Speaking for Arab women THE ROAD to observing Arab women's rights is still long but a few first steps have been made. This was the conclusion of an Arab women's meeting that convened earlier this week in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, with the participation of an Egyptian delegation headed by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak. Held under the umbrella of the Arab Women's Organisation, the meeting offered an opportunity to sympathise with Arab women in conflict areas, especially Palestine, Iraq and Darfur. A special appeal was issued by the meeting, upon an Egyptian proposal, to call on the international community to intervene to put an end to the plight of Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli jails. Death delayed THE FOREIGN Ministry this week announced that it had secured a Libyan agreement to delay sentencing to death 10 Egyptians accused of the murder and rape of Libyan and Egyptian citizens residing in Libya. According to press statements made this week by Assistant Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ouf, the stay of execution, scheduled for later this month, came upon a request forwarded by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit to his Libyan counterpart Abdel-Rahman Shalgam. According to Libyan law and Islamic Sharia, the execution could be revoked if the accused were to pay compensation for the families of the deceased. Last week, the Arab Centre for Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession appealed to the Foreign Ministry to annul the execution of 24 citizens in Libyan courts accused of murder. Fourteen other Egyptians have appealed before the Libyan judge. A legal agreements signed between Egypt and Libya on the exchange of prisoners does not cover citizens convicted of murder. Qatari call PRIME Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Hamad Bin Jassim was in Cairo this week for a two-day visit during which he discussed with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Nazif measures to boost economic cooperation between the two countries. On the political front, Bin Jassim discussed with President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa developments in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq. Given his country's temporary seat in the UN Security Council and the close rapport between Qatar and Syria, a good part of Bin Jassim's talks in Cairo focussed on ways of encouraging the Lebanese and Syrians to overcome differences especially in relation to the establishment of an international court to try the killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri. Accusations, implicitly and explicitly, have been levelled against Syria in the assassination and subsequent elimination of anti- Syrian Lebanese political figures. The establishment of the court has been subject to heated internal Lebanese debate between the political camp sympathetic with Syria, including the influential resistance movement Hizbullah, and the anti-Syrian camp headed by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora. The mandate and statute of the international court are currently being examined by the UN Security Council upon the request of the Lebanese government. "We believe that it is in the interests of Lebanon that this issue of the international court be settled within the context of Lebanese consensual understanding," Bin Jassim said in Cairo on Monday. Egyptian and Arab diplomatic sources say that during his talks, the Qatari prime minister warned of potential all-out Lebanese civil strife if the Security Council was to adopt a resolution to enforce the operation of the international court under an umbrella that allows for the enforced cooperation of all concerned parties, Syria and Hizbullah included. "There are some in the UN Security Council who insist that the time has come to put a blueprint for the international court but not everybody agrees," Bin Jassim said. He added that his country, along with other non-permanent members of the Security Council, including South Africa and Indonesia, along with the two permanent members Russia and China, favour agreement by consensus. Egypt and the Arab League expressed understanding of the Qatari point of view but appealed for Qatari intervention with Syria to facilitate an inter-Lebanese agreement on the matter. The Qatari position on the international court has been subject to growing criticism by the anti-Syrian political camp in Lebanon. Lost in Puntland EGYPT this week denied that its ambassador to Somalia was temporarily taken hostage while on a mission in the self- declared independent province of Ponteland to negotiate the release of three shipping boats held for alleged violation of the province's territorial waters. According to a press statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the departure of Egyptian ambassador to Somalia Sa'd Mourci from Ponteland was delayed by local authorities until Egyptian authorities paid a fine for the encroachment committed by the shipping boats. However, the press communiqué added that the delay was promptly ended upon Cairo's protest. Killed in action THE GOVERNMENT of Sudan this week expressed its sorrow following the killing of an Egyptian soldier in the African peacekeeping force in Darfur. A Foreign Ministry press communiqué said Lt Ihab Ahmed was killed following an attack on his house in north Darfur. A ministry source said the killing was