Egyptian attorney hails Nuuman Jumaa over al-Wafd Party case
Egypt, Politics, 4/4/2006

Former chairman of the Egyptian al-Wafd party Nuuman Jumaa and other 14 persons including a parliamentarian were put in custody for four days over the background of the bloody confrontations at the headquarters of the said party on Friday.

One Egyptian security source said that the office of the attorney general decided to jail Jumaa (71 year old) and the parliamentarian Ahmad Nasser and his son together with other 12 persons for four days. Also it is possible that after the elapse of the four days they can be kept in prison for 15 additional days before they will be brought before the judiciary.

The 15 persons held in custody were accused of starting deliberate killing and fire and the use of unlicensed weapons and provoking riots. On Saturday evening Jumaa was arrested at a decision by the attorney general Maher Abdul Wahid. However, one judicial source said that Jumaa defended himself in parliamentary investigations by saying that he headed directly to start his work in the morning but he was surprised by persons attacking him in his office and he was obliged to defend himself.

Member of the higher commission for the party Muhammad Kamel had said that the commission decided by a majority of 35 of its 54 members to remove Jumaa from the party and from the presidency of the board of al-Wafd newspaper, mouthpiece of the party, because of his "he takes decision without consultation and his tyrannical behavior." Jumaa did not accept the decision.

The confrontations which took place on Saturday between Jumaa supporters and the supporters of his successor Mahmoud Abaza resulted in injuring 23 persons by bullets at the headquarters of the party in al-Diqqi quarters in Cairo.

Some 100 of the supporters of Jumaa attacked the headquarters of al-Wafd party and tried to expel the supporters of the new president. The Egyptian Middle East news Agency MENA said that Jumaa opened fire himself with his supporters at the persons inside the building and there were journalists from al-Wafd newspaper among the wounded.

Al-Wafd party has only six seats among the 444 seats of the Egyptian parliament. The original al-Wafd party whose rules went back to an unofficial delegation which sought independence from Britain in 1919 dominated the political scene in Egypt until the revolution of 1952 was launched. After this revolution, the army which who confiscated power in Egypt banned the activities of the political parties.

Previous Stories:
  US government report on Egypt's human rights   (3/11/2006)
  Egyptian parties committee to confer on al-Wafd party   (1/20/2006)
  Egyptian al-Wafd party removes chairman Nuuman Jumaa   (1/19/2006)
  Egyptian al-Wafd party removes chairman Nuuman Jumaa   (1/19/2006)

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