Newsreel

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Visiting US

GAMAL Mubarak, the National Democratic Party's chairman of the Policies Committee, visited the White House last week and was briefly greeted by President George W Bush.

"Gamal Mubarak was in Washington briefly on private business and asked to see the national security adviser, Steve Hadley," Frederick Jones, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said.

"Mr Hadley met with Mr Mubarak on Friday. The president dropped by to greet Mr Mubarak and convey his best regards to his father, President Hosni Mubarak," Jones said.

In addition to meeting Hadley, the younger Mubarak also met Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, congressmen and a number of writers. In his meetings, Gamal Mubarak said Egypt was continuing on its democratic path and presented the NDP's vision concerning reform and regional developments.

Before his visit, the US State Department said it was deeply concerned about reports that authorities arrested and repressed demonstrators. Last month, the government renewed emergency laws that it had promised to lift. And in recent weeks, scores of activists have been arrested during demonstrations.

Gamal Mubarak's last visit to the White House took place shortly before the United States launched its 2003 war on Iraq.

Waiting for justice

THE CASSATION Court will today start the first hearing of an appeal submitted by Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour contesting the verdict which sentenced him in December to five year imprisonment on charges of forgery, reports Mona El-Nahhas.

The Cassation prosecution backed Nour's appeal in a report the preparation of which took approximately 45 days.

The 250-page report, now at the Cassation Court, concluded that the reasons for the ruling passed by the Criminal Court in December 2005 were weak, and accordingly Nour should be re- tried.

The 41-year-old Nour, who enjoys wide public support, said the case against him was fabricated, aiming at ruining his political future and reducing his potential challenge to Gamal Mubarak.

Nour's lawyer Amir Salem, while viewing the prosecution report as strong evidence of Nour's innocence, stressed it was not compulsory for the court. Salem noted that Nour will not attend today's hearing since the law bans a suspect from attending the first hearing of the Cassation Court.

According to Salem, if the court accepts the appeal and rules that Nour should be re-tried, he will be released during his new trial.

The European Parliament, which has been pressing along with the US for Nour's release, and believes the case has political connotations, held a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the issue. Nour's wife and spokeswoman Gamila Ismail was invited to attend but declined.

Attaching high hopes to the court's verdict, Nour ended a hunger strike which he started three weeks ago in protest at the treatment he was subjected to in prison and against a decision banning him from writing articles for his party's mouthpiece.

The writing ban was passed after Nour published "Seven steps for state inheritance", an article in which he predicted the regime's coming scenario in which it is grooming Gamal Mubarak for the presidency.

Bahaais lose

THE SUPREME administrative court has suspended an administrative court ruling sanctioning Bahaais to designate themselves as such in their identity cards and passports on the grounds that it contradicts with public order and the constitution.

Public furor erupted over the initial ruling, passed on 16 April, which was widely regarded as a threat to Islam, as well as to Christianity and Judaism, since it calls for a global government based in Israel that unifies the world into one Bahai faith and renounces basic Islamic tenets including jihad. Scores of jurists and intellectuals have expressed political concerns over the motives and timing of what has been called an unconstitutional verdict likely to pose a threat to national security. The very fact that Bahaais have their sanctuaries in Israel, and are obliged to give their alms to the House of Justice there, has raised security concerns over the possibility of their involvement in espionage, a claim Bahaais vigorously deny.

The Higher Administrative Court will pass its final ruling on 16 June.

Blogger backed

REPORTERS Without Borders have voiced support for blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his family following Abdel-Fattah's arrest along with 10 other people while demonstrating outside the Higher Justice House on 7 May. Three of the 10 have since been released.

Abdel-Fattah has been charged with illegal assembly, blocking traffic, insulting President Mubarak and verbal abuse of police officers at the time of his arrest. Reporters Without Borders called for his release in a letter to the Egyptian authorities on 9 May on the grounds that the charges do not warrant his being kept in custody.

More accidents

TWENTY-ONE people were killed and several others injured when a bus overturned near Damietta, 160kms northeast of Cairo.

The bus was carrying employees of a weaving company who were on their way to work when it plunged into a canal late last Thursday. No explanation for the accident was given.

Earlier the same day, seven riot police died when their van fell off a bridge in Cairo and at least 20 others were injured when the van veered off in the working class area of Abbassiya.

The van was taking the police to a court in central Cairo where thousands of police were deployed to stop protests in support of judges who are facing a disciplinary committee for criticising election abuses.

Road accidents of this kind are not uncommon in Egypt. Police estimate that 6,000 people die each year in such accidents.

Luxor fire

FOUR vacant cruise ships anchoring next to one another caught fire on Friday in a pier in Luxor, some 680kms south of Cairo.

Police and firefighters rushed to the wharf and put out the fire. There were no tourists on board any of the four ships when the fire broke out.

The incident is under investigation, police sources said.