CAIRO: Egypt s upper house of parliament on Saturday stripped one of its deputies of immunity so he could be questioned about the tragic sinking of a ferry owned by his company.
At least 1,000 people died when the Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 sank in the Red Sea on Feb. 3.
Mamdouh Ismael, who owns Al-Salaam Maritime Company, is a deputy in the upper house. The parliament did not allow Ismael s lawyer to attend the session in which it lifted his immunity, lawmaker Abdul Raheem Nafe told the semiofficial Middle East News Agency.
Ismael has reportedly fled the country to France. The ferry s data recorder was recovered last month about a half-mile down on the sea floor. It is being analyzed in Britain.
The ferry was carrying 1,414 people when it sank Feb. 3 after a fire broke out while it was en route from Saudi Arabia to the Egyptian port of Safaga. Many of the passengers were Egyptian workers returning from jobs in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. AFP
