Egypt government sentences 51 in closing al-Wad organization file
Egypt, Politics, 9/10/2002

Military sentences were issued against al-Wad ( the Premise ) organization that targeted 94 accused persons in the case which is the largest of its kind in Egypt since several years.

This case won special media interest because many strong accusations were addressed to the detainees following the attacks of September 11 in the US, and considered by many as an attempt by the Egyptian authorities to highlight its efforts in the war against "terrorism."

It was noted that the detention acts which targeted members in the Islamic network because of their activities in collecting donations illegally, though the donations were allotted to support Muslims all over the world, especially in Palestine and Chechenya. Families of the verdicts were not permitted to attend the session which lasted for five minutes during which the chairman of the court pronounced the sentence which was received by the defendants calmly without the usual chants of " Allah Akbar " ( God is Great) used to be stated in trials as such.

The supreme military court in Cairo gave sentences against some 51 of the defendants ranging between 15 years with hard labor to two year imprisonment.

On the other hand, the court found not guilty other 43 convicted persons in this case in which the accused persons were tried over "founding and running an illegal group in violation to the law, with the aim to obstruct the rules of the constitution and the enforced laws and preventing the state's establishments and public authorities from practicing their work and undermining personal freedom and public rights."

Among the accused persons are three cinematographers, two pilots and they also include four Egyptians carrying the American, Dutch and Canadian nationalities in addition to one Yemeni and three of the Russian republic of Daghistan. Five of the convicted persons were tried in absentia.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt keens to boost ties with Iran   (9/9/2002)
  Mrs. Mubarak advocates principles of right, freedom; demographics addresses   (9/7/2002)
  Sudanese FM calls for dealing with Halayeb issue reasonably   (8/22/2002)
  Egypt accuses 26 Islamists, 3 Britons of wanting to topple government   (8/5/2002)

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