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Africa North

Ferry 'pressed on despite fire'

2006-02-06

A crew member of the ferry that sank Friday in the Red Sea said Sunday water used to extinguish a fire aboard caused the ship to list in heavy winds. The crew member said the fire occurred shortly after the ferry with 1,401 people aboard left the Saudi port of Doha, but that the ship's captain chose to continue the 195-kilometer (120-mile) voyage to Egypt. Radar contact with the ship was lost at midnight Thursday, three hours after it left port. The crew member said the fire alarm sounded as a result of a fire in a truck on the second level of the ship. The ship's cargo included 22 cars and 16 trucks, said Maher Abdel-Wahed, Egypt's attorney general. Transportation Minister Mohammed Mansour said initial reports indicated the fire started in a storage luggage area, then spread to the ship's mechanical room.

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Africa: North

2 Egyptian cops killed in Sinai raids

2005-08-26

The massive hunt for suspected militants linked to several recent Sinai Peninsula resort bombings claimed the lives of two senior Egyptian police officers when concealed land mines possibly planted by terrorists exploded, security officials said. The news came as Egyptian authorities imposed a media blackout on the probe into the July 23 bombings in Sharm al-Sheikh after weeks of confusion and contradictory information on the country's deadliest attack by militants. Major General Mahmoud Adel and Lieutenant Colonel Omar Abdel-Moneim were the highest-ranked police officers killed in Egypt since a violent Islamist insurgency in the mid-1990s and the first slain since about 4,000 security personnel launched a massive sweep Sunday of the northern Sinai for suspects linked to July's attacks and October's bombings at the Taba and nearby Ras Shitan resorts. Yesterday's blasts occurred after two land mines exploded on the 1,800-meter-high Halal mountain, about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean coastal town of Al-Arish, the Interior Ministry said. The statement did not say if the mines had been planted by suspected militants or left over from previous Arab-Israeli wars. But at least two security officials said initial investigations indicated that fugitives hiding out on the mountain had concealed the mines. The first mine exploded as a bulldozer was clearing a path in the mountain for two vehicles carrying Adel, Moneim and several other security personnel, said the officials. The second detonated after the officers got out of their vehicle to inspect the scene of the first blast. In that case they're not leftovers. After the explosions, security forces found three pick-up trucks loaded with drugs and weapons in the area and arrested five people taking shelter in the mountain. Police have been scouring northern Sinai's deserts and jagged mountains and storming suspected militant strongholds for those behind the terrorist attacks. At least 650 people have been detained since Sunday. Meanwhile, Attorney General Maher Abdel-Wahed issued a decree on Wednesday banning coverage of the investigation into the Sharm al-Sheikh bombings "in order to protect the work of the judiciary," a source in his office said. Accustomed to such measures in a country which has been ruled by emergency laws since 1981, the Egyptian press still carried an Arabic translation of a New York Times interview with Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif. "The reason for this is that the ban was announced after newspapers went to the printers," Hisham Kassem, editor of the independent Al-Masri al-Yom daily said. "But from now on, we cannot publish anything. The rest of the world will be able to talk about this issue except for the people who are the most affected by it," he said. Nazif said investigators were operating along two hypotheses for the multiple bombings which rocked Egypt's flagship resort at the height of the tourist season, the New York Times reported. One theory assumes that the Sinai Peninsula's bedouin population reacted to the crackdown that followed deadly October 7 attacks in Taba and two other neighboring Red Sea resorts. The other is that locals have developed ties with Al-Qaeda network, but Nazif told the U.S. daily there was little evidence to back up this second theory. His comments were probably the most explicit by a high-ranking official on an investigation which has left the media scrambling for reliable sources of information. Even the death toll is not final more than a month after the bombings. Hospital officials on the scene gave a figure of 88, which the government later lowered to 67, including several foreigners. Foreign countries have announced the deaths of their nationals separately. "What the authorities have released is only a tiny part of the information they have," said analyst Dhia Rashwan from the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "There is no security reason to justify the media blackout. This ban is a political decision. It does not aim to protect the investigation but to control public opinion," he said. Kassem said authorities were afraid that leaks on the perpetrators of the deadly bombings and the way they were carried out could expose cracks in the state security apparatus. "The authorities want to avoid embarrassing leaks on those involved in the bombings ... But at the same time the media ban is also a way of concealing the state's failure to find the culprits," he said.

