|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CAIRO (Islam Online) - Egyptian authorities have formally charged a prominent pro-democracy activist and 27 of his aids with obtaining funds from foreign sources and defaming Egypt. The Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that 61-year old Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, and other suspects would be tried before the State Security Court where there will be no chance to appeal the decision in case of conviction. They face life imprisonment. In a high-profile case that threatened U.S.-Egyptian relations, Ibrahim, who also carries an American passport, spent six weeks behind bars after he was arrested early July on alleged spying accusations. The authorities had said that Ibrahim was using his center, the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Research and Development, to publish research works that defamed the country and threatened its national security. MENA quoted a statement by Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed as saying that Ibrahim was charged with spreading false information about the country that could tarnish Egypt's image abroad, and that Ibrahim received $237,500 from the European Commission without official permission. Ibrahim said he believed the real reason for the charges and his detention was his plans to monitor the October parliamentary elections through the Center. In the 1995 elections, he found irregularities in 80 of the 88 polling stations monitored. The Center's observations represented part of the evidence used by courts across the country to annul the election results for over half of the present members of the 444-seat People's Assembly. To prevent him from repeating the same "mistake," the government ordered his detention, he said. Newspapers wrote extensively on his acceptance of foreign funding - a crime severe enough to put off any public sympathy. Columnists close to official ranks wrote on how he was being paid "to tarnish Egypt's image abroad," and some said he had links with Israel, a country that enjoys hardly any affection in this Arab nation. After his release on bail, Ibrahim said he would still go ahead with his plans to monitor the elections. "I have no other option but to continue what I planned. They will not scare me off." |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
