EGYPT: Egyptian-American activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim convicted again!

Human rights advocate Saad Eddin Ibrahim was sentenced today to two years in prison for "tarnishing Egypt’s reputation" -- a verdict expected to open a new chapter in the case of the Egyptian-American activist. 

It is not his first time. In 2001, Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in prison for similar charges; the case kept languishing in exceptional and ordinary courts until he won an appeal and got released in 2003. Meanwhile, Ibrahim spent ten months behind bars. It is widely believed in Egypt that his liberation was the direct outcome of U.S. pressures on the Egyptian government.

In recent years, Ibrahim, professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo and the founder of the Ibn Khadoun Center for Development Studies, has established himself as one of the most vocal critics of President Hosni Mubarak. In 2005, he announced that he would run for the presidency bashing Mubarak’s regime. 

Last month, Ibrahim, who has been living in self-exile for almost a year, told BBC Arabic that he would return home only if assured that he would not get arrested.

Legally, the 69-year-old academic has the right to appeal the verdict.
 

Last summer, Ibrahim, who writes for several international and local papers, published an inflammatory opinion piece in the Washington Post where he intimated that the U.S. should pressure Egypt towards democratic reforms by cutting aid. The piece caused too much stir at home.

"Yet Mubarak's regime has gone unchecked for years, since long before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the 'war on terror' and despite the billions of dollars in foreign aid the United States continues to give Egypt each year. The question is: Why?" wondered Ibrahim in his column titled "Egypt’s Unchecked Repression."

"Like other autocrats with declining legitimacy, Mubarak is trying to tighten his grip on power…My fear is that these abuses will spread if Egypt's allies and friends continue to stand by silently while this regime suppresses the country's democratic reformers," continued Ibrahim.

—Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: Saad Eddin Ibrahim (AFP)

Comments

[margaretta swigert-gacheru]

As a first year student at DePauw University, it was Saad Eddin Ibrahim who taught me about ethnocentricity, a term that has influenced my life ever since, seeing as i have lived, worked and studied outside the US most of my life since. But Saad showed me the complex forces operative in the Middle East and around the globe. I'm forever grateful to him for opening my and many other young americans' eyes to the complexity of global issues and the role we can play in overturning unjust regimes, which is what Saad is currently doing. Bravo Saad. We stand with you in these trying times.

[Peter D Durant]

Dr Ibrahim introduced me to Arab side of the "Arab-Israeli Conflict". He taught Sociology at DePauw University in Greencastle Indiana. This is where I came into contact with him way back in 1974. I was a New Yorker and it (New York)was as William Styron called it, "the kingdom of the Jews". According to my version of the Middle East,Israel was making a garden out of the desert, welll,at least that was my opinion until Dr Ibrahim presented an alternate reality.
A University debate on the Arab/israeli conflict was conducted. The Yom Kipur War was waging and student interest was high. Dr Ibrahim presenting the arabcase while a jesih Political science professor defended israeli actions. The truth became evident. The truth shimmered with total clarity. Israel was in the wrong and the Arab/Palestinians emerged as victims of horrendous injustice. This due to Dr Ibrahims effortless presentation of indisputable facts.
This news of his convictions is deeply troubling to me. He is not a young man,incarceration will cause him harm.
He is the proverbial indefatigable personality. A sweet man, a brave, principled, "Man for All Seasons".