RIGHTS-EGYPT: Court Rejects Request for Release of Activist

By Cam McGrath Reprint | | Print |

Cam McGrath

CAIRO, Dec 20 2001 (IPS) - Egypt’s highest court has rejected a request for the immediate release of a prominent rights activist and postponed its decision on his appeal for a new trial.

Egyptian-American sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, 63, is currently serving a seven-year sentence in El-Tora Prison south of Cairo.

On May 21 a state security court sentenced him and 27 of his associates to prison terms ranging from one to seven years on charges of receiving funding without government authorisation, embezzlement and tarnishing Egypt’s image.

The Court of Cassation on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by human rights groups for Ibrahim’s immediate release and said it would rule on Jan 16 whether to accept the activist’s appeal for a retrial.

Under Egyptian law, sentences handed down by the Supreme State Security Court can be appealed on “points of law”, which refers to a misapplication or misinterpretation of law.

Rights groups maintain the charges brought against Ibrahim were politically motivated.

Amnesty International described the charges as “efforts to provide legal cover for the government’s increasing attempts to muzzle civil society.”

The organisation defined Ibrahim as a “prisoner of conscience” and appealed for his immediate release from prison.

Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, founded the independent Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development Studies (IKCDS) in 1988 and directed its operations until it was raided and shut down by the Egyptian government on June 31, 2000.

The centre advocated minority rights and civic empowerment, including voter-registration drives and election monitoring. It was preparing a voter education campaign for Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections at the time of the raid.

In the weeks that followed, police arrested Ibrahim and 27 employees of the IKCDS and an affiliated organisation for promoting women’s voting rights, the Hoda Association, keeping them in detention for up to six weeks without charge.

State authorities formally charged them on Sep 24 of that year, one day after Ibrahim announced his intent to proceed with monitoring Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

In a 20-page statement released this week, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) sharply criticised the charges, court proceedings and treatment of the defendants in the case.

“Human Rights Watch has identified serious pre-trial and trial irregularities that are in conflict with internationally recognised standards for fair trial as well as Egypt’s domestic legislation. Some of these irregularities were due to a failure to follow prescribed legal procedures, while others are inherent in the shortcomings of the specific legislation being applied in the case,” it said.

HRW noted that during the trial, state prosecutors argued that Ibrahim conspired with four of his co-defendants to bribe public officials to provide extra media coverage of IKCDS activities, with the aim of securing more funding from international donors. All five were acquitted of the charge.

The court, however, found Ibrahim guilty of receiving unauthorised donations, a crime under Military Decree 4/1992. Defence lawyers argued that funds received from the European Union were “grants” given on the basis of contractual responsibilities between the two parties and thus exempt from the law.

The three judges hearing the case ruled that the decree applied to both donations and grants with implicit obligations, and the defendants were found guilty as charged.

Prosecutors also accused Ibrahim and more than two dozen of his co-defendants guilty of falsifying expenditure records and forging 60,000 voter registration cards with the aim of defrauding the European Union into believing he had expanded voter awareness in Egypt.

The European Union stressed that it found no irregularities and had no issue with how the IKCDS used the funding, but state prosecutors proceeded with the charges and the defendants were deemed guilty.

Rights groups objected emphatically to the charge of “dissemination abroad of false information harmful to Egypt’s interests”, which they argued was a blanket clause used to stifle freedom of expression and political opposition.

“The conviction of Saad Eddin Ibrahim on this particular charge rests in part on statements he made regarding electoral fraud in Egypt. This charge was brought against the backdrop of his preparations for monitoring the 2000 parliamentary elections,” HRW said, adding that Ibrahim was also active in bringing attention to discrimination against Egypt’s minority Coptic Christian community.

Analysts believe the trial was aimed at sending a clear message to non-governmental organisations operating in Egypt that the government would not tolerate criticism of its democratic shortcomings.

“This trial was intended to silence Dr. Ibrahim, punish those who dared to be his associates, and intimidate any other Egyptians who might think about criticising policies in politically sensitive areas,” Joe Stork, Washington director of HRW’s Middle East and North Africa division told reporters.

“The conviction of Saad Eddin Ibrahim on spurious charges, without any effective right of appeal, reflects nothing but shame on the government of President Hosni Mubarak,” Stork said. “It’s time for the government to do the right thing by releasing him and restoring his civil rights.”