Summary of the Ruling of the Court of Cassation

1. Regarding the charge of receiving funds in violation of Military Decree 4/1992:
This charge is dismissed because the funds were found to be contractual payments governed by a contract that imposed numerous obligations on the Recipients, subject to stringent conditions, during the entire lifetime of the project. Free donations?that are prohibited by the Decree?on the other hand, require that the Donor relinquish control over the donated funds.

2. The charge of fraud:
The Court finds that Professor Ibrahim is innocent of this charge on two general determinations. The first is that the Trial Court has failed to appreciate that the required constituents of the crime of fraud were not present; and second, that the Donor has, in a written affidavit, denied that he fell victim to any fraud by the Defendant. Hence, the Defendant is innocent of any fraudulent acts, and the charge is dismissed.

3. The charge of defaming the Egyptian State:
After reviewing the statements of Professor Ibrahim concerning discrimination against the Copts and his criticism of election practices, as well as reviewing the statements of numerous persons who testified to his academic integrity, the Court concluded that the objective analysis of the failings of society with the aim of correcting its shortcomings is a valid aim of sociological research, and should constitute no cause for attributing ulterior intentions of malice to the researcherThe Court is convinced that Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a scholar in his field of specialization and has not shed his loyalty to his mother country, Egypt.. Hence, as per article 47 of the Egyptian Constitution, he is entitled, as is every other citizen?in the interest of the well-being of the society?to give free expression to his opinions by spoken or written wordor by any other legal means. The Defendant has utilized his scholarly expertise in the study of the negative aspects within Egyptian civil society in the course of its democratic development. He has enumerated these negative aspects, as recorded in published material, placing them in their historical context, then, without resorting to any intentional falsification, analyzed their causes and provided?supported by international conventions to which Egypt is a signatory?the needed solutions to overcome these negative features.

What the Defendant has written in his reports and his research studies concerning the rigging of elections and the concerns of the Copts is no more than what has already been published on these subjects in books and the press, or raised in cases before the Egyptian courts. Moreover, in the present age of the communication revolution, where information is readily available to all who seek it, transmitting abroad such information?whether authored by the Defendant or others?in the course of proposing the undertaking of a joint project with a particular organization, with the aim of developing society, cannot be construed as the transmission abroad of false information or the propagation of malicious rumors.

Thus, the requirements of the crime provided under article (80-d) of the Penal Code are not fulfilled. Hence, the Defendant should be acquitted of this crime, pursuant to article (304) of the Penal Procedural Code. With this finding, the Court sees no need to discuss the plea submitted by the Defendant to dismiss the charge on grounds of the unconstitutionality of statute 80-d.