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Africa: North

Egypt imposes media blackout on Sharm el-Sheikh bombings

2005-08-25

Egypt has imposed a media blackout on the probe into the July 23 bombings in Sharm El Sheikh after weeks of confusion and contradictory information on the country's deadliest attack by militants. Accustomed to such measures in a country that has been ruled by emergency laws since 1981, the Egyptian press on Thursday still carried an Arabic translation of a New York Times interview with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. "The reason for this is that the ban was announced after newspapers went to the printers," Hisham Kassem, editor of the independent Al Masri Al Yom daily, said. "But from now on we cannot publish anything. The rest of the world will be able to talk about this issue except for the people who are the most affected by it," he said. The interior ministry, meanwhile, said that two police officers were killed and two wounded in a blast on Thursday in the Jabal Halal region of northern Sinai. Police were hunting for "a criminal group implicated in the Sharm El Sheikh attacks and hiding out in the region", it said, referring to the July 23 bombings in the Red Sea resort. Attorney General Maher Abdel Wahed issued a decree on Wednesday banning coverage of the investigation into the Sharm bombings "in order to protect the work of the judiciary", a source in his office said. Nazif said that investigators were operating along two hypotheses for the multiple bombings that rocked Egypt's flagship resort at the height of the tourist season, The New York Times reported. One theory assumes that the Sinai Peninsula's bedouin population reacted to the crackdown that followed deadly October 7 attacks in Taba and two other neighboring Red Sea resorts. The other is that locals have developed ties with Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, but Nazif told the US daily that there was little evidence to back up this second theory. His comments were probably the most explicit by a high-ranking official on an investigation that has left the media scrambling for reliable sources of information. Even the death toll is not final more than a month after the bombings. Hospital officials on the scene gave a figure of 88, which the government later lowered to 67, including several foreigners. Foreign countries have announced the deaths of their nationals separately. The Egyptian authorities quickly pointed an accusing finger at the bedouin population, after initial suspicions had focused on a group of Pakistani nationals. Egyptian security officials also announced the arrest in northern Sinai of four men but did not elaborate on their alleged connection to the Sharm El Sheikh bombings. An interior ministry statement announced on Tuesday that "intensive efforts exerted recently have led to the capture of most suspects and yielded details on the terrorist attacks in the Sinai". Contradictory information filtering on vast security operations ongoing in the Sinai has only added to the confusion. Quoting security sources, Egypt's press reported several wounded in clashes between police and gunmen in the Sinai, but official sources in Cairo insisted that only two policemen were injured when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle. "What the authorities have released is only a tiny part of the information they have," said analyst Dhia Rashwan from the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "There is no security reason to justify the media blackout. This ban is a political decision. It does not aim to protect the investigation but to control public opinion," he said. Kassem said that the authorities were afraid that leaks on the perpetrators of the deadly bombings and the way that they were carried out could expose cracks in the state security apparatus. "The authorities want to avoid embarrassing leaks on those involved in the bombings ... But at the same time the media ban is also a way of concealing the state's failure to find the culprits," he said.

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Africa: North

Egyptian Prisoners on Hunger Strike

2005-06-07

About 300 Egyptian prisoners began a hunger strike on May 26 to protest detention conditions and mistreatment by prison administration, a human rights organization said on Sunday. The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP) said in a complaint filed to Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed that the prisoners in Wadi Al Natroun prison 2, 100 kilometers north of Cairo, began the hunger strike for better conditions. "Many of the prisoners should have been released sometime ago and some secured court orders to be set free but the authorities ignored these orders," the complaint said. "The prisoners were mistreated by the prison administration, denied family visits and medical treatment and some have been tortured." Muhammad Zarei, president of the rights group, told Arab News that an inspection team of the organization has paid a visit to the prison and verified the complaints they received from the prisoners' relatives.

