7 March, 2012
The ICEM, International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), and the International Textile, Garment, Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) on Monday rebuked the government of Egypt over a 26 February court decree there that sentenced labour activist Kamal Abbas to six months imprisonment for comments he made last June at the ILO Conference in Geneva.
The Helwan Misdemeanour Court sentenced him in absentia for insulting a public official, a former leader of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation. Abbas is General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers’ Services (CTUWS) of Egypt.
ICEM, IMF and ITGLWF demanded that the Egyptian government vacate the sentence and withdraw the charges, and expressed extreme concern on the “implications for Freedom of Association as well as Freedom of Expression within the confines of the ILC (International Labour Conference).” Read the letter here.
Abbas attended last June’s ILO conference as a representative of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). “We cannot accept this judgement,” said ITIC General Secretary Sharan Burrow. “Following the Egyptian revolution in February 2011, the ITUC gave the authorities every chance to respect fundamental workers’ rights. Our patience has run out.”
Abbas said that the six-month prison sentence amounts to return of practices of the ousted regime. During the Mubarak era, Kamal Abbas faced a similar one-year prison term over a confrontation with a state-sponsored union official.