U.S. Embassy in
Cairo Concerned over Ibrahim’s Conviction
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Ibrahim was sentenced Monday to seven years |
Additional
reporting by Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
July 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While the U.S. Embassy
in Cairo expressed its "disappointment and concern" over the
new conviction Monday, July, 29, 2002, of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egyptian
law professors as well as some of Ibrahim’s students were
“satisfied” with the verdict, and slammed U.S. interference in the
Egyptian judiciary.
Ibrahim,
allegedly an Egyptian-American human rights activist, was sentenced
Monday to seven years in jail following a retrial on charges that
included tarnishing Egypt's image abroad.
The
sentence against the 63-year-old Ibrahim, an academic as well as human
rights and democracy activist, was the same as that which the court
handed down at his original trial in May 2001.
While
U.S. officials were still studying the verdict, the U.S. Embassy
recalled previous expressions of U.S. "concerns about the
fairness of the process and Dr. Ibrahim's welfare with the Egyptian
government."
It
also said it would try "to ensure he has access to proper medical
treatment."
Besides
expressing his "disappointment and concern" over the new
conviction, U.S. charge d'affaires Gordon Gray said in an Embassy
statement, "I'm very discouraged that the court has reached a
decision to convict Dr. Ibrahim."
Meanwhile,
a British Embassy spokesman in Cairo said, "We're shocked and
disappointed with the outcome." Amnesty International in London
also said it was "shocked" at the long sentence and
denounced the case as "politically motivated."
Sara
Hamood of Amnesty International in London told Agence France-Presse
(AFP) by telephone, "We're very shocked about this severe
sentencing."
She
renewed charges that the case against Ibrahim was "politically
motivated" and fell into a pattern in which the Egyptian
government was trying to "silence" human rights activists.
The
Egyptian Organization of Human Rights said Ibrahim was sentenced under
emergency laws in force since 1981, laws which it denounced as a
"threat for the human rights movement in Egypt".
However,
Ibrahim’s verdict was widely met with satisfaction, as he is seen by
many as “a traitor to his homeland and even an opportunist who seeks
personal gain at the interest of every and each value that society
stands for”.
One
of his students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) told
IslamOnline Monday that she is satisfied with the verdict.
“He
was mocking any student that expresses views other than what Ibrahim
believed in. He used to mock students wearing Hijab (Islamic head
cover),” an Egyptian AUC graduate said.
Ibrahim,
a bespectacled and bearded man who appeared in court behind a cage as
is customary in Egyptian courtrooms, as well as 27 co-defendants faced
the same charges as in the previous trial.
They
were charged with tarnishing Egypt's image by "spreading false
information abroad" about "supposed electoral frauds"
as well as receiving, without official approval, funding from the
European Union to finance the activities of the Ibn Khaldun Center,
which Ibrahim directed.
They
were also accused of making false allegations of persecution of
Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.
One
of the reports, released by the Ibn Khaldun Center, claimed that the
majority of rape victims in Cairo were Christians, a vicious
insinuation about alleged persecution of Christians.
A
law professor in Cairo University, asking not to be named, said that
Ibrahim’s crimes against the Egyptian society are not doubtful,
branding the U.S. Embassy’s statement “flagrant interference in
the Egyptian judiciary”
“It
is a legal case, not a political one. I believe the Egyptian
government has, for too long, tolerated the shameful practices of that
man, who did his best to tarnish Egypt’s name abroad. However, the
government moved only when he touched a sensitive area, namely the
elections.
“Under
the U.S. pressure, he was released last February and retried, now he
has been convicted again. Everyone should respect the court’s
ruling. However, the Americans no more respect anything or anyone, not
even the sovereignty of their friendly states.
“This
case has taken too much interest already. It is simple, Ibrahim
violated the Egyptian law and he was convicted for it, so what?”
charged the law professor.
Ibrahim,
a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, served
eight months in jail before being freed in February when Egypt's top
appeals court ordered a retrial.
It
said the original hearing failed to properly examine the prosecution's
evidence or the defense's arguments.
"No-one
could believe it. I have never in my life seen a scene of so much
shock as at that moment," Ibrahim's wife Barbara told AFP after
the verdict was delivered in the High State Security Court.
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