Former PM Hesham Qandil acquitted by Cassation Court

The Court of Cassation acquitted former Prime Minister Hesham Qandil on Sunday, state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported, annulling a one-year sentence handed down to him by a misdemeanors court for failing to uphold a previous 2011 court order in favor of workers of the Nile Cotton Ginning Company in Tanta to reverse the privatization of the company.

Qandil is expected to be released from the Dokki Police Station on Monday morning, state-owned Al-Ahram reported, since he is not wanted in any other cases.

In September 2011, the administrative court had ruled in favor of the workers, deeming the privatization of the company illegal and ordering its return to the state. Workers were also to be reinstated to the positions they held before the company’s privatization in 2005.

While he was still prime minister, a misdemeanors court sentenced Qandil to one year in prison and removed him from his post for failing to uphold the court order. On July 3, the day that Mohamed Morsi was ousted from the presidency, the court rejected Qandil’s appeal and confirmed the sentence.

Ignoring the court order and the removal of Morsi, Qandil retained his position for a few more days, resigning on July 8 in protest against the violence used against pro-Morsi demonstrators.

Qandil’s defense team argued that the case was lodged by an individual without legal standing and that the Criminal Procedure Code requires an individual raising a case to have suffered direct harm by the defendant.

Morsi had appointed Qandil as prime minister in July 2012 to form the first Cabinet under his short rule. Qandil had previously served as minister of irrigation in Essam Sharaf’s Cabinet and was considered a Muslim Brotherhood loyalist.

The former prime minister was arrested last December on a remote desert road while attempting to escape to Sudan and was admitted to Tora Prison.