CAIRO: The Administrative Court issued a verdict in favor of three Ain Shams University students on Sunday, permitting them to take their exams on Jan. 13 in spite of a penalty the university imposed against the students for distributing flyers on campus that called for political change. Administrators for the Faculty of Law at Ain Shams University decided to prevent the three students from taking their first term examinations after they were investigated for distributing flyers in early December that called for political change and reform. The court had initially issued a verdict that prohibited the students from taking the examinations for two subjects rather than all subjects, according to a statement issued by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), which is representing the students' case in court. The statement added that the AFTE appealed the court's preliminary verdict, demanding that the students be permitted to take all of their exams. “Although the court's [preliminary verdict] was considered a reduced penalty, it still violated the students' right to freedom of expression,” the AFTE statement read. The AFTE is a human rights organization which has a program devoted to academic freedom that provides legal support to the faculty and students of Egypt's universities. “We monitor any violations against the rights of university students or professors and take the necessary procedures to defend their rights,” Ahmed Ezzat, a lawyer for AFTE, told Daily News Egypt. According to Ezzat, the students they defend include members of the April 6 Youth Movement and the Youth for Justice and Freedom groups. “[The three students] were just distributing flyers prior to the parliamentary elections to raise awareness regarding the elections and the importance of the People's Assembly,” April 6 Youth Movement Coordinator Ahmed Maher told Daily News Egypt. “The flyers also called for the amendment of the constitution and expelling the police from campus.” The court said that the university's decision was “very harsh” for the accusations filed against the students, as it threatened the students' future. Depriving the students of taking their first term exams would result in their failing the academic year; they'd have to repeat it the year in order to pass, said Ezzat. Khaled Abdel Rahman, the dean of the Faculty of Law at Ain Shams University, refused to comment on the Administrative Court's recent verdict. “We call on the university to execute the verdict and to not attempt to evade it, because time is too short and the students' future is at stake,” Ezzat stated. “I expect that the university will issue another decision to deprive the students of taking their first-term exams, and by the time we appeal their decision, the exams will have already started and it will be too late,” he added. “If the court order isn't executed, we [the April 6 Youth Movement] will organize a sit-in in front of the University's Administration and the Ministry of Higher Education until it's executed,” Maher said.
