CAIRO: Lawyers from the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) resumed negotiations with Ain Shams University on Tuesday to grant a student permission to take his mid-year examinations in accordance with a court ruling.
On Sunday, the Administrative Court issued a verdict allowing Magdy Abdel Rahman Youssef to take his exams — which began that very day — in spite of a penalty the university imposed upon him for distributing flyers on campus that called for political change and reform.
On Nov. 27, administrators from Ain Shams University’s Faculty of Science decided to prevent Youssef, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement, from taking his mid-year exams for two subjects.
“[The university administrators] announced their decision on Nov. 27 [in order] to make it impossible for me to get a court order in my favor before the exams started,” Youssef told Daily News Egypt.
On the following day, the AFTE lawyers representing Youssef challenged the Faculty of Science’s decision and filed a lawsuit against the university. The resulting court order in Youssef’s favor, however, was made shortly after Youssef’s first examination had already ended.
“Since we have a court order, the university should organize a special committee for the student to [allow him to take] a make-up exam,” Ahmed Ezzat, a lawyer for AFTE, told Daily News Egypt. “But Ain Shams University doesn’t usually accept that [solution, so] we are trying to negotiate with the administration to solve this problem [in other ways].”
“Whether [the university administrators] allow me to attend the examinations or not, I will continue to fight for [the April 6 Youth Movement’s] principles [for change and reform], and our cause,” Youssef told Daily News Egypt. “It’s more likely that they will [prevent] me from getting a make-up exam.
In case the university refuses another case will be filed calling for monetary compensations for the damages the university has incurred on Youssef, he added.
The administration at Ain Shams University could not be reached for comment by press time.
In December, the Administrative Court had issued a similar verdict in favor of three students in Ain Shams University’s Faculty of Law who were deprived of their right to take their examinations after they too distributed flyers on campus.
The flyers the three students distributed had called for amending the constitution, expelling the police from campus, and for improving the students’ education and resources.
The three students’ examinations are scheduled for Jan. 13.
