Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 6 - 12 September 2001 Issue No.550
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Libelously misquoted
THE FIRST wife of the late President Anwar El-Sadat has filed a libel and slander complaint with the general prosecutor against the Saudi Arabian publishing house Al-Yamama for printing a fictitious interview with her in which she allegedly maligned her former husband. Iqbal Madi said that Al-Yamama magazine published an interview on 18 August which was "baseless and full of lies." The interview quoted her as saying that El-Sadat "was not her prince charming" and that renowned journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is "a liar who resorts to cheap tactics."
She said that the fake interview was based on her memoirs published in an Egyptian magazine, "but with a large measure of fabrications and distortions."
Championing the victims

THE EGYPTIAN government denied that "all matters have been resolved" regarding compensation for the families of 64 Egyptian victims on the August 2000 crash of Gulf Air Flight 072 off Bahrain. In a cabinet press release last week, Mustafa Tageddin, adviser to the prime minister on crisis and emergency management, lambasted a Gulf Air spokeswoman for saying that all issues had been settled, and described her as "woefully ignorant of the facts." He said that she caused "further distress to the bereaved families."
The statement noted that agreement has only been reached regarding passengers who were 18 years of age or older at the time of the crash, and whose families will receive compensation from Gulf Air totaling $130,000.
However, a dispute -- which is now under international arbitration -- was caused by Gulf Air's discriminatory criteria in calculating compensation monies for 27 victims under the age of 18. The Egyptian government's special inter-ministerial high- level committee believes that Gulf Air is "morally, as well as legally, wrong to discriminate, based on age or any other grounds, amongst passengers that died."
The press release added that the limited agreement reached required "intense and tough" negotiations, which is "strong evidence of Gulf Air's negative attitude towards Egyptian claimants."
Al-Nabaa editor in trouble THE GIZA Criminal Court on Monday indefinitely postponed hearings for a libel lawsuit brought by a beauty contest organiser against Mamdouh Mahran, chief editor of the suspended weekly Al-Nabaa. Youssef Fadel Sabahi, one of the organisers of the Miss Egypt pageant, had demanded the maximum penalty for Mahran for describing the organisers as white slave traders. Sabahi said Mahran had abused the right to freedom of expression and had deliberately maligned and slandered the event's organisers.
Mahran is already on trial before a State Security Misdemeanours Court for publishing lurid details and photographs of the sexual activities of a defrocked monk.
Face-lift for Maspero

AUTHORITIES dismantled on Monday eight dilapidated buildings, the first in a group of 94, located in streets and alleys near the Egyptian Radio and Television building, popularly known as Maspero, in the district of Boulaq Abul-Ela, reports Hanan Sabra.
According to Mohamed Salem, head of the legal department at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union [ERTU], "the dismantling of these buildings is in line with cabinet decrees No 906 for the year 2000 and 222 for the year 2001. These call for the removal of 94 buildings in the area near the Egyptian Radio and Television Union for the public benefit."
As compensation, the owners and inhabitants of these buildings were offered either alternative housing or a lump sum to be paid by the Ministry of Information. Salem told Al- Ahram Weekly the amount of compensation to be paid to each individual is still under negotiation, but the total amount offered by the ministry is approximately LE13 million.
Compiled by Nevine Khalil

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