Ain Shams Misdemeanors Court in Cairo ruled a verdict Saturday sentencing current Cairo Governor Abdel-Qawi Khalifa to six months in prison for not abiding by a previous court order to settle a land-squatting issue with a citizen from the rural district of Ezbet Kheirallah.
The court sentenced Khalifa to six months imprisonment and ordered him to issue an ownership contract for Sabry Mostafa, resident of Ezbet Kheirallah, who had squatted a piece of land in the impoverished neighbourhood some years ago.
A previous court order ruled that Khalifa issue the ownership contract, but Khalifa refused to execute the court order, which prompted the imprisonment verdict, along with a fine of LE200.
Mostafa's lawyer, Mohamed Abdel-Halim, told Al-Ahram's Arabic news portal that the verdict is enforceable and that if Khalifa does not appeal within 10 days of the verdict the governor will lose his right to appeal.
Khalifa, who took office in April 2011, is the first Cairo governor to be appointed after the 25 January popular uprising that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak on 11 February 2011.
