The frozen Labour Party's online mouthpiece is in trouble, signalling more bad news for the party's attempts to resolve its other troubles. Mona El-Nahhas reports Counting on a court ruling for its comeback, the frozen, Islamist-oriented Labour Party found itself facing yet more woes -- this time stemming from the online edition of its mouthpiece, Al-Sha'ab. The print edition of Al-Sha'ab was banned when the political parties committee, a body affiliated to the Shura Council, froze the party in May 2000. While the committee cited a leadership dispute between party chairman Ibrahim Shukri and four others, party members continue to blame the state's "hostile" attitude towards Islamists as the real reason for the party's suspension and the banning of Al- Sha'ab. Since then, the party has been mired in a web of litigation. After three years of lawsuits and appeals, the case moved from the Higher Administrative Court to the Political Parties Court. Two weeks ago, that court said it would issue its final ruling concerning the status of both the Labour Party and Al-Sha'ab on 10 April. While the party's legal quandary was slowly evolving, Al-Sha'ab had moved online, with Madgi Hussein, the party's secretary- general, as chief editor. Last week, however, Hussein was summoned by the general prosecution for investigations on charges of libelling Deputy Prime Minister Youssef Wali. According to the complaint, seven of Hussein's articles, the most recent having been published in October 2003, libelled Wali. It was not the first time Hussein had faced charges of libelling Wali. In April 2000, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined LE 20,000 on the same charge. Targeting the on-line edition of Al-Sha'ab, Hussein said, shows that "the state is still not satisfied -- as if freezing the party and [the print edition of] Al-Sha'ab was not enough." The articles in question accused Wali of treason and corruption, "crimes committed against the Egyptian people" like importing agricultural carcinogenic chemicals. Although Hussein was released, investigations are ongoing. He told the Weekly that the prosecution did not "allow me to look at the case file or make a photocopy of [the] articles" in question. According to Hussein's lawyer, Salah Sadeq, articles published on the Internet can easily be changed. "It wouldn't be hard to add certain words to the article and attribute them to Hussein. That's why I asked to look at the articles and compare them with the originals. But, unfortunately, my request was rejected." The defence withdrew in protest, and Sadeq expects Hussein to be referred to trial very soon, perhaps within a couple of days. Hussein was also one of the decisive factors, observers said, in party chairman Shukri's failure to implement a "secret deal" meant to rid the party of its Islamist influences, restore its original socialist line and exclude Hussein from leading posts -- in exchange for a reconciliation with the state. The party's strong Islamist front eliminated any chance of Shukri's plan succeeding. Some attributed Shura Council speaker Mustafa Kamal Helmi's July 2003 request that the Political Parties Court dissolve the party for administrative and financial violations as an acknowledgement of that failure. Politics aside, many party members have high hopes that the April ruling will help bring the Labour Party and its mouthpiece back to life. "From a judicial point of view," Sadeq said, "the party's suspension is illegal." According to the political parties law, he said, suspensions should last no longer than a month. The Labour Party's has gone on for four years. Hussein's recent woes may compound that situation. Abdel-Hamid Barakat, the party's deputy secretary-general, said he doesn't think the state will ever allow the party back into the fold. "First of all, it would make the US mad. Secondly, suspending the party was meant to silence the Islamist voice, which continues to expose the government's poor performance and policies. What would motivate the government," asked Barakat, "to let such an annoying voice be heard once again?"
