CAIRO: British authorities have asked to further postpone sending the case of businessman Ashraf Marwan to court while they continue to pursue their investigations. Marwan died in suspicious circumstances on June 27, falling from the balcony of his London apartment. The death was initially deemed "non-suspicious by British police, but an overwhelming level of interest from both the press and other parties in Egypt prompted the British authorities to renew their investigation. Establishing the nature of Marwan's relationships with a number of national security services around the world is among their priorities, judicial sources in Britain reportedly told local Egyptian press. A date for a joint hearing is now being decided at which a date for the launch of the district coroner's inquest into Marwan's death will be set. The original joint hearing was scheduled for Sept. 4 but was pushed back to October, and then November. A spokesman for the district coroner's court was unable to say when the new date might be. A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said that it would be set in the near future, though it was unlikely to be before the New Year. Among the press and public, some believe Marwan was pushed - possibly by either Egyptian or Israeli secret services - while others suppose he became dizzy and fell. Conflicting witness accounts from friends and family who saw him in the time leading up to his death have added to the confusion. Marwan's sister reportedly described him as being in "good spirits just hours before his death, and family members have said Marwan would never commit suicide. An unidentified friend was reported to have said that Marwan's health was declining, and that he could easily have lost his balance and fell. Marwan s wife, Mona Abdel Nasser, and one of his sons insist that they know the identity of his assailants and that they have already provided evidence supporting their claims. Debate has raged over whether Marwan was a spy providing intelligence to Israel prior to the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, or an Egyptian double agent, responsible for Israel's intelligence failures during that war. According to Howard Blum, the journalist who disclosed Marwan's identity in his book, "The Eve of Destruction: The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War, Marwan was set to reveal who he was spying for in a book he was writing. Finding the manuscript for that book, Blum wrote in an article for the International Herald Tribune, could prove vital to the British authorities' investigations.
