CAIRO: Lawyers representing three human rights defenders on trial against a judge who they say plagiarized 50 pages of a book, told the court on Saturday that judge Abdel-Fatah Murad brought charges under articles that have been abrogated. Three defense lawyers spoke during the court session, which was held in the judge's chambers. No member of the public prosecution office was present during the hearing, which, while it is common, is not in accordance with legal procedures. Lawyer Hamdy El-Assiouty said that the case against defendants Ahmed Seif and Gamal Eid — directors of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) and the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC), respectively — and blogger Amr Gharbeia “should be studied in law schools as an example of a victim becoming a defendant.” El-Assiouty outlined the chronology of the case since February 2007, when Gharbeia discovered that Murad had reproduced 50 pages of an ANHRI report in his book “Scientific and Legal Principles of Blogs” without crediting the NGO. When ANHRI issued a statement about the plagiary, Murad filed charges of defamation, blackmail and misuse of communications against Seif and Eid and defamation and misuse of communications against Gharbeia. El-Assiouty told the court that in the 26-page complaint Murad filed with the public prosecution office in 2007, the judge brought charges “under Penal Code articles which had been abrogated and others which are entirely irrelevant,” citing Articles 168 to 200 of the Penal Code. The presiding judge Mohamed El-Demeiry read aloud parts of these articles that mention “public official” and “judge” in an apparent challenge to El-Assiouty's assertion. El-Assiouty then described the version of events relating to the blackmail charges as described by Murad, who claims that Eid and Seif threatened to harm him if he did not give them LE 50,000. The defense lawyer said that according to the complaint filed by Murad, an office boy named Ramadan on a train to Cairo from Alexandria on which Murad was traveling offered to accompany the judge to the Lawyers' Syndicate in Cairo and carry his briefcase for him after Murad was taken ill. A bookseller at the syndicate was then allegedly instructed by Eid to pass on to Murad the threat of harm if he did not pay up LE 50,000. El-Assiouty told the court that Murad “concocted this story because legally there must be two witnesses to an incident of blackmail for charges to be brought.” He also alleged that Ramadan gave false testimony to the public prosecution office during investigations. The case continues on September 18 when defense pleadings will resume.
