AP News

July 5, 2000

 

Cairo - A woman gave birth in a courtroom Wednesday, minutes after she was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, police officials said. She promptly named her baby girl "Felony.'' 

 

Amal Ahmed Farran, 35 and nine months pregnant, went into labor while still inside the defendants' cage after she heard her sentence, prompting other women in the cage to shout for help, said the officials.  

 

Judge Abdel-Munem Othman of the criminal court of the Mediterranean port city of Damietta ordered police to bring a doctor to help with the delivery. 

 

It was on the advice of fellow women defendants in the courtroom that Farran, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges, named the baby Ginaya, the Arabic word for felony.  

Judge Othman ordered mother and baby to be taken to hospital and put under observation there for several days, according to the police officials. Farran will be able to keep Ginaya in jail with her for the entire duration of her prison term. Under Egyptian law, mothers can keep their children in jail with them until they reach the age of four.