Priority for girls

THE RIGHTS of Egyptian girls will be the top item on the social rights' agenda for the next five years, the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood (NCMC) decided this week.

Mrs Suzanne Mubarak headed a meeting of the group's board, which took stock of the achievements and shortcomings of state and non-governmental activities dedicated to promoting girls' rights in 2003, which had been declared "The Year of the Egyptian girl". The meeting also revised the action plan meant to further promote girls' educational, health care, and legal rights, as well as prevent harmful practices like female genital mutilation and early marriage.

The board also decided that in 2004, particular attention would be placed on children, and particularly girls, with special needs. In fact, 2004 marks the start of the second half of a decade that has been officially dedicated to children's rights.

A NCMC legal committee, meanwhile, is currently looking into a set of legal regulations and amendments that may be presented to parliament to give a solid legal backing to state and civil efforts aimed at promoting women's rights.

Mrs Mubarak, who is the president of the NCMC, received a special award from John Hopkins University this week in acknowledgement of her relentless efforts to promote girls' and women's rights in Egypt and the Arab world. In accepting the award, Mrs Mubarak promised to continue her commitment to promoting these rights.

An orderly shift

BREAKING with long-standing tradition, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood's new Supreme Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef appointed three of the group's "younger" members as his deputies. The appointment of Khayrat El-Shater, Mohamed Habib and Hassan Howeidy -- all of whom are in their mid 50s to early 60s -- was seen as a relative shift in the group's traditional power structure, which tended to favour the old guard, a reference to the group's more conservative elders. The appointments also put an end to speculations about a crisis exacerbated by an internal rift over who should occupy the group's other senior positions.

But observers also argue that the shift will most likely not result in any radical changes. Both El-Shater -- whose name came up last year as the strongest candidate for deputy supreme guide, the group's second most important post which remained vacant during the 14-months long reign of late Supreme Guide Ma'moun El-Hodeibi, who died earlier this month -- and Habib are considered conservative in their political orientations.

According to Muslim Brotherhood statutes issued in 1982, appointing deputies is not obligatory. The Supreme Guide may, or may not, appoint up to four deputies.

El-Shater, a British-trained computer engineer who has been involved in Islamic activism since 1966, joined the Brotherhood in 1974. He was a lecturer at Mansoura University, but was sacked by a presidential decree in 1981. In 1992, he was arrested as one of the main culprits in what was popularly dubbed the Salsabeel case, when security forces confiscated hundreds of computer discs containing what the security apparatus alleged was "the group's plan to overthrow the government". He was sentenced to one year in jail. In 1995, he was arrested again, this time for being a member of an outlawed group. He ended up serving five years in prison.

El-Shater, who currently works in the private sector, is also a member of the group's guidance bureau.

Habib, who got his PhD in geology in 1972, is also an academic who used to teach at Assiut University's Faculty of Sciences. Although he was also dismissed from his academic post in 1981 for his political views, he later managed to obtain a court ruling that allowed him to go back to work. From 1987--1990 he served as a member of parliament.

Hassan Howeidy was probably the most surprising of the new appointments. The leader of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, Howeidy is the first non-Egyptian to be named deputy supreme guide in decades. The appointment, however, seems to fit in with Akef's philosophies. Over the years, the new supreme guide has played a key role in strengthening the group's international wing.

Denying espionage

ON SATURDAY, the trial of a lawyer facing charges of spying for Israel began at a Cairo state security court. The court, however, soon adjourned, reports Jailan Halawi , to allow the defence time to examine the evidence.

Thirty-year-old Walid Ahmed Hashem is facing charges of attempting to spy for Israel by offering -- in return for money -- to provide vital information that threatens the state's national security.

According to the indictment, the suspect allegedly tried to establish contact with a foreign country [Israel] from April to October last year, with the intention of harming the country's national interests. The suspect allegedly made several phone calls to the Israeli Embassy in Cairo offering to provide vital information about Egypt to embassy officials. Hashem reportedly sent the embassy -- as a token of the kind of services he could provide -- a fax that included information that could threaten the country's security. The prosecutor said that Hashem asked the Israeli Embassy for $2,500 in return for the information he was willing to sell. It was not clear, however, what kind of information Hashem provided.

The initial court session was dedicated to hearing four defence witnesses, mainly relatives, co- workers and friends of the suspect who sang his praises and denied that he was capable of carrying out such a criminal act of betrayal.

If convicted, Hashem would not have the right to a normal appeal. Under the emergency law that has been in force since the assassination of President Anwar El-Sadat in 1981, verdicts passed by state security courts cannot be appealed, and are only subject to ratification or overruling by the president.

Although Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, relations between the two countries have been tense lately. In November 2000, Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel in protest against Israel's handling of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Since 1979, Egypt has dismantled tens of spy rings working for Israel. The current court case is set to resume on 28 February.