An Egyptian court has sentenced the politician Hisham Qassem, who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Free Liberal Stream, to 6 months in prison with hard labor and fined him 20,000 Egyptian pounds in a financial misdemeanor case numbered 2021 for the year 2023. This decision was made according to his lawyer.
Qassem faced accusations of defamation and insult against the former Minister of Labor and a member of the Political Pardon Committee, Kamal Abu Aita, through social media. He was also accused of insulting a public servant while performing his duties as the head of investigations at the Sayeda Zeinab police department and intentionally causing disruption to the Sayeda Zeinab police force.
According to the news platform, the crisis between “Abu Aita and Qassem” started when the former made a statement during a press conference, stating, “I smell the scent of a foreign agenda within the Free Liberal Stream due to the presence of Qassem, and I am against any stream that takes cues from abroad.” In response, Qassem posted on his Facebook page, saying, “The Public Funds Investigations Authority had previously included Abu Aita, the first Minister of Labor after the events of June 30, among the accused in the largest embezzlement case involving public funds, in cooperation with others, with the charge of embezzling 40 million pounds over 7 years. The activist Abu Aita was forced to pay 75,000 pounds to dismiss the case against him.” Following this post, Abu Aita threatened to sue Qassem, denying those accusations and confirming that he had received fines or prison sentences in previous legal cases against those who spread those accusations.
It’s worth mentioning that on August 20th, the Sayeda Zeinab Prosecutor’s Office summoned Qassem for questioning based on a complaint filed by “Abu Aita.” The prosecution decided to release him on bail of 5,000 pounds, but Qassem refused to pay it and wrote on his Facebook page: “The prosecution released me on bail of 5,000 pounds. Of course, this is after them. I am cleaner than Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and all his men and agencies. I have decided not to pay the bail and remain in detention.”
On August 22nd, the South Cairo Prosecutor’s Office ordered Qassem’s detention for 4 days based on additional charges. Later, the Public Prosecution merged both complaints into one case, resulting in his imprisonment.
According to news reports, Qassem began a hunger strike on August 23rd to protest the fabricated charges against him and the arbitrary measures taken. However, he suspended his hunger strike on September 13th to avoid any suspicion of attempting to influence the court and out of respect for it, after it had lasted for 23 days.
Hisham Qassem is an Egyptian opposition politician who was chosen a few weeks before his arrest to be the Secretary-General of the Free Liberal Stream, which includes Egyptian political parties and various political figures and businessmen. He is also a well-known publisher, having founded the “Al-Masry Al-Youm” newspaper and the English-language “Cairo Times” newspaper.
