Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 15 - 21 February 2001 Issue No.521
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Troops offer denied
A WELL-INFORMED source has strongly denied a report published last week claiming that President Hosni Mubarak had suggested the deployment of Egyptian troops in the oil-rich Arab Gulf region.
The editor-in-chief of the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA), Mahfouz El-Ansari, quoted the source on Monday as saying that the report, published in a specialised American Middle East online magazine and reproduced by the Qatari daily Al-Watan, was a "figment of the imagination."
The report added that Saudi Arabia had rejected the alleged proposal "because the tradeoff for Egypt's presence in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf would be the payment of money forever and ever."
Ansari argued that the report was aimed at sowing divisions within Arab ranks ahead of an Arab summit due to be held in Amman, Jordan, in late March. He added that President Mubarak's recent tour in the region, which included Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Syria and Tunisia, was aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and coordinating a united Arab position ahead of the summit.
Al-Dorra remembered
THE IMAGE of the Palestinian boy Mohamed Al-Dorra who was killed by Israeli sniper fire as his father tried to shield him is indelibly imprinted on the memories of all who saw the footage of this tragedy. By way of expressing their sympathy for the young boy's family and their solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle to end the occupation, the Friends of Salah Taher Association in Alexandria hosted the late Al-Dorra's parents, Gamal and Amal, last week.
During their visit, Al-Dorra's parents were honoured at a remembrance ceremony, held under the auspices of the Alexandria governorate, and attended by Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, minister of irrigation and water resources, and Alieddin Hilal, minister of youth. At this event, Gamal and Amal Al-Dorra were presented with the Al-Ahram Shield by Ali Ghoneim, general manager of the Al-Ahram Organisation.
Save the children
WHILE Mohamed Al-Dorra was being remembered in Alexandria, six Iraqi children suffering from cancer and other illnesses arrived in Cairo for medical treatment. This was the first time since the imposition of sanctions on Iraq in 1991 that a group of Iraqi children came to Egypt for medical treatment.
The trip was organised by the Egyptian People's Delegation for Lifting the Embargo on Iraq, a non-governmental organisation. Treatment will be administered at the new high-tech, and state-owned, Qasr Al-Aini Hospital.
The use of depleted uranium in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, has resulted in an increase in the incidence of various cancers among Iraqis -- children in particular. Moreover, the economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council also resulted in the declining availability of medical resources in Iraq. Many people have become so impoverished that they cannot afford medication, which is scarce.
Torturers get jail
IN AN unprecedented ruling against police officers accused of beating inmates to death, the Nile Delta court of Shebin Al-Kom has sentenced two senior officers and four policemen to prison terms ranging between five and 10 years.
On 7 February, Judge Salah Afifi sentenced the director of Al-Natroun Prison, Police Lt Col Essameddin Antar, to 10 years and the prison's investigating officer, Maj Magdi Khalil, to seven years. Four police sergeants at Al-Natroun, a maximum security prison, were sentenced to five years. The court also ordered the six be dismissed from their posts.
The men were convicted of torturing Ahmed Mohamed Eissa, a prisoner at Natroun awaiting trial, to death. One of the sergeants confessed he was pressured by Antar to falsify a report that the prisoner had died after inhaling pesticides.
The Shebin Al-Kom court ruling was tough presumably because there was ample evidence against the six policemen. The majority of cases alleging that police officers torture their prisoners are usually dropped due to lack of evidence. There is also the fact that victims, who are blindfolded as they are being tortured, are usually unable to identify their tormentors.
Elections in the balance
THE ADMINISTRATIVE Court has delayed until 25 February its hearing of an appeal that contests the legality of long-delayed Bar Association elections now scheduled to take place on 17 February, reports Mona El-Nahhas. The appeal had been made by a group of lawyers on the grounds that new nominations for the chairmanship and membership of the association's council should be allowed because the list of election candidates, prepared last July when elections were originally due to take place, is now outdated. For example, some candidates should not be allowed to run for election, the lawyers argued, because they have reached the retirement age.
The Administrative Court also referred another appeal filed by lawyer Abdel-Halim Ramadan to the Court of Appeals on the grounds that it has no jurisdiction to hear the case. In his appeal filed against the interim committee in charge of running the association's affairs, Ramadan demanded that lawyer Raga'i Attiya should not be allowed to contest the chairman's post. Attiya's nomination had been approved by the interim committee.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag

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