The misdemeanor circle at the Economic Court on Tuesday fined poet Hisham Aljakh LE 5,000 for plagiarizing verses by Abdel Sattar Selim, another poet.
The court obliged Aljakh to publish the verdict in state-run Akhbar Al-Youm and al-Gomhurriya at his own expense.
Selim had accused Aljakh of using 35 verses from one of his poetry collections, which was issued in 1995 by the General Egyptian Book Organization, without his permission. Selim said Aljakh’s action caused him moral and financial damages.
Aljakh gained popularity at the time of the January 25 revolution with poems critical of the former regime of president Hosni Mubarak. Last year, he was reportedly summoned for interrogation for insulting Islam in one of his poems, but he denied the receiving the summons.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
