Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		7 - 13 November 2002 Issue No. 611 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Home at last

18 OF THE 172 Egyptian prisoners released in Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein's, 21 October amnesty, arrived home earlier this week, reports Soha Abdelaty. However, 38 remain in prison and have been given a one- month grace period to pay fines to the Iraqi authorities. These vary according to their sentences. Although the exact amount that each prisoner is required to pay is still under negotiation with Iraqi officials, the Egyptian authorities estimate the total sum to be approximately $30,000.
Due to the air ban enforced on Iraq since 1991, the prisoners travelled from Baghdad to Jordan by road then took a flight back to Egypt. More are expected to arrive home within days, following a security check to confirm their citizenship.
Demonstrations continue

DEMONSTRATIONS continued in Egypt this week to protest against Israeli aggression and the American threat of war against Iraq. On Monday, 4000 students at Tanta University protested by chanting anti-Israeli and anti- American slogans. They also demanded that the Egyptian government expel the Israeli ambassador to Egypt and open the door for jihad.
Following the Friday prayers at Al-Azhar Mosque, more than 2000 worshippers also demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Egypt. The protesters, who remained inside the compound of the 1000-year-old mosque, urged Arab governments to cut ties with Israel and called on Iraq to "resist American pressure and threats of a military strike".
A number of women staged a simultaneous protest, denouncing the United States and proclaiming their support for Iraq. Similar rallies have regularly taken place following Friday prayers at Al-Azhar Mosque.
Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, summoned its ambassador from Tel Aviv in November 2000 to denounce what it called Israel's excessive use of force against the Palestinian uprising.
The unforgiven

THE GRAND Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, issued a decree banning Islamic preachers from traveling to the United States in protest of American practices which contradict basic human rights and the status of religious scholars. The decision came in response to last year's ill-treatment of 12 Islamic preachers at US airports, who were on a customary mission during the holy month of Ramadan. Usually Al-Azhar sends Islamic preachers during Ramadan at the request of Islamic centres and mosques in Europe and the US.
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, Tantawi's deputy, explained that the way US customs officers treated the scholars was humiliating and offensive. "I understand their fright following the 11 September attacks and the urge to step up security measures, especially at airports, yet, in doing so officials should bear in mind the status and dignity of scholars," Ashour noted.
He said that one of the scholars was detained at a US airport for 10 hours just because his name includes Atta.
On Sunday, 3 November, US Ambassador to Egypt David Welch visited the grand imam, congratulating him on the occasion of Ramadan and offered his personal intervention to overcome any obstacles that face Islamic scholars wishing to travel to the US during the Holy Month.
Although expressing his appreciation for the ambassador's visit and help, Ashour stressed that Al-Azhar's stance would not be changed. Until the US "learns how to respect the status of scholars" there will be no missions sent there, added Ashour.
Faulty evidence

ON THURSDAY, a judge hearing the case of 23 Egyptians and three Britons, accused of belonging to an illegal group, adjourned the case until 21 December, warning the prosecutors that unless they provide relevant evidence he will have to summon the chief prosecutor for explanation. The court adjourned after Judge Ahmed El-Ashmawi found that some of the evidence provided by the prosecutor was irrelevant to the suspects on trial, but belonged to others who were detained (in the same case) but were later released.
The 26 were among almost 100 men arrested in April from different parts of the country on charges of belonging to the clandestine Hisbul Tahrir Al-Islami, or Islamic Liberation Party. At the opening of the trial all defendants pleaded innocent, claiming that they were being persecuted for their beliefs.
The Islamic Liberation Party was founded in Egypt in 1974 by two Palestinians, Salem Rahhal and Saleh Serrya, only to be crushed by Egyptian authorities in the same year after being blamed for an attempted coup d'état. The coup, known as "the incident of the Technical Military Academy", saw armed militants attack a Cairo- based academy.
Sanctity of the dead

ON TUESDAY, a Cairo court convicted Said Abdel- Khaleq, editor of the independent weekly newspaper Al- Midan and journalist Walid Abdel-Hamid on charges of violating the sanctity of the dead by publishing a photograph of the naked torso of assassinated President Anwar El-Sadat. Each were fined LE200 and given a suspended term of three months. The judge further ordered the defendants to pay an extra LE2001 to the state as compensation to El-Sadat's family.
El-Sadat was shot dead in 1981 by Islamic militants opposed to his 1979 peace treaty with Israel while watching a military parade marking the 1973 October victory.
Shattered dreams

ONE HUNDRED Egyptians were deported recently from Italy for seeking illegal entry after spending more than a week on board a ship, reports Reem Nafie. The young men, who were following their dream of finding a better job abroad, were persuaded by an Egyptian agent identified only as "Yasser" that he could help them through a Libyan friend, "Farid", to reach Italy from Libya by sea. Reaching Libyan territorial waters, the illegal immigrants paid Farid $3000 each to help them enter Italy by sea as promised. Before leaving Libya, Farid withheld their passports under the pretext of increased safety so that, if arrested, they could claim to be Iraqi or Palestinian refugees, and thus avoid being sent back home. However, the ship was intercepted by the police before it reached Italian territorial waters and those on board were transferred to a refugee camp in the south. Acting upon Farid's advice, the Egyptian illegal immigrants claimed they were refugees coming from Iraq and Palestine. Nevertheless, they were identified by the Egyptian consul in Rome and deported back to their homeland on a special aeroplane.
Compiled by Jailan Halawi

Send a letter to the Editor Recommend this page

ARCHIVES
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Subscription
Advertise!

WEEKLY ONLINE: weekly.ahram.org.eg
Updated every Thursday at 20.00 GMT, 10 pm local time
weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram Organisation