Today, Thursday, the North Cairo Criminal Court in Egypt ruled that the artist, Menna Shalaby, be punished with a suspended sentence of one year in prison and fined her 10,000 Egyptian pounds, accusing her of obtaining the essence of narcotic hashish with the intention of using, in the first session of the trial.
Menna, 41, was absent from attending the session during which 10 lawyers attended to defend her, including Dr. Muhammad Bahaa Abu Shaqqa, who said in his pleading that he was asking for the innocence of his client from the charge attributed to her, because the search process did not take place in the presence of the accused, and that the seized items were in the interest of Forensic analysis is not what was seized at the airport with his client.
Abu Shaqqa emphasized the lack of connection between the Egyptian actress and the seizures, stressing that what was analyzed is not the same as what was seized at the airport, and he relied on a forgery incident in the inventory committee of his client’s seizures, and said that the seizures included 14 bags, and after the forensic analysis returned to the competent prosecution. 12 only, for the court to issue its aforementioned decision against the artist.
Abu Shaqqa said in statements to the American news network "CNN" that the actress, Menna Shalaby, paid the value of the financial fine immediately, considering that "the verdict is equivalent to innocence after the decision to suspend the implementation of imprisonment for a year."
The moment the sentence was pronounced against the Egyptian artist, Menna Shalaby, to one year in prison, suspended, and a fine of 10,000 pounds on her accusation of obtaining the essence of narcotic hashish with the intention of using, as 10 lawyers attended to defend her.
Al-Marsad newspaper pic.twitter.com/K7p42zxBsL
- Judiciary News (@judiciary_news) January 5, 2023
The Public Prosecution had stated that the list of evidence proving the charge includes the testimony of 5 witnesses to the incident, in addition to the findings of the police investigations and what was proven in the surveillance camera recordings at Cairo International Airport, as well as the results of the chemical laboratory examination of the seizures found in Menna’s possession.
And the prosecution completed its investigations after arresting Menna Shalaby, by listening to the testimony of 5 workers at Cairo International Airport after examining her bags with an x-ray machine, after completing the customs procedures, during which it appeared that there were organic condensates inside them, so they were searched in a way that resulted in the finding of narcotic substances. She was arrested and her possessions of drugs were seized.
Menna was released with a financial guarantee of 50,000 pounds, pending investigations.
The ruling is to imprison Menna Shalabi for a year with work and enforcement, and fines her 10,000 pounds to suspend execution pic.twitter.com/GBvVooflMs
- Variety 24 / MONAWAT24 (@ MONAWAT24) January 5, 2023
Menna Shalaby returned at the end of last November from the United States, when customs inspectors at Cairo International Airport seized about 30 packages of different shapes and sizes containing narcotic marijuana in her bags.
According to the authorities, the Public Prosecution proved that the bags, bottles, pens, and pieces of sweets that were seized were stuffed with marijuana, which prompted the customs authorities to subject them to a full and self-inspection, without the search yielding anything.
The Public Prosecution Office referred the case to the competent court, which issued its ruling today, Thursday, to end the case, which has sparked controversy over the past few months.