Geneina transferred to hospital, trial adjourned

CAIRO – 16 April 2018: A military court adjourned the trial of former top auditor Hisham Geneina to April 18 and referred him to the El-Manial Specialized University Hospital to evaluate his health.

Amid investigations in February, Geneina’s lawyer, Hatem Abdel Azim, said in an interview with Akher al-Nahar television show presented by Moataz El-Demerdash, that Geneina suffers health problems and needs an eye operation.

Geneina was arrested on February 13 over his statement to HuffPost Arabi that Sami Anan, the now arrested former presidential candidate, possesses documents against the country's current leadership, which he kept outside Egypt. In May 2017, Egyptian authorities decided to ban 21 news websites, including HuffPost Arabi and Qatari-based Al-Jazeera, for "supporting terrorism and publishing fake news."

Anan’s documents incriminate the country’s leadership in the major events that happened following the 2011 January revolution, according to Geneina, and may be leaked in case Anan is harmed.

Military spokesperson Tamer el-Refai said that the Egyptian Army will investigate Geneina’s statements, saying that they drive a wedge between the Egyptian Army and the citizens amid a war against terrorism.

Refai added that the Army will act according to the right granted to it by the Constitution to preserve Egypt’s national security, dignity and honor.

Geneina, who was part of Anan’s presidential team, was dismissed by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi from his former post as the leader of the state’s Central Auditing Organization in 2016. An investigation concluded that Anan misled the public, saying that corruption cost the state billions of dollars in 2015.

Former Egyptian Chief of Staff Sami Anan was arrested in January on charges of announcing his presidential bid without obtaining permits from the Armed Forces and committing forgery to be included in the upcoming race.