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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 June 1999 Issue No. 433
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Wali gains initial triumph
By Gamal Essam El-Din
To the dismay of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party and its mouthpiece, Al-Shaab newspaper, Cairo's Court of Appeals rejected on Saturday a request by their lawyers for the disqualification of a criminal court from conducting hearings on a libel lawsuit brought against it by Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali. The Al-Shaab lawyers had asked for the case to be referred to another circuit. The Court of Appeals did not only turn down the request, but ordered Salah Bedeiwi, the Al-Shaab journalist in whose name the request was filed, to pay a hefty fine of LE3,000.
Youssef Wali
In compliance with the order of the Court of Appeals, the case was returned to the criminal court, which set the date for the resumption of hearings on 19 June.
Political analysts agree that the Appeals Court's rejection of Al-Shaab's request is an "initial triumph" for Wali in the first round of his legal battle against the newspaper. Following a three-month campaign by the newspaper which accused him of "treason" for allegedly advocating normalisation with Israel at the expense of Egypt's national security, Wali decided in early April to take legal action against four Al-Shaab journalists -- Adel Hussein, the Labour Party's secretary-general, Magdi Hussein, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Salah Bedeiwi, a journalist and Essam Hanafi, a cartoonist.
Wali said the newspaper's campaign "went against all rules of press freedom and ethics."
In a counter-attack to refute Wali's charges and prolong hearings, Al-Shaab's lawyers showered Chief Justice Hassib El-Beitar with dozens of requests. Events reached their climax with the lawyers seeking two weeks ago to have the court disqualified from conducting hearings.
For Al-Shaab, the Appeals Court's rejection had been expected, but it showed that the "unfair course" taken by the criminal court against them would continue. Hussein told Al-Ahram Weekly that the rejection "is in fact a confiscation of the Al-Shaab lawyers' right to guarantee a fair trial for its journalists. It is also clear that there is a determination that this trial come to an end as soon as possible. This is why the Court of Appeals also rejected the lawyers' request that the English and Hebrew documents they presented be translated into Arabic. It even ignored their request to summon Wali as a key witness," Hussein said.
He added that the Al-Shaab lawyers will do their best to deal with the case's rejection. "We know that many politicians and legal experts with different ideological backgrounds support our case. Last week, for instance, two prominent lawyers, Mahmoud El-Sakka and Essam El-Islambouli, decided to join forces with our lawyers. El-Sakka belongs to the Wafd Party, while El-Islambouli is a prominent pan-Arabist," Hussein said.
The Al-Shaab lawyers were angered by Wali's choice of Nouman Goma'a, vice-chairman of the liberal Wafd Party, as his defence lawyer. Echoing their anger, Al-Shaab wondered how a prominent Wafdist figure such as Goma'a, who has been involved in anti-American and anti-Israeli battles, agreed to represent Wali, "who is considered to be the greatest symbol of normalising relations with Israel." In the words of Hussein, many readers used to follow with great admiration Goma'a's articles against Israel and America in the Al-Wafd newspaper. "It is really regrettable that this patriotic man should take this dramatic position all of a sudden," said Hussein.
Other Al-Shaab commentators said Goma'a's position is part of the Wafd Party's reconciliatory approach towards the government. "They hope that such positions, the last of which was saying 'yes' last week in the People's Assembly for the re-nomination of President Mubarak, will get them a larger number of seats in next year's parliamentary elections," said an article in Al-Shaab.
Fuad Badrawi, a Wafdist deputy, told the Weekly that Goma'a's decision should be viewed as personal. "Despite his anti-normalisation positions, Goma'a, for long, has not only been Wali's private lawyer, but also his personal friend. He has a certain political position but, as a lawyer, he may have other considerations. In other words, he feels that, as a lawyer, he should not be hesitant about defending all those who seek his help," said Badrawi.
Badrawi argued that the same applies to three other Wafdist lawyers, Said El-Gammal, Atef El-Banna and Mahmoud El-Sakka, who decided to join forces with Al-Shaab's defence attorneys in their battle against Wali. "Each one decided to join the side he considers to be right, without causing harm to the internal structure of the party," Badrawi said. He vehemently denied that Goma'a's position was part of a deal with the government to gain parliamentary seats in the next elections. "As I said, he has been Wali's lawyer and friend for a long time. And yet, Goma'a failed to win a parliamentary seat in the 1995 general elections," Badrawi said.
For his part, Yassin Seraggeddin, speaker of the Wafd Party's parliamentary group, said that in Wali's case, Goma'a should not be viewed as a representative of the Wafd Party. "However, let me emphasise again that the Wafd Party opposes normalising relations with Israel. This is the official position of the party's chairman, Fuad Seraggeddin, and all members of the Supreme Committee, including Goma'a himself," Seraggeddin said.
Prominent lawyer and Nasserist MP, Sameh Ashour, agreed with Badrawi. He told the Weekly that lawyers who are involved in political and partisan activities take a different position when public figures seek their legal help. "For myself, I would have agreed to be Wali's lawyer, if he came to me for legal help," Ashour said.
Al-Shaab has alleged that Goma'a agreed to defend Wali in return for Wali giving him an illegal 10-year exemption from payment of an agricultural tax on an area of 171 feddans he owns in the Giza governorate.
