BUDAPEST — Just weeks before Hungary’s parliamentary election, a court is expected to rule on a case that has come to symbolize Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's anti-migrant agenda for both his supporters and opponents.

The court in the southern city of Szeged is due to give its verdict in the retrial of a Syrian man convicted of terrorism and jailed for 10 years for his role in a confrontation between police and asylum seekers on the border with Serbia in 2015.

Orbán's government has repeatedly held up the case as an example of the Hungarian state's hard line on asylum seekers and staunch defense of its borders — and of its battles with the European Union over the rule of law and democracy.

Human rights groups and EU officials, on the other hand, have condemned Hungary's treatment of the man, known only as Ahmed H., arguing that it was preposterous to charge him with terrorism over the border clash and give him such a long sentence. For them, the case illustrates how Orbán's government has exploited vulnerable migrants for its own political ends.

Ahmed's advocates argue that while he threw a few stones during a standoff, he also used his language skills to try to calm down the crowds on the border and facilitate communication with police.

With a verdict expected later this month, the case will return to the spotlight just ahead of the April 8 parliamentary vote, in which Orbán is seeking reelection on an anti-migration platform. His campaign focuses almost exclusively on the assertion that outside forces — including the European Commission and American-Hungarian financier George Soros — are conspiring to force Hungary to change its ethnic makeup and erase what he refers to as the country’s Christian identity.

Ahmed H., a 41-year-old father of two held largely in isolation for the past two-and-a-half years, says he does not understand why he was singled out from others involved in the border clash and charged with terrorism.

“I try to find any reason or any excuse, I don’t find it,” he said in an interview at the Budapest prison where he is detained, as guards walked from cell to cell distributing lunches.

A legal resident of Cyprus, Ahmed H. left the Mediterranean island and ended up on the Hungarian border at the height of the migration crisis, when he attempted to help his elderly parents flee Syria and make their way to Germany.

"I wanted to help my family pass,” he said.

His advocates argue that while he threw a few stones during a standoff, he also used his language skills to try to calm down the crowds on the border and facilitate communication with police.

Bigger battle

The case has become part of a bigger battle between Orbán, who has championed the idea of an "illiberal democracy," and EU officials in Brussels, who accuse him of backsliding on human rights and the rule of law.

In a resolution adopted in May last year, the European Parliament called the trial "unfair" and listed it among reasons why Hungary should be investigated for breaching EU values and put on a path that could ultimately lead to sanctions.

Orbán hit back in a speech the following month.

“Hungarian common sense finds it inexplicable that Brussels is openly siding with terrorists,” he declared. “The patently absurd lies of ‘Ahmed H.’ are more important to them than the Hungarian people’s security.”

The controversy has made Ahmed H. a household name in Hungary, with government officials repeatedly bringing up his case. Last month, a government spokesman told a press conference that civil rights organizations “demand that the terrorist who attacked our borders, Ahmed H., be set free.” And earlier this week Orbán mentioned the Syrian's name twice in a speech.

Ahmed H. was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in November 2016. But an appeal court last year ordered a new trial, citing overlooked evidence.

Human rights watchdogs say Ahmed H. should never have been charged with terrorism.

“The foremost problem is that we think this was not a terror act,” said Áron Demeter, a human rights specialist at Amnesty International Hungary who has followed the case closely.

“We think Ahmed’s case is a misinterpretation of the law,” he said. Demeter said he hoped the judge in the new trial would be independent but suggested prosecutors were acting under political pressure.

“It is clear that the prosecutors need to produce a terrorist,” he said.

Behind the scenes, some individuals close to the government take a similar view. A senior official in the ruling Fidesz party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he believes the continued government emphasis on Ahmed H. is part of the election campaign. “I have no better explanation for this,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Hungarian government did not respond to questions for this article.

'Truth will come out'

In the interview at the modern jail on the outskirts of Budapest, Ahmed H. repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and declared a love for Europe.

Speaking amicably in English after a guard removed his handcuffs, he said he is still pinning his hopes on the Hungarian courts — even though he says it is "clear for everybody" that he has not been treated fairly so far.

“I trust the court, I hope the truth will come out,” he said, noting that the court is reviewing footage he believes will exonerate him. “Before they hid the real video, now they see the real video, and I hope they can see everything clearly.”

However, he said he does not understand why some witnesses — in particular foreign journalists who observed the border tensions — were not allowed to testify at his original trial.

Two prison officials sat in on the interview due to Hungarian legal requirements.

While largely cut off from the outside world, Ahmed H. is aware of how the Hungarian government portrays him. He recently filed a lawsuit, accusing the government of defaming him by mentioning his case in a questionnaire mailed to every citizen last year on what Fidesz calls the “Soros plan” on migration.

“I have no problem with anyone in Hungary. I want all the world to know the truth" — Ahmed H.

“George Soros would also like to see migrants receive lighter sentences for the crimes they commit,” read one part of the questionnaire, adding that a “Soros-funded organization, Amnesty International, demanded numerous times that Ahmed H. be set free, the man who was sentenced for attacking with stones Hungarian policemen defending the border. Amnesty would even have the Hungarian state pay compensation.”

Ahmed H. said he bore no ill will against Hungary and wanted the new lawsuit to set the record straight.

“I have no problem with anyone in Hungary,” he said. “I want all the world to know the truth."