May 25, 2001

His Excellency Mohammed Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdeen Palace
Cairo, EGYPT

The Honorable Farouk Seif El Nasr
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Midan Lazoghly
Cairo, EGYPT

The Honorable General Habib Ibrahim El Adly
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
Al Shiek Rihan Street
bab al-Louk Cairo, EGYPT

Your Excellency and Sirs:

We are writing on behalf of the American Sociological Association to protest the unfair sentencing on May 21, 2001 of Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and his associates from the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. We have learned that Dr Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years in prison, and twenty-seven of his associates at the Ibn Khaldun Center received sentences ranging from time served to seven years. We understand that these verdicts were handed down by the High State Security Court which suspends some of the usual rights and protections guaranteed in the civil court system, including the right to appeal.

Dr. Ibrahim, 62, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, holds both U.S. and Egyptian citizenship. Trained in the United States at the University of Washington, Dr. Ibrahim is also the founder and director of the The Ibn Khaldun Center, a civil and human rights organization in Cairo. We are gravely concerned that the verdict was issued as a result of Dr. Ibrahim's work as a scholar and scientist. In the expression of his work, Dr. Ibrahim is entitled to the protections guaranteed by the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights to which Egypt is a signatory. As stated therein, everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference (Article 19.1); everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds (Article 19.2); and everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law (Article 14).

We are also profoundly dismayed by the sentencing procedure which delivered such a harsh and unwarranted sentences to Dr. Ibrahim and his associates. The three-judge panel reached its decision only 90 minutes after defense lawyers had finished their summations, without consideration of the thousands of pages of documents and information that was filed only hours before the verdict was announced. The judges did not explain under which counts Dr. Ibrahim and his associates had been found guilty. The unfairness of the procedure and the sentence is in direct violation of a number of international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt ratified on August 4, 1967.

We appreciate your consideration of this matter, and urge a reversal of the verdicts against Dr. Ibrahim and his associates. The American Sociological Association, and those of us in its leadership consider it a matter of great urgency.

Douglas S. Massey, PhD
ASA President 2001

Felice J. Levine, PhD
ASA Executive Officer

Cc: The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS)
Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, Cairo
AAAS Science and Human Rights Program
Saman Zia-Zarifi, Human Rights Watch