Families of the victims of El-Salam 98 ferry commemorated the fourth anniversary of the ship that sunk in the Red Sea on its way back from the Saudi port of Duba in 2006.
The families staged a protest in front of the Lawyers’ Syndicate, hoisting flags that read "Be merciful to the grieved mothers," and "Where is justice?"
Mohamed el-Damaty, rapporteur for the syndicate’s freedoms committee, said that in the past suspects in disaster cases have escaped abroad after receiving a guilty verdict from an Egyptian court. In this ferry case, he added, the two people convicted are on the loose in Egypt. El-Damaty demanded that the foreign minister and the attorney general bring back the ferry owner, Mamdouh Ismail, from London to face due process and be punished.
Asaad Heikal, a lawyer hired by one of the families, said they plan to submit a plea to the attorney general for the arrest of the remaining criminals and the execution of verdicts that were issued by the Safaga Misdemeanor Court in March 2009. They will also ask for the results of police investigations into claims that some survivors were kidnapped.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
