Price of opposition

A JOURNALIST with the independent financial daily El-Alam El-Youm, Ibrahim El-Sahari, was arrested on Sunday. Two days earlier, according to his wife, state security officers had raided his home and interrogated him about his opposition to a war in Iraq.

El-Sahari had reportedly participated in recent demonstrations during the Cairo Book Fair. El- Sahari had recently published a book entitled In The Name of Iraq: A New War for Oil and Hegemony that criticised positions taken by Egypt and other Arab states towards a possible US-led war in Iraq.

Gama'a founder released

AFTER nearly eight months in prison while under investigation, the founder of the underground Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, Salaheddin Hashem, was released on 6 February. Ali Radi, one of the group's prominent figures and a lawyer, was also released.

Both were arrested last June on charges of receiving funds from abroad to assist Al-Gama'a members at large; contacting wanted militants at large, in Egypt and abroad; and attempting to end the group's cease-fire initiative.

Although Hashem and Radi had both been charged in several cases in recent years, they were always acquitted. The pair are known for being against the use of violence to achieve their group's goals and their support for the initiative launched in late 1997 by incarcerated Al-Gama'a leaders that called upon group members to halt all militant operations in Egypt. The initiative was subsequently approved by Al- Gama'a's Shura Council in 1999.

The men were arrested based on a report issued by state security prosecutors that reportedly said the men were attempting to end the cease-fire in collaboration with more radical elements who oppose the call, both in Egypt and abroad.

Hashem and Radi are forbidden from leaving the country pending further investigation which could lead to a trial.

Buildings collapse

TEN PEOPLE were killed and 19 injured when two apartment blocks collapsed in separate incidents in the low-income districts of Al-Darb Al-Ahmar and Menshiyet Nasser.

On 7 February, an explosion in a firecracker warehouse on the ground floor caused a building to collapse in Menshiyet Nasser, killing eight and wounding 12. The owner of the store, Sayyed Qurani, 48, and two of his workers were among the dead. The firecrackers were being made to be sold during the Eid Al-Adha holiday when youngsters play with the noisemakers. Police said the blast was apparently caused by the gun powder used in the firecrackers, but they had no details about what sparked the explosion.

The next day, a three-storey house collapsed, killing Duriya Ibrahim Dessouqi and her 10-year- old son Mustafa, while injuring seven other people.

Compiled by Shaden Shehab