Court reverses sentencing of Egyptian independent union activist Kamal Abbas

The same court which earlier this year sentenced in absentia Kamal Abbas, general coordinator of Egypt’s Center for Trade Union and Worker’s Services (CTUWS) to six months imprisonment for “insulting a public officer” during the 2011 International Labour Conference in Geneva, dismissed the charges and threw out the sentence on November 25.

The absurd sentence was based on an incident at the June 2011 International Labour Conference in Geneva, which Abbas attended as a guest of the ITUC. Abbas interrupted Ismael Fahmy, representing the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation, when he claimed in his speech that the ETUF represented Egyptian workers.

The CTUWS has thanked all union organizations which supported the international defense campaign and has reaffirmed its comitment to the struggle for independent trade unions in Egypt.