Issue No. 594
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11 - 17 July 2002 Issue No. 594 Home news |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Good morning bribery
THE STATE security prosecutor detained Mohamed El- Wakil, the news director of Egypt's state-owned television apparatus, on Sunday, pending investigation of bribery allegations against him. El-Wakil has been suspended from work for "violations he committed and complaints against him, which the monitoring authorities are verifying", according to a statement issued by Minister of Information Safwat El- Sherif.
El-Wakil, who has headed the Egyptian Radio and Television Union's (ERTU) news sector since 1998, was arrested on Sunday in a sting operation conducted by State Security officials and the Administrative Monitoring Office (AMO), which is in charge of investigating allegations of official impropriety.
He was removed from his office at the station soon after allegedly receiving a LE10,000 bribe in exchange for featuring a medical doctor as a guest on Good Morning Egypt -- a popular morning show. Two of the show's producers, Ahmed El- Hasisi and Hani Abdel-Latif, were also arrested.
Abdel-Latif was the first to be arrested, when he allegedly picked up the money from Mohamed Fathi, a hospital manager. He led investigators to Al-Hasisi, who was arrested when Abdel-Latif delivered the money to him. The police then escorted El-Hasisi to the television building, and arrested El- Wakil soon after El-Hasisi handed the money over to him. The final handover and arrest were filmed by authorities.
AMO tapped El-Wakil's phone line after receiving a complaint from Fathi that he had been asked to pay the bribe in return for appearing on the show.
Second count for libel
THE EDITOR of the weekly newspaper Sowt Al-Umma was fined LE10,000 on Monday for libelling one of Egypt's largest corporations. Adel Hammouda was found guilty of approving the publication of a number of unsigned articles which libeled Orascom, a family-run corporation which owns several companies operating in construction, tourism and telecommunications. Hammouda will appeal the verdict.
In March, Hammouda was also found guilty and sentenced to six months in prison, in another libel suit filed by Sawiris. Hammouda is also appealing the March verdict and sentence.
Some 23 cases have been filed by the Sawiris family -- primary owners of Orascom -- against Hammouda and Sowt Al-Umma.
Off the press
MONTASSER El-Zayyat, an Egyptian lawyer close to Muslim militants, has halted plans to republish a book criticising Osama Bin Laden's top lieutenant Ayman El-Zawaheri. El- Zayyat said that members of the outlawed Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood who had read his book Ayman El- Zawaheri -- As I Knew Him had contacted him to suggest not printing its third edition. It was first published in January in response to El-Zawaheri accusing El-Zayyat of striking a truce with the Egyptian government.
The two men met 20 years ago in prison, where they were being held on charges related to President Anwar El-Sadat's 1981 assassination by Muslim militants. They were released in 1984, and last spoke in 1997.
In his book, El-Zayyat wrote that El-Zawaheri's policies and activities led to "the biggest crisis that all Islamic groups, regardless of their names, are suffering from". El-Zayyat, who has been defending Islamic militants in Egyptian courts since 1987, said his decision to halt the book's reprint "doesn't mean I have retracted what I said... in the book". He said he had not been threatened to stop the reprint, and that he had removed second edition copies from circulation on Saturday.
Egyptian-born surgeon El-Zawaheri has been at large since US-led forces launched strikes on Afghanistan in October in retaliation for the 11 September attacks in the US. America holds Al-Qa'eda and its leadership, which includes El- Zawaheri and Bin Laden, responsible. El-Zawaheri joined Al- Qa'eda in 1998 and is considered its chief ideologue.
Euro-Med link
EUMEDIS is not a quest to find the relics of an ancient Greek god. Rather, it is the acronym for the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society, a European Commission (EC) programme which hopes to narrow the technological gap between Southern Mediterranean countries by linking them with each other and with the 15 EU member states. Niveen Wahish attended the unveiling of the initiative.
Some 65 million euros will go to funding 16 Information Technology-related projects in cultural heritage, tourism, education, electronic commerce, healthcare and research for industrial development. The purpose of the programme, according to Ian Boag, the EC's delegation head in Egypt, is "not to fund hardware or infrastructure, but to enable people to exchange ideas and information, put people in contact with one another and remove barriers".
Each project is jointly executed by institutions from EU member states and the EU's 12 Mediterranean partners. Egypt is participating in 14 projects. "High quality Egyptian institutions came up with high quality projects," said Boag.
The benefits accruing from the projects, which will be implemented over a two- to three-year period, go beyond the funds that will be disbursed. Ahmed Nazif, Egyptian minister of communications and information technology, praised the programme on the basis of its goal for facilitating the interaction and exchange of expertise between the institutions from Euro-Med countries.
Shopping spree
FOR THE fifth consecutive year, the Shopping and Tourism Festival will be held between 20 July and 20 August in the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Ismailia and the Red Sea, reports Rehab Saad.
During the shopping festival, hundreds of stores are expected to offer discounts on goods; hotels, resorts and restaurants will offer special prices for customers; travel agents will provide discounts on trips and there will also be concerts and special events across Egypt for foreign and local shoppers.
Last week, the Higher Committee of the Shopping and Tourism Festival (HCSTF), headed by Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui, held a meeting to discuss preparations for the festival. The meeting was attended by Minister of Supplies and Domestic Trade Hassan Khedr, the governors of the five participating governorates, and Abdel-Moneim Seoudi, head of the Executive Committee of the Festival and the chairman of the Federation of Industries.
HCSTF decided to reimburse tourists for their payment of the sales tax on purchases of more than LE500; in previous years, tax exemptions were made only on purchase of more than LE4,000. "This will encourage tourists to buy more goods and thus boost Egyptian exports," said El-Beltagui.
Conjoined complications
DOCTORS following the case of the one-year-old twin boys joined at the crowns of their heads are about to decide what to do, after discovering that the separation operation could result in death for both, writes Mona El-Nahhas. The Egyptian doctor accompanying the twins to Texas for treatment was scheduled to return to Cairo on Tuesday.
On 2 June last year, in a remote Upper Egyptian village, Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim were born with their heads attached. Days after their first birthday, they arrived at North Texas Hospital for Children in Dallas for a medical evaluation by a team of specialists and surgeons. According to a report prepared by craniofacial surgeon Dr Kenneth Salyer, it was discovered that the attachment of the twin's heads is extensive, making the separation very risky.
"Doctors are now considering the complications that could arise from the surgery," said Dr Nasser Abdel-Al, head of neonatal surgery at Abul-Reesh Hospital in Cairo, who accompanied the twins to Dallas. Upon returning to Egypt, Abdel-Al is scheduled to consult doctors and Muslim religious authorities before deciding on whether surgery should take place.
Compiled by Nevine Khalil
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