(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN is shocked by the State Security Court’s 29 July 2002 decision to sentence Saad El-Din Ibrahim to seven years in prison. A professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo and Director of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Social and Development Studies, Ibrahim was convicted in May 2001 of […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN is shocked by the State Security Court’s 29 July 2002 decision to sentence Saad El-Din Ibrahim to seven years in prison. A professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo and Director of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Social and Development Studies, Ibrahim was convicted in May 2001 of embezzlement. The charges are widely considered to have been fabricated. International PEN is seriously concerned that Ibrahim is being penalised for his involvement in a documentary criticising Egypt’s election process.
Egypt’s State Security Court sentenced Ibrahim to seven years’ hard labour on 23 May 2001. Ibrahim and 27 other staff members of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre were accused on a variety of charges stemming from their work to promote voter participation and carry out election monitoring of the parliamentary elections that took place in November 2000. The 27 co-defendants on trial with Ibrahim received prison terms of between one and five years. The charges against Ibrahim are believed to have focused on the Ibn Khaldoun Centre’s acceptance of an allegedly illegal grant of US$250,000 from the European Commission, part of which was used to produce a film alleging voter intimidation in the 1995 Egyptian parliamentary election, which was never broadcast.
Ibrahim was arrested on 30 June 2000 and released on bail on 10 August. After being sentenced on 23 May 2001, he returned to prison but was released on bail again on 6 February 2002 after an appeals court granted a re-trial. On 29 July, the State Security Court sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment and he was taken to jail immediately. Ibrahim told the press that he intends to appeal again.
Ibrahim, aged 62, has dual American and Egyptian citizenship and has taught at the American University in Cairo for many years. His publications include “Escaping the Back Alley of History” (Cairo: Dar Souad El-Sabah and Ibn Khaldoun, 1992), “Racial, Ethnic and Religious Minorities in the Arab World” (Cairo: Dar Al-Amin and Ibn Khaldoun, 1994), “Egyptian Childhood: Past and Present, Images and Practices” (Cairo: Ibn Khaldoun, 1995), “Egyptian Business Persons: Role and Images” (Cairo: Ibn Khaldoun, 1996).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– expressing shock at the decision to send Ibrahim back to prison
– noting that it is apparent that the charges against him have been fabricated as a means of penalising him for his work on alleged intimidation of voters
– calling for another review of the charges against him in light of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the right to freedom of expression, and to which Egypt is a signatory
Appeals To
His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak
President of the Republic of Egypt
Heliopolis, Egypt
Fax: +202 390 1998
Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Egypt in your country and the source if possible.
