Turkey accuses OIC of inaction on Egypt violence

19/08/2013

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) -- Turkey's Islamic-rooted government on Monday accused the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and its Turkish secretary general of remaining indifferent to the bloodshed in Egypt.

"I would say I resign because ... I couldn't accept the stance of an Islamic organization whose name carries the word Islam in the face of such brutality," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said in televised remarks.

If the OIC's Turkish secretary general Ekmeleddin "Ihsanoglu had made such a decision," to resign over the OIC's inaction in the face of the Egyptian military-backed government's deadly crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, he said, "it would have had an impact."

The 57-member OIC, based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is the world's top Islamic body.

Bozdag's comments came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday lashed out at the international response to the violence in Egypt, saying organizations including the United Nations and European Union should be ashamed of their inaction.

Turkey has hardened its tone towards Egypt's new authorities, recalling its ambassador to Cairo over the crackdown last week, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Egypt.

Daily demonstrations in support of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi have since taken place in Turkey.

The two countries have also cancelled joint naval exercises planned for October.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=622326.

Deadly attack on police as Egypt escalates crackdown

CAIRO (AFP) -- Militants killed 25 policemen on Monday in the deadliest attack of its kind in years, as Egypt's army-installed rulers escalated a campaign to crush ousted president Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at two buses carrying police in the Sinai Peninsula, sources said, just hours after 37 Brotherhood prisoners died in police custody.

The incidents came after Egypt's military chief vowed a "forceful" response to violence roiling the Arab world's most populous nation.

The Sinai attack raised fears of a return to the wave of deadly Islamist violence that swept the country in the 1990s.

Egypt is struggling to put a lid on a deep political crisis and violence that has killed almost 800 people in several days of clashes between Islamist protesters and security forces across the country.

Western countries have condemned the violence and are threatening to cut off billions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response, but Saudi Arabia said on Monday that Arab nations are ready to step in to fill the financial void.

The developments came as judicial sources said former autocratic president Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011, was granted conditional release in one case against him, but that he would remain in custody in an additional case.

Morsi loyalists vowed new demonstrations on Monday, although a day earlier they had cancelled some marches citing security concerns.

The interior ministry said 25 policeman were killed and two injured in the Sinai attack, which it on "armed terrorist groups."

A border official said afterwards that the Rafah crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, near where the attack occurred, would be closed.

Security sources said another policemen was killed in the northern city of el-Arish, bringing to at least 75 the number of security force members killed in the Sinai since the army deposed Morsi on July 3.

The security situation in the Sinai has deteriorated sharply in the past weeks, with near daily attacks by militants targeting police and military installations.

Elsewhere bloodshed sparked by the Aug. 14 security force crackdown on pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo showed little sign of abating.

Authorities said 36 Islamist detainees died after police fired tear gas in a bid to free an officer taken hostage by prisoners, as the inmates were being transferred to a north Cairo jail.

But the Brotherhood, the once-banned movement from which Morsi hailed, held the police accountable.

"The murder of 35 detained anti-coup protesters affirms the intentional violence aimed at opponents of the coup, and the cold-blooded killing of which they are targets," it said in a statement in English.

Only hours before the deaths, military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned security forces would confront any violence from protesters.

"We will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country," said Sisi, who overthrew Morsi last month after mass protests against the Islamist president's rule. He pledged a "forceful" response to further attacks on police and government buildings.

According to an AFP tally, more than 1,000 people have been killed since mass demonstrations against Morsi erupted at the end of June.

In response to the violence, EU ambassadors were recalled from their summer break for a meeting in Brussels Monday, with foreign ministers due to review the bloc's ties with Egypt at an emergency meeting on Wednesday.

The European Union has pledged nearly five billion euros ($6.7 billion) in aid to Egypt but has cautioned this was under "constant review" after Morsi's ouster.

The United States has cancelled joint military exercises with Egypt.

It has but stopped short of suspending $1.3 billion in annual aid, although some US lawmakers called Sunday for the funds to be cut.

But the international response has not been uniformly critical. Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan have said they back Egypt in its fight against "terrorism".

Egypt's foreign minister Nabil Fahmy said Monday in Sudan that his country was on the "right path".

Israel, meanwhile, an official urged the West to support Egypt's military.

"The name of the game right now is not democracy," he told the Jerusalem Post.

"The name of the game is that there needs to be a functioning state. After you put Egypt back on track, then (you can) talk about restarting the democratic process there."

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=622291.

Thousands rally for Morsi in Nazareth

17/08/2013

NAZARETH, Israel (AFP) -- Thousands of Palestinian supporters of the Islamic Movement in Israel demonstrated on Saturday in support of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an AFP correspondent said.

Around 4,000 people led by firebrand preacher Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, took part in the protest in the northern city of Nazareth, the correspondent said.

The demonstrators marched holding Egyptian flags as well as pictures of Morsi and chanting against Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who led the overthrow of Morsi, claiming he was "taking orders from the US."

A police spokeswoman said the demonstration passed without event.

Pro-Morsi rallies took place on Friday in Jerusalem's Old City and in the West Bank city of Hebron, attended mostly by supporters of Hamas.

Some of the participants in the Friday rallies accused Sisi of collaborating with Israel, where officials have refrained from commenting on the events in Egypt.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=621680.

Death toll soars to 638 in Egypt violence

August 16, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Weeping relatives in search of loved ones uncovered the faces of the bloodied, unclaimed dead in a Cairo mosque near the smoldering epicenter of support for ousted President Mohammed Morsi, as the death toll soared past 600 Thursday from Egypt's deadliest day since the Arab Spring began.

World condemnation widened for the bloody crackdown on Morsi's mostly Islamist supporters, including an angry response from President Barack Obama, who canceled joint U.S.-Egyptian military maneuvers.

Violence spread Thursday, with government buildings set afire near the pyramids, policemen gunned down and scores of Christian churches attacked. As turmoil engulfed the country, the Interior Ministry authorized the use of deadly force against protesters targeting police and state institutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood, trying to regroup after the assault on their encampments and the arrest of many of their leaders, called for a mass rally on Friday in a challenge to the government's declaration of a monthlong state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

At least 638 people were confirmed killed and nearly 4,000 wounded in the violence sparked when riot police backed by armored vehicles, snipers and bulldozers smashed the two sit-ins in Cairo where Morsi's supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement. It was the deadliest day by far since the 2011 popular uprising that overthrew autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak and plunged the country into more than two years of instability.

Also on Thursday, The United Nations Security Council called on both the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood to exercise "maximum restraint" and end the violence spreading across the country. Council members called for national reconciliation.

The Health Ministry said that 288 of those killed were in the largest protest camp in Cairo's Nasr City district, while 90 others were slain in a smaller encampment at al-Nahda Square, near Cairo University. Others died in clashes that broke out between Morsi's supporters and security forces or anti-Morsi protesters elsewhere in the Egyptian capital and other cities.

Mohammed Fathallah, the ministry spokesman, said earlier that the blood-soaked bodies lined up in the El Iman mosque in Nasr City were not included in the official death toll. It was not immediately clear if the new figures included the ones at the mosque.

Inside the mosque-turned-morgue, the names of the dead were scribbled on white sheets covering the bodies, some of them charred, and a list with 265 names was plastered on the wall. Heat made the stench from the corpses almost unbearable as the ice brought in to chill the bodies melted and household fans offered little relief.

Weeping relatives filled the mosque courtyard and spilled into the streets. In a corner, a woman cradled the head of a slain man in her lap, fanning it with a paper fan. Nearby, an anguished man shouted, "God take revenge on you el-Sissi!" a reference to the powerful military chief, Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi.

Slumped over the body of his brother, Ihab el-Sayyed said the 24-year-old was getting ready for his wedding next week. "Last time I heard his voice was an hour or two before I heard of his death," he said, choking back tears.

Over the mosque speakers, announcements urged people to leave because their body heat was making the humid conditions worse inside the mosque, where posters of Morsi lay piled up in a corner. Many people complained that authorities were preventing them from obtaining permits to bury their dead, although the Muslim Brotherhood announced that several funerals had been held Thursday. Fathallah denied that permits were being withheld.