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Africa: North

Egypt Ruling Party Blamed for Assaults

2005-05-29

Dozens of journalists and activists on Saturday accused Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party and security apparatus of sending thugs to assault protesters and reporters — especially women — during a referendum on election reform. Comes as a surprise, huh? Women were beaten and sexually harassed during Wednesday's referendum, and some said they filed complaints with Egypt's Interior Minister and Cairo's police chief. Egypt's Information Ministry said late Saturday that it lamented two incidents in which reporters were hurt when they were caught between groups of fighting protesters. The ministry accused the protesters of trying to mar the balloting despite a ban on demonstrations. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said it filed a complaint with Egypt's Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel Wahed, asking him to hear testimony from reporters who said they were attacked while covering the protests. The group provided names of eight journalists it said had been attacked by security men, including a woman who said she was beaten up as police watched. The rights group is urging the prosecutor to bring the alleged culprits to court.

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Africa: North

Cairo Blast Suspect Dies in Custody

2005-05-22

Egyptian suspect held in connection with a bombing in Cairo last month has died in police custody, Egypt's general prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed said. Asharf Saied Youssef, identified by the Egyptian Interior Ministry as one of the people who recruited the bomber who killed two French men, an American and himself in Al-Azhar bazaar in Cairo on April 7, died in custody on Thursday in hospital. "Youssef was in a very abnormal condition and all of a sudden he hit his head in the wall and died immediately after reaching hospital," said Abdel Wahed. "The body has been transferred to the forensic department to get more information about the cause of his death or the hysterical condition he went through before hitting his dead," he told Arab News in a phone interview. "He did that just after he fell down the stairs. It was tragic. Just tragic." The police sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said police refused to give the man's body to his family in his village north of Cairo for burial until the forensic report is released. On April 29, Youssef's 40-year-old cousin Muhammad Suleiman Youssef, 40, died also in police custody and the circumstances of his death were unclear. "We think it was heart failure... Yeah. That should cover it. Heart failure."

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Africa: North

Egypt charges 3 in Sinai bombings

2005-03-31

Three Egyptians will stand trial for murder over the killing of 34 people in bombings at Egyptian Red Sea tourist resorts in October, the public prosecutor's office in Cairo said on Wednesday. Twelve Israelis were killed in the attacks. Public Prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed referred Mohamed Sabah and Mohamed Abdullah Rabaa to a state security court for trial for the attacks at the Egyptian Sinai resorts which were popular with Israelis. The third man, Mohamed Ahmed Fulayfel, has not been caught and will stand trial in absentia. Sabah and Rabaa were arrested two months after attacks on the Taba Hilton hotel, on Egypt's border with Israel, and two beaches further south at Ras al-Satan that are popular with foreign backpackers. All three were charged with murder, attempted murder and possessing automatic weapons. Prosecutor Abdel Wahed said the attacks, which authorities say were planned by a Palestinian, were not linked to a wider militant network. The authorities have said the Palestinian and one of his accomplices died in the Taba blast when their bomb went off early. Two other suspects were killed in gunbattles with police in February when the authorities tried to arrest them.

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Africa: North

Govt Frees 60 Members of Muslim Brotherhood

2005-03-30

The Egyptian government's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood shows no sign of abating with this week's arrest of some 250 members of the group, including several senior figures. Sunday's dawn raids in seven governorates, including Cairo, Sharqiya, Gharbiya, and Giza, came before and during an attempt to protest before the parliament, calling for political reform. The Muslim Brotherhood condemned Sunday's operation in a statement, saying it was the most intensive since 1995 and came "amid aggravating incidents against the Arab and Islamic nation." They added that the government has already released 60 members including senior member Abdel Monem Abdel Fotouh who is also the chairman of the Arab Doctors' Union. Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed ordered that 33 members of the banned-but-tolerated group be remanded into custody for 15 days pending investigation of the charges against them. "They were recruiting and training new Brotherhood members so that they would be prepared to face the Egyptian authorities and disturb the security of the country," the document said. The group's lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, said "Many houses were raided and searched without justification." According to Maqsoud, around 170 members of the Islamist movement who were picked up from the streets on Sunday are still detained at police stations without any clear accusation and have not be interrogated yet. "I'm afraid that many of those people will be charged of belonging to a banned group and now they are facing the very real possibility of a military trial," he told Arab News. Among the detainees are senior members from the second generation of the Muslim Brothers and also the editor in chief of Islam Online website. Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi Akef told Arab News: "We are the largest opposition group in Egypt and it is impossible that we would have stayed silent without expressing our opinion and view about the recent amendment to the constitution to allow multi-candidate elections."

