AIRO, May 21 — Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent sociology professor accused of defaming Egypt, was convicted today and sentenced to seven years in prison in a case that human rights organizations say raises serious doubts about Egypt's ability to meet international standards for a fair trial.

The three-judge panel of the Supreme Security Court pronounced the sentence 90 minutes after defense lawyers, who were still submitting briefs, had finished their summations. The judges had been expected to deliberate for several days if not months over the thousands of pages of evidence submitted.

"This case is a farce," said Negad Borai, the former chairman of the Group for Developing Democracy, a shuttered civil rights organization. "Egypt does not want real democracy. The state wants us as puppets in its big show of paper democracy, and if we decide otherwise, it knocks us down."

Mr. Ibrahim, who holds both American and Egyptian citizenship, along with 27 others linked to his Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies — closed by the government last June — were given sentences ranging from seven years to one year, suspended. The charges included disseminating false information harmful to Egypt, accepting foreign donations without government permission and embezzling donated money. Mr. Ibrahim, 62, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

"This is politically motivated and the sentence is politically dictated," Mr. Ibrahim told The Associated Press on a mobile phone as the police escorted him from the courtroom. "It is a struggle and it will go on. I do not regret anything I stood for."

The specific reason that Mr. Ibrahim was singled out for arrest and prosecution has baffled rights activists here and abroad.

The center, which Mr. Ibrahim founded some 12 years ago, had delved into sensitive topics like electoral fraud and tensions between Egypt's Muslim majority and Christian minority. In addition, Mr. Ibrahim was an outspoken advocate of independent elections, and the center had planned to monitor parliamentary elections last fall. Mr. Ibrahim also wrote a satirical magazine article about Arab leaders grooming their sons to succeed them, which mentioned the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.

Mr. Mubarak has said in interviews that he had nothing to do with the case, and Egyptian government officials in general refuse to comment. At one point last year, Osama el-Baz, a senior presidential aide, denied that the charges were politically motivated, saying that Mr. Ibrahim was being investigated for violating the law.

Mr. Ibrahim's wife, Barbara, an American academic working in Egypt, staggered from the courthouse in the arms of supporters and expressed shock at the verdict. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would be a long prison sentence," she said.

In Washington, the American government voiced disquiet about the verdict. "We are deeply troubled by the outcome and we have some concerns about the process that resulted in this sentence," said Gregg Sullivan, a spokesman for the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs bureau.

In the ruckus after the sentences were announced, the judges did not even explain on which counts Mr. Ibrahim had been found guilty.

International human rights organizations condemned not only the sentence, but also the court procedures. Although Mr. Ibrahim's lawyers said they planned to appeal the sentence within 60 days, no appeal is permitted of a case decided by the Supreme Security Court.

Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said lack of appeal violates the norms of justice laid out in international conventions that Egypt has signed. The two groups issued a joint statement questioning the hastiness of the verdict.

"The speed with which the verdict was reached raises grave concerns about how seriously the defense team's evidence — some of which was still being submitted today — was considered," the statement said. "We fear that the decision to convict had already been made prior to the conclusion of the trial."