STF NA MÍDIA

10 years in prison after being
found guilty of corruption.
For many Egyptians Ahmed
Ezz, the owner of Ezz Steel
and Egypt s most important
political power broker under
Mubarak, came to symbolise
everything that was wrong
with the former president s
Egypt – a bastion of crony
capitalism where the lines
dividing the political and
business elite became increasingly
blurred.
Calls to bring Ezz to justice
have been one of the central
demands of the revolution.
Two other Mubarak-era figures
were also handed jail
sentences in the same court:
Rachid Mohamed Rachid,
the country s former trade
and industry minister, was
given 15 years in absentia,
and Amr Assal, a former
industrial chief, received 10
years. The three defendants
were also ordered to pay fines
totalling $335m (£212m)
between them.
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •
THE GUARDIAN (LO) • NEWS • 16/9/2011
Libya rebels launch assaults on Gaddafi s last strongholds
Bani Walid and Sirte centres of fierce fighting as rebels and regime loyalists engage in
last-ditch battle for supremacy
Ian Black in Bani Walid
and Chris Stephen in Sirte
fLibyan rebel forces launched
offensives against Gaddafi
loyalists on Friday but
fierce resistance and poor
organisation stopped them
taking two strongholds whose
control is vital to consolidate
the grip of the postrevolutionary
regime.
Rebels occupied the airport
at Sirte, a symbolically important
town which was Muammar
Gaddafi s birthplace
and which sits on the main
road between Tripoli and
Benghazi.
At Bani Walid, 100 miles
south of the capital, it quickly
became clear that the war
to secure Libya s future is not
over. Just outside the town,
at a rebel checkpoint, Red
Crescent ambulances screeched
to a halt to disgorge
men killed or wounded in a
long day s fighting, with cries
of "Allahu Akbar" ringing
out as machine gunfire and
an occasional shell burst
punctured the hot afternoon
air.
Plumes of smoke rose above
low-rise apartment blocks
just short of the hill, where
pro-Gaddafi forces held back
a rebel assault that began in
the morning but was petering
out in disarray and frustration
by the time the evening drew
near.
Two separate rebel brigades
attacked from north and south
but defenders fought back
with mortars and Grad rockets.
Snipers on the high
ground were a menace.
"They are fighting hard,"
said Ishmail Abbouda, who
had been studying in London
before returning home to
defend the revolution with a
Kalashnikov rifle and Beretta
pistol tucked into his flak
jacket.
"It was rough but we are doing
well. And it will take
another day or two. I think
Gaddafi is there." Fact and
rumour were impossible to
disentangle. Several rebels
spoke of the capture of the
bodyguard of Saif al-Islam,
the deposed dictator s fugitive
son who had been rumoured
to be in Bani Walid. O-
thers described a convoy of
30 SUVs leaving town in the
early morning, firing wildly,
perhaps to create a diversion.
Ali Shita, who was lightly
injured in the foot and over
his left eye by a mortar shell
that killed two comrades,
hobbled away wincing, watched
by Abdel-Rahman Khaled,
a burly former Gaddafi
bodyguard who defected on
23 March. His unit, the Mohammed
Magarief Brigade,
is named after a veteran opponent
of the regime.
"They shot at us from behind
in the middle of town, just
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