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Africa: North

Egypt opposition leader is unfazed by charges

2005-03-23

Egyptian prosecutors formally charged opposition leader Ayman Nour yesterday with forging signatures to secure approval for his political party, referring for trial a case that has drawn international criticism and created friction between Egypt and Washington. What, this guy thinks he's a Democrat or something? Nour, 40, was ordered to stand trial along with six defendants from his Al Ghad, or Tomorrow Party. After 42 days in prison without charges, Nour — who has declared his intent to run for president in Egypt's first multicandidate presidential elections this fall — was released on bail March 12. Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel Wahed announced the charges and referral for trial at a news conference Tuesday. A trial date has not yet been set. Nour's lawyer, Amir Salem, said a trial won't stop Nour's bid for the presidency. This (the trial) was expected," said Salem. They will not arrest him, he will be able to carry on with nominating himself as long as the verdict is not issued." "And besides, we got a bundle from George Soros," he added.

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Africa: North

Egyptian Opposition Leader Freed on Bail

2005-03-13

Score another one for Condi! By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press Writer CAIRO, Egypt — An Egyptian opposition leader who announced his presidential bid while in jail was released to a hero's welcome Saturday, weeks after Washington raised concerns about his imprisonment, which called into question Egypt's pledges of democratic reform. Ayman Nour, frail and still wearing his prison jump suit, stepped out of Cairo's police headquarters and flashed a V-for-victory sign to a waiting crowd of supporters. Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour flashes a V sign as he is carried by supporters of his al-Ghad or Tomorrow party following his release in Cairo Saturday, March 12, 2005. Nour was detained in January on allegations he forged documents to officially register the party. His arrest angered Washington and caused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to refer to Nour as a 'hero' of democracy . Word spread fast of the 40-year-old lawmaker's release, and within 15 minutes, a crowd of 400 supporters swelled to a few thousand. "We are paying the price of our search for freedom" Nour said. "They tried for days to destroy a national project, the Tomorrow Party. But they failed." As the crowd cheered, Nour repeated last week's jailhouse announcement that he would run for president this year against 24-year incumbent Hosni Mubarak. "I announce that I will run in the presidential elections for you," Nour said. Nour promised to run for office shortly after Mubarak gave the surprise order that the constitution be amended to permit multi-candidate elections later this year. Mubarak, as the sole candidate, has won every presidential referendum since 1981. Nour and his political party have maintained that the accusations against him were an effort from the ruling party to eliminate him as a political rival. Nour has not been charged with any crime, but he was accused of presenting fraudulent signatures to a government committee to get a license for his party. He has denied the accusations. Washington called Nour's release a positive development. "We welcome the release today of Ayman Nour," said Lou Fintor, a State Department spokesman. "We look forward to steps Egypt will be taking over the coming months to expand political participation." Nour's Tomorrow Party was not approved until late last year, and was only the third to be legalized in the past 25 years. It has only seven legislators in Egypt's 454-seat parliament. Nour's detention since January drew wide attention, partly because he had championed the call for multi-candidate presidential elections. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she raised "very strong concerns" about Nour when she met Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Washington last month. However, Nour distanced himself from the U.S. efforts: "We are not America's men, and we are not anybody else's men. We are the men of Egypt only," he said to claps and whistles from the crowd. International human rights groups had also had called on Egypt to release Nour, saying his detention was politically motivated. When Nour was released, his wife, Gamila Ismail, quickly hugged him. "I am so happy. Ayman is of the people, for the people. He was never a stooge of the authorities," she said, watching her husband being carried on the shoulders of his supporters. Prosecutor-general Maher Abdel Wahed ordered Nour's release on $1,725 bail, saying the reasons for his provisional detention had ended. He said how to handle the case would be determined soon, insisting it was a "criminal" not a "political" case. "Now, we hope that Ayman will be referred to a fair and quick trial," said his party's deputy secretary general, Ragab Heilal Hmeida. Egyptian security kept a low profile during Nour's release, with only two armored cars parked nearby as supporters chanted. The show of support was quickly translated into election campaigning. Hmeida called the welcome a "renewal of his popularity." "He has great weight, not only in the area, but in the whole of Egypt," Hmeida sai

