Egypt court revokes jail terms in foreign funding case

By Sayed Fathi

CAIRO

Egypt’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned prison sentences handed down earlier against 16 individuals -- including an American and a German national -- for receiving unauthorized funding from overseas, according to a local judicial source.

Earlier, Egypt’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appellate court, accepted appeals lodged by the convicts’ lawyers.

The case dates back to 2011, shortly after Egypt’s Jan. 25 uprising, when dozens of individuals -- including both Egyptians and foreign nationals -- were accused of receiving foreign funding without the consent of the government.

In mid-2013, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 27 people -- in absentia -- to five years in prison each, including 18 Americans and nine other foreigners working in Egypt for foreign organizations.

The court also slapped five other people with two-year jail terms -- an American, a German and three Egyptians -- while sentencing 11 other Egyptians to one year each behind bars.