CAIRO: North Cairo Court ruled in favor of Mahmoud Mekky, vice president of the Cairo Cassation Court, in the defamation lawsuit that he filed against Mohamed Aly Ibrahim, chief editor of Al-Gomhuria newspaper, demanding Ibrahim to pay LE 50, 000 as a fine to Mekky. Mekky had filed a lawsuit against Ibrahim accusing him of defaming and offending him after state-run newspaper Al-Gomhuria published an article indicating that Mekky has participated in a conference in Qatar, whose organizers allegedly aim to overthrow the current government in Egypt. Hisham Al-Bastawisy, vice president of the Cairo Appeals Court, told Daily News Egypt that this verdict does not put an end to the lawsuit as Ibrahim has filed for an appeal. He also said that Mekky had originally asked for a LE 5 million fine to be paid by Ibrahim in compensation. Mekky was unavailable for comment when contacted by Daily News Egypt. While Ibrahim confirmed his intention to appeal the verdict to Daily News Egypt, his office manager had told Daily News Egypt early Thursday that there are "many lawsuits that are filed against the newspaper, which makes it hard for us to follow them all, and we are not aware of this verdict.
