Anticipating strike THE PHARMACISTS Syndicate announced staging a partial nationwide strike starting from 5 February at the board meeting on Tuesday. A strike by the Doctors Syndicate was staged on 21 January in protest of the Health Ministry ignoring the demands of thousands of doctors, but the pharmacists postponed their strike to 5 February. According to Hossam Hariri, the treasurer, the strike was postponed to give the Ministry of Health and the crisis committee of the Armed Forces a chance to meet the pharmacists' demands and in consideration of the unstable political situation. Demands include an increase in the state's health budget to provide better incentives, working conditions and healthcare tools for doctors, as well as a new administrative and financial cadre for doctors. One year term A CAIRO criminal court sentenced the Salafi preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail to one year in prison with hard labour for insulting the judiciary. The former presidential candidate Abu Ismail made his insulting comments during his ongoing trial for forgery, when he insisted he did not recognise the court. Following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, Abu Ismail was detained together with various Muslim Brotherhood leaders for inciting the violence that led to the death of nine protesters in Giza. He was later accused of submitting forged documents about his mother's nationality in official papers to the electoral committee before the 2012 presidential elections. Abu Ismail, a lawyer and preacher with a wide following, was disqualified from the presidential race after reports emerged that his mother held a US passport. The court adjourned his forgery trial until 22 January. Postponed appeal A CAIRO court deferred an appeal against the jail sentences of prominent political activists Ahmed Doma, Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel to 10 February. On Monday the appellate court also refused to suspend the jail sentences handed down to Doma, Maher and Adel for allegedly staging un-authorised protests and attacking security forces last November. The three men are leading figures of the protests that ignited the popular revolt against deposed president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Maher and Adel are co-founders of the 6 April Youth Movement, which was at the forefront of the 25 January Revolution; Doma is a well-known activist. All three have been active for many years and were detained under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. Doma was also imprisoned under SCAF and former president Mohamed Morsi. Together they were sentenced last month to three years in jail and fined LE50,000. According to a recently-enacted protest law, demonstrations that are not authorised by the police are punishable with jail sentences and fines. Espionage trial OUSTED president Mohamed Morsi will stand trial on 16 February for collaborating with Hamas, Hizbullah and other organisations to commit terrorist operations in Egypt, a Cairo appeal court ordered on Tuesday. Morsi and 35 co-defendants including prominent members of his Muslim Brotherhood and former presidential advisers are all facing trial for allegedly collaborating with foreign organisations to commit acts of terror in Egypt, revealing defence secrets to a foreign country, funding terrorists and training “to achieve the purposes of the international organisation of the Brotherhood”, according to an earlier statement by the prosecutor-general. The statement specifically accused Brotherhood leaders of collaborating with Gaza rulers Hamas, the Lebanese Shia organisation Hizbullah and other organisations “inside and outside” Egypt to smuggle arms, organise military training in the Gaza Strip and fund a scheme to stir chaos and threaten national security. Hamas leaders have nevertheless consistently denied any links to unrest in Egypt. Nineteen of the defendants, including Morsi, are already behind bars. The prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for the remaining 17. Morsi, ousted on 3 July by the military amid mass protests against his troubled one-year rule, currently stands trial for incitement to murder and violence during clashes between his supporters and opponents at Al-Ittihadiya presidential palace on 4 December 2012. The clashes resulted in the murder of eight people. Compiled by Ahmed Morsy
