CAIRO: The second court session in the appeal of the Al Salam 98 ferry case was held yesterday in a Hurghada courtroom with a new panel of judges, headed by Judge Khaled Badreldin. Court was still in session at press time, however, the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families was planning to listen to the testimony of the head of the Marine Search and Rescue Center and other witnesses. The defense was also prepared to reopen the file of the witnesses who were reportedly kidnapped or are out of Egypt, according to local news reports. "The verdict is biased in every possible way because they ignored all evidence which proves the negligence of the responsible bodies, lawyer Mohamed Hashem previously told Daily News Egypt. "The reasons given in court in support of Mamdouh Ismail's innocence were not sufficient at all, he added. In the first court session of the appeal on Sept. 3, families of the victims clashed with Al Salam company's defense committee after lawyers asked the judge not to allow the families into the courtroom. The judges' panel had to leave the courtroom amid the chaos. Clashes came to a stop only after police intervened. Ismail's lawyer, Mahmoud Saad reported this incident, accusing lawyers Hashem and Assad Heikal from the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families of beating and insulting him. Hashem and Heikal were asked to testify. In the first session, the defense committee on behalf of the victims presented a request to reconsider all evidence and call the witnesses in to testify again. They also requested that the case be transferred to a criminal court instead of a misdemeanors court, said Yasser Fathi, member of the defense committee. The highlight of the session was the high attendance of victims' families along with political activists and member of political parties, namely from Kefaya, who lined up around the courtroom. Fathi spoke of the defense committee's strategy, which will include a full-fledged media campaign exposing the different newspapers and satellite channels supporting Ismail. Last July he announced that they will be forming a national committee which will defend and stand up for the victims' families. "The committee would be characterized as a national-political committee which includes public figures, oppositions and independent MPs and representatives of political parties only, he said. They are also planning to launch a website that contains information on the case. Al Salam 98 Boccaccio ferry sank in the Red Sea on Feb. 3, 2006, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 Egyptians who were coming back from Saudi Arabia. On July 27, Safaga Misdemeanors Court found owner Mamdouh Ismail, his son Amr and three other Al-Salam Company executives not guilty of manslaughter charges. Only Alaaeddin Shahin, the captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was sentenced to six months in jail and given a LE 10,000 fine for failing to show "compassion and not offering assistance to the ship, which sank after it caught fire. At the time, Fathi described the verdict as "weak and in favor of Mamdouh Ismail as it has ignored all evidence presented and testimonies of witnesses during the long-running trial, which all find him guilty. When the verdict was issued lawyers criticized the way former Prosecutor General Maher Abdel Wahed had referred the case to Safaga's misdemeanors court instead of a criminal court. They claimed that this had paved the way for an acquittal for Mamdouh Ismail and other executives deemed responsible. "We are not going to point fingers at anyone in particular, but as the defense committee, we are certain that referring the case to the misdemeanors court instead of the criminal court was made in order to let Mamdouh Ismail get away with the crime of murder, said Yasser Fathi, one of the lawyers in the defense committee. On the other hand, current Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud appealed the ruling and called for a retrial. Mahmoud said he wanted a retrial because of "violations in documented records, corruption in investigation, shortcomings in validating and arbitrary conclusions, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
