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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 February - 3 March 1999 Issue No. 418
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Disappearance compensation
THE CAIRO Court of Appeals ordered the Interior Ministry on Monday to pay LE100,000 in compensation to the wife of a Libyan dissident who disappeared while attending a conference in the Egyptian capital.The decision marked the end of a protracted legal battle by Baha Al-Omari, the Syrian-born wife of Mansour Al-Kikhia, who disappeared in Cairo in 1993 while attending an Arab human rights conference.
Mrs Al-Kikhia, who is a US national living in the United States, was not in court for the ruling.
In her lawsuit, Mrs Al-Kikhia charged that the Interior Ministry had failed to protect her husband, who had served as Libya's foreign minister in the 1970s before turning against the government.
In its ruling, the court said that the state is responsible for foreigners living on its territory. It noted that Al-Kikhia was a prominent international personality and "consequently, protecting him inside Egypt was a duty."
Mrs Al-Kikhia's original suit was dismissed by a lower court in March 1998 on the grounds that she had failed to prove that she was married to Al-Kikhia and, as a result, had no right to sue. The court also said that it had found no evidence of error or negligence on the Interior Ministry's part.
"This is the largest compensation ever awarded by an Egyptian court," her lawyer, Adel Amin, said. "The money awarded in missing persons cases is usually one fifth of the sum to be given to Mrs Al-Kikhia."
