V. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE TRIAL

On the evening of June 30, 2000, a detachment of some thirty armed State Security Intelligence (SSI - Mabahith Amn al-Dawla) officials raided the home of Saadeddin Ibrahim in the Cairo suburb of al-Ma'adi, arresting him and seizing documents, computers and other belongings. Present among the SSI officials was Hisham Badawi, head of the Supreme State Security Prosecution (Niyabat Amn al-Dawla al-'Ulya), who announced that he had a warrant to search the premises but failed to produce it when challenged to do so. That same evening, the SSI also arrested Nadia `Abd al-Nour, financial director and chief accountant at the Ibn Khaldun Center, together with her assistant Usama Hammad 'Ali. Both had been working late and were arrested in the street after leaving the center. They were forced into a waiting car, blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination by unidentified government security agents. Later that night they were brought back to the Ibn Khaldun Center together with Saadeddin Ibrahim. The Center's offices were searched and documents, computers and other material seized. At around 2:00 a.m., the three were taken to the premises of the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Heliopolis where they spent the night.

Prosecution officials began interrogating the detainees almost immediately, before they had had the opportunity to contact their lawyers. Saadeddin Ibrahim refused to answer any questions in the absence of a lawyer, but officials questioned Nadia `Abd al-Nour and Usama Hammad 'Ali for several hours. Later in the day, after further interrogation, Saadeddin Ibrahim and Nadia `Abd al-Nour were ordered held in preventive detention, renewable every fifteen days. Usama Hammad 'Ali was released but was rearrested several days later and held in preventive detention. The prosecution initially accused Saadeddin Ibrahim of receiving foreign funding without the authorities' permission, forgery of official documents, fraud, and the dissemination of false information damaging to Egypt's interests, but did not clarify the laws under which these (or later accusations) were made. In the ensuing days, a number of others connected to the Ibn Khaldun Center and the Hoda Association were also interrogated in connection with the case, several of who were detained for some weeks.

On August 10, both Saadeddin Ibrahim and Nadia `Abd al-Nour were released on bail, as were their detained colleagues in the week that followed. On September 24, in the wake of an announcement by Saadeddin Ibrahim that he intended for the Ibn Khaldun Center to proceed with its election monitoring plans despite his arrest, the prosecutor general formally referred the case to the Supreme State Security Court, naming Ibrahim and twenty-seven other defendants. Both the Ibn Khaldun Center and the Hoda Association remained closed. In a press conference held on October 2, Saadeddin Ibrahim announced his intention to freeze his public activities, including election monitoring, pending the outcome of the court case. The trial date was set for November 18.

The Supreme State Security Prosecution issued the bill of indictment on September 24. The chief defendant, Saadeddin Ibrahim, was charged on four counts: 1) conspiring to bribe public officials to undermine the performance of their duties; 2) receiving donations without prior permission from the competent authorities; 3) deliberately disseminating false information abroad about the internal situation in Egypt and thereby undermining the state's stature; and 4) using deceptive means to defraud the E.U.. Four other defendants, Nadia `Abd al-Nour, Khaled al-Fayyad, Usama Hammad Ali, and Marwa Ibrahim Zaki, were also charged with participating and assisting in conspiracy to commit bribery and in committing fraud.<sup>23</sup> Two others, Muhammad Hassanein `Amara and Magda al-Bey, were charged with separate offences relating to bribery and forgery of official documents.²⁴ The remaining defendants were charged with participating and assisting in the perpetration of fraud.

The trial was held over fifteen sessions spread over seven months, attended by journalists, embassy or consular officials and observers from a number of Egyptian and international human rights groups (including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights).

²³ Penal Code, articles 40 and 48, and 336(1) respectively.

²⁴ These charges are based on the provisions of articles 103, 104, 107, 207, 211, and 214 of the Penal Code.