28 March - 3 April 2002
Issue No.579
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 March - 3 April 2002 Issue No.579 |
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'I would not go'
AHEAD of the Arab summit, Cairo advised Palestinian President Yasser Arafat not to attend the meetings in Beirut. "If I were in Arafat's place and the Israelis authorised me to leave, I would not go, because they would not allow me back," President Hosni Mubarak told the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar on Tuesday. "They will be able to use any incident, to destroy what remains of [official] buildings and the Palestinian Authority would find itself ousted from Palestinian territories," he added.Mubarak also expressed his confidence that the Arab summit, which ends today, would endorse the Saudi initiative, which broadly defined, calls for Israeli-withdrawal from lands occupied in 1967, in return for establishing normal relations between the Arab states and Israel. Mubarak also said that with this initiative, the Arab countries are presenting the Israeli government with the most that can be offered. "This is the last chance," Mubarak said. "This is the first time that an initiative has offered safety and security for Israel, as a country living in the region and establishing relations with Arab countries," he explained, clarifying that there can be no other initiative that offers such compromises.
Nevertheless, Mubarak also expressed pessimism at the possibilities of coming out of the current impasse. "I have no confidence in Israel, and I don't believe it will accept [the Saudi] initiative," Mubarak said.
"This is the worst period in the Palestinian issue since the peace process in the Middle East began," he concluded.
Mixed identities
A MAN who was mistaken by the Sudanese for a Qa'eda member will be extradited to Egypt, Sudanese foreign minister, Mustafa Ismail, said on Sunday. The man identified as Anas El- Masri, an Egyptian convicted to seven years in prison in absentia for belonging to the outlawed Vanguards of Conquest, an offshoot of Jihad group.Ismail said that El-Masri was mistaken earlier this month, for Anas Al- Libi, one of 22 people on the US most- wanted terrorists list. Al-Libi, a Libyan, is suspected of helping to mastermind the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, that killed 224 people in 1998. Sudan says it has no knowledge of Al-Libi's whereabouts.
Retrial scheduled
THE RETRIAL of sociology professor Saadeddin Ibrahim and 27 associates will start on 27 April. Ibrahim was arrested on 30 June, 2000, and sentenced last May, by a state security court, along with the 27 co- defendants, to prison terms ranging between one and seven years. Ibrahim spent eight months in prison on charges of tarnishing Egypt's image, embezzlement and accepting foreign money without government consent.On 6 February, however, the Court of Cassation overturned
the convictions and ordered that the defendants, who were
subsequently freed, be retried.
The Court's explanation for granting a retrial, published this month, stated that the original court had failed to properly examine and evaluate prosecution evidence and defense arguments.
Ibrahim's lawyer, Ibrahim Saleh submitted a request five weeks ago to the prosecutor-general to grant permission for his client to travel to the United States for treatment. Barbara, Ibrahim's wife, said that her husband appears to be suffering from a neurological disorder. Doctors have said he may have small-vessel disease, a condition that prevents sufficient oxygen from reaching the deeper recesses of the brain.
Back home
AN EGYPTIAN detained in Iraq since 16 March returned to Cairo on Monday. Abdel-Aziz El-Masri was held in Iraq for illegally. entering the country via the Kuwaiti borders.El-Masri, a driver for a car rental company in Kuwait, claimed he was accompanying Venezuela's ambassador to Kuwait on their way to visit the Venezuelan troops serving with the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). The Iraqi authorities however, refused to release Jassem El-Randi, a Kuwaiti national who was with El-Masri and the Venezuelan delegation.
Iraqi authorities stated that they will not release Al-Randi unless Kuwait frees Iraqis held in Kuwait on similar charges. Kuwait has recently sentenced several Iraqi nationals to jail for spying, smuggling and other offences.
Pope on Khul
POPE Shenoudah, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, said that Khul' could be applied to Christians.Khul' entitles women to divorce by court ruling, on condition that they give up all financial rights. The divorce is permitted if three months of attempted reconciliation have failed or six months if the couple have children.
In an interview with the daily Al- Ahram, Pope Shenoudah said it is a known fact that courts apply the Islamic Shari'a (rulings) to Christian couples, if they are of different denominations. "It is considered a civil divorce and not a religious one," he said. If Khul' is permitted for Muslim women, why not apply it to Christian women?" he queried. He said that law can not be applied in some situations and not in others.
Two weeks ago, a court refused to divorce a Christian woman on the basis of Khul'. The court said that Khul' contravened Christian beliefs on the sanctity of the marital bond.
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