13 - 19 December 2001
Issue No.564
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 December 2001 Issue No.564 |
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A glimmer of hope
The Court of Cassation will decide later this month whether condemned human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim and 27 co- defendants are entitled to a retrial, reports Khaled Dawoud
The Court of Cassation, the nation's highest, will sit on 19 December to hear an appeal filed by prominent human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim and 27 co-defendants. They are contesting a State Security Court ruling which sentenced them to prison terms ranging between one and seven years.
Saadeddin Ibrahim
Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and director of the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies, was the most prominent defendant in the case, receiving a seven-year prison sentence in late May -- the harshest jail term handed down.
Ibrahim was found guilty of receiving a grant from the European Union without government permission in violation of a 1992 military decree.
Ibrahim said the money was channelled towards funding a programme run by the Ibn Khaldun Centre, aimed at encouraging Egyptians to take part in the parliamentary elections that took place in November-December 2000. Part of the programme was to monitor the balloting and report any irregularities -- a move which displeased the government. He was also accused of making statements and compiling reports on the status of Coptic Christians and the human rights situation which, allegedly, "damaged the country's reputation."
The imprisonment of Ibrahim, who holds dual Egyptian-American nationality and is well- connected with human rights activists abroad, was widely criticised by local and international human rights groups. Such has the pressure been that lawyers have revealed that, should the Court of Cassation order a retrial, Ibrahim and the other co- defendants could possibly be released from prison pending the new proceedings.
Randa Ibrahim, Saadeddin Ibrahim's daughter and a lawyer, said she was optimistic that the Court of Cassation would order a retrial. "There are many grounds for ordering a retrial and rescinding the sentence," she said. Randa said that the State Security Court ruling in May failed to come up with adequate evidence for convicting her father and ignored key arguments put forward by the defence.
She also pointed to a significant ruling issued by the Court of Cassation in July that annulled the military decree under which her father was convicted. In late July, the Court of Cassation reached the conclusion that the military decree was null and void because it violated the principle of separation of authorities. "After the decree was annulled by the Court of Cassation, there does not seem to be much ground for putting my father on trial. The court will probably have to respect its earlier ruling." She added that a prosecution office attached to the Court of Cassation "has already agreed that there are many grounds for ordering a retrial. This is a positive development."
Since Ibrahim and the other defendants have been tried by a State Security Court, they are only allowed to appeal to the Court of Cassation. "If we lose the coming round, there will be nothing else that we can do," Randa said.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim celebrated his 63rd birthday in his prison cell in Mazraat Tora, south of Cairo, on 3 December. His son, Amir, sent him a birthday card which was posted and circulated on the Internet by a pro- Ibrahim group. It says: "In this mission of democratic reform and change, we all pay a price, some greater than others... You are inside the prison walls but still have a clear conscience and valued ideals that promote democracy."
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