Mubarak’s regime continues its bigotry:
A State Security prosecutor sentenced Muhammad El-Derini, prominent Egyptian Shia activist and writer, to 15 days in jail for publishing false information about being tortured in prison.
His son Ahmad El-Derini, a journalist at Al-Badil daily newspaper, told Daily News Egypt that the charges against him also included contempt for religion by following Shiism.
El-Derini was detained by the national security forces at dawn Monday. Ahmad told Daily News Egypt that his father was arrested by state security forces “who also confiscated all his writings, computer disks and CDs.”
The book referred to by the prosecutor who pressed the charges, explained Ahmad, was published 15 months ago. Titled “The Capital of Hell,” the book gave a detailed account of El-Derini’s jail experience in Tora. He claimed to have been tortured by officials during his first detainment in 2004.
About the second charge, contempt for religion, Hossam Bahgat, chairman of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) told Daily News Egypt that nothing in the Egyptian constitution criminalizes being a Shia or preaching Shiism.