meant to undermine Egypt's commitment to resolving the dispute between the Sudanese government and the rebels of Darfur and to take part in the African peacekeeping mission in the western Sudan province. "This attempt," the source said, "is bound to fail in view of Egypt's unchallenged commitment to Sudan's safety and territorial integrity and to matters related to peace-building and security-keeping on the African continent in general." El-Sadat's immunity lifted PARLIAMENT on Tuesday lifted the parliamentary immunity of MP Anwar Esmat El-Sadat after a Cairo court declared him bankrupt. El-Sadat had sent a petition to Parliament Speaker Fathi Sorour urging him to postpone a parliamentary vote on the lifting of his immunity. "The court ruling is flawed and I will appeal," El-Sadat said. El-Sadat said he was shocked by the speed at which the immunity was lifted. "The whole case is about $250,000, and the court of appeals will give its verdict on 11 June, so why the haste?" he asked. Back to normal JUDGE Rifaat El-Sayed, chairman of the Assiut Judges Club, has backtracked on previous comments in which he claimed that Assiut judges are not in favour of the positions taken by Egypt's Judges Club, reports Mona El-Nahhas. El-Sayed's latest comments, issued on Sunday evening, were apparently intended to assuage members of the Assiut Judges Club who angrily threatened on Saturday, during a meeting of their general assembly, to withdraw confidence from El-Sayed if he did not go back on his previous comments. During the meeting, the Assiut judges decided to give El-Sayed a week-long deadline to issue a statement in which he would declare that his previous criticism of Egypt's Judges Club represented his own personal views, not the official stance of the Assiut club. After El-Sayed's clamp down, Assiut judges suspended measures that would have been take against him. The move by Assiut's judges is said to prevent El-Sayed from leading a rebellion against the mother club, which has been leading calls by judges for reform and independence. Egypt's Judges Club also opposed the recent amendment of the judiciary law which raised the retirement age of judges from 68 to 70. Judges argued that the amendment was tailored to allow dozens of pro-government judges who had neared retirement age to remain in powerful positions, while at the same time preventing the younger generation of reformist judges from taking up high-ranking posts. El-Sayed, a pro-government judge who is to benefit from the recent amendment, has been attacking Egypt's Judges club, accusing it of clashing with the state in a way which, he claimed, harmed judges' interests. Quoted by the press, El-Sayed said the board of the Judges Club had been infiltrated by an illegal political group, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood. Last month, El-Sayed invited heads of judges clubs in the provinces for a meeting during which he planned to persuade them to rebel against the Judges Club. However, the assembled chairmen issued a statement stressing their complete loyalty and affiliation to the club. More Brotherhood arrests IN THE RUN-UP to the mid-term elections of the Shura Council, police crackdowns on the banned Muslim Brotherhood continue. On Monday, police arrested five members of the group, including three candidates running in the elections. The candidates were arrested in the Nile Delta town of Meit Ghamr, in Daqahliya governorate, and charged with belonging to an illegal group and of raising religious slogans that violate the constitutional principle of citizenship. On Tuesday, police said they arrested six more members of the Brotherhood in the Nile Delta governorate of Menoufiya. Despite the crackdown, Brotherhood leaders said 19 of their members were able to register in the Shura elections, just one short of the Brotherhood's original stated goal of fielding 20 candidates. El-Galada convicted Emad El-Galada, a business tycoon MP, has been sentenced to three years for giving bribes and kickbacks to Ministry of Petroleum officials against secret information about the country's oil reserves. The information was necessary for El-Galada, a deputy of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) for the Delta governorate of Beheira, to bid for one of Egypt's key oil fields in the Western Desert and near Hurghada beach resort. El-Galada was stripped off his immunity last year to clear the way for the trial. He is one of a number of MPs known for business deals with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Before the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, El-Galada was the largest Egyptian exporter to Iraq. He was a main supplier of food to the country, reportedly making a huge fortune in a short period of time. Verdict soon THE FATE of 14 militants alleged to have carried out attacks which killed three tourists will be known in court on 20 August. The High State Security Court concluded its hearings on Sunday and set the August date for delivering its ruling in a case which could involve death penalties. The detainees are accused of setting off a bomb on 7 April 2005 in Al-Azhar area which killed three tourists -- two French nationals and a US citizen -- and injuring around 50 other people. The detainees are also accused of belonging to an illegal group, using force and violence to disturb public order, threatening the security of the state, and possessing weapons intended for use in terrorist operations.
