The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 4, Issue 2-3, March 2002

Egypt

Update on the Saad Ibrahim Case

The retrial of US-Egyptian academic Saadeddin Ibrahim and 27 co-defendants began on April 27.  Ibrahim and his co-defendants face the same charges as were filed against them when their first trial began in late 2000, including spreading “false” reports about electoral fraud and religious persecution in Egypt and receiving unauthorized funding from the European Union.  There is great unease about the fact that Dr. Ibrahim is being retried and much press coverage in the Egyptian and US press about the new trial.

The 28 defendants were convicted in May 2001 on the charges listed above.  Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in prison, another two of the accused were sentenced to five years, and four others to two years.  The remaining defendants were given one-year suspended sentences.

On February 6 of this year Egypt’s top appellate court overturned the convictions and ordered that the defendants, who were subsequently freed, be retried.  The appellate court’s explanation for granting the appeal, published this month in Arabic but not available in translation, stated that the original court had failed to properly examine and evaluate prosecution evidence and defense arguments.

The sentencing of the 63-year old Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University of Cairo, sparked statements of protest and concern from the EU and the US State Department, as well as local and foreign human rights groups.