"Bodies are getting decomposed. We only want to bury them. This is unfair," said Hamdan Abdullah, who had traveled from the city of Fayoum to retrieve the body of his niece. Omar Houzien, a volunteer helping families search for their loved ones, said the bodies were carried to the mosque from a medical center at the protest camp in the final hours of Wednesday's police sweep because of fears they would be burned.

Elsewhere, a mass funeral was held in Cairo for some of the 43 security troops authorities said were killed in Wednesday's clashes. Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, led the mourners. A police band played solemn music as fire engines bore the coffins draped in white, red and black Egyptian flags in a funeral procession.

The deadly crackdown drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West. Obama canceled joint U.S.-Egypt military exercises scheduled for next month, although he gave no indication that the U.S. planned to cut off its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to the country. The U.S. administration has avoided declaring Morsi's ouster a coup, which would force it to suspend the military aid.

"While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back," the U.S. president said, speaking from his weeklong vacation in Massachusetts.

Obama said he also ordered his national security team to "assess the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S.-Egyptian relationship."

Egypt's interim government issued a late night statement saying the country is facing "terrorist actions targeting government and vital institutions" by "violent militant groups." The statement expressed "sadness" for the killings of Egyptians and pledged to work on restoring law and order.

The statement also warned that Obama's position "while it's not based on facts can empower the violent militant groups and encourage them in its anti-stability discourse." Egypt enjoys "full sovereignty and independence of its decision," the statement said.

The biennial Bright Star maneuvers, long a centerpiece of the deep ties between the U.S. and Egyptian militaries, have not been held since 2009, as Egypt grappled with the fallout from the revolution that ousted Mubarak. Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected president in 2012 during Egypt's first democratic elections.

Despite the curfew and state of emergency, violence spilled over to a second day Thursday. The Interior Ministry said its decision to authorize police to use deadly force came after an angry crowd stormed the governor's office in Giza, the city next to Cairo that is home to the pyramids.

Associated Press reporters witnessed the burning buildings, a two-story colonial-style villa and a four-story administrative office on the road leading to the pyramids on the west bank of the Nile River.

"The ministry has given instruction to all forces to use live ammunition to confront any assaults on institutions or the forces," the statement read. Egypt's military-backed government also pledged to confront "terrorist actions and sabotage" allegedly carried out by Muslim Brotherhood members.

State TV blamed Morsi supporters for the arson and broadcast footage showing firefighters evacuating employees from the larger building. The Brotherhood's website IkhwanOnLine said thousands of Morsi supporters marched through Giza but were attacked by pro-military "militias." It did not say how the government buildings were set on fire.

Attackers also set fire to churches and police stations across the country for a second day Thursday. In the country's second-largest city of Alexandria, Islamist protesters exchanged gunfire with an anti-Morsi rally, leaving scores injured, witnesses and security officials said. Attempts to storm police stations in the southern city of Assiut and northern Sinai city of el-Arish left at least six policemen dead and others injured.

Ishaq Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said his group had documented at least 39 cases of violence against churches, monasteries, Coptic schools and shops in different parts of the country on Wednesday.

Cairo, a city of some 18 million people, was uncharacteristically quiet Thursday, with only a fraction of its usually hectic traffic and many stores and government offices shuttered. Many people hunkered down at home for fear of more violence. Banks and the stock market were closed.

Fearful of more violence Friday in response to calls for more protests by both the Brotherhood and anti-Morsi camps, some main streets were closed and people in many neighborhoods set up cement blocks and metal barricades. Residents checked IDs in scenes reminiscent of the 2011 revolution when vigilante-style groups set up neighborhood watches to prevent looting and other attacks.

In Cairo's Nasr City neighborhood, smoke rose from the burned-out Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque compound that had been the epicenter of support for Morsi, its floor covered with black debris and nearby trees and grass charred. A makeshift field hospital was also gutted, its walls blackened and floors covered in pools of brackish water.

The turmoil is the latest chapter in a bitter standoff between Morsi's supporters and the interim leadership that took over the Arab world's most populous country following a July 3 coup. The military ouster came after millions of Egyptians took to the streets to demand Morsi step down, accusing him of giving the Brotherhood undue influence and failing to implement vital reforms or bolster the ailing economy.

