Journalists' day

THE PRESS Syndicate yesterday marked 'Journalist Day' with a ceremony at its headquarters. The event was attended by Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif, Shura Council Speaker Mustafa Kamal Helmi, Chairman of the Arab Journalists Federation Ibrahim Nafie and Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref.

The celebration, originally planned for June, was delayed due to the Press Syndicate elections of 30 July. Forty- one journalists were awarded prizes with cash rewards for their outstanding stories.

The late Editor-in-Chief of Al- Ahram Weekly Hosny Guindy was posthumously honoured. Guindy died on 10 August.

Torture trial

PROSECUTOR-General Maher Abdel-Wahed on Monday ordered 12 police officers -- including a major- general -- to stand trial before a criminal court on charges of torture and fraud. The case dates to February 1996 when Badreddin Gomaa went to the police station in Montazah (Alexandria) to report the disappearance of his eight-year-old daughter. Seven months later police officers allegedly raided his home and arrested him on the charge of murdering his own daughter. Police had found the deformed body of an unidentified girl on a railway track and insisted, despite the father's denial, that it was the missing girl.

Gomaa was put on trial after a month of detention in which he was tortured until he confessed to the allegations. The case took an absurd turn when the girl resurfaced. A woman had put the lost girl in a childcare home, where she stayed until Gomaa's lawyers found her.

With the weight of this evidence the court in 1998 found Gomaa innocent of the crime and ordered the case forwarded to the state prosecutor in order to investigate Gomaa's own accusations against the police. It took five years for the police officers to be brought before the law, though no trial date has yet been set.

Dispelling the curse

THE ENVIRONMENTAL conditions inside Ancient Egyptian tombs will be subject to first-ever toxicological and epidemiological studies in order to dispel the popular myth of the Pharaohs' curse. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the aim is to investigate the possible dangerous gases, germs or viruses found in the atmosphere inside the unexcavated tombs that have been sealed for more than five thousand years.

The Pharaohs' curse gained its fame in the 1920s following the sudden, mysterious death of both Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, and Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavation works and was the first to enter the tomb.

Hawass asserted that curse inscriptions found inside the tombs do not mean that the people who discovered them will be cursed. He asserts that Ancient Egyptians inscribed these spells in order to frighten thieves. "At one of my excavations, I found inscriptions indicating that 'if anyone would touch my tomb he would be eaten by a crocodile, a hippo and a lion'. It doesn't mean that this would actually happen," Hawass said.

In addition to gases, the studies will also investigate the development of dangerous germs inside the tombs and in the mummified corpses.

Tourism agreement

A TOURISM-related agreement signed between Egypt and France this week enhances cooperation between the two countries in that field, reports Rehab Saad . French Minister of Tourism Leon Bertrand paid an official visit to Egypt from 11-15 September to reach this agreement -- coinciding with President Hosni Mubarak's visit to France. France committed to support a training programme for Egyptians working in tourism-related fields like hotel management. The agreement also discussed developing heritage- type projects through the expertise of the French Agence Française d' Ingenierie Touristique (AFIT).

"They will support the programme that was launched by the Ministry of Tourism a few years ago which aims at upgrading the architectural surroundings of the ancient sites, like what was done in Old Cairo, Fort Qait Bey in Alexandria and others," Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El- Beltagui said in a press conference. Bertrand said his country will send a technical mission to the Egyptian Tourism Authority to advise on a promotional strategy.

Egyptian-French tourist cooperation began with an agreement in May 1979. There are already a number of projects in Egypt that feature cooperation between the two countries such as the sound and light show projects in Hurghada, Edfu and Sharm El-Sheikh. There are also several ongoing cooperative preservation projects at some sites of the Red Sea. According to El- Beltagui, 183,982 French tourists visited Egypt from January to August, an increase of four per cent compared to the same period last year. Egypt received about 26,000 French tourists in August, a 22 per cent increase compared to the same month last year.

Compiled by Shaden Shehab

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 18 - 24 September 2003 (Issue No. 656)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/656/eg4.htm