ICC Note: A 15-year-old Coptic boy in Egypt has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of a false accusation. Last summer, a Muslim neighbor accused the boy of sexual assault. After investigations and forensic examinations, the reports showed no evidence of sexual activity. However, the father of the alleged victim is an influential Muslim imam in the area and convinced the judge of the Coptic boy’s guilt. The court ignored all evidence and gave him 15 years behind bars.

02/07/2017 Egypt (WWM): A 15-year-old Coptic Christian boy has been sentenced to 15 years in an Egyptian prison for sexual assault, even though forensic reports showed no evidence of a crime.

His mother says her son, Fadi, is innocent and was targeted only because her Muslim neighbours, whose eight-year-old son was the alleged victim, “don’t like Christians”. The Muslim boy’s grandfather is imam at the local mosque.

Fadi’s lawyer, Naguib Gabriel, who is head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, told World Watch Monitor he was “surprised” at the verdict and the length of the sentence because Fadi “didn’t commit any crime”.

“The two medical examiners who examined the Muslim child are Muslims and convicted Fadi because of a false allegation,” he said.

The alleged incident took place in May last year, after which Fadi’s family were ordered to leave their home in the city of Shibin El Qanater, 30km north of Cairo. They have not been allowed to return since then.

In June last year, the results of a forensic examination of the eight-year-old boy showed no evidence of sexual activity. Fadi’s mother, Hanaa, told World Watch Monitor she thought their ordeal was over, only to be “shocked” to learn the charges against her son remained.

Fadi’s case was brought to the juvenile court in Banha, capital of the Qalyubia Governorate, in November. After several hearings, he was pronounced guilty on 28 January.

“The judge convicted my son to 15 years because he is a Christian,” Hanaa told World Watch Monitor. “If he was a Muslim boy, the judge would acquit him when he saw the forensic report, because the forensic report absolved my son, but the judge wasn’t convinced of it because my son is Christian, so he believed the speech of [the Muslim boy’s] father instead of the forensic report.

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