10 Bibliotheca Alexandrina employees sentenced to a year in prison, 8 acquitted

West Alexandria Misdemeanor Court sentenced 10 Bibliotheca Alexandrina employees to one year in prison and a LE1000 fine for insulting and detaining Ismail Serageldin, chairman of the board of trustees of the Bibliotheca. The court acquitted eight other employees.

The defendants, who are also members of the Independent Union for workers at the Bibliotheca, are Ashraf Saqr, Sherif al-Masry, Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim, Ibrahim Wagih, Ehab al-Emary, Ramy al-Banna, Sayed al-Damassy, Sayed Anwar, Mohamed Gharib and Nesma Hesham. They were allegedly protesting against Serageldin and demanding his dismissal for squandering Bibliotheca assets.

According to a statement by the Center for Trade Unions & Workers Services (CTUWS), the defendants’ lawyer, Emad al-Nabawi said they were handed six months in prison for detaining Serageldin and another six months for insulting a government employee. Nabawi confirmed that the sentences are preliminary and will be appealed.

In 2012, Serageldin dismissed poet Omar Hazeq from the Bilbliotheca after he was sentenced to two years in jail for violating the Protest Law. Calls to boycott activities at the Bibliotheca were widely circulated on social media in response to what was seen as an arbitrary decision by Serageldin.

A legal note released by the management attributed the decision to “the nature of [Hazeq's] 'crime', which is a misdemeanor that disrupts internal state security.”  The Bibliotheca’s bylaws, however, state that only cases involving moral violations can be cause for dismissal.