The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights

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EOHR asks President Husny Mubarak not to ratify the laws that are
issued by the Emergency State Security Court concerning the
detention in what is known as the case of disrespect of religions

29/1/2004

On 28/1/2004 the State Security Felony Court in Madinet Nasr district, Cairo, Egypt issued its verdict concerning case 11373 for 2002, known as the case of "the prophet of this age".
This case includes 21 defendants, the first and second defendants are sentenced to three years.
Its verdicts issued on 28/9/2002 were ratified and the rest of the defendants were re-trialed and were sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor.
The case started in March 2002 by arresting the defendants.
They were accused of spreading extreme ideas with the intention of disrespect of religion.
They claimed that their leader is a prophet, that God sends him messages, provides him with special gifts to help people, and that he is gifted with the ability of foretelling.
They also changed a number of verses in the Quran and Prophet's sayings in a very demeaning way.
This is done with the intention of spreading ideas and beliefs that are contradictory to the Islamic beliefs".
The defendants denied these accusations, excepting the first defendant who is currently serving his sentence of three years in prison.
The rest of the defendants claimed that they followed a sophist way which is the Borhanic way and that they follow the Islamic religion.

EOHR as part of its campaign against the persistent application of the Emergency Law expresses its deep concern regarding the issuing of these verdicts from the State Security Emergency Court which is an emergency court that is founded upon an emergency law.

EOHR reinforces its firm stand against these emergency courts.
EOHR believes that these courts are a violation of the principle of Independence of the Judiciary, deprives the defendant of his right to stand before his natural judge.
It also deprives him of his right to stand before a higher court which monitors the righteousness of the procedures.
This is considered a violation of the right to a fair trial.

EOHR stresses the importance of fully respecting the three religions.
The organization also stresses the importance of the right to a fair trial before the natural judge.
EOHR expresses its concern regarding the fact that many texts related to freedom of thought and legislation in the Egyptian legislation are elastic and not specific.
This is contradictory to the rules put by the Constitutional High Court which stated that: "the penal texts have to be in a form that is not to be questioned".

Table of the defendants

Name	Age	Profession	Verdict
Sayed Tolba Mohamed Abu ALy	48	An employee at the Atomic Energy Institution	3 years sentence with hard labor on 28/9/2002
Mansour Yusif Amin	38	Medical doctor	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Helmy ElSayed Ibrahim	46	The owner of a cooling workshop and air-conditioning	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Yassir ElSayid Ibrahim	35	A security employee in the Cairo Sheraton hotel	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Khalid Fathy Mohamed Aly	33	An employee in the engineering department in Cairo Sheraton	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2003
Gamalat Mohamed Soliman	38	Library Assistant	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
AbdilAzim Guma	43	Fish vendor	A year sentence with hard labor 28/1/2004
Abdillatif ElSayed Aly	57	The owner of a clothes factory	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Mohamed AbdilAzim Goma	21	Third year student in the faculty of engineering, Ein Shams University	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Mustafa Mohamed Mohamed El-Shirbimy	48	The car-permits supervisor in Giza	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Hassan Goma Hassan Khalifa	33	The owner of a shop of electrical appliances	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Hamada Seddik Mohamed	22	A student in the faculty of Commerce. Helwan University	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Mahmoud Aly ALy Desoky	29	An employee in the Ministry of judiciary	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Mohamed Aly Lay Desouky	24	An employee in the South Cairo Court	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Samir Sayed Aly El-Sayed	28	A car pieces trader	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Ahmed Salah Eddin	27	Driver	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Abdalla Mohamed Dardeer el-Sayed	56	Carpenter	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Aliaa Abdalla Ibrahim	24	A student in Ein Shams university	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Mohamed Salah Eddin	29	A Driver	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Abber Salah Eddin	Abber Salah Eddin	A house-wife	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004
Huda Abdalla Ibrahim	40	A house-wife	A year sentence with hard labor on 28/1/2004