CAIRO, April 28 (RAPSI) – The Egyptian Court for Urgent Matters ruled on Monday to ban the April 6 Youth Movement, which helped spearhead the January 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, the English-language news web site Ahram Online writes.

Citing the ruling, the local media write that the revolutionary movement was accused of espionage and defaming the Egyptian state. Following Mubarak’s overthrow, April 6 activists stormed state security buildings where many accounts of torture had been reported.

The movement now stands in opposition to the current authorities, and its protest demonstrations have been ruthlessly put down by the police.  The movement’s activists believe that the military and Mubarak’s officials stole the fruits of the 2011 revolution, which they made possible.

The group has been the target of an ongoing smear campaign since its founding in 2008.

April 6 co-founder and former leader Ahmed Maher and several other movement activists have been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for organizing unauthorized demonstrations and for attacking police in November 2013.

On April 26, the youth movement and other political forces marched to the presidential palace to denounce the protest law, under which demonstration organizers are required to notify the Interior Ministry of their plans. They also demanded the release of detainees.