Morsi has been held at an undisclosed location ever since. Other Brotherhood leaders, including several arrested Wednesday, have been charged with inciting violence or conspiring in the killing of protesters.

The Brotherhood has spent most of its 85 years as an outlawed group or enduring crackdowns by successive governments. The latest developments could provide authorities with the grounds to once again declare it an illegal group and consign it to the political wilderness.

Brotherhood leaders and family members wounded and killed by security forces

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

A number of senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood and their family members have been wounded and killed by Egyptian security forces today in Cairo. Eyewitnesses said that Habeebah Ahmed, the daughter of President Mohamed Morsi's information adviser, was shot and killed. Her father, Ahmed Abdul-Azeez, spoke of her death on Facebook: "I announce the death of my daughter and friend Habeebah."

Deputy Muslim Brotherhood Guide Khayrat Al-Shater's daughter Hafsa and her husband Dr Mostafa Hassan were both killed in Rabaa Al-Adawiyya Square, while Ammar Al-Beltaji, the son of prominent Freedom and Justice Party leader Mohamed Al-Beltaji, said that his sister was also killed as security forces attacked anti-coup protesters with great force and brutality.

Brotherhood spokesman Hussam Abul-Bukhari was reported to be severely wounded, "with blood pouring from his mouth". Abdullah Abdul-Jawwad said that he was grabbed by the police along with Abul-Bukhari who was then shot by the officers. He claimed that they refused to allow him to receive any medical attention. Dr Wesam Abdul-Wareth confirmed that he saw the police shooting at Abul-Bukhari.

An unconfirmed number of protesters were burnt alive when their tents were set on fire by the army and police. At least three charred bodies can be seen in gruesome pictures from the scene of the killings.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6904-brotherhood-leaders-and-family-members-wounded-and-killed-by-security-forces.

Protesters encircles governor's office in Al-Siwees

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in al-Siwees governorate protesting against the massacres in Rabaa al-Adawiyya and al-Nahda Squares.

The protesters closed the streets leading to the headquarters of the governorates office. They also seized one of the army's armored vehicles in the area.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6903-protesters-encircles-governors-office-in-al-siwees.

After hundreds of deaths, Egyptians called on to protect protesters

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

The Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance in Egypt has called on Egyptians to take to the streets in order to halt the aggressive attacks against protesters being carried out by the police.

The National Alliance said gatherings would be held at Assad al-Furat Mosque, al-Istiqama in Giza, al-Fatah in Ramsis and al-Nour in al-Abassiya.

Egyptian police began attack against protesters at Rabaa al-Adawiyya and al-Nahda Squares today at dawn.

A prominent leader of the Freedom and Justice party, Mohamed al-Beltaji, said that the number of deaths at the field clinic at al-Adawiya exceeded 300, with thousands wounded, including women and children.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6895-after-hundreds-of-deaths-egyptians-called-on-to-protect-protesters.

Journalists arrested at Adawiya and Nahda squares including a Reuters reporter

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Egyptian security forces have arrested dozens of journalists and media professionals, both Egyptian and foreign, whilst they have been covering the crimes being committed by the military rulers against the peaceful protesters at Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares.

Among those arrested are Tom Finn, a Reuters news agency reporter in Rabaa al-Adawiya square, two photographers whose photos from their cameras were deleted, as well as a reporter and photographer from al Badeel and Mustafa Darwish, whose camera was confiscated.

The security forces also arrested Ahmad Jodeh, of Al-Jazeera in Nahda square during his coverage of the dispersal of the sits-ins.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6900-journalists-arrested-at-adawiya-and-nahda-squares-including-a-reuters-reporter.

Noble Peace Laureate expects military operation to lead to a new revolution

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Yemeni activist and Noble Peace laureate, Tawakkol Karman, has said that dispersing the Egyptian protests forcibly would lead to a new, full revolution against the military rule.

Writing on her Facebook page, Karman said, "30 martyrs in the first half hour of the operation and hundreds of wounded inevitably means the beginning of a new revolution."

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/6897-noble-peace-laureate-expects-military-operation-to-lead-to-a-new-revolution.

Today's massacre is unprecedented in Egypt's history

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Muslim thinker and member of the Islamic Research Council, Mohamed Omarah, has said that the ruling regime reached breaking point when it started forcibly dispersing the peaceful pro-Morsi protests and militarized the country by assigning military governors.

He said that there were laws and constitutions in all countries around the world that guarantee the right to peaceful protests. When we see the police dispersing peaceful protests this way, we are watching a massacre never before witnessed in Egyptian history.

Omarah referred to the high number of deaths and injuries caused by the Egyptian army and police while dispersing the pro-Morsi protests.

Hoping that no negative consequences would emerge, he expected the worst was still to come. Omarah's pessimism is based on the fact that such a massacre has never before happened in Egypt. "There has never been such a precedent," he said.

He said that the army opposed all initiatives that had been proposed to remove the protests. Omarah said that this was because the army wanted to secure military rule in Egypt, which has led to more violence. He said that this damages the image of the Egyptian army.

The involvement of the army in such massacres will damage its authority, as has happened with the Iraqi and Syrian armies, such an event would be welcomed by Israel.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6894-todays-massacre-is-unprecedented-in-egypts-history.

Muslim Brotherhood: At least 250 killed in Cairo crackdown

14/08/2013

CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said at least 250 people were killed and over 5,000 injured Wednesday in a police crackdown on two major protest camps held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

"250+ confirmed deaths. Drs saying most critical patients will die from their bullet wounds. over 5000 wounded. biggest massacre since #coup," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said on Twitter.

There was no independent confirmation of the Brotherhood toll.

An AFP correspondent at the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp had counted 17 bodies at the makeshift morgue there

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=620919.

Protests swell, prompt Egypt to postpone dispersal

August 12, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Supporters of toppled President Mohammed Morsi increased the pressure on Egypt's interim leadership by defiantly flooding into two protest camps Monday, prompting police to postpone moving against the 6-week-old sit-ins because they feared a "massacre."

Morsi's Islamist backers have rejected negotiations with the military-backed government, leaving the most populous Arab nation in an uneasy limbo. Still, the delay by the security forces gave the Sunni Muslim world's top religious institution more time to try to ease the political tensions with a new initiative.

Authorities also showed no signs of meeting key demands by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood to release top Islamists who have been detained and face criminal investigations. A judge ordered the deposed president, detained since he was overthrown July 3, to be held for 15 more days pending investigations of charges he conspired in 2011 with Palestinian militants, a judicial official said.

As news leaked that police were going to cordon off access to the sit-in sites early Monday, protesters took to the streets by the tens of thousands, and many made their way into the protest camps, whose populations include many women and children. Authorities said they wanted to "avoid bloodshed" and delayed taking any action.

The Anti-Coup Alliance, which works with the Brotherhood, said in a statement that the swift response of the people to come to the main sit-in site at the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque "is a great message to all parties that deserves our utmost respect."

The group also urged police not to respond to orders to blockade the sit-ins. "Their rifles and bullets must only target enemies of Egypt," the group said. For weeks, the government has been warning protesters to disperse, describing the sit-ins as a security threat.

The Interior Ministry has depicted the encampments as a public danger, saying 11 bodies bearing signs of torture were found near both sites. Amnesty International has also reported that anti-Morsi protesters have been captured, beaten, subjected to electric shocks or stabbed. At least eight bodies have arrived at a morgue in Cairo bearing signs of torture, the human rights group said.

Reporters Without Borders said two journalists were beaten by Morsi supporters while covering a Brotherhood march Friday in Cairo. The group also criticized "harsh measures" taken by authorities against news media supportive of the Brotherhood, saying 52 journalists were arrested since Morsi's removal from office.

Both the protesters and the security forces blame each other for using live ammunition in two major clashes near the Rabaah encampment that have killed at least 130 Morsi supporters. Further violence threatens not only to delay the transition to a democratically-elected leadership, but could also further weaken the economy after more than two years of political instability.

The protests — a main tool of expression after the closure of pro-Brotherhood TV channels — have also stopped traffic and cut off main roads, and are being used by the Morsi camp as a political tool to increase pressure on the interim leadership.

After night fell Monday, speakers at the Rabaah sit-in led the flag-waving crowd in chants of "The police are thugs!" and "Islamic law, not secular law!" Some in the throng hoisted children up on their shoulders as they cheered, waved and made V-for-victory signs.

