HC Deb 16 February 1911 vol 21 cc1421-2W
Mr. DILLON

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the trial of Fanit Bey, leader of the Nationalist Party in Egypt, for writing a preface to a volume of poetry, and to his sentence to one year's imprisonment; whether there was a jury in this case, and, if not, what was the nature of the tribunal; under what law was Fanit Bey tried; and whether he will lay upon the Table an official Report of the proceedings at the trial?

Sir E. GREY

Mohamed Fanit Bey, to whom the hon. Member is probably referring, has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment for writing a laudatory introduction to a volume of highly seditious poems. I understand that the case was tried before the Assize Court in accordance with the requirements of the ordinary law. It is not proposed to lay any papers on this subject.