Egypt refers former anti-graft chief to military trial
Egyptian authorities have decided to court-martial former anti-graft chief Hisham Genena, two months after he was beaten up and arrested as a member of a short-lived campaign for a potential presidential candidate.
Genena’s lawyer said Thursday that the former auditor was referred to a military court for trial on charges of spreading false news which authorities deemed were harmful to the military establishment.
Ali Taha said Genena would be in court to face the charges on April 16, without elaborating on further details.
The charges of spreading false news are related to an interview Genena made with the HuffPost Arabi news website. In the interview, Genena said that former military chief of staff Sami Anan, who was then competing for election, possessed documents that could implicate senior Egyptian officials. Anan, who was arrested in January, was supposed to be a main challenger to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in last month’s presidential election, but his bid was thrown away by authorities on the grounds that it was unauthorized.
Genena was beaten up outside his home in Cairo shortly after Anan’s arrest. Anan’s lawyer had also criticized Genena for the interview he made about the secret documents, saying that statements Genena made were “completely untrue.”
The former auditor blamed the administration of Sisi for the attack on him although his alleged assailants said he was injured in a fight that erupted after a car accident. Family members said Genena was in poor physical condition in jail and felt depressed.
Sisi won a second term in the recent election with 97 percent of the vote. He has repeatedly been criticized for his way of treating dissent, especially those criticizing him directly.
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