Security officials in charge of riot police units said they had been given notice Sunday to prepare their forces to cordon off the Rabaah site and another protest across town near Cairo University in Giza. Reports emerged of units coming to Cairo from around the country to take part in the operation.

The security forces had planned to form cordons around the two sites as early as dawn Monday, allowing protesters to leave but preventing others from getting in, to minimize casualties before using water cannons and tear gas, officials told The Associated Press.

After thousands streamed in and swelled the size of the sit-ins, however, security officials became concerned about the increased chance of bloodshed, and they decided not to move on the camps. "We were stunned by the masses" who came to the camps, one military official told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He added that a push into the sit-ins would trigger a "massacre."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Washington was "very deeply concerned today about the potential for violence in Egypt." "From the start, we've emphasized to those within Egypt that violence only sets back the eventual cause that they claim to be working for and need to allow people to protest peacefully," she added.

While the delay in using security forces to end the sit-ins has helped ease tensions that had spiked overnight, Egypt remains on edge as to how the standoff will end. Morsi was deposed by the military after massive demonstrations across the country June 30, demanding he step down over what protesters saw as his failure to govern inclusively and manage the economy. Many accused him of acting only on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last month, hundreds of thousands rallied in the streets to answer a call by Egypt's military chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to give him a mandate to act against "potential terrorism" by Morsi's supporters.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights warned Monday that associating terrorism with the Brotherhood allows the military and police to use full force to preserve national security, shifting the debate to stability rather than on human rights and democracy.

Meanwhile, nearly two weeks of efforts by the international community to end the standoff and find a peaceful resolution failed. A locally negotiated solution also faces obstacles. Influential Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagy said he turned down an offer by the head of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's top religious institution, to negotiate a solution. El-Beltagy said top Al-Azhar cleric Ahmed el-Tayyib was not an impartial mediator because he backed the coup.

However, public figures close to the Brotherhood have been approached to take part in the Al-Azhar talks. Another Brotherhood figure, Saad Emara, dismissed efforts to negotiate a solution, saying the group doesn't recognize the "initiatives from the post-coup era."

"The key to a resolution is the return of legitimate institutions, including the president," Emara said. Harf, the State Department spokeswoman, said the U.S. was "continuing to engage with all parties to push towards an inclusive, democratic process."

She added that the U.S. was urging "an end to all politically motivated arrests and detentions and emphasize that this won't help Egypt move beyond the crisis." Sectarian violence, meanwhile, has flared in southern Egypt, and insurgents have battled the military in the Sinai, with Morsi's removal appearing to have lifted the lid on Islamic militancy in various parts of the country.

"The country is at a standstill," said Abdel-Rahman al-Bagi, part of a group of anti-Morsi demonstrators camped in Cairo's Tahrir Square since his overthrow. "Nothing is functioning because of the Muslim Brotherhood."

The Brotherhood sought to use the momentum of support from those who joined the two pro-Morsi sit-ins Monday to organize more marches. One protest disrupted traffic across a major bridge in Cairo. Another saw about 100 marchers in a metro station holding pictures of Morsi and demanding he be reinstated.

Protesters have been fortifying the sit-ins camps. In Rabaah, men with helmets, sticks and what appeared to be protective sports equipment guarded barricades made of sandbags, truck tires and bricks. They have also built three concrete waist-high barriers against armored vehicles.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad says they have no plans to back down. "If they disperse one, we create two," he said.

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

The Brotherhood's change of strategy could be the best yet

Tuesday, 06 August 2013

Dr. Daud Abdullah

To many observers, the crisis in Egypt today bears a striking resemblance to that of 1954. The main actors are the same, as are the issues.

Back then, there was also a vicious political struggle between a coup leader, Major-General Muhammad Naguib, and his comrade in the Revolution Command Council (RCC), Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser. The rift came to a head on 25 February 1954 with an announcement from the RCC that Naguib had resigned. That brought tens of thousands on to the streets of Cairo, the likes of which the city had never seen. Just as it is today, the people's demand was for the unconditional return of the president and parliamentary rule.

