Egyptian runners for Noble Two Egyptian political activists who had a major role in the 25th January revolution top the list of candidates running for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the International Peace Research Institute which ranks potential winners said. The two runners are: Wael Ghonim who has worked for Google and Israa Abdel-Fattah an Egyptian internet activist and blogger, and co-founder of the 6th April Movement group on Facebook in 2008. A record of 241 nominees was put forth for this year's Nobel Prize. Of the nominees, 53 were organizations and the rest individuals. The winner will be chosen by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee. The decision is to be announced on 7 October and the award, the value of which is estimated at $1,5 million, handed out in a ceremony in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist, who in his will set up prizes for achievements in peace, physics, medicine, chemistry and literature. Said blackout ALEXANDRIA Criminal Court has adjourned to 22 October the hearing of the case of Khaled Said, the activist who died last year after being tortured by two policemen. At the beginning of the session, the court was handed a forensic report prepared by a technical committee of neutral medical experts, citing reasons behind Said's death. The 25-page report said Said had been beaten and that a roll of drugs was forced into his mouth while he was unconscious. The court also ordered a news blackout on upcoming hearings, during which members of the committee will be questioned. Witnesses and rights activists have said that Said, 28, died in Alexandria in June last year after two policemen, Awad Suleiman and Mahmoud Salah, now on trial, dragged him out of an Internet café and beat him to death. Egyptian authorities denied the narration of events, claiming Said died after choking on drugs. Said's death became a rallying cry for activists behind the 25 January Revolution that culminated in Hosni Mubarak's fall from power on 11 February. Back to the old IN A MOVE reminiscent of practices conducted by the former regime, prominent political analyst Amr El-Shobaki was left stranded at Cairo Airport on Saturday evening upon his arrival from Beirut. National Security forces, which after the revolution replaced the old State Security investigation apparatus, took El-Shobaki's passport, saying they had to check his identity. After he was allowed to leave, El-Shobaki was quoted as saying: "What happened was a surprise. There was no reason for taking such measures against me. It seems the same old practices are returning and are getting worse for I was never involved in a similar situation during the time of the former regime." According to El-Shobaki, the only explanation he received was from a security staff who said that the old system is back. In a statement issued by the Justice Party, of which El-Shobaki is a leading member, the airport incident was severely criticised as being unjustified and unacceptable. The statement called upon the security apparatus to abandon its old practices suppressing freedoms. "The return to such practices increases the already tense relationship between the public and the police," the statement added. The way ahead FIVE presidential candidates announced on Sunday that they have sent a statement to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) presenting their concept of the steps which are required to guarantee a smooth transition of power and to head towards true democracy. The candidates pledged that their negotiations with all political forces will not stop until realising all the aspirations of the Egyptian people. They stressed that if they receive no response from the SCAF, they would hold a press conference instead to state their views. Syndicates revived IN HIS capacity as the Engineers' Syndicate supervisor, Minister of Irrigation Hisham Qandil announced earlier this week that the five court-appointed custodians running affairs at the syndicate since 1995 will quit on Saturday 1 October. In mid-August, a ruling was passed by the Northern Cairo Appeals Court backing a previous ruling issued in 2009 and which ordered an abolition of the 16-year-old judicial sequestration, under which the Engineers' Syndicate was placed. After negotiations with Qandil, Mohamed Baraka, one of the custodians, pledged to withdraw the appeal which he and his colleagues filed to suspend the implementation of the ruling. Qandil said he would then officially hand over the syndicate to a "neutral and efficient committee" assigned with running the affairs of engineers and regulating the electoral process of the new council, scheduled to be held on 25 November. Moving to polls at the Bar Association, which will be staged on 15 October, the judicial committee running syndicate affairs since its council was dissolved in July, has prepared the final list of candidates. The committee head, judge Hussein Abdel-Hamid, announced that 26 candidates for council seats were excluded from running. Some had decided to withdraw from the electoral battle, while others were banned for not paying the annual membership fees. According to the final statement issued by the judicial committee, 373 nominees will compete for the 46 council seats while nominees for the chairman seat are estimated at 25. At the Press Syndicate, the dispute over the issue of judicial supervision over the polls has been settled. The current syndicate council supervising elections at the Press Syndicate announced that it was the sole body authorised by the law regulating syndicate affairs to supervise all stages of the electoral process until the announcement of the results. The council turned down a request, presented by a group of journalists who asked for a two-day delay of the polls, so that they would not be held on a Friday. They argued that the turnout will be weak if elections were held on the day. According to Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, who is temporarily acting as the Press Syndicate chairman, polls will be staged as scheduled, 14 October. Any delay will threaten the electoral process with invalidity, Abdel-Maqsoud said, adding that holding elections on a Friday conforms to the syndicate law. The council also decided to increase the number of balloting committees and to impose a LE50 fine on any syndicate member who will not vote. Tagammu chooses new leaders AT A MEETING of the secretariat-general of the leftist Tagammu Party held on Sunday, it was decided to stage the party elections on 12 and 13 October. During the meeting, party chairman Rifaat El-Said backed away from his previous decision to run for the post of the party's secretary-general. Candidates for the chairmanship and other high-ranking positions must submit their nomination papers starting next Sunday. The procedures will last for three days. Nabil Zaki, the party's official spokesman, said the Tagammu internal polls will not halt the party's preparations for running in November's parliamentary elections. According to Zaki, his party submitted the names of 150 of its potential parliamentary candidates to the Egyptian Bloc, a coalition of 15 political parties. Names of Tagammu candidates are due to be discussed during the next meeting of the bloc. The Tagammu has been in disarray for several years after dozens of its members either resigned or froze their membership in protest against what has been described as El-Said's dictatorial way of running the party. 'Camel' insider dies ABDEL-Nasser El-Gabri, the former National Democratic Party MP representing Al-Haram, died on Tuesday from cancer. El-Gabri died in his hospital bed in the International Medical Centre. El-Gabri was accused of involvement in the notorious "Battle of the Camel" incident on 2 February. He was jailed in Tora Prison along with several former government officials and ministers who are facing multiple charges of corruption after the 18-day revolt which led to the ouster of the formerly ruling regime. He was released in June after submitting medical documents proving ill health because of a tumour in his liver, a condition that must be treated in a more advanced facility than the prison hospital. He was released on LE200 bail. El-Gabri was accused of inciting horsemen and stable owners from Al-Haram to go to Tahrir Square and attack largely peaceful protesters on 2 February, resulting in the death of dozens. Those supporting conspiracy theories say that El-Gabri's death was mysterious, considering his inside knowledge of what happened in the camel incident. Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas
