Egypt court upholds ex-President Morsi’s three-year jail term

Egypt’s top appeals court on Monday upheld a three-year prison
sentence and hefty damages on deposed Islamist President Mohammed
Morsi on charges of insulting the judiciary, state media
reported.

The Court of Cassation also confirmed the same sentence for 19
other defendants in the same case.

The initial sentence was issued in 2017 by the Cairo Criminal
Court that convicted Morsi of defaming the judiciary in a televised
speech he made in 2013 when he was in power.

In his speech, Morsi accused a judge of overseeing fraud in
previous elections.

The criminal court had also ordered Morsi to pay one million
Egyptian pounds (56,270 dollars) in damages to that judge.

Five other defendants were ordered to pay a fine of 30,000
Egyptian pounds each in the case.

They include Alaa Abdel-Fatah, a leading pro-democracy
campaigner, who rose to prominence during the 2011 uprising that
toppled long-time dictator Hosny Mubarak.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president was
toppled by the army in mid-2013 following mass protests against his
rule.

He has been tried in several different cases since his
ouster.

Morsi is serving a final sentence of 20 years in prison in a
separate case related to inciting deadly attacks on anti-Islamist
protesters in 2012.

In 2017, the Court of Cassation upheld a separate 25-year jail
sentence for Morsi on charges of harming national security by
leaking secret state documents to his ally in Qatar while he was in
office.

(NAN)

Lagos Targets 150,000 Participants for
Marathon

…Increases Prize Money For Local, Physically-Challenged
Athletes

…To Set Up Marathon Village, Eyes IAAF Silver Label

No fewer than 150,000 athletes both locally and internationally
are expected to participate in the 4th edition of Access Bank Lagos
City Marathon, Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode said on
Monday.

Addressing a press conference at Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja to
officially announce commencement of preparations for the marathon
which is billed to hold on February 2, 2019, Governor Ambode said
the target of the State Government, was to use the forthcoming
edition to take the tournament from the bronze label of
International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) to silver,
in partnership with the sponsors.

According to him, “The whole idea is to turn the competition
from bronze to silver level. In the last three editions, we had
between 100,000 and 120,000 participants. This time around, we want
to make sure that come February 2019, we would have not less than
150,000 participants.

“The reason why we want to take it to that level is to create a
new record and create a new platform to allow the 2019 edition to
herald what is going to happen in the next six years. We believe
strongly that in another six years when we are marking the 10th
anniversary, we should actually become a top class marathon, and
that is our vision for this competition.

“We believe that it is achievable. This is not necessarily about
me; it is not even about the sponsors but about making Lagos to be
on that top brand across the world and that is how cities are
elevated to become global brand,” Governor Ambode said.

He said arrangement had equally been firmed up to encourage more
local participation, as well as more physically-challenged
athletes, a development he said necessitated the increase in prize
monies for the two categories.

“We think obviously that we should pay more attention to our
physically-challenged athletes this time around and also to embrace
more of local participation. This time around, we would push more
money to the local races and we would push more money to also our
physically-challenged athletes to encourage more people to come in,
while the main prize remain the same,” he said.

Speaking further at the media briefing which was attended by
Nigeria’s sports icons including Mary Onyali, Samson Siasia, Waheed
Akanni, Seye Ogunlewe, among others, the Governor said the idea of
the marathon was part of his administration’s initiatives to use
sports, entertainment and hospitality to grow the economy and
positively engage the bourgeoning youth population in the
State.

“Looking at some of Nigeria’s sport legends here, it just
summarizes everything that we have tried to do in the last three
and half years. The idea is that it is possible to create a new set
of jobs and services using sports, using hospitality, using
entertainment to create a new level of creativity and innovation
and then drive the Nigerian economy into different direction that
creates positive energy, and when you come to this kind of
gathering and you are able to now see the private sector, sports
people, it means that there is still hope in this country,”
Governor Ambode said.

Besides, the Governor commended all the sponsors, media and all
those who have contributed to the success of the marathon in the
last three years, saying the development was a dream come true.

Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman of Lagos State Sports
Commission, Dr. Kweku Tandor said the Lagos City Marathon, was the
third of its kind after Brighton and Bournemouth Marathon in the
United Kindgom to earn the prestigious IAAF Bronze Label only after
its second edition, which held on February 10, 2018.

He said the Governor had already given approval for the setting
up of a Lagos Marathon Village at the Teslim Balogun Stadium that
would not only sustain the culture of the marathon but also serve
as a rallying point in the quest by the present administration to
stage mini-marathons in the five divisions of the State.

“It is going to serve as the headquarters for marathon races in
Lagos. What we have in mind is to have sectoral marathons, Lagos
Women Run is coming up next month, we have SWAN Marathon coming up
in December and we also envisage that we are going to be having Epe
Marathon, Ikorodu Marathon and so on.

“So we need a coordinating office under the direction of the
Lagos State Sports Commission and that is the vision that led to
the construction of that facility within Teslim Balogun to serve as
the Lagos Marathon Village. Construction work will commence anytime
from now,” Tandoh said.

He said the Governor had also approved the constitution of a
Marathon Council that would be responsible for the supervision of
the 2019 Marathon and going forward.

On his part, Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe
said the commitment of the State Government under the leadership of
Governor Ambode has ensured that the Lagos Marathon had become an
annual event on the international athletics map.

He assured that Access Bank, the major sponsors of the Lagos
Marathon would continue to give its full support to the event,
adding that the 2019 edition will take the event a notch higher so
as to receive an IAAF Silver Label for the marathon.

In his brief remarks, President of the Athletics federation of
Nigeria (AFN), Engr. Ibrahim Gusau commended Governor Ambode for
setting the pace for others to follow for others to follow in
sports development, saying that the 2018 edition of the Lagos
Marathon was highly rated amongst top competitions on the
international calendar.

SIGNED
HABIB ARUNA
CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY