The North Cairo Criminal Court fined sports critic Alaa Sadeq LE20,000 for slandering Medhat al-Beltagy, the former executive director of the National Council for Sports.
Beltagy filed a lawsuit accusing Sadeq of slander after the latter wrote an article in a national newspaper claiming Beltagy received a large salary from unknown sources.
Defense attorneys Mohamed Attiya and Ayman Serag had called for Sadeq's acquittal, arguing that criticism is a right. The defense also requested that the court reject the criminal case since the plaintiff waited three months after the incident before filing the case.
The defense further emphasized that Sadeq had good intentions, saying corruption permeated all realms before the revolution.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
