Sailors released FIVE Egyptian fishermen detained since 21 September in northern Cyprus for violating Turkish Cypriot territorial waters were released on Friday, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid. A court in Kyrenia in northern Cyprus fined the five fishermen 500 euros each after they were found guilty of illegal entry and fishing without a licence. The court ordered the release of the fishing vessel and the sailors. The Greek Cypriot company which owns the vessel paid the fine. The boat and Egyptian crew arrived in Limassol on Saturday where the fishermen met Egypt's Ambassador to Cyprus Mai Khalil. Abu Zeid praised the Cypriot Foreign Ministry for its cooperation in the case. Nicosia had been trying to secure the fishermen's release since they were detained by the breakaway northern part of the island, protesting to the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus over the confiscation of the fishing vessel. On 21 September a Turkish warship approached the vessel 20 miles off Cyprus's northwestern coast. The crew was arrested and the boat towed to a harbour in northern Cyprus. 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Activist jailed MAADI Misdemeanours Court on Saturday sentenced Amal Fathi to a two-year suspended jail term for spreading false news that threatened national security. Fathi, a member of the banned 6 April Movement, was also fined a sum of LE10,000. The court also set her bail at LE20,000 though her defence team said she would not be released in the event of bail being paid since she is a defendant in a separate case in which she faces charges of belonging to a banned group. In May Fathi posted a 12-minute video on her Facebook page expressing anger at poor public services, the deterioration in living conditions and a recent incident of sexual harassment of which she was the victim. Two days after the video was posted Fathi was detained along with her husband, human rights lawyer Mohamed Lotfi, and three-year-old son Ziad, both of whom were later released. “This is injustice. We have provided all the evidence necessary to show she did not spread false news,” said Lotfi. Fathi was not in court when the verdict was announced. “We will appeal the ruling once we receive an official notification of the sentence,” said Fathi's lawyer Doaa Mustafa. 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Ongoing investigations THE INVESTIGATION into the death last week of Zenon Al-Maqary at the Al-Muharraq Monastery in Assiut is continuing. Monastery workers have been summoned for interrogation and surveillance cameras seized from the monastery. Al-Maqary, who was transferred to Assiut from Abu Maqqar monastery, died on arrival at St Maria Hospital in Assiut after complaining of fatigue and pains in the abdomen. Following the murder of Bishop Epiphanius at Abu Maqqar Monastery in August, Al-Maqary was transferred to the Al-Muharraq Monastery by papal decree. Five other monks from Abu Maqqar were also transferred, each to a different monastery. Al-Maqary acted as the confessor of Ashiaa Al-Maqary, one of two monks from Abu Maqqar referred to trial for the murder of Bishop Epiphanius. He was due to appear as a witness in the murder case on 27 September. The deputy head of the Al-Muharraq Monastery has ruled out the possibility of suicide, though investigators have yet to confirm the cause of Maqary's death. The Coptic Orthodox Church officially announced Al-Maqary had died in a statement on 26 September which said only that he had been moved to hospital after suddenly falling ill. 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Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas
