Court upholds one-year prison sentence for former Egyptian PM Qandil

Al-Dokki Misdemeanour Court has upheld a one-year prison sentence against the former Egyptian prime minister who headed deposed President Mohamed Morsi’s government. Hisham Qandil was convicted for his failure to implement a judicial ruling in favour of workers at Tanta Flax and Oils.

The textile company was supposed to be renationalised after it had been sold off by the Mubarak regime. A number of employees filed a lawsuit claiming that the then prime minister “declined, without giving reasons, to implement a judgment issued by the Administrative Court for the invalidation of the company’s privatisation”, which would have seen its workers returned to their former positions. Tanta Flax and Oils was bought a Saudi Arabian investor in 2005.