CAIRO: On the fourth court session in the appeal of a verdict acquitting the owner of the sunken Al Salam 98 ferry, the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families demanded the referral of the case to a criminal court. The legal team representing the victims demanded nullifying the verdict acquitting Mamdouh Ismail and sending the case back to the prosecutor's office who they hoped would refer it to a criminal court rather than a misdemeanors court where the first trial was held. "This is a case of murder and forgery of official documents in which Mamdouh Ismail is the primary suspect, so it has to be referred to a criminal court which specializes in such cases, said Yasser Fathi, one of the lawyers in the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families. "In addition, the prosecution office has disregarded a report by the technical committee and other reports on the condition of Al Salam 98 ferry as well as the testimonies of witnesses. Therefore, the case has to be reexamined, said Fathi. Other lawyers in the defense committee echoed Fathi s sentiment. "This verdict has to be cancelled and the case has to go back to the prosecution office where they must look at the matter objectively, lawyer Hany Abdel Latif, told the Middle East News Agency (MENA). Last summer, lawyers started promoting the notion that the manner in which former Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed had referred the case to Safaga's Misdemeanors Court instead of a criminal court had paved the way for an acquittal sentence for Ismail and other executives. "In addition, the prosecution office has disregarded a report by the technical committee and other reports on the condition of Al Salam 98 ferry as well as the testimonies of witnesses. Therefore, the case has to be reexamined, said Fathi. Other lawyers in the defense committee echoed Fathi's sentiment. "This verdict has to be cancelled and the case has to go back to the prosecution office where they must look at the matter objectively, lawyer Hany Abdel Latif, told the Middle East News Agency (MENA). Last summer, lawyers started promoting the notion that the manner in which former Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed had referred the case to Safaga's Misdemeanors Court instead of a criminal court had paved the way for an acquittal sentence for Ismail and other executives. "We are not going to point fingers at anyone in particular, but as the defense committee, we are certain that referring the case to the misdemeanors court instead of the criminal court was made in order to let Mamdouh Ismail get away with the crime of murder, said Fathi. Fathi further explained that the misdemeanors court did not even penalize Ismail along with other company officials for reportedly forging official documents that prove that the doomed ferry was not suitable for traveling. In the first court session last September, families of the victims clashed with Al-Salam's company's defense committee after the lawyers asked the judge not to allow the families into the courtroom. The judges' panel left the courtroom amidst the chaos and only when the police intervened did the clashes come to a stop. Al-Salam 98 Boccaccio ferry sank in the Red Sea on Feb. 3, 2006, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 Egyptians who were coming back from Saudi Arabia. On July 27, Safaga misdemeanors court found Ismail, his son Amr and three other Al-Salam Company executives not guilty of manslaughter charges. Only Alaaeddin Shahin, the captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was handed down a six-month jail sentence and a LE 10,000 fine for failing to show "compassion and not offering assistance to the ship, which sank after it caught fire. At the time, Fathi described the verdict as "weak and in favor of Mamdouh Ismail as it has ignored all evidence presented and testimonies of witnesses during the long-running trial which find him guilty, he said at a press conference at the Journalists' Syndicate.
