Blogger case presents last chance for Egyptian justice

Cairo - The defence team of Karim Amer the secular Egyptian blogger, has declared the reasons for revocation in the two verdicts issued against him. Amer has been given a sentence of four years imprisonment for disdaining Islam and insulting the president of the republic.

The defence appeal for revocation of the court verdict and sentence is based on a number of points, which include the fact that the court's verdict was based on the complaints and testimonials of Al-Azhar University's disciplinary board – that itself is suspect, and the court failed to identify the basic factors of the crime of profiting by religion to publish radical concepts as stipulated in Article 98 of the Egyptian legal code.

The defence team's other points include the fact that court applied a term doesn't exist in the law and the two verdicts violated the right to defence by refusing to resolve in the defence team's basic demands and holding back the suit discarding the defence's verbal pleading in the first sessions.

Some observers reckon that if the Egyptian court does not accept the defence case and revoke the original verdict, Egyptian justice will itself, be in the dock.

Source: IFEX