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Egyptian military court upholds jail sentence of opposition politician and former anti-graft chief - lawyer
Egypt's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Sami Anan during a meeting in Cairo, Egypt, March 29, 2011. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Khaled Desouki/Pool
03/03/2019
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian military court has rejected an appeal made by Egypt's former anti-corruption chief and an opposition figure against a five-year prison sentence for spreading false news harmful to the military, his lawyer said on Sunday.
Shortly before his arrest Hisham Genena had served on the campaign team of former military chief of staff Sami Anan, who was planning to run as an independent candidate against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in March 2018 elections. But Anan's presidential bid was cut short in when the military arrested him in January 2018 for allegedly running without permission.
Genena was arrested a month later after he told HuffPost Arabi news website that Anan possessed documents that were damning of senior Egyptian officials. That April a military court sentenced him to five years in prison after finding him guilty of spreading false information.
His lawyer Hussam Lotfy told Reuters the sentence had been upheld. The verdict was subject to further appeal.
Genena's daughter, Shorouk Genena, told Reuters she believed the sentence was upheld
"for political reasons, specially during the time while the constitution is being amended, they don't want anyone to open his mouth or be outside (prison) during the coming period."
Egypt’s parliament is debating proposed constitutional changes that could allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2034 and tighten his control over the judiciary.
Genena was fired as head of Egypt's corruption watchdog in 2016 after the government accused him of exaggerating the scale of public sector graft.
Shorouk Genena said an eye injury her father sustained in an attack after Anan's arrest had not healed and that he wasn't getting proper medical care in prison.
"There was something wrong with his eye, it was very obvious today," she said. "We have asked them (authorities) to take him to the prison hospital, but all in vain," she added.
At the time Genena said the assault had been orchestrated by the government, which denied this.
(Reporting by Amina Ismail; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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