The Haram Court of Misdemeanors sentenced former presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali to six months in jail for non-cooperation with authorities in turning over former Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, and helping him escape justice and flee the country, Youm7 reported Saturday.Ali’s defense claimed he should be released because he has been in detention since December and therefore had already completed the sentence. Defense lawyer Waleed al-Shawarby told Al-Masry Al-Youm Saturday he would appeal the verdict.
According to the Penal Code, the number of days spent in detention pending trial is counted off the total penalty period.
However, this might not be applicable in Ali’s case, as he is on trial in other cases related to the Muslim Brotherhood organization and incitement to violence in anti-regime protests in 2013. On Aug. 24, along with 12 other defendants, he was referred to criminal court over charges of belonging to the “terrorist” Muslim Brotherhood group.
Ali was appointed by former president Mohamed Morsi in February 2013 as the head of the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center. Qandil was arrested in December of the same year trying to flee the country through the Sudanese border, according to officials.
Authorities were carrying out a previous court order in September 2013 against Qandil sentencing him to a year in prison. The court rule had been issued against him for refraining from implementing another court order concerning the non-privatization of Tanta Flax Company in 2011, when he was the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Qandil filed an appeal, which was accepted in July 2014 and reversed his one-year sentence.
