Assistant foreign minister for consular affairs Mohamed Abdel Hakam has announced Osama Hosney Zaghloul, the Egyptian charged with child molestation in the US, will stand for trial on 18 October. He said Egypt’s consulate in New York is following up developments.
Zaghloul, a nuclear researcher working for George Washington University, has been detained in New Jersey's Hudson Prison without trial since January 2008.
Abdel Hakam said that the ministry is regularly informing the Zaghloul family of the latest developments. He added that a delegate was sent to the US to visit Zaghloul at the prison. The accused rejected the idea of deportation, according to Abdel Hakam.
Abdel Hakam stressed that as soon as Zaghloul was arrested, the Egyptian foreign ministry contacted US departments of justice, state, and homeland security in order to inquire about the reasons for detention. Abdel Hakam also said the prison’s administration informed the consulate’s officials that child molestation is the only charge leveled against Zaghloul.
Six lawyers previously declined the case, explaining the length of time before trial proceedings, according to Abdel Hakam, who also noted Zaghloul directed his current lawyer to not provide the Egyptian embassy with information.
The assistant minister said that the ministry reciprocated Zaghloul’s mother's request to contact her son by phone, for which Zaghloul thanked the consulate.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
