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Nour to stand trial

THE PROSECUTOR-GENERAL Maher Abdel-Wahed has referred Ayman Nour, chairman of the liberal Al-Ghad Party, to Cairo Criminal Court on charges of forging thousands of the party's membership applications. No date has been set for the first hearing. Nour is banned from travelling abroad, Abdel-Wahed said at a press conference on Tuesday.

According to a statement issued by the prosecutor- general and read at the press conference, six other employees have also been referred to the court after allegedly acting on orders from Nour whose aim was to persuade authorities that his party enjoys widespread popularity.

The prosecutor-general's statement emphasised Egypt's rejection of foreign interference in what Abdel-Wahed called a purely criminal case, in an apparent reference to the US administration which has supported Nour since his detention in January. On 12 March, Nour was released on LE10,000 bail after he was remanded in custody for nearly 40 days. Although officials insist the case against Nour is of a criminal nature and is not politically motivated, the public is sceptical, viewing the case as an attempt by the state to sideline the activist.

Commenting on the prosecutor's statement, Nour, who announced earlier in the month that he will run in this year's presidential elections, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "I'm the happiest person in Egypt after this decision because every session of the trial will be a chance to meet our people and supporters."

Nour claimed the trial would boost his standing. "It is the regime which will stand trial," he said, vowing to expose those who "forged the will of the nation" during the past half century of elections in Egypt. "We will call to this trial all the symbols and officials of such forged referendums to testify," Nour said, adding that his defence team would seek testimony from previous interior ministers who helped set up elections.

Amir Salem, Nour's lawyer, told the Weekly that Abdel- Wahed's decision was expected. "They insist on tarnishing Nour's image before the elections," Salem said, adding that the trial would not prevent Nour from practising any of his political rights, including the right to stand for elections. Nour would be unable to run if a final court ruling convicts him.

A few hour after the prosecutor's decision was announced, the US State Department said Washington sees the trial of Nour as a test to determine Egypt's commitment to upholding the rule of law.

'New wave of terrorism'

INTERIOR Minister Habib El-Adli has warned that the world was facing "a new wave of ferocious and random terrorism", hence, the "government's vision" to prolong the operation of emergency law which came into effect in 1981 following the assassination of former president Anwar El-Sadat by Islamist militants.

Addressing the People Assembly's Committee of Defence and National Security on Monday, El-Adli did however promise that implementing the law would be limited to combating terrorism and drug dealing, ensuring an atmosphere of stability and unity and pushing forward reform and development.

El-Adli said respecting human rights was at the core of his policies, adding that the security bodies were in "hot pursuit" of those behind last year's Taba bombings despite "false allegations" accusing the ministry of acts of torture and random arrests of suspects, as has been reported by human rights groups.

Additional progress in prison conditions is also on the way in order to provide a suitable atmosphere for rehabilitation in accordance with the international standards of human rights, the minister added.

Engineers released

AN UNKNOWN militant group has released Egyptian engineers Metwalli Mohamed Selim and Nabil Tawfiq Soleiman who had been kidnapped in Baghdad. "The release comes as a result of the efforts exerted by the concerned authorities as well as officials of the company they work for," Seif Sadeq, general manager of Unitrak, a subcontractor to an Iraqi machinery and equipment services company, said.

Selim and Soleiman were taken hostage on Sunday by a grouping claiming to be called the National Movement for the Liberation of the Land of the Two Rivers. They were freed a day later.

Sadeq has said the kidnapping was not politically motivated.

"We will not show mercy to anyone who enters Iraq and who is proven to be assisting and serving the occupation forces," said the group in a statement posted on their website.

A video was displayed on the site showing Selim and Soleiman standing in front of a wall holding up their IDs showing their names and that of their company.

Cinema star in coma

FILM star Ahmed Zaki is lying in a coma and has been moved to the intensive care unit of Dar Al-Fouad Hospital. According to the head of Zaki's medical team Yasser Abdel-Qader, Zaki went into coma on Sunday following a series of brain strokes that led to a severe drop in blood pressure. The current treatment, according to Abdel-Qader, depends on medication to improve brain function after brain cells were damaged.

Zaki, 55, suffers from lung cancer. Doctors say chemotherapy is no longer effective.

Last week, Abdel-Qader said Zaki's failing health had made it impossible to fly him to France for treatment.

Visits have been banned but large numbers of actors and fans continue to visit the hospital on the outskirts of the city awaiting word on Zaki's condition.

On Saturday evening, presidential political adviser Osama El-Baz visited Zaki.

Zaki's health condition has been a top news item for several weeks with newspapers issuing daily reports on his health.

Zaki has depicted the lives of Egypt's presidents Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Anwar El-Sadat on the screen. Both works have been praised by the presidents' families and film critics.

The last public appearance Zaki made was in January in a ceremony marking the start of the shooting of his latest movie portraying the life of legendary Egyptian singer Abdel-Halim Hafez.

False alarm

A NOTE was found on board an EgyptAir Boeing 737, threatening to blow it up, but no explosives were found after a team of experts aided by bomb-sniffing dogs searched the plane.

Alexandria Airport officials refused to reveal the contents of the note which was left in one of its public bathrooms on Saturday. The aircraft had arrived from Kuwait and was en route to Vienna when the note was found.

Two days earlier, security officials screened all 310 passengers on board a Saudi passenger plane at Cairo Airport after they found the name of a Saudi national scribbled in the aircraft bathroom. The graffiti read "Saad Al-Faqih... the reform".

Al Faqih is a Saudi exile in London whose assets were recently frozen on suspicion he has links with Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Al-Faqih heads the Movement of Islamic Reform in Saudi Arabia.

Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas