27th Session of Al Shater’s Trial on Tuesday

The 27th session of the Military Tribunal trying 40 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders is held on Tuesday, Nov, 6th, 2007 .
 
During Sunday session, the 26th, the chief of the financial committee, Saad El-Din Rajab was interrogated for more than two hours.
 
The judge asked the witness, Rajab: Have you read all papers?
“Yes, an I documented this in reports”,  replied Rajab
“Have read them collectively or they were distributed in parts among you?”, asked the judge.
 
Rajab said that all the committee members read them according to minutes of the committee. Rajab added that the papers that were presented didn”t change the conclusion reached by the committee in the first report .
“You spoke about some companies but you did not define the stakes of the accused in these companies?, asked the judge
Rajab replied that the companies are joint stock companies whose stocks are traded and to specify the number of stocks owned by the accused partner, we need to receive a statement from Misr company which responds only to those concerned or according to decisions from authorized bodies .
 
After the judge finished interrogating, and before the defence team started its interrogation, Rajab demanded some printing errors corrected and the judge accepted. The errors were up to five figures and he demanded correcting the word “rent” to the word “ownership” in one of the companies .This made And Hazem Abu Ismail ask the witness how he knew that the real estate in cuestion is a transfer of ownership, not a rented one?. Rajab replied quickly and quietly that he got a photocopy from the primary selling contract of this place and that it is attached with the technical reports. This actually was Rajab”s first slip of the tongue. Engineer Khairat Al-Shater demanded documenting that the committee chief referred to the technical reports about which he previously said in front of the court that ” I do not approve them”.
 
Nasser Al-Hafi, a member of the defence team, intervened and asked the judge and the state security prosecutor, saying:” throughout the past five sessions we haven hearing about decision no. 7050 issued by the Ministry of Justice (of forming and mandating the financial committee), we want to see this decision.
“We don”t have such a decision”, said the the prosecutor – the first time since the beginning of the military sessions to hear him speaking.
Then the judge ordered the prosecutor to show this decision in the coming session.
 
Al-Hafy told the judge that the witness shouldn”t be heard without this decision. Al-Hafy demanded also the prosecution”s all-inclusive report about the sequestered items. The judge ordered  the prosecutor to bring the report in the coming session. Al-Hafy demanded also a report that proves the disappearance of the contents of Hassan Malek”s safe. The judge ordered the military prosecutor to show it and he approved. Finally, Al-Hafy demanded be allowed to read the all-inclusive report of the experts committee, the report was already handed over to the judge in the previous session.
Engineer Khairat Al-Shater, the second deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, wondered about the figure that the new report showed. He said this report showed that the assets of the companies are no more than 25 millions after they were estimated 448 millions in the first report. “Has the committee been subject to pressures to abuse assets of the accused and attempt to harm their financial and social positions and give wrong information to political leaders?” asked Al-Shater, adding that the defense challenged the reports and testimonies of these experts.
 
In a related context, the formed US Attorney General Ramsey Clark was denied- for the second time- access to the military tribunal to monitor the course of the trial.