For 'spreading false news,' US citizen gets life in Egypt prison

Mohammed Soltan, the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced Saturday on charges of financing an anti-government sit-in and spreading false news.

|
(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Egyptian Judge Mohammed Nagi Shehata reads the verdicts in a case rooted in violence that swept the country after the military-led ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, April 11, 2015. The court upheld death sentences for 14 people. US-Egyptian citizen Mohammed Soltan, who has been on hunger strike for more than 14 months, is one of the defendants handed a life sentence on Saturday on charges of financing an anti-government sit-in and spreading false news.

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen on a months long hunger strike to life in prison Saturday on charges of financing an anti-government sit-in and spreading false news.

Mohammed Soltan, the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in August 2013, when security forces came looking for his father at his house. They didn't find the father at the time, but arrested him instead, Soltan's family said.

The 27 year old been on a hunger strike over his detention for more than 14 months and his health is rapidly deteriorating, his family said.

The court also upheld death sentences for 14 people, including Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and Soltan's father, Saleh, and sentenced 36 others beside Soltan to life in prison.

None of the defendants were present in the courtroom as Judge Mohammed Nagi Shehata read out his ruling. Shehata has developed a reputation for harsh sentences against perceived government critics. Last year he sentenced three journalists from Al-Jazeera English to jail terms ranging from seven to 10 years, a verdict that exposed Egypt to global complaints of suppressing media freedom.

In a statement after Soltan's sentencing, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said it remained "gravely concerned" about him and the outcome of his case.

"We will continue to monitor his case closely and to provide him with all possible support," the embassy said. "His health and well-being remain of particular concern and remain a top priority to us."

The case is rooted in violence that swept the country after the military-led ouster in 2013 of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, whose supporters set up protest camps in Cairo. Security forces violently dispersed the sit-ins in August 2013, killing hundreds. In retaliation, many police stations and churches came under attack.

Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has faced international criticism for conducting mass trials with judges issuing severe sentences.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported:

Since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, his military and political establishment have fought hard and largely successfully to stuff the genie of political change back in the bottle. Show trials and extended pre-trial detention have been a large part of that effort.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to For 'spreading false news,' US citizen gets life in Egypt prison
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2015/0411/For-spreading-false-news-US-citizen-gets-life-in-Egypt-prison
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe