Pornographers anonymous
Editors of a party newspaper are on trial for publishing pornography. Mona El-Nahhas reports
Aboul-Fotouh; Dina
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Observers at the trial of Moataz Salaheddin, editor-in-chief of El-Watan El- Arabi newspaper, would be justified for wondering exactly who runs the mouthpiece of the minor Social Justice Party. Salaheddin is on trial at the Ezbekiya Misdemeanours Court for publishing pornographic photos lifted from a CD-ROM video, allegedly showing famous belly dancer Dina and businessman Hossam Abul-Fotouh making love.
Although no one knows exactly where it originally came from, the CD has been available on the black market for some time now. It is especially significant because Abul-Fotouh -- a very high-profile businessman -- is currently in custody on a variety of charges including tax and customs evasion, and possession of unlicensed firearms.
An article about Abul-Fotouh -- accompanied by photos from the infamous CD -- was published in El-Watan El-Arabi on 4 February, immediately resulting in a complaint sent by the Supreme Press Council -- a body affiliated to the Shura Council -- to Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahed. A second complaint -- filed by Shura Council member and lawyer Shawqi El-Sayed -- urged the prosecutor to immediately begin an investigation of the newspaper's conduct. El-Sayed attached a copy of the newspaper to his complaint, which said "it was extremely sad to see [such] violations becoming a serious phenomenon, threatening both the freedom of the press and the morality of society."
Nearly simultaneously, Dina's lawyer, Labib Muawad, filed a LE2 million compensation suit against the newspaper's chairman, Mohamed Abdel-Aal, who is also chairman of the Social Justice Party. An investigation into the matter began, with Abdel-Aal immediately claiming that the article in question was published without his knowledge.
"I was not at the newspaper at the time," Abdel- Aal told Al-Ahram Weekly, "because I was suffering from a severe heart condition." Abdel-Aal is currently standing trial at the State Security Court in a completely separate case in which he is charged with accepting a bribe from a businessman in exchange for stopping a vicious press campaign against him. The verdict in that case is expected on 30 April.
No stranger to controversy, Abdel-Aal's Press Syndicate membership had also previously been revoked. According to Abdel-Aal, "even if I had been there, my legal responsibility for anything published in the paper is limited to financial matters, such as paying out compensation if a court ruled as such."
As such, the party chairman had managed -- in this case -- to delegate the responsibility for the offensive article to the paper's executive editor-in- chief, Abdel-Nabi Abdel-Sattar.
Abdel-Sattar, however, also denied any knowledge of the article in question, telling investigators he had not set foot at the paper's headquarters since 31 January. "I have not written or edited a word since then," he said, brandishing medical certificates that purported to show that he had been confined to bed.
According to Abdel-Sattar, the draft copy of the story was signed by Abdel-Aal, whom Abdel-Sattar said must first approve any story published in the paper. Faced with this sort of circular evasiveness, investigators next turned to the paper's editor-in- chief, Moataz Salaheddin.
Salaheddin told the Weekly that he left the newspaper's offices on the evening prior to the publication of the article only after Abdel-Sattar had arrived and taken over the helm. Before leaving, he said, he submitted an article he had written about "the psychological basis for Abul-Fotouh's deviant behaviour." The next day, said Salaheddin, he was shocked to see his name on another, completely different story.
Today, the Social Justice Party is scheduled to begin its own investigation into the matter. The Press Syndicate has also scheduled a disciplinary hearing for the paper's editors for next week. Abdel-Aal, however, will not be one of them, said Syndicate Secretary Yehia Qallash, since the party chairman is no longer a syndicate member. Sources also said, however, that the Syndicate would probably wait for the court to rule on the case before taking punitive measures against the editors.
The court, meanwhile, adjourned until 9 March to give Salaheddin's defence team a chance to prepare its case.
The sensational nature of the case is reminiscent of the crisis sparked by El-Nabaa newspaper's June 2001 publication of pornographic photos of a sexual tryst between an excommunicated monk and a woman. At the time, and in the midst of the resulting sectarian strife, an Administrative Court ruled that the newspaper be banned. The State Security Court, meanwhile, sentenced its editor-in- chief Mamdouh Mahran, to a three-year prison term. Last May, however, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the newspaper could once again begin publishing.
Last June, independent newspaper Al-Midan also found itself in hot water after it published a sensational photo of late President Anwar El-Sadat in the morgue following his assassination. Sadat's daughter Roqaya sued the newspaper at the time, and Mahmoud El-Shennawi, the paper's board chairman, ended up dismissing editor-in-chief Said Abdel-Khaleq from his post as a result.
As for the infamous CD-ROM, questions still remain regarding how the video ended up in public circulation in the first place. Originally thought to have been leaked by the prosecution after Abul- Fotouh was arrested and his possessions confiscated, the prosecutor-general denied that charge in a press conference held a few weeks ago, declaring that the confiscated CD was still with the prosecution along with the other items taken from Abul- Fotouh's house.
"The CD currently in circulation," said the prosecutor-general, is a completely different one, "about which the prosecution has no idea."
