CAIRO: A Hurghada court postponed Wednesday the next hearing in the Al Salam 98 ferry appeal case until Nov. 12 in a decision by head Judge Khaled Badreldin. The new date would allow the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families to gather all the necessary documents and witnesses. The defense committee presented a request to reconsider all evidence and call the witnesses in to testify again, including those "out of Egypt, Yasser Fathi, member of the defense committee on behalf of the victims' families told Daily News Egypt. The media wasn't allowed inside the courtroom and Al Salam company's defense committee even requested that there should be a publishing ban on the case, according to local news reports. There were extensive security forces outside the courtroom to prevent any clashes from erupting. During 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. Only police intervention was able to bring the clashes to an end. The first session saw high attendance of victims' families along with political activists and members of political parties, namely from Kefaya, who also lined up around the courtroom during the second session. 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 fined LE 10,000 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.
