Afghan relations FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit has reiterated that Egypt is ready to continue its support for the Afghan people in diplomatic, judicial and police fields. Abul-Gheit was speaking during a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Rangin Dadafar Spanta in response to a request by Kabul to train Afghans in such areas. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the talks between the ministers focussed on the situation in the Middle East, the security and political situation in Afghanistan and its relationship with neighbouring countries. During his two day-visit which ended Monday, Spanta also met the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the Arab League secretary-general, and the ministers of interior, higher education and industry and foreign trade. Maadi assailant FEAR among residents in the Cairo suburb of Maadi has increased following the fifth stabbing incident in the neighbourhood in three months. The Saturday attack on a 14-year-old student on her way to school in the early morning was believed to be committed by the same person. The mystery assailant, said to be in his early twenties, tall, and dark skinned, targets young women and stabs his victims in the back. Maj-Gen Abdel-Gawad Ahmed, head of the Cairo security department, denied in the TV show called 10pm the existence of the attacker, however Maj-Gen Ali Fayed, assistant interior minister for general security, told another TV show, Al-Beit Beitak, that an assailant has stabbed five young women so far, including a veiled girl, in Maadi. Hundreds of general security and criminal investigation officers have been deployed in the area in search of the attacker. Jail for perversion AN EGYPTIAN court sentenced two men for disparaging Islam. Abdel-Sabour Hassan Rizk, 63, was sentenced to four years while Mohamed Mahmoud Abdullah will spend three years behind bars for spreading Rizk's ideas among young Egyptians. Rizk claims to be a prophet who received a revelation allowing adultery in his home. In handing down the sentence, the court said the men had propagated "poisonous ideas that spread strife in Egyptian society". In the court's hearing, both men, who graduated from Al-Azhar University, the Middle East's most esteemed Islamic university, denied that the Day of Judgment would come, urged people to abandon fasting and prayer and encouraged adultery and perversion. No niqab THE MINISTER of Religious Endowments Hamdi Zaqzouq has forbidden the ministry's religious counselors from wearing the face veil or niqab. "I totally reject the appointment of fully veiled women working as counselors who are meant to guide people in religious matters," Zaqzouq said. On Tuesday, Zaqzouq had a fully veiled religious counselor expelled from training session for prayer leaders because she was wearing a face veil. The ministry, which oversees religious affairs in Egypt as well as managing religious properties, has around 50 religious counselors appointed across the country. It said fully veiled women working as counselors would promote the culture of the niqab. "The niqab is a matter of custom and not faith. It has nothing to do with Islamic religion," added Zaqzouq. Zaqzouq said fully veiled religious counselors would be reassigned to administrative posts. While the Qur'an requires women to dress modestly, many Muslim scholars insist women must cover their heads and faces. The Egyptian government in general is increasingly starting to speak out against more extreme forms of female religious garb, such as the face veil, and has banned it from a number of government offices. In November, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni came under intense criticism for describing the veil as "repressive". Garbage dilemma A CAIRO administrative court has ruled against the Cairo governor's decision to put garbage collection fees on people's electricity bills and ordered the government not only stop collecting such fees but to return the money back. The court ruling came after a number of lawyers filed a complaint in the administrative court against Cairo Governor Abdel-Azeem Wazir, the prime minister, and the head of the Cairo Electricity Company for revoking the decision, claiming it was unconstitutional. "Imposing new taxes or amending old ones can be done only by laws," the court's ruling said. "Linking garbage collection fees to people's electricity bills is illegal... because it imposes new fees other than the ones already imposed by law." The court added that the governor's decision to have fees from garbage collection and electricity bills connected is "against the law and adds to people's burdens." Torture list THE AL-NADIM Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence has issued a list containing names of police officers accused of torturing suspects inside police stations. The list, issued on Monday, contains the names and ranks of 189 police officers, and was sent to Interior Minister Habib El-Adli. It contains the incidents of torture they are accused of. The centre says the list was made to help the Interior Ministry determine the identity of the police officer accused of torturing a young woman by tying her to a bar hung between chairs while interrogating her. A still frame from a video taken of the incident was published last week on the front page of the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. In a related development, Said Abdel-Mohsen, attorney general of the southern division of the Cairo prosecution, is to refer police officer Mustafa Shehata to a disciplinary court in relation to a video released earlier this month on an Egyptian blog showing Shehata beating a suspect on the face inside the Pyramids police station. Shehata claims the video was doctored although the technical committee, to which the video was referred, has verified the tape's authenticity. Meanwhile, according to the Middle East News Agency, the National Council for Human Rights says the number of torture complaints received by the council in 2006 was 5,826. Compiled by Salonaz Sami
