CAIRO: Egypt's Agouza criminal court acquitted Egyptian actor Adel Imam and director Sherif Arafah, screen writer Lenin al-Ramley, director Nader Galal and Mohamed Fadel in the case of insulting Islam in films they had made over a decade ago. This, in its session on Thursday. Two days ago, the sentence against them was upheld on appeal, when a court handed Imam a three month hard labor jail sentence, and fine of about $170. The court today, however, ruled that no crime exists, and that therefore, the previous verdict is null and void. Family and friends of the artists cheered the sentence and welcomed it with screams and chants, according to reports from inside the courthouse. “The sentence against Adel Imam for creative work he has done is intellectual terrorism,” said the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression in a statement released shortly after the team was acquitted. “[The sentence that was over-ruled] is a warning to the creative community. Beware, ideas can lead to prisons,” it added. The films in question include “The Terrorist,” “Terrorism and the Kabab,” among others. Imam, it seems, also dodged a bullet. Imam, 71-years-old – and with a career that spans nearly half-a-century of cinematic portrayals – was found guilty of blasphemy in February. Under the decades-long rule of military strong-man Hosni Mubarak, government censors controlled cinema. The films Imam had starred in were approved by those censors.