The Mixed Tribunal which on Monday last heard the case in which Umberto Jabes, a Jewish clerk, charged M. W. von Meersten, president of the Deutscher Verein of Cairo, and A. Safarowsky, a printer, with having libeled him in a pamphlet entitled “The Extension of Judaism in Germany,” today returned a verdict stating that the action is outside the jurisdiction of the court and dismissed the case with costs against Jabes.
The verdict aroused considerable dissatisfaction and pain among the Jewish population particularly since it came after M. Castro, the Jewish counsel for the defense, had asked in open court whether it was true that the German government had demanded of the Egyptian govern- ment that the action be dismissed in order to avoid political complications.
The attorney for the state thereupon denied that the German goverment had inferered in the administration of justice in Egypt. Nevertheless, immediately afterwards the state attorney addressed the tribunal, demandig that the action be dismissed as outside its jurisdiction.
The lawyers for the German defendants, Kemal Sedky Bey and Peressor Grimm, also addressed the court. Sedky insisted that the pamphlet which led to the action was not at all directed against would Jewry or against the Jewry of Egypt, but merely against the Jews of Germany. Prof. Grimm claimed that Jabes could demand compensation only if he could prove that he had incurred material losses as a result of the publication Jabes in his original charge complained that as one of the Jewish people, he had been personally libeled inte pamphlet and asked for nominal damages of 101 pounds and costs.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
