CAIRO-An Egyptian court Tuesday postponed until September 28 the trial of a senior official at the Ministry of Culture and 10 others on charges of negligence in connection with the theft of a precious work by Dutch painter Van Gogh. Mohssen Shaalan, the First Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Head of Sector of Fine Arts, along with 10 other defendants, appeared in the dock at the Dokki Misdemeanor for their high-profile trial over the theft of Van Gogh's painting "Poppy Flowers' from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo last month. The court said it would postpone the hearings in order to cross-examine witnesses upon a request from the defence lawyers. The eleven defendants are also accused of shortcomings in the performance of their jobs that led to the loss of the $55 million 'Poppy Flowers' on August 21. Shaalan said he had been framed up in the blockbuster case. He told prosecutors that he had asked Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni for nearly $7 million to upgrade security systems in different national museums, including the Mahmoud Khalil Museum, but that only $88,000 was approved. Hosni had defended his ministry in his testimony and blamed Shaalan for the theft of the painting. "I volunteered my statement so that I can defend my ministry against the accusations it faces and against all the accusations Shaalan has filled the newspapers with," Hosni told reporters after meeting with prosecutors earlier this month.
