Awaiting a verdict

ON SUNDAY a Cairo State Security Court hearing the case of 23 Egyptians and three Britons charged with belonging to the banned Hizb Al-Tahrir or Liberation Party adjourned until 25 December, when the court is scheduled to issue a verdict in what was described by defendants' family as "a negative" sign.

The court completed its hearing of the defence arguments in the case on Sunday, with the lawyers describing the defendants' treatment as "illegal" and unconstitutional. Defence lawyers argued that according to the law, the defendants should not have been kept more than 24 hours without having access to a lawyer. Furthermore, they claimed that the defendants were tortured while in custody to coerce them into confessing to the charges.

The lawyers disputed the group's illegal status, pointing out that it was never banned in an official decree.

All defendants except for one who is still at large, had been in custody since they were arrested in April 2002. They include one Palestinian national and three Britons who claim they were in Egypt only to study Arabic.

Verdicts passed by state security courts, which operate under the emergency laws in force since 1981 after the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat, cannot be appealed and are only subject to ratification by the president.

While presenting his case, the state security prosecutor charged that defendants not only were aiming to revive the activities of a banned group, but also worked to promoting their "deviant" ideology through their literature.

The prosecutor further argued that defendants plotted to "revolt" against regimes in Arab and Islamic states under the pretext they were infidels.

The Liberation Party was established in Jordan in 1953 by Taqieddin Al-Nabhani, a Palestinian who died in mysterious circumstances in the Palestinian territories in 1978. Currently, the leader of the banned group is Abdul- Qaddim Zalloum, a Palestinian whose whereabouts is unknown.

The Liberation Party seeks to restore the Caliphate -- a single Islamic government for all Islamic states -- through a grass-roots movement. The organisation has a presence in several Arab countries, and was founded in Egypt in 1974 by two Palestinians, Salem Rahhal and Saleh Serrya. It was promptly crushed by Egyptian authorities that same year after allegedly orchestrating an attempted coup known as "the incident at the Technical Military Academy", in which armed militants attacked the Cairo training facility. However, the group denied any links to the attempted coup, insisting that it was dedicated to the peaceful promotion of its agenda. The party is one of the most active radical Islamist groups in Central Asia, and also has a branch in Britain, where it is legal.

More extraditions?

AN EGYPTIAN official reportedly said that Iran has offered to hand over several Egyptian militants to Cairo. Iran has said it has a number of Al-Qa'eda members in custody, including some senior figures, and that it will send them back to their home countries. Those Iran allegedly offered to extradite are believed to be members of Egypt's militant Jihad group, headed by Osama Bin Laden's henchman Ayman El-Zawahri. Some members of the Jihad group were reported to have joined Al-Qa'eda when El-Zawahri formed his alliance with Bin Laden in 1998.

However, no information was released on the names or number of possible returnees from Iran.

Iran's Foreign Ministry reportedly made the offer to Egyptian authorities last month, and is still waiting for an official response from Cairo. No official comment has been reported from Tehran. US officials have said intelligence suggests senior Al-Qa'eda figures and associates are in Iran, including key operatives like Egyptian-born Saif Al-Adil, believed to be Bin Laden's security chief and possibly connected to the 12 May suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 25 people and nine attackers.

The US has accused Iran of harbouring terrorists and demanded that Tehran deport them either to jurisdictions where they are wanted for crimes, or to their home countries. Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari told the London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat that Iran would not extradite any suspected Al-Qa'eda detainees to the US since "there is no justification for handing over the citizens of neighbouring and friendly countries to [a third] country."

Shopping spree

MINISTER of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui recently inaugurated the sixth annual Tourism and Shopping Festival, which runs from 20 July to 20 August, reports Rehab Saad .

The festival, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Supply and Domestic Trade, takes place in the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, the Red Sea, Ismailia, Marsa Matrouh, Luxor and Port Said. Many hotels, restaurants and shops in those locations are offering attractive discounts to visitors during the month-long festival, and the national carrier EgyptAir is also offering reduced prices on air tickets.

"There are several indicators that show the event is successful," said El-Beltagui at the press conference held on the first day of the event.

"When we started the festival in 1998, only three governorates participated, now there are eight." About 569,000 tourists visited Egypt during the festival in 2002, an increase of 43 per cent over 2001. Among those were 245,000 Arab travellers, representing an increase of 73.8 per cent compared to 2001.

In 2002, 244 hotels participated, marking a 36 per cent increase in the number of establishments participating as compared to 2001. The number of restaurants and travel agencies involved in the event was also up between 2001 and 2002.

Last year, 3,042 shops participated, representing an increase of 31 per cent over 2001. This year, about 3,500 shops are participating. "Last year, 2002, the festival recorded LE166.3 million in revenue, an increase of 25 per cent over the revenue of the previous year," El- Beltagui said.

A total of LE1 million-worth of prizes are to be handed out to the winners of the weekly raffle at the International Fair Grounds in Nasr City. They include cars, gold jewellery and electric appliances.