Despite Garas’ remonstrations, the young teacher was taken the next day to appear in court before the Tima prosecutor; a large mob of angry Muslims gathered to protest against him.
The local prosecutor was convinced of Garas’ innocence there and then, the father recalled. But to calm the crowds, Garas was remanded for four days’ custody anyway.
By then, two of Garas’ friends had identified and confronted the culprit who had created the fake Facebook account, a young Coptic acquaintance identified only as “Michael.” After recording “Michael’s” confession on a CD disk, the two went with Garas’ father on Aug. 2 to testify to a prosecutor in nearby Tahra, but there Garas’ detention was extended for another 15 days. For the next month, hearings on the case were adjourned, lawyers failed to appear and court-ordered evidence was late in arriving. Several times large protests erupted outside the courtroom, as angry Salafists and Muslim Brotherhood supporters shouted death threats against the Copt.
On Sept. 18, 2012, a presiding Judge of Tima Misdemeanour Court convicted Garas on three counts of insult and blasphemy, sentencing him to a total of six years in prison. An appeal hearing before another judge of the Sohag Misdemeanour Court on Sept. 27 upheld the ruling.
The teacher was promptly fired from his job, and then insulted and beaten by Muslim prisoners during his three months in the Sohag prison, his father recounted.
Not Much by Way of Damages
But now in view of the expected acquittal, what can Garas expect by way of compensation?
When asked about any possible damages according to the Egyptian legal system, his lawyer said, “It’s a pittance!”
“After a defendant is acquitted, one can hope for a mere five pounds’ sum (64 U.S. cents) in damages for each day spent in jail. To get that, it’s a tortuous process which can take up to three years of litigation. Even then, the judge may decide to award no damages, or reduced remuneration,” Saeed added.
But what matters most now for Saeed is to clear his client’s name.
“This time, the defendant appears before a court which believes in his innocence, and which has evidence before it to back this belief,” Saeed said.
The Court of Cassation in Cairo is a safer venue, being more removed from “pressures by angry local crowds of Salafist hardliners,” the lawyer added, expressing more confidence in the higher court judges’ proficiency and integrity.
Hope in a Dark Place
When asked about his trial, Garas had this to say: “Three years and two months in jail: two months held at the police station in Tima, two months in protective custody in Qina, one year and six months in the Wadi el-Gedid prison, and two years and two months in Menya (prison). Yet I had done no wrong, no crime!
“But thank God in all things. We are subject to the will of Him who works all things together for good,” Garas told World Watch Monitor.
“The time I spent in prison made me draw really closer to God. It was more or less a retreat time for me with Him.”
“Despite the dangerous charges levelled against me, I could see God’s hand throughout. Even fellow inmates in both the Wadi-el-Gedid and Menya prisons were kind to me. They could see that I was being unjustly treated,” he added.
It wasn’t all a walk in the park for him, though.
“At first I passed through a very hard time. I felt hopeless. I’d ask God why He’d do that to me. Then I’d have only a Bible for a comfort. And that surely worked!”
Recalling how after his release he briefly made a secret visit to his family, Garas said: “I went back home at night. I spent one day at home with mum and dad. The next day at dawn, while it was still dark, I was off again”.
Once he has his innocence formally pronounced, Garas will have to sue in the Administrative Court to be able to regain his job—a process which could consume three more months, he said.
But the family is taking no chances. “Even after an expected acquittal, we’re not taking him back home just yet. For his safety, we are arranging alternative accommodation” Kameel Garas said. “We are asking everyone to lift Bishoy in prayer!”
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