Amendments near PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak met the speakers of the upper and lower houses of parliament, Fathi Sorour and Safwat El-Sherif, and Minister of Parliamentary and Legislative Affairs Moufid Shehab, to discuss constitutional amendments expected to be introduced to parliament for deliberation and possible adoption next year. Following Tuesday's meeting, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad told reporters that the president was "working hard" on the expected amendments he had promised the nation. Terror cell arrested THE INTERIOR Ministry has announced that a group of foreigners with links to terrorist groups were arrested two weeks ago. A ministry statement released on Monday said the group's members were allegedly part of an Islamic militant terror cell which had adopted extremist ideas and were living in Egypt under the guise of studying Arabic and Islamic studies. The group, arrested in Nasr City, was recruiting Islamists for jihad in Iraq, according to the statement. "The security services have dismantled an organisation whose members follow jihadist ideas and includes Arab and foreign elements living in Egypt under the pretext of studying Islam and Arabic," the statement said. "These individuals were found in possession of documents pertaining to their organisation that confirm links to terror organisations outside the country," it added. The group includes nine French citizens, two Belgians and an American as well as Egyptians, Tunisians and Syrians, the ministry said. All of the arrested are in custody pending a further investigation. The French are due to be flown back to France this week. The United States Embassy has refused to comment on the arrests. Two Belgians were arrested in Saudi Arabia in connection with the raid. Case closed THE ISMAILIA Emergency State Security Court has sentenced to death three people convicted of taking part in attacks that killed 34 people on 27 October 2004 in the Sinai resort of Taba. The court also sentenced two suspects to life in prison, two to 15 years in jail, two to five years and one suspect to seven years. The three men belonged to the militant group Tawhid and Jihad which Egyptian security officials and prosecutors accuse of having carried out two other bombings against the Sinai resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Dahab which killed 87 people in April and July 2005. In response to the court's order, a number of human rights organisations criticised Thursday's verdict and called for a retrial before a civil court judge. The Maait Centre for Legal and Constitutional Studies called the verdict "unfair" and issued a statement calling for the right of suspects to a fair trial in a civil court. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights called for a retrial which would possibly suspend the verdicts. Maait called for the termination of the emergency law, enforced in Egypt since 1981. It described referring civilians to a state security court as "a violation in itself since the court's verdicts are irreversible". Students expelled MOHAMED El-Sanhawi, head of the Free Students Union in Al-Azhar University, has been expelled for a month after he was referred to a disciplinary council over his participation in union elections last month. Speaking by phone to an Egyptian satellite channel, El-Sanhawi said other students in various faculties had also been suspended and referred to disciplinary councils. He said Ahmed El-Tayeb, head of the university, had rebuked them, accusing them of violating the university's rules by participating in such elections rather than taking part in the university's regular poll. El-Sanhawi said he was worried about the consequences of his suspension and the effect it might have on his studies and end of year results. In an attempt to break free from state intervention, students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, along with other opposition political forces including Nasserists and the Egyptian Movement for Change (Kifaya), decided to hold their own elections and form the Free Student Union. Most of the elections were held across universities on 12 and 13 November. Circles of abuse THREE men were arrested last week on charges of killing 18 children in a story that has sent shock waves through Egyptian society. The suspects were members of a street gang that allegedly kidnapped, raped and killed 18 children in six governorates. Only three bodies have been found thus far. Some of the bodies were thrown into the Nile while others were buried alive. Two of the suspects, 18-year-old Ahmed Samir and Mohamed El-Suweisi, 23, confessed to the murders when questioned at the Interior Ministry's General Administration for the Protection of Juveniles. The suspects said they were part of a gang headed by a man named Ramadan Mansour, who goes by the alias Torbini. They said they kidnapped children aged between 10 and 14, took them to train stations, raped them, then threw them in front of moving trains naked. According to one of the suspects, Torbini's actions were triggered by a case of sexual abuse he suffered from as a child, claiming Torbini was raped at the age of 10 by an older boy and thrown in front of a train. "It's all about revenge," the suspect was quoted as saying. He added that Torbini could not be held responsible for his actions because "a genie ordered him to commit these crimes and he couldn't refuse." Authorities are still searching for the other two members of the gang. Fishing for trouble TWENTY-ONE people, including six soldiers, were injured on Sunday when clashes broke out in the coastal city of Damietta between fishermen and police officers over fishing cages in the River Nile. Twenty-six people were arrested. Most of the injured were released on the same day. Others are being kept in Al-Zarka and Farsko hospitals. Security forces are searching for a number of locals reportedly missing in the Nile. Security forces could only confiscate 18 of hundreds of fishing traps which should have been removed under a government decree passed earlier this year. Compiled by Salonaz Sami
