CAIRO: The court of South Cairo has rejected the claim filed by Sheikh Yusuf al-Badri against the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) for slander and libel. Al-Badri demanded one million Egyptian pounds in compensation for a statement which ANHRI released in 2007 showing solidarity with the poet Ahmed Abdel Moati Hegazi. According to the ANHRI, Hegazi was threatened to have all his furniture sold if he did not pay the compensation al-Badri was claiming. Al-Badri then decided to file a new claim against ANHRI, saying their statement was critical of him. The courts ruled in favor of ANHRI, saying criticism is an inalienable aspect of freedom of expression. “Litigations by Al-Badri against writers and journalists have retreated following the revolution, yet they did not come to an end,” said Gamal Eid, Executive Director of ANHRI. “We are hoping that Al-Badri stops his way of prosecuting those who disagree with him. Instead, we hope that he confronts an argument with yet another argument. We remind Al-Badri that those who endanger Egypt are the figures of corruption and repression, whether those being tried after the revolution, or those who eluded justice with impunity, and not the Egyptian writers, intellectuals, and journalists who have been cautious in their writings addressing him or even getting close, distancing themselves from prosecution and compensation that he often turns to.” The lawsuit is the first time a human rights organization in Egypt has been targeted for slander. Al-Badri has been known in the past for taking a legal stance against journalists and writers, and as such has not been well received by activists. Earlier in 2008 Al-Badri sued poet Helmi Salem fro insulting ‘The Divine Being.' Salem had received one of the highest literary awards in Egypt for his poetry. The court ruled in favour of Al-Badri, saying Salem's poetry was indeed insulting to God, and thus revoked his prize. BM
