Egypt's ex-top auditor Hisham Geneina released after 5 years in prison

Ahram Online , Tuesday 14 Feb 2023

The state security prosecution released on Tuesday former head of Egypt's Central Auditing Organisation Hisham Geneina after he served a five-year prison sentence for spreading false news.

Hisham Geneina
Shorouk Hisham Geneina posts a photo for her father following his release. Shorouk Geneina/Facebook account

 

However, Geneina still faces charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news in another case, numbered 441/2018, human rights activist Hossam Bahgat said in a Twitter post today.

"Dad is finally out," Geneina's daughter, Shorouk, wrote on Facebook, posting a photo for her father following his release.

Defendants in the case 441/2018 include a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, media personnel and public figures who are accused of setting up media networks that seek to spread false news and harm the country's stability.

The main defendants in the case also include former presidential candidate and leader of the Strong Egypt Party Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, who is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence over charges of leading an illegal group and spreading false news.

In April 2018, an Egyptian military court sentenced Geneina to five years in prison for spreading false news about the Armed Forces and the country's internal affairs. The ruling was upheld a year later.

Geneina was arrested in February 2018 over an interview he gave to the HuffPost Arabi news website, where he claimed that former military chief Sami Anan possessed secret documents containing state secrets and evidence relating to major events since 2011.

Geneina was a leading figure in Anan's short-lived 2018 presidential campaign, before Anan was barred from running in the elections by the National Elections Authority for being an active member of the Armed Forces.

Anan was later arrested and faced charges by military prosecutors of violating military rules by announcing his candidacy while still an active-duty officer, but he was released in late 2019.

In 2020, Geneina also faced a one-year suspended prison sentence by the New Cairo Misdemeanour Court and was fined EGP 20,000 on charges of spreading false information against the state a few years earlier.

Geneina was sacked in early 2016 as top auditor of the country's main anti-corruption agency after he claimed that widespread graft had cost Egypt EGP 600 billion in 2015.

He stood trial for spreading false information after the State Security Prosecution charged that his statements were misleading.

Geneina, 69, is a former police officer and judge and served as the head of the Central Auditing Organisation for five years since 2012.

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