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Vol. 78/No. 13      April 7, 2014

 
Leader of Egyptian farmers’ group
fights gov’t frame-up
 
BY GEORGES MEHRABIAN  
ATHENS, Greece — Karam Saber, president of the Land Center for Human Rights based in Cairo, was convicted March 11 in Beni Suef, Egypt, and sentenced to five years imprisonment. The verdict was based on an article in the constitution that makes it a crime to “promote sedition or contempt of heavenly religions or harm national unity.” He is free for now, pending appeal.

“The charge against me was filed on April 12, 2011, by individuals who are close to the Muslim Brotherhood,” Sabar said in a March 14 phone interview. “The General Prosecutor pursued the charge, which claims my 2010 novel Where Is God? was in violation of the constitution. The novel was declared as being against religion both by the Christian diocese of Beni Suef and officials of the Al-Azhar Mosque.”

In May 2013, one month before the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown, “the police violated the premises of the Land Center in Cairo and tried to take me into custody,” said Saber. “I refused to go and called upon lawyers and others to come to our defense, which many did.”

“These charges are an attack on the Land Center and its activities on behalf of small farmers and fishermen for the past 15 years,” said Saber. “We have helped organize 30 farmers’ unions and 10 unions of fishermen. We have been part of farmers’ fights for land; we have encouraged cooperative farming and fought against farm debts.

The fight against Saber’s frame-up has received support from prominent Egyptian authors, including Bahaa Taher and Ibrahim Abdel Meguid; the Lawyers’ Union; and dozens of unions. The Commission of Story Writers, which is affiliated with the government Ministry of Culture, condemned the ruling, saying “the constitution states that the state must protect the freedom of expression and must prevent actions aimed at artists or their work.”

Letters of protest can be addressed to the President of the Republic of Egypt, Federal Palace Heliopolis, Cairo; to the Prime Minister at Al-Kasr Al-Ainy Building, Council of Ministers, Cairo; and to the Attorney General, July 62 Street, Supreme Court, Cairo. Copies should be sent to the Land Center for Human Rights at lchr@lchr-eg.org  
 
 
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