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Africa: North

Ayman Nour released on bail

2005-03-12

Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour was ordered released on bail from prison, a judicial official said Saturday, a detention that had caused tension with Washington. It wasn't immediately clear whether Nour would be released on Saturday, but prisoners freed on bail have to follow certain legal procedures which could last between hours or days. Nour has yet to even be formally charged. "Prosecutor general Maher Abdel Wahed ordered the release of Nour," said the official on condition of anonymity. Nour was arrested on Jan. 29, accused of presenting fraudulent signatures in order to win the license for his party - but he and his supporters say the charges are political, aiming to eliminate him as a rival to the ruling party. His detention had caused diplomatic tension with Washington, which had also called for his release. Nour's Al-Ghad Party welcomed the prosecutor's decision. "Now we hope that Ayman will be referred to a fair and quick trial," said Ragab Hilal Hmeida, the party's secretary general. Nour last week announced his decision to run for the presidency since President Hosni Mubarak surprised the country last month by ordering a constitutional amendment to allow multi-candidate polls for president. Egypt has until now held presidential referendums in which people vote "yes" or "no" for a single candidate approved by parliament. Al-Ghad has only seven legislators in Egypt's 454-seat parliament but the detention of the populist politician has drawn wide attention, partly because Nour champions a call for more than one candidate to be allowed to run in this year's presidential elections. International human rights groups have called on Egypt to release Nour, saying his detention is politically motivated. The prosecutor general has denied this. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she raised "very strong concerns" about Nour's detention when she met Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Washington last week.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran rejects Egypt conspiracy accusations

2004-12-08

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Asafi rejected Wednesday Egyptian accusations an Iranian diplomat is involved in conspiracies against Egypt. "These claims and accusations are mere lies," Asafi said, the Iranian News Agency, IRNA, reported. "Lies, all lies!" Egyptian Public Prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed announced Tuesday police arrested an Egyptian agent for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards recruited by an Iranian diplomat in Cairo to carry out terrorist attacks against Egypt and Saudi Arabia and to assassinate important Egyptian officials. Must be a mistake, that sounds more like a al-Qaeda operation than a Iranian one. And everyone knows there's no connection between the two, right? Here's a update on the story we posted yesterday. Further stoking the allegations that Iran is behind much of the current unrest in the Middle East, Egypt's General Prosecutor Mahir Abdel Wahid revealed that Egyptian citizen Mohammed Eid Dabous was arrested and charged with spying for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, providing it with information to undertake terrorist attacks in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Wahid said Dabous gave the Iranians "the best locations to carry out assassinations and terrorist operations in Egypt." The information, he said, was given to Mahmoud Reda Hussain, a former official in Iran's diplomatic office in Cairo who is now a fugitive. Dabous was also charged with providing Iranians information on foreign residents in Saudi Arabia, who have been targets of terror attacks such as Monday's on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah. Dabous, a former director of a religious school in Saudi Arabia, received more than $50,000 for his work and was promised more than $670,000 to supervise terrorist attacks in Egypt. A former Saudi religious school teacher, huh? According to Wahid, in late 2001 Hussain invited Dabous to Iran and introduced him to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Relations between Iran and Egypt have warmed somewhat recently, but bilateral ties have been strained since 1979, when Egypt took in the deposed shah. The two broke off relations in 1980 over the Camp David accords. Two years later, Egypt accused Iran of supporting militants who killed President Anwar Sadat. Dabous was arrested in Egypt and will be tried by a security court. A trial date has not been set but he could get the death sentence if convicted.

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