(AFP File Photo \Egyptian TV)
The Cairo Court of Cassation handed a three-year prison sentence Tuesday to former Minister of Interior Habib Al-Adly in a trial dubbed by media “the conscripts’ enslavement case”.
The court, held inside Tora Prison and headed by Judge Fathy Gudah Afifi, rejected the 10 appeals made by the defence team who listed what they described as “violations” against their client that hindered his acquittal.
Al-Adly, as well as his assistant for security forces Hassan Abdel Hamid, and head of the interior ministry guards Brigadier Mohamed Bassem, were convicted of using Central Security Forces conscripts to work at Al-Adly’s farmhouse in the Giza suburb of 6 October and serve the former interior minister and his family. Al-Adly and Abdel Hamid were both sentenced to three years, while Bassem was sentenced to one year. In addition, Abdel Hamid and Bassem were both ordered to pay EGP 2.5m in fines.
Al-Adly served as interior minister at the time of Mubarak starting with the 1997 Luxor massacre – where a number of extremist militants attacked a tourist bus in Hatshepsut’s Deir Al Bahary Temple – until the 25 January Revolution. After Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011, he was tried for a number of cases, including killing protesters on 28 January 2011 and other corruption cases.
