CAIRO: Democracy advocate Saad El Din Ibrahim is no longer welcome in Egypt, his lawyer Fatma Rabei told Daily News Egypt.
If he comes back he will be taken to court, she said, especially after the response he got from the foreign minister s assistant that if Ibrahim comes back, he will be subject to investigation for allegedly undertaking intelligence work on behalf of the United States
Ibrahim has been on self-imposed exile in Qatar since June 2007 after attending a conference on Arab Democracy where he had a brief meeting with President Bush in Prague that allegedly provoked the authorities.
Recently, Ibrahim presented a written request to visit Egypt after meeting with Ambassador Raouf Saad during conferences in Doha in which Saad assured him that he was not blacklisted and was welcome to go back to his country. Saad denied accusations that the Egyptian government was preventing Ibrahim from going home.
According to Rabei, Ibrahim faces 11 cases filed against him by National Democratic Party (NDP) members including Nabil Luka Bibawy, Thuraya Labna, Hossam Mostafa Abdel Rahman, charging him of spying and defaming Egypt.
The latest case filed by Abul Naga El Mehrazy was adjourned until July 19..
Ibrahim’s lawyer described the charges as “ridiculous and ignorant because first, it shows how ignorant these lawyers are because they presented a felony to the misdemeanor’s court.
“They lack understanding of the simplest rules of law, she said. She also disputed the existence of any basis for an espionage felony in Ibrahim’s case. These include secrecy, the involvement of two parties and making personal gains.
“There is no secrecy in Dr Saad’s case because he announced to the public that he met George Bush and informed him of the emergency law, military courts and human rights situation in Egypt. Besides, the information he gave is accessible to anyone, Rabei said. “And Dr Saad didn’t receive any rewards from President Bush.
Ahmed Rizk, a member of the board of trustees in Ibn Khaldun Center, which was founded by Ibrahim, said that the center had received no official request demanding Ibrahim return to Egypt for investigations regarding the case of spying for the US.
“These are just media’s allegations, he said. “The court found that the issue was inadequate to be recognized as a court case in the first place.
“People who spread these rumors or file cases like these only seek fame, Rizk said
The center will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a series of seminars starting today, despite the absence of its founder.
“He is currently in Doha, so he will not participate with us but he may send an article or a speech, he said, adding that all Ibrahim demands are guarantees of his freedom if he comes back.
Ibrahim is a professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo and founder of both the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo and the Arab Organization for Human Rights.
Ibrahim was arrested, imprisoned and prosecuted in 2000 for using European Union funds for election monitoring, and for allegedly defaming Egypt’s image abroad. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
He was tried twice on the same charges in State Security Courts, winning each time on appeal. During a third trial before the highest civil court in 2003, he was cleared of all charges and then released.
