The Marg Misdemeanours Court in Northeast Cairo decided to release Albeir Saber, 25, on bail until the appeal session, in response to his lawyer’s request
The Marg Misdemeanours Court in Northeast Cairo decided to release Albeir Saber, 25, on bail until the appeal session, in response to his lawyer’s request.
Saber, who was charged with disdaining Islam, was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of EGP1000 by the same court last week. He was arrested last September for sharing online the link of the film ++The Innocence of Muslims++, which was produced in the US and has been said to disdain the Prophet Mohamed.
Amnesty International had criticised the sentence and described it as ‘disgraceful’, and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Saber. “This is an outrageous verdict and sentence for a person whose only ‘crime’ was to post his opinions online,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “This conviction will ruin his life, whether he serves the sentence or not. The court should have thrown the case out on the first day, yet now he’s been branded as having insulted religion,” added Sahraoui.
She further pointed out that this verdict had come just days before Egyptians voted on a new constitution which if passed, will ban criticism of religion and individuals, thus opening the door to many more cases like this one.
Watani International
18 December 2012
