Caucas tour

EGYPT is launching an extensive programme of co-operation with countries from the Caucas region, State Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co- operation Fayza Abul-Naga told Mahmoud Murad. Abul-Naga was recently on a tour of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to deliver messages from President Hosni Mubarak concerning bilateral relations and political issues. The leaders of all three countries expressed their desire to strengthen ties with Egypt, Abul-Naga said. They also expressed their support for, and agreement with, Egypt's position on both the Palestinian and Iraqi issues.

Regarding bilateral economic and cultural co-operation, Abul-Naga said that an Egyptian Trade Centre will be established in each of the capitals of the three countries in order to promote Egyptian products. Large factories for the production of Egyptian pharmaceuticals and vaccines will also be built in each country. In return, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were each allotted exhibition space in next March's Cairo International Trade Fair.

As for the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Egypt urged both countries to continue efforts aimed at reaching a peaceful resolution which would enable both countries to maintain their stability and interests.

Abul-Naga also conveyed Egypt's unwavering position of support for the sovereignty and unity of Georgia.

Renewed hope

THE COURT of Cassation will decide on 3 December whether condemned human rights activist Saadeddin Ibrahim and 27 co-defendants are entitled to a retrial by the same court on procedural grounds. The defendants are contesting a State Security Court ruling which sentenced them to prison terms ranging between one and seven years. Ibrahim, a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and director of Ibn Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies (ICDS), was the case's high-profile defendant who also received its harshest sentence -- seven years in jail.

Ibrahim was found guilty of receiving a grant from the European Union (EU) without government permission, in violation of a 1992 military decree. He was also found guilty of embezzlement and the promotion of material harming the country's reputation. Well-connected with human rights activists abroad, Ibrahim's imprisonment was widely criticised by local and international human rights groups, who described it as "politically" motivated.

Ibrahim and his co-defendants were tried twice and given the same sentences on both occasions. Now Ibrahim's lawyers believe that he and the other co-defendants could eventually be released from prison as a result of the new proceedings.

Verdicts passed by state security courts can only be appealed through the Court of Cassation, on procedural grounds. In accepting the appeal filed by Ibrahim's lawyers, the Criminal Prosecutor's Office (in charge of studying appeals submitted to the Court of Cassation) accepted the appeal, saying that the court ignored key arguments put forward by the defence.

Mistaken identity?

AN ISLAMIST militant convicted in absentia in connection with the assassination of former President Anwar Al-Sadat, pleaded innocent to the charges against him before a State Security Court on Sunday. Nabil Suleiman, who had been residing in the United States, was extradited to Egypt in June as part of US-Egyptian co-operative efforts in the "war against terrorism".

Suleiman, who claims that the case against him was based on mistaken identity, was tried, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison in absentia in 1984. According to Egyptian authorities, he was among 300 people found guilty of being members of the illegal Jihad group blamed for the 1981 assassination.

Suleiman told reporters that he was wrongly accused because authorities confused him with another man with a similar name. He claims that the verdict was handed down to a Nabil Ahmed Farag Rizk, while his name is Nabil Ahmed Farag Suleiman Dawoud. His lawyers have requested the court's permission to access government files in order to prove that their client was mistakenly convicted. The judge agreed and the court adjourned until 28 December.

Egyptian law states that people sentenced in absentia in cases related to national security are entitled to a retrial.

Extradition phobia

EGYPTIAN Islamist Mahmoud Gaballah, detained in a Canadian prison for allegedly having links with the leadership of the outlawed Egyptian Jihad group, expressed fears of being extradited back to Egypt. Gaballah was informed that the Canadian minister of immigration and Egypt's ambassador to Ottawa are scheduled to meet later this month to discuss guarantees that Gaballah will not be tortured, and would in fact receive a fair trial in Egypt if he is deported.

In an interview with the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Gaballah said that many Islamists who were deported after Egyptian authorities promised similar guarantees, ended up incommunicado. Gaballah cited the case of Ahmed Egiza, the leader of the Vanguards of Conquest (an offshoot of Jihad), who was recently handed over by Sweden. Egiza has since disappeared.

Gaballah was acquitted of having links to terrorist activities by a Canadian court in 1999. However, he was re-arrested after 11 September, and has been detained in a Toronto prison for the past 14 months. He asserts that he has not been involved in any cases related to Islamist violence since his departure from Egypt in 1991.

Gaballah also criticised the fact that his detention is based on "secret evidence" which he knows nothing about.

Compiled by Jailan Halawi

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 28 Nov. - 4 Dec. 2002 (Issue No. 614)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/614/eg2.htm