Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 26 July - 1 August 2001 Issue No.544
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Landmark decision
THE COURT of Cassation, the nation's highest court, handed down a landmark ruling on Saturday annulling a military decree issued in 1992, reports Khaled Dawoud. The controversial military decree, No. 4 for 1992, was issued in accordance with the Emergency Law, in effect since the 1981 assassination of President Anwar El- Sadat. But the court overruled it, claiming that it violated the principle of separation of authorities.
Following a major earthquake in 1992, the prime minister, in his capacity as deputy military governor under the Emergency Law, issued the decree to stiffen penalties for construction code violators. The same decree also banned individuals and groups from receiving donations without prior government approval.
A man sentenced to seven years imprisonment under the decree for violating construction restrictions contested its legality before the Court of Cassation. The court ruled in his favour and declared the decree null and void. Primarily, the court held that the decree usurped the powers of the legislature by stiffening a penalty already set in existing laws. It also said that the decree is invoked by lower courts to regulate non-emergency situations, which properly fall outside the scope of the Emergency Law.
Ibrahim Saleh, the defence attorney of human rights activist and university professor Saadeddin Ibrahim, said the Court of Cassation's ruling was very good news for his client. Two months ago, Ibrahim was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on the authority of the same military decree, because his centre received funds from the European Union without government permission. Saleh has contested the sentence with the Court of Cassation, which is expected to set a date to start looking into the case shortly. If the court approves Saleh's appeal, it will order Ibrahim's retrial before a different judicial circuit. Saleh argued that Saturday's ruling also nullified the case against his client.
Back where they belong
THE SECOND consignment of a batch of Egyptian antiquities smuggled into London six years ago arrived back in Egypt, safe and sound, yesterday, reports Nevine El-Aref. After the high- profile dismantling of a British-led smuggling network, a limestone head of the 19th-dynasty Queen Meret, as well as six papyri, were handed over to Egyptian antiquities authorities. The statue had been sold to a private collector in London who was awaiting a court decision, but, for unknown reasons, he dropped the case.
The recovery of these items is the final chapter of a saga that lasted years and involved one of the biggest investigations into antiquities-smuggling by Scotland Yard, in collaboration with the Egyptian antiquities police. The drama unfolded in the early 1990s, when British restorer Jonathan Tokely Parry smuggled the items past border checkpoints disguised as cheap imitations of original works.
In 1994 Parry attempted to sell the papyrus texts to an antiquities trader, who took the papyri to the British Museum to verify their authenticity. The curator immediately recognised them as part of a collection discovered by a British mission in 1966 in the animal necropolis of northern Saqqara. Investigations were launched and Parry was arrested in Britain in 1997, where he was sentenced to six years imprisonment. In Egypt, he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour.
Dispute resolved
BRINGING a scuffle between tour operators and the government to a tentative truce, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced that he would remove part of a controversial wall erected around the Abu Simbel temple complex, reports Nevine El-Aref. Cruise-ship owners and tour operators raised an outcry some months ago after the Ministry of Culture erected the 1.7-metre-high iron fence, which they complained was an eyesore.
Hosni toured the complex on Sunday, accompanied by Ahmed El-Maghrabi, head of the Egyptian Tourism Chamber, and archaeological and tourism experts, with a view to settle a dispute over the marred view of the temples from the myriad cruise-liners that visit Abu Simbel. Hosni agreed to remove the southern part of the fence if cruise-ship owners would cease docking their boats directly on the temples' shores and instead keep to two alternative docking positions that will be established. He also promised to construct large rocky steps at the passageway connecting the docks to the twin temples in order to facilitate tourists' access.
King Tut business
ON 1 AUGUST, Ali Galal, first under-secretary at the Ministry of Information, will stand trial before the Supreme Disciplinary Court on charges of abuse of power. Galal is accused of illegally managing a private business while holding a government post. He is said to have abused his position at the ministry by facilitating deals for his private media production company, King Tut, through his official connections.
Two months ago, Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif reported Galal's misconduct to the Administrative Prosecution, which later decided to refer the case for trial.
A Boeing move
FOLLOWING reports that EgyptAir and Minister of Transportation Ibrahim El-Dumeri had filed a lawsuit against American plane manufacturer Boeing over the company's failure to turn over documents related to the crash of an EgyptAir flight in October 1999, sources at EgyptAir told Amira Ibrahim that a team of senior Boeing representatives, including the company's vice- president, were in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.
"The lawsuit resulted in a positive response from Boeing, which agreed to discuss Egyptian requests," an informed source said. During the visit to Cairo, Boeing's vice-president met with EgyptAir Chairman Fahim Rayan and discussed organising a team to look into Egyptian concerns about a fatal flaw in the elevator control system of the Boeing 767, which Egypt maintains is the likely cause of the crash. The crash killed all 217 passengers on board.
A report delivered in mid-June by Egyptian investigators detailed possible causes of the crash and questioned the investigation into the crash by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which concluded that the plane was deliberately crashed by co-pilot Gamil El-Batouti -- a claim vehemently rejected by the Egyptian side.
Compiled by Shaden Shehab

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