By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: Responding to incessant complaints filed by the families of the victims of a capsized ferry in 2006, Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud asked the Attorney General of the Red Sea Prosecution office to reopen the investigation into Egypt’s worst maritime disaster to date.
The36-year-old Salam Boccaccio 98 ferry sank in the Red Sea on Feb. 3, 2006, claiming the lives of 1,034 Egyptians on their way back from Saudi Arabia.
On July 27, 2008 the Safaga misdemeanors court found ferry owner Mamdouh Ismail, his son Amr and three other Al-Salam Company executives not guilty of manslaughter charges.
One of the complaints voiced a basic objection to the decision to hear the case at a misdemeanors court instead of a criminal court, which the defense committee representing the victims says was deliberately done to sway the ruling in favor of Ismail.
“We are not going to point fingers at anyone in particular, but as the defense committee, we are certain that the case was referred to the misdemeanors court instead of a criminal court to let Mamdouh Ismail get away with the crime of murder,” Yasser Fathi, one of the lawyers, told DNE.
“Even in the misdemeanors court, the accused weren’t penalized for forging official documents which claimed that Al-Salam 98 was fit for service when it actually wasn’t. This is why Ismail and his partners were acquitted,” added Fathi.
“Now is our chance to set the record straight without all the corruption,” he said.
Another lawyer, Mohamed Hashem, filed a complaint against former Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly, for not ordering a travel ban against Ismail, allegedly as a favor to Chief of the Presidential Staff Zakaria Azmy and for not issuing arrest warrant for the defendants.
He also filed a complaint alleging that 20 survivors were kidnapped to stop them from testifying about the reasons why the ferry sank.
Hashem’s complaint further demanded the investigation and interrogation of officials at the Red Sea Port and the Ministry of Transportation.
