Egyptian culture minister quits over fire incident

The Egyptian minister of culture Farouk Hosni gave his resignation on Wednesday to President Hosni Mubarak.

Hosni's resignation came as he was exposed to strong criticism by several Egyptian intellectuals who accused him of negligence that led to the fire in Bani Sweif theatre ten days ago.

In a statement, Hosni explained that he submitted his resignation because he takes responsibility, but he added that it is not his mistake, rather the mistake of all, noting that he felt deep sadness over the incident.

A source close to Hosni said that he put his "resignation at the disposal if the President if this will lead to the end of the campaign which tries to politicize the Bani Sweif incident."

Sources in the Egyptian ministry of culture said that it is most likely that the resignation will be rejected. However, an official source in the Egyptian cabinet said that it has no information about this resignation and this means it was not discussed.

Worthy mentioning that 50 persons were killed in a fire that erupted in a theatre inside "the Culture Palace" in Bani Sweif ( south of Cairo) on September 6 including large number of Egyptian intellectuals and critics in the field of theatre.

Worthy mentioning that Hosni has been in the post of the minister of culture for more than 17 years.