From the Daily News Egypt:
The families of Al-Salam 98 ferry victims received Sunday’s court ruling acquitting the owner and other defendants with outrage that was echoed throughout Egypt.
“This is the most depressing and darkest ruling in Egypt’s history since the Denshway Trial,” scriptwriter Wahid Hamed told a local paper, in reference to the 1906 death sentence six Egyptian farmers received for chasing a British soldier, who later died of sunstroke.
Mamdouh Ismail, the owner of the ferry that sank in February 2006 in the Red Sea killing 1,034 people, was acquitted by the Safaga Misdemeanors Court. His son and three Al-Salam executives were also acquitted. Ismail, his son and one of the executive have since fled the country.
Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud issued a statement after the decision saying he would appeal the ruling, and called for a retrial.
Mahmoud said he wanted a retrial because of “violations in documented records, corruption in investigation, shortcomings in validating and arbitrary conclusions,” Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported.
The Al-Salam 98 sank after a fire broke out in its vehicle bay while they were traveling from Saudi Arabia to Egypt. Most of the victims were Egyptian workers returning home.
Only Salaheddin Gomaa, captain of another ferry, the Saint Catherine, was sentenced to six months in jail for failing to come to the assistance of the ferry. The court found that Gomaa had failed to show “compassion” and “did not do his duty by failing to go to the rescue of victims.” He was also fined LE 10,000.
Local and pan-Arab TV stations showed footage of victims’ relatives crying and beating their chests in grief after hearing the ruling.
“My brother, my brother,” one woman screamed after the verdict, according to footage aired on Al Jazeera television which also showed security men scuffling with relatives and another woman being manhandled.
Dozens of relatives, many carrying photographs of their dead loved ones, were crammed into the court building, although the heavy security presence prevented them from entering the courtroom itself.
Others wailed in grief on the steps outside. “God help us, 1,034 people are dead!” shouted one man.
Most of the victims were from poor families in southern Egypt, and the court scenes were reminiscent of the emotional outpourings in the days following the sinking as anxious relatives waited in vain for bodies to be recovered.
