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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Allegations of horror shelved
By Shaden Shehab and Gamal Essam El-Din
The astonishing and horrifying complaint made by 10 members of parliament that two orphanages in the province of Menoufiya had caused the deaths of children in their care and sold their organs to major hospitals catering for the well-heeled, has been shelved by Prosecutor-General Raga'a El-Arabi.
El-Arabi took the decision last Thursday after hearing the testimonies of eight of the 10 MPs against two of the former managers of the orphanage for parentless and abandoned children. Two of the MPs, Shafik El-Guindi and Ezzeddin Nassar, failed to show up for the hearing. The eight deputies testified that they based their complaint on information obtained from a lawyer, Farouk El-Mehallawi, who showed them the death certificates of nine children who had died while in the care of the orphanage. They argued that the certificates were suspicious because they carried consecutive serial numbers and because the nine deaths occurred in a short period of time between January and June 1998.
El-Mehallawi, who was summoned to testify, said he had been asked by Hala Zahran, the former wife of Abdel-Mohsen Abdel-Aal, who used to manage one of the orphanages, to initiate legal action against her former husband for alimony payments. El-Mehallawi claimed that Zahran had told him that Abdel-Aal had made a lot of money from trading in children's organs.
Zahran, however, denied El-Mehallawi's claims, insisting that she had not authorised him to initiate any legal action. She also denied any knowledge of an illegal trade in human organs.
Abdel-Aal and his second wife, Mona El-Gazzar, the former manager of the second orphanage, also denied El-Mehallawi's claims, accusing him of being motivated by a personal feud.
Investigators also questioned the chief district coroner, who asserted that organs belonging to children less than a year old were not fit for transplants.
Shortly after the opening session of parliament in November, a group of deputies from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) openly challenged Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri. Analysts said that the unusual protest was sparked off by El-Ganzouri's refusal to respond to their demands for the dismissal of certain provincial governors with whom they are not on good terms. Menoufiya Governor Adli Hussein, who was involved in a number of disputes with Menoufiya deputies last summer, was repeatedly mentioned by the group.
In a surprise move, 10 Menoufiya deputies took the unprecedented step of collectively filing a complaint with the prosecutor-general, claiming that two orphanages in their province were involved in the illegal trade of human organs. The deputies said they made the complaint in order to expose the illegal activities. But to many observers, the move was a further escalation in the long war between Menoufiya's MPs and its governor. Hussein described the MPs' complaint as a "flagrant attempt to settle old scores". "This issue was investigated several times over the past two years," he said. "Why should the deputies decide to raise it now? They claim they knew about it only 15 days ago, but this just proves they are totally unaware of what is going on in their governorate."
The Menoufiya deputies also sought open confrontation with Hussein in the People's Assembly, but the meeting was cancelled unexpectedly. The explanation offered by a spokesman for Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour's office was that the Assembly is not empowered to discuss a complaint under investigation by the prosecutor-general. Some observers, however, remained unconvinced; independent and opposition deputies claimed that senior political figures intervened to have the meeting cancelled.
Independent MP Ahmed Taha told Al-Ahram Weekly that the complaint filed by the deputies was part of their campaign against the governor. "These deputies feel that they lost the first round in the confrontation with the governor," Taha said. "They see that they were severely humiliated by El-Ganzouri's refusal to bow to their demand for his [the governor's] dismissal... Now they feel they have an opportunity to defame the governor and put fresh pressure on El-Ganzouri to dismiss him. It is rare to see several deputies from one governorate agreeing to raise a certain issue which could have been raised by one deputy."
Some analysts believe the stand-off between the governor and the deputies is a reflection of a conflict between the government and leading members of the NDP. "There is a general feeling among NDP members that city councils and municipalities should be harnessed to serve their interests, or the interests of their constituencies," said Taha. "But they see that El-Ganzouri is strong and unyielding. He decided to hold the portfolio of local administration himself. This gave many government officials and provincial governors the opportunity to challenge NDP deputies as unfit and unqualified to represent the will of the people in parliament."
Last November, Governor Hussein supported a campaign by a national newspaper against NDP deputies, describing them in an article as "opportunists who seek to advance personal interests and who lack credibility in their own constituencies."
Aware that the present situation in local administration is not in their favour, several NDP deputies, during a two-week debate of the government's policy statement, urged that a special minister be appointed.
Hassan Gibril, NDP deputy for the Beheira Governorate, demanded reform of the local administration system as well as the appointment of a minister.
Abdel-Fattah El-Dali, chairman of parliament's local administration committee, complained that the government was unwilling to cooperate with the committee. During the current parliamentary session, the governors of Assiut and Sohag declined to attend two meetings organised by the committee to evaluate their cooperation with NDP deputies.
