Activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, lawyer Mohamed Baqer and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim to be sentenced in emergency trial on Dec 20

After just three trial sessions in which defense lawyers were not granted access to case files or a chance to present arguments, an emergency court decided on Monday to issue its verdict next month on false news charges against imprisoned activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim.

According to family members and lawyers of the defendants who attended the session in  New Cairo on Monday, neither the defense nor prosecution were given time to state their cases clearly, and the session failed to adhere to due legal procedure and violated the right to a fair trial.

All three defendants were arrested in September 2019 during a widespread crackdown by security forces that saw thousands held in remand detention in response to limited protests that broke out nationwide against government corruption.

Though none of the defendants participated in the protests, they were held on charges of publishing false news, using social media to do so, and of joining a terrorist group. It was not until October this year that the State Security Prosecution referred Abd El Fattah, Ibrahim and Baqer to trial at the Emergency State Security Misdemeanors Court on the false news charges. 

Though emergency law was allowed to lapse for the first time in years in October, all three defendants are nevertheless eligible for trial at an emergency court since the investigation into charges against them was opened during the legal state of emergency. As such, they will not be able to appeal any verdict they receive through the normal court system, with direct appeal to the president or delegate constituting the only avenue to overturn sentences. The third hearing in the case lasted over five hours on Monday, during which defense lawyers repeated their requests to be allowed access to the case files, but, as in the first two sessions, the judge did not grant them permission, nor were they allowed to present their arguments. Prosecutors did not present their arguments either.

Baqer and Abd El Fattah spoke to the judge during the hearing, according to Baqer’s wife Naema Hisham, with Baqer stressing his legal right to review the case files and charges against him.

Ibrahim’s lawyer submitted a litigation request to the court, which lawyer Khaled Ali joined on behalf of Abd El Fattah, on the grounds that lawyers were not allowed to obtain a copy of the case files, according to Mona Seif, Abd El Fattah’s sister. Ali told Mada Masr that though the lawyers suggested the prosecution could exclude any documents they did not wish to share with the defense, they have not been able to look over or copy the case files.

The prosecutor ignored the litigation request and began to present his argument, said Seif, after which some of the defense lawyers interrupted him and an argument ensued between the lawyers and the judge. The judge adjourned the session three times before taking a decision to schedule the verdict for December 20, Sarah Rabie, a lawyer in Baqer’s defense team, told Mada Masr.

The proceedings are in violation of the right to fair and equitable trial and of the Criminal Procedure Code, said Sarah Rabie, a lawyer in Baqer’s defense team. “There is no law that bars lawyers from getting a copy of the case files or submitting defense arguments.”

If the court convicts and sentences Abd El Fattah, Baqer and Ibrahim, the time the three have been held in remand detention will not be counted as part of the ultimate sentence, despite the fact that all three have already been held for longer than two years, the upper legal limit on remand detention periods for those suspected of the most serious crimes, Abd El Fattah’s lawyer Khaled Ali said.

Abd El Fattah and Baqer were originally arrested on suspicion of felonies, though they are currently being tried for misdemeanors, explained Ali, meaning that the prosecution is able to refer the misdemeanor charges to a competent court while the defendants remain in remand detention on suspicion of the original felony charges.

According to Ali, the period of remand detention counts as time served in misdemeanor verdicts only if the original felony charge is dismissed or in the event of an acquittal following trial referrals.

Since their arrests in 2019, all three men have been detained in poor conditions at Tora Prison Complex, with their rights to family and lawyer visits, correspondence and reading material denied to them. Mohamed Ibrahim has attempted suicide, while Abd El Fattah indicated in September that he had contemplated suicide.

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