of using their trail to silence dissent.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) DEFENSE LAWYER, WALEED ABDEL RAOUF, SAYING:<br/> <br />"The verdict is entirely political. They want to say to all of the Egyptian you
