Out of jail and awaiting his retrial, sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim shares some of his prison memories with Jailan Halawi For Egypt's most prominent human rights activist, Saadeddin Ibrahim, the harrowing experience of being put behind bars provided this sociologist with ample opportunities for observations and reflection. Ibrahim was released from Tora prison on 3 December after the Court of Cassation overruled a seven-year prison term handed down during a July State Security Court re-trial on charges that include tarnishing Egypt's image. In a telephone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly from his house in Maadi, Ibrahim spoke openly about some of his prison experiences, also sharing what he believes to be the "moral of the story". "It has been two years now since my case started and I have been in prison before. But the first two days I spent in detention at Al-Khalifa were the harshest of my imprisonment by far," Ibrahim said. By detention at Al-Khalifa, Ibrahim meant the holding cell at the Khalifa district police station which functions as a transitional place for convicts sentenced in different cases or detained pending interrogation, until authorities decide on their final destination. "The room seemed like a jungle as it was obvious that the only rule that applied was survival of the fittest," mused Ibrahim. "Prisoners fight over almost everything, whether space, food or even using the limited toilet facilities." It was the end of July, one of the hottest months of the year, "and we [inmates] had to survive with only one fan that stopped every two hours until we paid the guards. I have grave doubts that this place is even fit for animals." Luckily, Ibrahim did not have to fight for space, either because officials had warned the other inmates of the consequences of any misbehaviour directed at the famous sociologist, or because the inmates themselves had heard of his case and paid him [Ibrahim] due respect. Tough as it was, this experience "helped me discover my ability to adapt. I was too busy observing everything around me while trying to manage my survival," Ibrahim said. On the third day, Ibrahim was moved to Tora prison, which, compared to his two days of detention, he said felt like "a homecoming. It felt like acquittal. Everything is relative, so when you go through the hardship of a holding cell, moving to prison only brings with it the thought that there would be space to sleep, sit, eat and walk," he said. Since it was not his first time at Tora prison, Ibrahim had already established several friendships with some of his fellow prisoners -- who received him with a "warm welcome" -- as well as prison officials. Ibrahim was given the same cell where he had previously spent nine months before being released pending his first re-trial in February 2002. "Everything looked familiar, except for the new faces [of inmates] I saw in building six where my cell was. Most them were VIPs. There were two former ministers, one former governor, three former members of parliament, several businessmen and more police officers jailed on torture related crimes, along with an assortment of convicts." As a sociologist, this "tapestry" of Egyptian society provided Ibrahim with plenty of material for "reflection and learning. It was obvious that from the lowest to the highest segments of society, people were seemingly in trouble, which mirrors that Egypt is not in its best shape." According to Ibrahim, this phenomenon is the outcome of problems that have been accumulating for a very long time without "forceful" solutions being sought out, making prison the last resort. Ibrahim, who turned 64 on the day of his release, holds dual Egyptian-American citizenship, and is the director of the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies (ICDS), as well as an outspoken human rights activist and professor at the American University in Cairo. He was arrested in June 2000 along with 27 others, the majority of whom were ICDS employees. They were first convicted in May 2001, receiving prison terms ranging from one to seven years, with Ibrahim receiving the harshest sentence. A re-trial after the first successful appeal of the sentence ended with a reconfirmation of Ibrahim's original seven year sentence. Three other defendants received prison terms of between two to three years while the remaining 24 received suspended sentences and were released. Last Tuesday marked the second time in less than a year that the Court of Cassation has overruled a State Security Court conviction of Ibrahim and his associates on charges of accepting foreign funds without government permission, embezzling those funds, and spreading false rumours about Egypt. A sociologist with an international reputation, Ibrahim's trials have been very high-profile, even resulting in strained ties between Cairo and Washington. Because of Ibrahim, the Bush administration declared its opposition to providing extra aid to Egypt, which receives almost $2 billion of US money annually. Rights groups had described Ibrahim's sentencing as an attempt to muzzle a fledgling civil society, while Egypt defended the independence of the judiciary, and said the case should not be turned into a political issue. Regardless of the case's political ramifications, Ibrahim expressed his "great confidence and faith in the Egyptian judicial system", whose Court of Cassation has now acquitted him twice over. At the same time, he believes his case has "alerted Egypt that its domestic affairs are no longer isolated from the world, which cannot afford to leave such a strategic country alone". The moral Ibrahim learned from his ordeal is that there are "red- lines" that shouldn't be crossed, because when they are, some officials become very "nervous" and "harsh". Ever controversial, the sociologist says his "prison experience [taught him] something new about my eye sight. I recognised that I am colour blind, [like a person who can] not differentiate red from orange from yellow. Even if the red lines still exist, I will continue to be colour blind and I cannot help it," Ibrahim said. Ibrahim's second re-trial is scheduled for 7 January 2003.
