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Egypt: Appeals Court upholds Mursi premier’s prison sentence | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Former Egyptian prime minister Hisham Qandil talking during a press conference at the congress center during the World Economic Forum in Davos (AFP PHOTO / ERIC PIERMONT)


Former Egyptian prime minister Hisham Qandil talking during a press conference at the congress center during the World Economic Forum in Davos (AFP PHOTO / ERIC PIERMONT)

Former Egyptian prime minister Hisham Qandil talking during a press conference at the congress center during the World Economic Forum in Davos (AFP PHOTO / ERIC PIERMONT)

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Cairo Appeals Court upheld a prison sentence against Hisham Qandil, former prime minister under ousted President Mohamed Mursi, on Monday.

The Court of First Instance jailed Qandil for one year in July on a charge of refusing to carry out a court order to cancel the privatization of a public company and the return of its dismissed workers to their jobs.

The judiciary issued an order to freeze Qandil’s assets and banned him from leaving the country at the start of September. The Appeals Court’s decision today is enforceable. A security source said he would issue an order for Qandil’s arrest to enforce the sentence.

Qandil has disappeared from public view since the ouster of Mursi on July 3, 2013. Security forces launched a number of raids on the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood after breaking up the pro-Mursi protests in Cairo on August 14, which were followed by clashes that resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Mursi was himself referred for trial on charges of incitement of violence and a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested.

Egyptian courts have issued at least 11 sentences since the revolution which ousted Mubarak in 2011, all of which ordered the reversal of the sale of government companies in deals signed during Mubarak’s time in office.

Activists and lawyers made judicial complaints because the companies were sold at very low prices, and alleged that the deals represented an example of corrupt practices that were widespread during Mubarak’s rule. The courts’ rulings cause legal problems for a number of foreign companies working in Egypt, which may force the government to face international arbitration, raising fears that the move could drive much needed foreign investment away.