For organizing cultural event, Saudi court sentences 10 Nubian Egyptians to 10–18 years in prison

Ten Egyptians of Nubian origin were issued prison sentences today ranging from 10 to 18 years in a ruling at a court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to one of the defendant’s family members and an Amnesty International researcher who spoke to Mada Masr.

The 10 accused were arrested in July 2020 in relation to a peaceful community event they planned and hosted in Saudi Arabia in October 2019 to commemorate the 1973 October war, and have now been held in custody for over 26 months.

In the first court session, held at the end of last year, charges were pressed against the detainees including “establishing an unlicensed association, supporting the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, spreading false and malicious rumors on Facebook, and organizing an assembly without a license,” according to several family members of the accused who spoke to Mada Masr. 

The final verdict on the charges is yet to be issued following their sentencing today in Riyadh Specialized Criminal Court, as the ruling is subject to two further rounds of appeal.

All 10 of the detainees are former or current community leaders among the Nubian diaspora in Riyadh, including former community leader Adel Ibrahim Faqir, 65; current community leader Farjallah Ahmed Youssef; Jamal Abdallah Masr, head of the Dahmit Nubian Village Association in Riyadh, a community group that encourages members to share and engage with Nubian history and culture; as well as a further six members of the same community groups. 

Amnesty International and the Gulf Center for Human Rights both stated that upon their arrest, the community members were questioned about “neglecting to include a picture of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi” in decorations at the 2019 event. The GCHR stated that detainees had attempted to explain that decorative banners at the event were not intended to be political, and only depicted Nubian Egyptians who had participated in the war, most prominent among them the late Field Marshal Ahmed Hussein Tantawi.

According to a family member of one of the detainees, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, and Dana Ahmed, a researcher for Amnesty International working on the Middle East and North Africa region, the Riyadh court sentenced Mohamed Fathallah Gomaa to 18 years in prison, Farjallah Ahmed Youssef to 16 years, and both Adel Ibrahim Faqir and Sayyed Hashem Shater to 14 years. The sentences of the remaining six ranged between 10 and 12 years.

Lawyers will be able to confirm the sentences when the verdict is issued next week, said both sources. Under the appeals process in Saudi Arabia, they now have 30 days to appeal their sentence, said Dana Ahmed. The family member said they intend to appeal the sentence.

After relitigation at the appeals court, the ruling will be subject to a final round at the kingdom’s supreme court, after which the ruling will be made final.