DOHA - Exiled Egyptian sociologist and democracy activist Saadeddin Ibrahim said he was prepared to risk arrest by returning to Egypt in June. His supporters say his return would represent a challenge to the Egyptian Government ahead of presidential elections due in 2011, and as questions mount about who will succeed President Hosni Mubarak, 81. Ibrahim, who was jailed for months in 2002 in a case that strained US-Egypt ties, accused Cairo of using supporters of the ruling party to harass him with a string of legal cases. "I will return to Egypt, hopefully in June. There is a real risk that I may be detained or arrested again," he told Reuters in an interview in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday. Ibrahim, a dual US-Egyptian citizen, has been living abroad since 2007 to avoid the possibility of jail at home. He was sentenced to two years in jail in absentia in 2008 on charges of damaging Egypt's reputation, a verdict that was later overturned by a court which said the charges could only be brought by prosecutors, not individuals. "The Government can claim they have nothing to do with it, that they are private claims against my 'outrageous behaviour'." Ibrahim's 2008 conviction stemmed from a private prosecution by two lawyers who objected to remarks he made about Egypt at a conference in Doha, where he urged Washington …quot; a big donor …quot; to link aid with political reform and better human rights. The overturned suit was one of several filed against Ibrahim by politicians and others, some close to Egyptian authorities. Rights groups say the suits are a way for the Government to intimidate Ibrahim without putting its name to the cases.
