The undersigned organizations express their great dismay at the court 3 years prison\u00a0sentence by El Marg court of misdemeanor yesterday against Alber Saber, accused\u00a0of defamation of religion. The court also ruled that Alber should pay a 1000 LE bail,\u00a0while rejecting the civil claim made against him by a number of citizens.<\/p>\n
The public prosecution had accused Alber of disseminating through the internet of\u00a0material that is punishable by article 98, 102, 160 and 161 of the criminal code, all of\u00a0which regulate crimes of defamation of religions and incitement of thrive. Despite\u00a0the payment of the bail by Alber\u2019s defense pending the outcome of the appeal\u00a0process, the court sent him back to prison, obstructing his release for unknown\u00a0reasons and without ordering any procedures for his release which is the normal\u00a0consequence of bailing him out. Alber\u2019s lawyer said that at present Alber is illegally\u00a0held in detention and should have immediately released upon payment of the bail\u00a0pending the decision of the court of appeal.<\/p>\n
Alber Saber was arrested last September when some of his neighbors accused of\u00a0defaming religions on his social media accounts, upon which they gathered around\u00a0his residence, chanting inciting slogans against him, which led his mother to call\u00a0the police asking for help for fear the crowd might break into her house. The police\u00a0came but instead of protecting her and her son arrested him and took him to El Marg\u00a0police station as well as confiscated his computer. Inside the police station Alber was\u00a0subject to physical assault upon incitement by one of the station officers, a fact that\u00a0was officially documented with the prosecution. The aggression extended beyond\u00a0Alber to include his mother who received murder threats and threats of burning her\u00a0house if she did not leave, forcing her eventually to do so.<\/p>\n
The undersigned organizations consider this court sentence a starting point in an\u00a0endless series of violations of freedom of thought and expression in general and\u00a0freedom of belief in particular, a warning by a state which is hostile to the rights\u00a0of minorities, as evidenced by the provisions of the new draft constitution which\u00a0limits freedom of belief to the three main religions, closing the door to any objective\u00a0criticism and considering any opinion related to religion as blasphemy, incitement\u00a0of thrive etc. to the end of all vague formulations which can be easily translated into\u00a0charges against anybody whose opinion differs from that of the \u201cmajority\u201d.<\/p>\n
The undersigned organizations believe this court sentence to be a message to\u00a0all opponents to the new unfolding religious dictatorship in Egypt, that any view\u00a0contrary to the official mainstream is a breach of legitimacy and a crime deserving\u00a0punishment and imprisonment. The organizations also believe that such a cruel<\/p>\n
verdict against a Coptic citizen because of his expression of his views on his personal\u00a0social media account is a matter involving major violation of justice and abuse of\u00a0power against religious minorities.<\/p>\n
The undersigned organizations hold all government bodies responsible for the harm\u00a0against Alber Saber and his family and any more harm that could befall them in\u00a0view of the incitement permitted against them; as well as call for a cancellation of\u00a0all punitive provisions that criminalize criticism of religions both in the law or the\u00a0new draft constitution. Freedom of expression is a basic human right according to\u00a0all constitutions, international conventions and agreements and should never lead\u00a0to imprisonment of the person involved even if contrary to general public opinion.\u00a0Lack of respect of that right signifies the beginnings of a state of oppression and\u00a0dictatorship which is being established now and which should be immediately\u00a0replaced by a state of law, freedom and equality.<\/p>\n
The undersigned organizations express their great dismay at the court 3 years prison\u00a0sentence by El Marg court of misdemeanor yesterday against Alber Saber, accused\u00a0of defamation of religion. The court also ruled that Alber should pay a 1000 LE bail,\u00a0while rejecting the civil claim made against him by a number of citizens. The public prosecution had …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362,358,869,354],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-771154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-criminaljustice","category-jointpressreleases","category-otherprograms","category-pressreleases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n