CAIRO: Three lawyers have filed a case against Parliament Speaker Ahmed Fathy Sorour accusing him of concealing information on the Jan. 6 shootings in Nagaa Hammadi that left six Copts and a Muslim guard dead. The lawyers are accusing Sorour of hiding information about the perpetrators of the Christmas shootings that sparked sectarian tension in Egypt's southern governorate of Qena. The case filed by Nabil Gobrael, Said Fayez and Osama Mikhail to the Prosecutor General point to a report published on Jan. 12 by government-run daily Al-Ahram quoting Sorour as saying he knew the perpetrators. "Let's exclude religion from the equation, Muslim or Copt. What happened is a crime and we all know who the criminal is. I don't want to say who they are. I will form a parliamentary committee made up of the defense team and human rights activists to look into the criminal act, Sorour was quoted as saying during a meeting with the People's Assembly's defense and national security committees. The lawyers cited Article 26 of the criminal penal code which stipulates that anyone who has information about a crime should report it. "While on duty all employees and public service personnel who have information about a crime should report it to the general prosecution office or any executive judicial official immediately, the article reads. According to Gobrael, "The Parliament Speaker has committed a crime by concealing information regarding an ongoing investigation. According to the law, the punishment could reach one year in prison. "If Sorour chose conceal the information he has, then the law permits us to request him to do so, he told Daily News Egypt. In addition to calling upon Sorour to reveal the information he is accused of hiding, the official complaint requests the journalist from Al-Ahram, who wrote the article published on Jan. 12, to come forth for investigation. The lawyers then want to add the results of the investigation to the case of the three men accused over the shootings.
