Egyptian actress Wafa Makky who is currently serving a jail sentence for ruthlessly battering her maids revealed that the whole trial was a scam and that she was falsely set up. May 24, 2003 marked the date for her retrial after she filed an appeal for her 10 year jail sentence.
Her defense was that she was set up by the father of the maids that were working for her and that he had blackmailed the actress demanding money or else he will take her to jail under false charges. The father was given 40 thousand Egyptian pounds and in fact evidence was presented in front of the court of the whole matter.
After the defense presented new evidence the court decided to reinvestigate the trial to reach a fair and just verdict. New witnesses are to be presented in front of the court and Wafa along with the others charged will get the chance to present their testimony on a new trial date.
Makki is hopeful that her innocence will be declared after all the new evidence is declared in front of the court. The actress was charged with a ten-year prison term for severely torturing her house maid. A criminal court in north of Cairo-Egypt had accepted the appeal previously submitted by the actress for her conviction, after being found guilty of torturing her house maid.
The court called for a retrial for the case against Wafaa along with her mother and other family members. The family of the actress took the news with overwhelming joy sying “Justice will be met”, reported the Arab magazine, Laha.
It was previously reported that the criminal court will decide on the appeal submitted by Makki for her conviction. The thirty-six year old actress was convicted in December 2002 for torturing her two housemaids, sisters (Marwa, 16, and Hanadi Abdul Hamid, 19), in collaboration with her 57- year old mother, who was also convicted for a one-year imprisonment sentence for being involved in the case. Other relatives who were involved with Makki, helping her in torturing the maids, were also sentenced to a one-year imprisonment.
The Criminal Court in the Egyptian governorate of Al Munofiyah issued the 10-year imprisonment verdict against Makki, who was apprehended after weeks of fleeing along with her mother. In the court, Makki fell down unconscious hearing the verdict, and was then moved along with her mother to the women jail at Al Qanater area.
The case goes back to last September when passer-byes found one of the two maids (Marwa) lying down unconscious and wounded near the rail road; moved her to the hospital and notified the concerned authorities. Investigations revealed that Marwa and her sister Hanadi were harshly beaten by Makki after they accidentally walked in on the actress with another man in an indecent situation inside her room.
The incident, which aroused the Egyptian public opinion last year, spurred the Actors Association to issue a resolution barring Makki from acting upon her conviction. Many Egyptian newspapers and magazines have published detailed reports on the incident with pictures of torture seen on the maids’ bodies. – Albawaba.com
