Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
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| Egyptian High Court of Justice |
CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) -- More than 300 Muslim lawyers inside and outside a courthouse in the southern Egyptian province of Assuit today prevented defense lawyer Ahmad Sayed Gabali, who is representing the Christian Makarem Diab, from going into court.
Egyptian journalist Mary Abdelmassih, writing for AINA -- Assyrian International News Agency,www.aina.org says Diab was found guilty of 'Insulting the Muslim Prophet' and today was scheduled a hearing on his appeal.
In her report, Abdelmassih reports that attorney Dr. Naguib Gabriell, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, said there was "terror in the Assiut Court today."
Gabriell added that he was on his way to court when he was advised that Muslim lawyers have issued death threats to any Christian lawyers who attend the court session.
"Makram Diab was assaulted by Muslim lawyers during his transfer from the courtroom and security failed to protect him," Gabriell told AINA.
According to the AINA news report, Peter Sarwat, a Coptic lawyer, said that Muslim lawyers representing the plaintiffs prevented the defense team from entering court.
"They said no Muslim will defend a Christian. It was agreed that Christian lawyers would take over and two Coptic lawyers volunteered, but the Muslims decided later that even Christians would not defend him,” Sarwat said.
Sarwat told AINA the Muslim lawyers wanted to assault the chief judge, but he managed to leave the court via a rear door.
The AINA news report goes on to say that Adel Ramadam and Ahmad Mohamad Hossam, two Muslim lawyers and activists from the renowned NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) went to court to defend Diab's right to a fair trial but were assaulted by the other Muslim lawyers.
"They were assaulting us in a beastly and strange way just because we went there to defend a citizen who happened to be a Christian," said Adel Ramadam.
Ramadam also said that to get out of court was a complex operation and a huge task for the security personnel. "We left court in a security vehicle which took us to Security headquarters, otherwise, we don't know what the outcome would have been for us."
AINA explained that Makram Diab, a school secretary was sentenced by the Abanoub misdemeanor court two weeks ago to six years imprisonment on charges of insulting Islam's prophet. His defense lawyer, Ahmad Sayed Gabali, was also prevented during that session from entering the court by Muslim lawyers.
"I went to court today because I believe this citizen was stripped of all his rights," said Adel Ramadam in an aired interview today. "He had a quarrel with a Salafi school colleague and then 11 days later, it was suddenly decided by Muslims that they will report the case. He was detained by the prosecution for 4 days and two days later in a 10-minute session and without any defense lawyer present, he was sentenced to 6 years, which is way above the maximum of a misdemeanor case."
AINA said that eyewitnesses reported the Muslim lawyers were armed with clubs. A police captain, two EIPR lawyers, and two reporters from Ros-el-Youssef and El-Bashayer Egyptian newspapers were injured in the milieu.
Human rights groups reported that they were also forced out of the courtroom by the Muslims, AINA also reported.
Adel Ramadam said the court session never started because the judge knew that the defense team was prevented from entering the court, and knew of the assaults. "He just postponed the appeal session to April 5."
| ** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter |  |
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