Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 12 - 18 April 2001 Issue No.529
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Student protests
ONCE again, students at Cairo and Al-Azhar universities demonstrated against Israel. Anti-riot police armed with water cannon stopped the demonstrators from leaving the Cairo University campus. The Al-Azhar demonstrations passed without incident.
This week's protests come after thousands of students demonstrated last week at Ain Shams University against US support for Israeli military action against the Palestinians.
Party No 16
EGYPT 2000 is the latest political party to join the country's stagnant political scene. The party's birth wasn't a smooth one either as the Political Parties Committee, affiliated with the Shura Council, rejected the application presented by Egypt 2000's founder, Fawzi Khalil, two years ago.
Khalil appealed the decision with the Political Parties Tribunal which on Saturday supported the formation of the party.
Numerous attempts by active political groups to establish political parties were rejected by both the political parties committee and tribunal over the past two decades on the grounds that the platforms presented were not unique.
Stating that Egypt 2000 is indeed unique, the Political Parties Tribunal supported its argument by referring to the issues of "globalisation" and the "Nile waters" mentioned the party's platform.
The new group brings to 16 the number of political parties registered in Egypt. The court's verdict was met with indifference on the part of observers and politicians.
Dubious disclosure
THE revelation that accused spy Sherif Filali was detained for two months at intelligence headquarters caused waves this week at his trial in a state security court, reports Khaled Dawoud. Over the course of two sessions on Monday and Wednesday, Filali's lawyer, Ahmed Abdel-Khaleq, insisted that Egyptian law requires the detention of any suspect at a public prison immediately after his arrest. He argued that any procedures that do not follow this course are explicitly illegal and compromised the prosecution's investigation.
Abdel-Khaleq claimed that in the two months that Filali was held, he was subjected to "psychological pressure" in order to extract false confessions. But the state prosecutor denied that Filali's imprisonment at the National Security Department headquarters discredited the "confessions" he made. Filali was arrested on 27 September for allegedly providing the Israeli intelligence with information that could harm the country's interests. After refusing to confirm the place where Filali was detained until he was handed over for trial in November, the prosecutor conceded yesterday that the defendant was kept at the intelligence headquarters, but denied that this violated existing laws.
Abdel-Khaleq claimed that prosecutors had no evidence, noting that it was Filali himself who went to the intelligence headquarters two weeks before his arrest, to sound out reservations he had over business relations he had established with a Russian suspect, who is being tried in absentia. The lawyer said that while Filali was living in Spain, he was involved in mediating an arms deal between Egypt and another African country and he had presented a request to the Egyptian embassy in Madrid seeking information on the arms he wanted to buy.
Abdel-Khaleq will conclude the last part of his defence today, when the court is expected then to set a date for issuing its ruling. The case has gained special significance as it comes at a time when relations between Egypt and Israel are tense due to Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
Cutting its losses
AFTER months of speculation, the British supermarket chain J. Sainsbury's has announced its withdrawal from the Egyptian market, reports Niveen Wahish.
Sainsbury's, which has more than 100 outlets throughout the country, has been the target of criticism since entering Egypt through a partnership with a local retailer. Local producers of foodstuffs complained to the government that the chain was undercutting their business by offering goods at less than factory prices, and accusations of pro-Zionist Jewish ownership were made at the outset of the Al-Aqsa Intifada amidst calls for a boycott in solidarity with the Palestinians.
In a press release issued early this week the group's chief executive, Sir Peter Davis, said the company was withdrawing from the Egyptian market to cut its losses.
The company's 2000/2001 interim results, announced in November, revealed that its Egyptian operations sustained losses of approximately 10 million pounds sterling during the first half of the fiscal year. After the results were made public, the company refrained from making any clear statements about its future plans for the Egyptian market until this week's withdrawal announcement.
Davis said that Sainsbury's withdrawal will be effected through "the sale of our interest to our minority partner [El-Nasharty Group], and we have reached a preliminary agreement with him. This transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Egypt."
This move is expected to cost the group between 100 and 125 million pounds sterling. "The costs associated with our withdrawal from Egypt are clearly disappointing," the press release said.
Sainsbury's decision comes within the context of restructuring the company.
Losing their heads
FOUR days ago, the Egyptian archaeological mission excavating the Bahariya Oasis, specifically the area around the Valley of the Gilded Mummies, unexpectedly discovered 11 mummies, reports Nevine El-Aref from the Western Desert. This time, however, the mummies were not gilded but wrapped in linen.
At the northern corner of the valley, six kilometres from the capital city of Bawiti, a rock-hewn tomb containing 11 well-preserved mummies was discovered. Nine of the mummies were found in an outer chamber laid on a sandstone platform. The other two, which were decapitated, were found in the tomb's burial chamber with their mummified heads placed next to the bodies.
"Until now, we do not know exactly why and when the two mummies became headless, but earlier studies of the tomb revealed that it had been robbed," said El-Hussein Abdel-Bassir, director of the excavation team in the Valley of the Gilded Mummies.
Another burial pit adjacent to the tomb was also discovered in which Abdel-Bassir expects to unearth the mummies of other members of the family.
Skeletons, golden fragments, onyx pieces and dried barley were also found in the tomb.
Zahi Hawass, director-general of the Giza plateau and Bahariya Oasis, said that in the El-Sheikh Subi area, site of the tombs of a governor of Bahariya and those of his wife and his father, a new tomb of another member of the governor's family was discovered. This is a small tomb containing a single burial chamber in which an anthropoid limestone sarcophagus was found to contain a mummy.
'Dare to care'
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean celebrated World Health Day this year at its new premises in Nasr City on 7 April. Mental health was selected as the theme for the year 2001, with the slogan of 'Stop exclusion, dare to care.'
The main ceremony was inaugurated by Dr Hussein A Geziary, WHO's regional director, Dr Ismail Sallam, the Egyptian Minister of Health and Population and Dr Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of the Doctors Syndicate. Prior to the official inauguration, a seminar was held on the media and mental health.
Three days later, journalists and mental health professionals from throughout the region discussed their role and possible cooperation for the promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental illness.
A report on the meeting, including its recommendations, will be displayed on WHO's regional Web site. A short film, Mental Health: 7 Days 7 Faces, directed by Omid Mohit and produced by the WHO Eastern Mediterranean office, was shown on both occasions.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag

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