Once the floodgates of protest were opened they were almost impossible to close. Not even the reinstatement of Naguib and his personal appeal from the balcony of Abdin Palace was enough to persuade the angry protesters to return to their homes. In the end, it took an appeal by a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdul Qadir Audah, to get them to clear the streets. His apparent power and popularity unnerved the coup leadership and that cost him his life; he was executed soon thereafter. The late Farid Abdul Khaliq, who lived through those tumultuous days, wrote that even as he walked to the gallows Audah never believed that he would actually be killed.

Today, no-one seems able or willing to bring an end to the protest and sit-ins that have spread like wildfire across Egypt since the military coup of 3 July.

In as much as the current coup-makers are minded to round-up the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood as was done in 1954, they are finding it much more difficult than their predecessors. Today's Muslim leadership is far less compliant and much more uncompromising. General Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi and his civilian political fig leaves, it seems, did not expect this response from the movement.

It is not just the Egyptian military which feels this way. Regional power brokers and international players have for decades grown accustomed to a docile and timid Brotherhood; one that accepted its persecution with almost total submission.

The Islamic movement has, it would appear, a new strategy that is exemplified in the stand of the deputy supreme guide, Khairat Al-Shater, who refused to negotiate with the US-led international delegation which sought to meet him in his prison cell. A similar dogged commitment to principles was displayed by President Mohammed Morsi himself with his rejection of the fait accompli of his deposition by the army officer he had appointed as his Minister of Defense.

Several factors have influenced this change of strategy. Today the Muslim Brotherhood has political legitimacy and a mandate. It has won five elections since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime in January 2011. In the circumstances, the Brotherhood is defending the democratic will and choice of the majority of Egyptians, something that its opponents find hard to acknowledge and accept.

On another level, there is a profound recognition within the organization that any compromise on this occasion would have disastrous consequences not only for themselves but for the movements it has inspired across the region. A wave of anti-Islamist forces has already been unleashed in several countries. Their campaigns are gathering momentum, from the UAE where scores have been imprisoned and tortured to Tunisia where the old regime is attempting a comeback. In Palestine's occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip the hostility and threats against Hamas are growing by the day.

Accordingly, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is not just defending its own national interest but the Islamic renaissance project in all its manifestations in the Middle East. Any sign of compromise today will give its arch-rivals, the jihadist movements, an opportunity to gloat that they warned the Brotherhood that the democratic path it advocates is a mythical panacea; that the hope promised at the beginning of the Arab Spring was indeed a false hope based on a false premise called democracy.

The battle today is certainly not an existential one because beliefs and doctrines do not die. There is, though, a historic, generational, threat confronting the Muslim Brotherhood.

If the coup makers do not compromise, the region is going to witness a long drawn out battle of attrition the type of which was witnessed in Iran in the latter days of the shah's regime. The Islamic Revolution did not happen there overnight; it started with relatively small street protests in 1977 which had swelled into an unstoppable force by 1979.

In the end, the consequences of those protests were far-reaching; they shook up the army. This could happen in Egypt where not only would we see the removal of Al-Sisi and his functionaries but also the very doctrine which underpins the army's role – obedience to the will of America and Israel, as was the case of the Iranian army in 1979. Like Iran, Egypt could see the emergence of an ideological army to replace the guns for hire to the highest bidder.

As it stands the Brotherhood has no other option but steadfastness. The consolation is that the winds of change are blowing strongly in its favor. The protest numbers are growing and the coup's backers are shrinking. The new strategy could well be the best yet.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/commentary-and-analysis/6806-the-brotherhoods-change-of-strategy-could-be-the-best-yet.

Tawakkul Karman faced death threats from Egyptian coup supporters

Wednesday, 07 August 2013

Yemeni activist and Nobel Peace Laureate, Tawakkul Karman, said that she had received several death threats from supporters of the Egyptian coup and pro-coup journalists, prior to her visit to Cairo.

Explaining the ban on her entering Egypt, Karman said that some pro-coup officials in Egypt were trying to cover up human rights violations in the country, and she was denied entry to Cairo so that she would not become a witness to those violations.

Karman added that after the coup, Egypt has begun restricting rights and freedoms, with the pro-coup voices being the only ones currently heard. She said that thousands of anti-coup voices have been killed or imprisoned. She noted that she had headed to Egypt in order to bear witness to this injustice.

