Mission & Justice

14/5/08
A judge in Milan has ruled that Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, can be called to testify in a trial of CIA and Italian spies who are accused of kidnapping a ‘terrorism’ suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt. Berlusconi is not accused of any crime and would appear as a witness to speak on the issue of state secrets in the case. The 71-year-old billionaire could become the first head of government in the world to testify in criminal proceedings over secret US transfers of “terrorism” suspects, known as renditions. Judge Oscar Magi also ruled that Romano Prodi, Berlusconi’s predecessor, could be called to give evidence.

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Joseph Mayton; 1/5/08

Almost two months after Amal Soliman became the gem child of Arab world feminists when she was appointed as the Islamic world’s first female maazun (notary), the men in Egypt’s Ministry of Justice still have not given their seal of approval.  Nevertheless, the latent women’s groups across the region have taken her March appointment as a sign of optimism. Soliman, 32, grabbed national and international headlines in late February when her successful application was made public. She beat out 10 other candidates, all men, for the position of Islamic notary, which authorizes her to conduct weddings, sign marriage certificates and authorize divorces.  With her degree in Islamic law from the University of Zagazig, in the Nile Delta, Soliman is qualified to take on the challenges, her supporters argue. Indeed, the Egyptian Justice Minister Mamdouh Mari said in a statement: “Soliman’s nomination depended on her abilities rather than on her gender.” But there are many critics. Islamic scholars, intellectuals and some citizens bemoan Soliman conducting weddings by arguing that a woman has unique limitations that get in the way of the job.

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30/4/08

Several Palestinian factions have accepted, in principle, to a ceasefire with Israel. A Palestinian official has said that 11 small groups agreed in Cairo on Wednesday to proposals that include a six-month truce, a prisoner exchange and reopening of the border between Gaza and Israel. Israel will now be asked if it accepts the proposal. The truce, if it is implemented, will initially take effect in Gaza, with a view to being extended to the West Bank. Egyptian security officials mediated the talks with the factions, including Islamic Jihad, but not Hamas or Fatah, who control Gaza and the West Bank respectively.

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14/4/08; http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=7139

Egypt said on Sunday it would step up airport security procedures for British officials after authorities at London’s Heathrow Airport tried to search the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church. Egypt has already complained to Britain after airport authorities on March 30 tried to physically search Pope Shenuda III, 84, who has a diplomatic passport, before he boarded his flight. He was not physically searched but was “forced to go through a metal detector,” Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister Wafa Bassim told the Shura Council, the upper house of Egypt’s parliament. As a result “we will apply the principle of reciprocity and treat British representatives the same way,” following the March 30 incident. She said that a “firm letter” had been sent to the British foreign office about the incident. During the same session, Shura Speaker Sawfat Sherif demanded an official apology from the British government. A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Cairo could not confirm that the letter had been received and declined to say whether ambassador Dominic Asquith would be meeting Shenuda to apologise for the incident.

3/3/08

The Hamas-run administration in the Gaza Strip yesterday called for the formation of an emergency Palestinian unity government after a massive Israeli incursion killed 70 people. The crisis in Gaza “demands unity and an end to divisions and the separation between the West Bank and Gaza,” Hamas government spokesman Taher Al-Nunu told a press conference. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas shared power in a unity government for three months last year, but the president fired the Islamist-led Cabinet after Hamas overran his forces in Gaza in June. “We call for a serious national dialogue project without conditions to study the escalation of the occupation and to form an emergency national unity government,” said Nunu.

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