Egypt’s Jewish community head a no-show for retrial

The president of Egypt’s Jewish community will be retried in an Egyptian court on fraud charges, despite not showing up for the trial.

Carmen Weinstein, 82, did not appear for the beginning of her trial in Heliopolis Appeals Court on Nov. 20. The court determined that it had the jurisdiction to retry Weinstein, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

Weinstein was convicted in July by an Egyptian court and sentenced to three years in prison, as well as fines and restitution totaling more than $8,000.

She was alleged to have fled the country following her conviction in order to avoid prison.

Weinstein was convicted of selling an Egyptian businessman a Jewish community building that did not belong to her and then refusing to return his money. Weinstein said documents proving she had sold the building for 3 million Egyptian pounds, or $520,000, were forged.

On Oct. 30, an Egyptian court annulled her sentence and ruled that Weinstein should be retried before a new court. Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the new trial, and say they will now appeal to a higher court, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. 

Weinstein heads a Jewish community of only dozens of members, most of whom are women. According to the Jerusalem Post, she rents out a few buildings to support the community.