CAIRO: Despite the Administrative Court's second ruling demanding a halt on Egyptian gas exports to Israel last Tuesday, the government has not implemented the ruling, whose appeal will be heard in February. Despite the scheduled appeal, the court had stipulated that the ruling should have been implemented immediately after the verdict was handed out. Lawyer Ibrahim Yousry, who is also a former ambassador and represents the Popular Campaign Against the Export of Egyptian Gas to Israel was the man who filed the legal case against the government. He told Daily News Egypt the court will hear the appeal on Feb. 2 and that this should be the final say in the matter. After that they are obligated to carry out the verdict if again it is in our favor. But our government has a history of not executing court verdicts, but in this particular case it would be wise to change this attitude, he added. "It is not in Egypt s political interest to continue exporting gas to Israel. There is a huge popular sentiment against it and in light of what is currently happening in Gaza, this cannot go on. Another member of the campaign Abdallah Helmy told Daily News Egypt that the campaign had sent a letter to President Hosni Mubarak asking him to implement the verdict, and added that if the ruling was not implemented, the campaign would step up its efforts to make sure it was enforced.
