Ismail Serageldin Criminal or Genius.

[Hafiz]

I thought him one of Egypt’s heroes. The long term head of the Alex Library, a prolific author, descended from a pre-Nasser upper class family, sits on high status western Boards, 38 honorary doctorates, a knight of the Legion d’Honour and Order of the Rising Sun and too many other things to list. But no he is a crook and stole or misused public monies (not much Egyptian money in the library its largely western government and endowment money). Jailed for 3 ½ years.

Specifically be was accused of “squandering public funds …abuse of power…unfairly appointed advisors and gave them huge salaries.” My god if these are offenses millions of Egyptians face jail – beginning at the top.
http://northafricapost.com/849-ismail-s ... court.html

He was also accused “of embezzling donations destined to the library and illegally transferring them to a bank account controlled by former first lady Suzanne Mubarak.” Oddly the Welsh monster wasn’t charged. These were charges laid during Morsi – whether these were the charges prosecuted under Sisi I don’t know. It would seem that at least some of the 2011 allegations went through to 2017 but maybe bot the Divine Suzanne ones. All allegations are connected to allegations of one or a few former employees. https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/2017/09/ ... holarship/

When Mubarak fell he put out a public statement which said: “I believe that the anger and demands for better living conditions and jobs are fully justified.” https://www.ifla.org/FR/news/statement- ... dria-egypt. Therefore his alleged loyalty to Mubarak was hard to prove. His relations with The Brotherhood were tense and he was a strong advocate of tolerance and liberalism.

The Cairo media gave the case hardly any attention – which can’t be accidental.

Its interesting that Mubarak and sons and dozens of other crooks are free but a librarian is in jail – only in Egypt. The library is far from perfect but worked better than any other public institution in Egypt I can think of and is better designed – at least it avoids the standard Stalinist/Nasser architectural style found everywhere else.

Interestingly Over 90 Nobel Prize winners (including 3 Australians), 20 current and former heads of state (Gorbachev, Norway, Finland and Holland etc.) and the magazines Science and Nature, among others (Prince Turki of Saudi and Prince Hassan of Jordan etc), signed a letter supporting Serageldin and objecting to the verdict.

Serageldin’s description of the whole process is at http://helpforserageldin.com/case/. Key points are that the convicting judge has yet to give his written reasons for the conviction and earlier judges and prosecutors had either rejected the allegations or thought them insubstantial. Also it is invariably the case and possibly universally the case that the ‘negligence’ charges he was convicted of carry a fine and never a jail sentence – unless there has been a loss of life. In this matter there was no loss of life so it is at least arguable that the sentence is against the law.

How he did these crimes is unclear because he retired as librarian 15 yeas ago, maintains an emeritus position and sits as a member of its governing board.

A partisan but balanced website on the librarian http://helpforserageldin.com/

UPDATE. On 26 December an appeals court dismissed all charges and “found that all the accusations were baseless.” 6 years and the accusations were baseless. Normally an appeals court just finds errors or law or breaches of the rules of Evidence, In this case a rich man with some of the best legal minds in the world helping him, the support of the greatest scientists in the world and 20 heads of government takes 6 years to prove there was no basis from the beginning. Meanwhile the average Mohammed just gets shunted through the Egyptian legal abattoir. Surely there is a basis for disciplining the Prosecutor and convicting judge. So much time and money wasted.

A dark interpretation - in a land of dwarfs the tall man is the enemy if only because he makes the dwarfs feel inferior.

[newcastle]

A strange case indeed.

That a case is instigated on the accusations of colleagues is not unusual. Maybe he trod on toes. Maybe personal grudges were being pursued. Who knows.

That the case gained momentum under the rise of the islamists is unsurprising. He was always a thorn in their side.

That the case rumbled on even after the political demise of Morsi is, perhaps, an indication of "judicial independence"...a reluctance of the executive to step in no matter how frivolous the case, or how damaging the process might be to Egypt's reputation. Perhaps....

That the whole business has taken 6 years to resolve is, again, not exceptional in the 'Alice in Wonderland' world of the Egyptian judiciary.

One might criticise the action and judgments given at various points in the process and call for a review and possible prosecution of judges for legal transgressions or incompetence.

But then one reflects that criticism of the judiciary, justifiable or not, is a serious criminal offence and instead is simply grateful that the man is free without a blemish on his character.

Be thankful for small mercies.

[Hafiz]

Obviously droll irony is not dead in the Trump/Boris age. Well not entirely dead - maybe just on life support for the many.