June (Web-only) 2000

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In a long-deferred judgment handed down June 5, the Sohag Criminal Court ruled Coptic Christian villager Shaiboub Arsal guilty of the 1998 double murder of his cousin and another young Copt in southern Egypt's El-Kosheh village.Arsal, now 38, was sentenced to 15 years at hard labor, the maximum sentence under Egyptian law for unpremeditated murder.According to a short article in Al-Ahram newspaper on June 6, the verdict delivered by a panel of three judges stated that there were"verbal, technical proofs" that Arsal was the killer.But Coptic activist and lawyer Mamduh Nakhla termed the judgment"extremely puzzling and highly political."Nakhla told Reuters news agency that the defense had provided the court with"20 pieces of evidence that (Arsal) was innocent." Among them, he later said, was"strong proof of fabricated evidence and witness tampering, both by the local police authorities."As of today, the court has still not released its written judgment, detailing the formal judicial explanation for Arsal's conviction."Legally they can wait 30 days to issue it," a Coptic observer told Compass,"so you can be sure they will put it off as long as possible."Mamduh Ramzy, a Coptic lawyer on Arsal's defense team, confirmed today that an appeal will be filed promptly against his client's verdict before the Egyptian High Court, once the actual judgment has been released.After hearing the court's decision, Arsal reportedly declared that he accepted"the judgment of God, though I expected to be acquitted." The illiterate villager said he had hoped to take his family and leave El-Kosheh when the trial was over.Married with three children, Arsal has already been imprisoned for 22 months. Under the Egyptian prison system, criminal prisoners ...