The Arabic Network for Human Rights (ANHRI) reports that the al-Khalifa Court of Appeal issued its ruling to annul the decision to imprison Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim for a term of two years.
(ANHRI/IFEX) – The Arabic Network for Human Rights (ANHRI) reports that the al-Khalifa Court of Appeal issued its ruling on 25 May 2009 to annul the decision to imprison Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim for a term of two years, and acquit him of the charge of abusing Egypt’s reputation abroad, which was brought by a member of the Parliament of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Abul-Naga Amirkhizi. The court rejected the earlier ruling for non-compliance with conditions provided for by the law, since the member of the NDP who filed the suit has neither the interest nor competence to file such a case.
The al-Khalifa Misdemeanor Court issued its ruling on 23 December 2008, to sentence Saad Eddin Ibrahim to two years’ imprisonment and bail set at L.E. 10,000 (approx. US$1,777), in a suit filed by Abu al-Naja el-Mihrezi.
The legal defense, consisting of the Legal Aid Unit for Freedom of Expression of the Arabic Network and lawyers of the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies headed by Dr. Ibrahim, appealed the decision, until a ruling was issued on 25 May to acquit Dr. Saad.
Rawda Ahmed, director of the Legal Aid Unit for Freedom of Expression of ANHRI, said, “The ruling delighted us and got things back to normal, since it increased our confidence in the rightfulness and fairness of our position towards Hisba lawsuits which reached alarming proportions in recent years.”
It is worth mentioning that on 20 May, ANHRI also helped acquit Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Director of Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, in a Hisba case brought against him by Ms. Thoraya Labana (in her capacity as Chief of Social Professions) in 2007, where the Court decided not to accept the criminal and civil suits, on the basis that the person who filed the case has no competence whatsoever.
It should be noted that the defense of Saad Eddin Ibrahim in the Hisba case consisted of: Rawda Ahmed, Director of the Legal Aid Unit for Freedom of Expression of ANHRI; Taher Abul Nasr, lawyer and legal advisor of the same unit; and a number of lawyers from the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, namely – Abdel-Fattah Mustafa Ramadan, Magdi el-Gendi, Shadi Talaat and Mohamed Mohy.
