Newsreel

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Bizarre case postponed

THE TRIAL of Mamdouh Hamza, accused of involvement in an assassination plot against high-ranking Egyptian government officials, has been postponed until 16 May 2005. London's Central Criminal Court announced the postponement.

Hamza, who was arrested on 12 June after entering the UK to attend a party at Buckingham Palace, was released without bail two weeks ago. He is charged with soliciting the help of a hitman to assassinate four Egyptian officials: Housing Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman, Minister of State for the People's Assembly Kamal El-Shazli, the President's Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmi and Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour.

At the first court hearing yesterday morning, Hamza was accused of "soliciting, encouraging, proposing or attempting to persuade" a man identified only as Tommy in assassination attempts.

Until the next court hearing in nine months, Hamza may not leave the UK and has only between 7pm to 10pm in which he may remain outside his UK residence.

Hostage released

MOHAMED ALI SANNAD, an Egyptian held hostage in Iraq for nearly a month, was released yesterday. Sannad was freed along with a small group of other foreign hostages after negotiations with the kidnappers.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, who led the negotiations, said he was grateful for all the help that Cairo had received from several parties to facilitate Sannad's release.

Saving the children

NEARLY THREE dozen non-governmental organisations held a press conference at the Bar Association headquarters on Sunday to discuss the Maadi nursery school sexual abuse case. Lawyers and human rights activists representing some 31 NGOs appealed to the media to publicise the case, with an aim towards turning it into a major focus of public debate.

A late July appeal to the prosecutor-general by some 28 non-governmental organisations, demanding that the case be re-opened, was recently rejected. Their demand was based on a new forensic report that indicated that the children were actually raped.

The story broke in March, when three sets of parents claimed the owner of Maadi's Norhan nursery school, and two teachers there, had raped their sons. While the three alleged culprits were promptly arrested and accused of child molestation, by 17 April the prosecutor-general had abruptly announced the case closed, on the grounds of "insufficient evidence". The official medical examinations, he said, indicated that the children had not been raped.

The rejected appeal was based on a later medical examination that was conducted upon the organisations' and parents' request.

Hani Hilal of the Egyptian Centre for Children's Rights (ECRC) described the press conference as an initiative meant to expose the sexual abuse of children in Egypt. "We are trying to break the code of silence imposed on the issue by the state and society. We are opening this file, but we cannot face it alone. We need everyone's input and efforts."

Much was being made of why the prosecutor-general had twice refused to pursue the case. Some called it a lame attempt to protect Egypt's reputation, since that very same reputation would have been better served if the perpetrators in such a serious case of sexual abuse had been justly punished.

Demands were made that the case be reopened. Both the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood and the National Council for Human Rights were also urged to make their stance on the issue clear. One participant said, "we also demand the intervention of all state officials, including the president. We urge children from Egypt and elsewhere to send letters of solidarity to the abused children at the Norhan nursery."

Both of the doctors responsible for the second forensic report -- Nadia Qotb and Mohamed Amin El-Fawal -- were in attendance. They spoke of the accuracy of their investigation, saying they were certain that the children in question had been repeatedly sexually molested from mid September 2003 until March 2004. They also said they had photos and other documentation to prove this.

According to Aida Seif El-Dawla of Al-Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, even if the medical check up had not proven that the children were sexually molested, the psychological research done on them by Al-Nadim proved that they were. Seif El-Dawla also questioned the motives behind having ordinary policemen -- rather than child psychiatrists and other specialists from the Justice Ministry's medical department -- question the children.

Seif El-Dawla said the children do not "understand that they were sexually abused". Having been taught at home and at school that naughty children needed to be punished, they thought that what happened to them was a form of punishment.

Afterwards, she said, they were told that the adults who tormented them would be punished. Since they weren't, the children "now no longer have any trust in the world of grown- ups", Seif El-Dawla said.

Ex-footballer released

IN RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, former Ahli player and coach Shawqi Abdel-Shafei was released, after having been detained for the past ten months.

According to his brother Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafei, also known as Zizo, the former Ahli coach was released, along with his two employees, Ibrahim Abdel-Samei and Mohamed Fouad.

Although the official reason for Abdel-Shafei's ten months' detention has not emerged, it has been rumoured that it might have had something to do with either Al-Qaeda's presence in the kingdom, or an investigation into an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's crown prince.

Zizo vehemently denied both allegations.

Abdel-Shafei is now in Medina, where he is preparing to perform umrah, or lesser pilgrimage. He was initially detained while preparing to do umrah late last year. His family will be accompanying him this time.

Zizo and Ahli club officials, meanwhile, expressed their appreciation of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's help in resolving Abdel-Shafei's case. The former footballer is expected back in Cairo within a week.

Mediterranean friends

AS PART of efforts aimed at promoting the study of the Italian language in Egypt, 4000 copies of the Italian language textbook Amici del Mediterraneo (Friends of the Mediterranean) will soon be available at Egyptian public schools. Italian Ambassador Antonio Badini handed a copy of the book to Education Minister Ahmed Gamaleddin Moussa during a ceremony on Sunday 29 August.

The project is the fruit of a memorandum of understanding signed by the Egyptian Education Ministry and the Italian government on 28 February 2004. Permanent training courses for Italian language teachers, scholarships to Italy for meritorious students and teachers, and the provision of extra audiovisual material and books are also part of the ongoing project.

An Italian-Egyptian technical committee revised the textbook, which was originally prepared by a group of specialists at the University of Siena. It aims to introduce school children to Italian, which is rapidly becoming a key language in Egypt thanks to increases in tourism and bilateral trade.

Tragic journey

TWO EGYPTIANS, who had been detained in Libya for illegally trying to cross the Mediterranean on their way to Europe, ended up suffocating to death on Sunday during a 24- hour ride back to Cairo in a prison vehicle. Eighteen other would-be immigrants were hospitalised.

The victims were among 40 Egyptians who were deported to Egypt by Libya. They were headed to a Cairo police station for questioning. Prison vehicles are usually modified trucks with extremely poor ventilation.

Thousands of people, many of whom are underprivileged Egyptians, try to enter Europe every year by crossing the Mediterranean into Italy via Libya, hoping to find work and gain residency on the continent.

Italian officials have been complaining about the lack of cooperation from southern Mediterranean nations on this issue.