Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American sociologist and democracy activist, has been sentenced to seven years in prison after a retrial on charges of tarnishing the country's image abroad and other offences. Ibrahim, director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo, was accused of defaming Egypt's reputation and receiving foreign funds without authorization.

Some of Ibrahim's colleagues at the Ibn Khaldun Center were also sentenced, including Nadia 'Abd al-Nour, the Center's chief accountant, who received 2 years for a fraud charge. Two other defendants who were sentenced in the original trial to five-year prison terms on separate bribery and forgery charges, Magda Ibrahim al-Bey and Muhammad Hassanein 'Amara, were sentenced on retrial to three years of imprisonment. The remaining original sentences against 21 other defendants who had been handed down one-year suspended sentences remained unchanged, as did a two-year prison sentence passed in absentia on another defendant, Marwa Ibrahim Zaki.

Ibrahim and 27 of his colleagues from the Ibn Khaldun Center were arrested in July 2000 and charged with spreading false information abroad and misappropriating international funds. The Egyptian State Security Court found them guilty in May 2001 and sentenced Ibrahim to seven years in prison. His colleagues all received varying sentences, ranging from one to seven years. Ibrahim and the other defendants were released from prison on February 7, 2002 and granted a retrial on the charges.