An Egyptian court on Tuesday postponed its consideration of a lawsuit filed against the government in which the plaintiffs demand the dismantlement of the subterranean fortifications currently being built along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. Egypt first began construction of the underground steel barrier last year with the stated aim of halting cross-border smuggling activities. Consideration of the lawsuit--which was initially filed last December by several parliamentarians and intellectuals against Egyptian officials, including President Hosni Mubarak--has been postponed until 2 November. According to a judicial source, the court decided to delay proceedings until it had received a legal opinion on the case from the State Commissioner's Authority. In Egypt, legal disputes between individuals and the state fall under the jurisdiction of the administrative courts. The Litigation Authority, for its part, which is responsible for the legal defense of the state, has asserted that the lawsuit does not fall within the jurisdiction of the judicial system since it touches on issues related to national sovereignty and security. Plaintiffs in the case--which include Hamdin Sabbahi, head of the unlicensed Al-Karama opposition party and leading Muslim Brotherhood member Essam al-Erian--charge that construction of the barrier contradicts the terms of the Joint Arab Defense Agreement. They say Egypt should be assisting the embattled people of the Gaza Strip rather than tightening the three-year-old siege "in line with US and Israeli dictates." The steel wall is roughly half a meter thick and approximately ten kilometers long, reaching a total depth of 20 meters underground. Construction is currently being carried out in two main areas to the east and west of the Egypt-Gaza border, which extends 14 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast to the Kerem Abu Salem crossing. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
