15/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Olivier Dupuis, MEP from the Lista Bonino, welcomed the fact that the case against Professor Saad El Din Ibrahim and nine other people working with him at the Ibn Khaldoun Centre, had been thrown out of court for procedural error. The accused had been charged in accordance with the 1992 military decree that applies to a state of martial law and which outlaws the reception of funds from abroad with out prior permission from the State. Mr Dupuis pointed out that the funds in question came from the European Commission as part of their support for the democratisation process in Mediterranean countries. The Ibn Khaldoun Centre remains closed but the pro-democracy globalisation activists, the State of Law and Freedom cannot but welcome this decision, asserted Mr Dupuis. The MEP claimed that it was an important test for the Egyptian authorities to prove their commitment to the democratic process, which had recently been threatened by a "real witch hunt", as witnessed in this affair and that of the 23 people receiving prisons sentences of between 2 and 5 years for committing presumed homosexual acts. 127 MEPs have already signed an appeal to President Moubarak, distributed at the EP, on the initiative of the Radicals, demanding the release of the 23 prisoners.