The top story in today’s papers is the decision to detain Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of former President Hosni Mubarak, for 15 days pending further investigation into financial irregularities.
Suzanne Mubarak – the once-feared former First Lady, who exerted great influence on the political scene – was reported to have suffered a heart attack on Friday after she heard the decision of the Illicit Gains Authority to keep her in custody for two weeks. After the suspected heart attack, she was moved to an intensive care unit at Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital.
Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper runs an exclusive headline, reading: “Mubarak and his wife ready to give up their money and assets.”
The paper quotes sources knowledgeable about the investigation, who say that the former president and his wife will introduce new documents in the coming days showing their assets. According to the sources, the couple have declared that they are wiling to give their wealth to the people.
The former First Lady, according to the paper, has failed to provide evidence of how millions of pounds arrived in her bank account, bearing in mind that she held no official office in the country.
Suzanne was questioned about the Library of Alexandria bank accounts, allegedly containing a total of US$147 million, which she was authorized to make deposits into and withdraw funds from.
Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, said that his salary does not exceed LE8000 per month but his pension from the medals and decorations that he got through his military career amounts to more than LE100,000.
Al-Ahram says that Assam al-Gohary, who heads the Illicit Gains Authority, a branch of the Justice Ministry, has ordered the formation of a special committee to calculate the total assets belonging to the family of the former president.
As for Suzanne’s health condition, the liberal Al-Wafd newspaper quotes Egypt’s Health Minister Ashraf Hatem as saying that her health is stable and that she is in police custody.
We remain with Al-Wafd, whose editor-in-chief Usama Heikel writes about the former First Lady, arguing that she was the main force in the inheritance project by which Gamal Mubarak was supposed to succeed his father as president.
The privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper reports on the trials of around forty police officers accused of killing protesters. The paper says that in Cairo Criminal Courts, the prosecutor called on judges to issue the death penalty for 14 police officers accused of killing 66 protesters in Hadayek el-Kobba district. In Giza Criminal Courts, the prosecutor called for the death penalty for 17 police officers accused of killing protesters and children who were walking in the streets during the revolution.
Today’s papers were printed too early to carry news of the violent clashes that broke out between Coptic protesters and Muslim residents outside the Egyptian Radio and Television Union building. The clashes started at about 9 pm on Saturday evening, and lasted until about 1 am on Sunday morning, leaving two dead and 60 injured, while cars belonging to Christian protesters were set on fire.
In general, there is little coverage of the pro-Coptic sit-in outside the television building, which started on 7 May, after sectarian unrest last week in the working class district of Imbaba that left 15 dead.
However, Al-Shorouk runs one interesting story on the position of the Copts. The paper reports that a priest at a Giza church claims a high-ranking police officer asked another priest to make demands on behalf of Copts for the return of the dissolved State Security Investigation Service (SSIS).
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist Party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
