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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017

‘Geostorm’ actor convicted in his native Egypt

By HAMZA HENDAWI was framed by someone med Morsi, a freely elected
Associated Press he did not identify, accord- Islamist president whose
CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian ing to the lawyer. He has one-year rule proved divi-
court has convicted “Ge- made no mention of the sive.
ostorm” actor Amr Waked Oct. 28 verdict on his Face- “I can no longer bear the
for damaging a car parked book or Twitter accounts despicable practice of
outside his Cairo home, and has not replied to a misleading and deceiving
sentencing him to three message left for him by the people so that a hateful
months in prison, his lawyer AP requesting comment. person can rule,” Waked
said on Monday, in a case His lawyer said he was film- tweeted in Arabic on Aug.
suspected of serving as ing abroad, but gave no 8 about the Egyptian me-
punishment for the actor’s details. dia’s categorical support
vocal opposition to gov- Cases of damage to prop- of el-Sissi.
ernment policies. erty like cars or homes The previous month, anoth-
The 45-year-old Waked rarely go to court in Egypt, er tweet in Arabic by him
was never detained over where the judiciary is over- was about the suppression
the alleged mid-Septem- burdened and court cases of freedoms under el-Sissi.
ber incident and did not often take years before a “Go on: Prohibit films, books In this Sept. 22, 2017 photo, Egyptian actor Amr Waked arrives
attend the Saturday hear- final ruling is reached. Most and opinions and every- on the red carpet during the first International El Gouna Film
ing in which the court an- such cases end with an thing will be just fine in the Festival, in the Red Sea resort of el-Gouna, Egypt.
nounced its verdict, which out-of-court settlement. dark, but only until light re- Associated Press
can be appealed, the law- Using his star power, Waked turns; and it always does.” McGregor. He played a their patriotism into ques-
yer, Tareq Said, told The As- was a vocal participant in Waked was an established French policeman in the tion or exposing their al-
sociated Press. the 2011 uprising that top- movie star in his native Luc Besson thriller “Lucy” leged links to Morsi’s now-
Waked was released on a pled Hosni Mubarak’s 29- Egypt before he started alongside Scarlett Johans- outlawed Muslim Brother-
1,000-pound ($60-dollar) year, authoritarian rule. He appearing in international son. hood group. Some are
bail and an appeal will be has been critical of Presi- box office hits such as “Syri- Artists, authors or academ- subjected to character
submitted on Tuesday, he dent Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, ana,” alongside George ics who dare speak out assassination campaigns
added. a general-turned-president Clooney, and “Salmon Fish- against government policy with reports of illicit sexual
Waked has denied the who in 2013 led the mili- ing in the Yemen,” along- in today’s Egypt are often relations or contacts with
charge and maintained he tary’s ouster of Moham- side Emily Blunt and Ewan punished either by calling foreign governments.q