Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 June 2001 Issue No.538
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Acquittal on a legality
A STATE Security Court yesterday acquitted Sherif El-Filali of spying for Israel on a point of law. A Russian standing trial in absentia was given life imprisonment, Khaled Dawoud reports.
In an unexpected ending to a trial which lasted five months, Judge Mohamed Assem said that although El-Filali did commit a crime, he would accept his request for acquittal because he voluntarily admitted his action before the investigation began.
El-Filali, a 34-year-old businessman, lived in Spain for nine years before returning to Cairo on 10 September 2000. Two days later, he reported to the National Security Department on his relations with the Russian defendant, Gregory Schvitz, and their wish to broker a weapons deal between Egypt and other countries, including Iraq.
On 26 September, after two weeks of daily questioning, police raided El-Filali's house, arrested him and confiscated his computer and other material.
El-Filali had been charged with espionage and with providing Israel with information about Egypt's military, economic, political and tourism situation with the intent of "harming the country's national interests."
His trial, which started on 13 January, coincided with the chill in relations between Egypt and Israel following the eruption of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and Israel's excessive use of force against the Palestinians.
Most observers, recalling a spying case in which an Israeli of Druze origin, Azam Azam, and an Egyptian, Emad Ismail, were sentenced to imprisonment in 1996, expected that El-Filali would receive a harsh sentence. In Azam's case, the Egyptian partner also voluntarily reported to the authorities attempts by the Israeli intelligence, Mossad, to recruit him. Yet he was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Azam was given 15 years hard labour.
The mood was tense yesterday at the Abbassiya courtroom, where El-Filali's trial has been taking place. The accused spy, wearing a white prison uniform and handcuffed to his guard, was escorted under tight security to the defendants' cage. Before entering the cage he hugged his mother and kissed his father's hand. Looking pale and worried, El-Filali held a small copy of the Qur'an and whispered prayers. Since the beginning of the trial, he had persistently refused to speak to reporters, but minutes before the sentence was pronounced he told Al-Ahram Weekly: "God willing, things will go fine."
Judge Assem, who had responded positively to all requests by the defendant's lawyer since the opening of the trial, began his sentence with verses from the Qur'an beseeching God to forgive men who make mistakes. He went on to say: "Although the crimes committed by the two defendants have been established, the court has accepted El-Filali's request for acquittal on the basis of articles in the law which state that charges should be dropped if the defendant took the initiative and informed authorities about a crime he had committed before a criminal investigation was opened."
The judge said the authorities concerned were not aware that a crime might have been committed until El-Filali made his voluntary confession. "Two days after his arrival in Egypt, he went to the intelligence, confessing in detail the story of his downfall, citing shameful details which the court declines to mention," the judge said, referring to the loose life El-Filali is alleged to have led in Germany and Spain, including extramarital affairs to which he confessed during interrogation. "Egypt will never reject one of its sons when he comes back feeling sorry and ashamed of his actions," the judge said. Then, he announced El-Filali's acquittal and pronounced life imprisonment for the Russian defendant.
Ahmed Abdel-Khaleq, El-Filali's lawyer, praised the ruling. "It reaffirms the independence of the Egyptian judiciary, which does not fall under pressure as a result of the ongoing Intifada and the situation in Palestine," he said.
After the ruling was announced, El-Filali was quickly whisked out of the court cage without speaking to reporters. Throughout the trial, El-Filali and his family insisted he was innocent. His mother, Soheir Murad, yesterday lashed out at journalists. "They condemned my son before the end of his trial, and insisted on branding him as a spy," she said.
Starting over
THE ARKADIA Mall murder case will be retried beginning 23 June before another panel of the Criminal Court after presiding judge Galal Ibrahim "excused" himself from hearing the case. On trial will be Omar El-Hawari, who is accused of killing Mahmoud Rawhi on 12 April at Pomodoro Restaurant in the Arkadia Mall.
El-Hawari's defence team had contested the competence of the court on 28 May, in effect demanding a retrial before another circuit of the Criminal Court. The defence accused Ibrahim and the two other judges who make up the panel of bias. On 5 June, Cairo's Court of Appeals threw out the defence's request.
The trial was scheduled to resume with the same three-judge panel on 7 June. However, Ibrahim shocked Rawhi's family and observers by declaring that he was excusing himself from conducting the hearings "because the defendant does not feel that the trial is fair." Although Ibrahim's decision conforms with the law, it is rarely taken.

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