Newsreel

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Closed paper sparks sit-in

JOURNALISTS from the independent daily Al-Badeel continued their sit-in on Saturday, a day after the newspaper shut down. Reporters protested outside the Press Syndicate, the same day the decision was made during a general assembly meeting to dissolve the company which publishes Al-Badeel. In April financial problems forced the newspaper's management to turn the paper from a daily to a weekly. The sit-in was prompted when the weekly edition was terminated last week. Al-Badeel Editor-in-Chief Khaled El-Balshi said he expects "a long legal battle". Ahmed Harbiya, an Al-Badeel journalist involved in the sit-in, said, "there is absolutely no hope" of Al-Badeel returning, adding, "the return of the paper is nothing but an illusion now." Harbiya said journalists are now protesting for recognition of their financial entitlements. "Journalists have been working for this paper for two years and have rights," Harbiya said. However, Sabri Fawzi, a member of Al-Badeel 's executive board, said journalists are not entitled to financial compensation. He added that the decision to liquidate the company was taken in accordance with legislation which provides that a company files for bankruptcy when it loses half its capital. Al-Badeel, Fawzi said, has lost double the amount of its capital. However, labour lawyer Haitham Mohamedein said Al-Badeel reporters are entitled to financial compensation to the value of two months salary for every year they worked, by virtue of the fact that they were laid off arbitrarily. Mohamedein added that the journalists did not have a hand in the paper's bankruptcy, nor in the success or failure of its management, and that, as such, their financial rights should be unaffected by the company's liquidity.

Fined for defamation

A JOURNALIST has been fined LE15,000 after being found guilty of defaming an Egyptian steel magnate. Al-Dostour journalist Mohamed Barakat was convicted on Sunday by the Giza Misdemeanors Court which found that the article penned by Barakat in September 2008 defamed Ahmed Ezz, head of Ezz Steel and the ruling National Democratic Party's Planning and Budget Committee. In the article Barakat compared Ezz to businessman Hisham Talaat Mustafa, who was recently sentenced to death for his involvement in the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim. According to news agencies, Ezz, in addition to alleging that the comparison with Mustafa was defamatory, objected to the article because it suggested that he was involved in parliamentary election fraud and monopoly practices. Ezz is seeking LE100,000 compensation in a civil case. Barakat, who plans to appeal the verdict, is unrepentant. "I don't regret what I've written. I wrote that both of them hold the same position in parliament and are trying to outdo each other," Barakat explained. "These are the facts and all of us can see it's obvious, especially when the conflicts between Mustafa and Ezz have lately increased as each one of them represents the core of power in parliament." Meanwhile, negotiations regarding the reported sale of Al-Dostour are apparently being held. A press conference will be held later today to announce the deal. Adel Fahmi, who is widely said to be buying the newspaper, pledged not to interfere in the editorial policy of the publication or introduce any changes in the editorial board.

Teen stabbed

A MUSLIM teenager was killed after a quarrel between Muslims and Christian Copts in a Nile Delta town, police officials said on Wednesday. Police said the trouble in Mansoura, some 110km north of Cairo, began after a verbal exchange between the teenager and a Coptic street vendor. Eyewitnesses stated the sons of the Christian grocer stabbed Mohamed Ramadan Ezzat six times in various parts of the body. They said the assault had occurred after arguing with him on the deposit left for a soft drink. Officials said a group of Muslim rioters later attacked Christian homes, setting two houses ablaze.

Police said some 25 rioters were arrested. They said the Ministry of Interior, which oversees security, dispatched hundreds of armed soldiers from nearby cities to police the town. In the same context, Hamdi Farouk, attorney-general of Beni Sweif Prosecutions, detained 16 Muslims and Christians for four days following clashes in Ezbat Guirguis, in Al-Fashn directorate. The relatives of 19 detained Muslims called for the release of their kinsmen in order to reconcile with the Christians. The bishop of Meet Ghamr, Dakadous and eastern districts, Saleeb Al-Naqlouni, said what happened was an individual incident and not a case of sectarian strife. Damietta, Kafr Al-Sheikh and Al-Barari Bishop Bishoy added it was just a dispute between friends that turned into a brawl. In Beni Sweif, Al-Fashn prosecution charged 16 people, including seven Muslims, with sparking riots, disturbing the public, damaging and burning crops, and trying to damage a bus belonging to the church. Governor Ezzat Abdullah received a report on the incident from Ahmed Attiya, chairman of the local unit of Al-Fashn.

Nour, pope clash

OPPOSITION leader and founder of the liberal Ghad Party Ayman Nour strongly condemned Pope Shenouda lll's decision to question clergymen at Mary Guirguis Church in Alexandria in the wake of Nour's visit, reports Mona El-Nahhas. Reports said the clergymen had met Nour, prayed for him and wished him the best of luck in his political career. "Nobody has the right to prevent me from entering the church, as it is one of God's houses," Nour said, adding he did not ask to meet any of the clergymen. Nour stressed he met a number of young Christian men and talked about general topics.

Shenouda, however, said the church should not act as a front for any political trend.

"I totally agree with the pope. And I hope that such principles will be applied without exception," Nour said, referring to Shenouda's previous support for President Hosni Mubarak ahead of the 2005 presidential polls.

Nour has expressed his intention to run in the 2011 presidential elections.

Ruling upheld

THE COURT of Cassation on Sunday upheld a ruling by Cairo Criminal Court which sentenced Ayman Abdel-Moneim, former director-general of the Cultural Development Fund and general supervisor of the Historic Cairo Development project, to 10 years in jail and a LE200,000 fine. Abdel-Moneim was charged with receiving bribes and kickbacks. Ill-gotten wealth included a villa in the North Coast resort of Marina, a 200 square metre luxury apartment in Heliopolis, a dozen transportation trucks and acres of land in the Egyptian city of Daqahliya. The court also sentenced Hassanein Ahmed Hassanein, head of the Nubian Antiquities Salvage Fund, and Abdel-Hamid Qotb, manager of technical and engineering affairs at the secretary-general office of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, to 10 years in prison each. It fined Hassanein LE125,000 and Qotb LE500,000 for bribery, making illicit gains and abusing their posts.

Compiled by Reem Leila