The Yemeni activist said that she considers herself responsible for unveiling the injustice that takes place in Egypt and the world, stressing that it is important that Egyptians preserve the achievements of the January 25 revolution.

She expressed regret that she was denied entry into Egypt, adding that this had happened because she defends and speaks about the achievements of the Arab Spring everywhere.

She refuted the criticisms directed at her over her closeness to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that she defends human rights everywhere and in all places where rights are being violated, including Egypt.

She noted that she had criticized some of the Muslim Brotherhood's policies from time to time.

Karman also pointed out that the current government in Egypt closed all the TV stations that opposed the military coup and that many of the anti-coup activists were arrested or killed in front of the world.

She expressed worries about Egypt's future, saying that the military rule will be ousted within months, if not weeks.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/6823-tawakkul-karman-faced-death-threats-from-egyptian-coup-supporters-.

Mubarak freed in case, held on other charge

19/08/2013

CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak has been granted conditional release in one of the corruption cases against him, but will remain in custody on charges in an additional case, judicial sources said Monday.

His lawyer plans to appeal against the fourth and final case, which is also related to corruption, in a bid to secure the former president's release, according to a judicial source.

Farid al-Dib, Mubarak's lawyer, is expected to argue that his client paid back the $600,120 worth of gifts he received from his minister of information -- the issue at the heart of the fourth case.

Since April, courts have ordered Mubarak's conditional release in two of the four cases against him -- one involving corruption, and a second for allegedly killing protesters.

On Monday, he was granted conditional release in a third case, and will now seek to be cleared of charges in the fourth, the judicial sources said.

The former president, 85, is on trial with his former interior minister Habib Adly and six police commanders on charges related to their rule before the 2011 uprising that toppled his regime.

On Saturday, a court adjourned his trial on charges of killing protesters until Aug. 25 in a brief session that Mubarak did not attend.

He is facing the charges for a second time after a first trial that ended in him being sentenced to life was overturned by an appeals court on the basis of procedural errors.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=622277.

Egypt arrests Brotherhood's spiritual leader

August 20, 2013

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Tuesday announced the arrest of the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, dealing a serious blow to the Islamist group at a time when it is struggling to keep up its street protests against the ouster President Mohammed Morsi in the face of a harsh crackdown by authorities.

The Brotherhood's spiritual guide, Mohammed Badie, was arrested in an apartment at the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City, close to the location of the six-week sit-in protest by supporters of Morsi, who also hails from the Islamist group. The encampment was cleared by security forces last Wednesday, along with another protest site in Giza, in a raid that killed hundreds of people.

Badie's arrest is the latest stage in an escalating crackdown by authorities on the Brotherhood in which hundreds have also been arrested. The Brotherhood's near daily protests since Morsi's ouster have somewhat petered out the last two days, with scattered demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere in the country attracting hundreds, sometimes just dozens.

Morsi himself has been detained in an undisclosed location since the July 3 coup, prompted by days-long protests by millions of Egyptians demonstrating against the president and his rule. He is facing accusations of conspiring with the militant Palestinian Hamas group to escape from prison during the 2011 uprising and complicity in the killing and torture of protesters outside his Cairo palace in December.

Badie's last public appearance was at the sit-in protest last month, when he delivered a fiery speech from a makeshift stage in which he denounced the July 3 military coup that removed Morsi. Badie's arrest followed the death of one of his children, son Ammar, who was shot dead during violent clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters in Cairo on Friday.

Also, Badie and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, are to stand trial later this month on charges of complicity in the killing in June of eight protesters outside the Brotherhood's national headquarters in Cairo.

Meanwhile, Egypt's military-backed government is considering the outlawing of the Brotherhood, which has spent most of the 85 years since its creation as an illegal organization. The government is seeking legal advice on banning the group and has been coming under growing pressure from the media and a wide array of secular politicians to declare it a terrorist organization.

Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref sought to downplay the significance of Badie's arrest, writing on his Facebook page on Tuesday simply: "Mohammed Badie is one member of the Brotherhood." The private ONTV network showed footage of a man the network said was Badie after his arrest. In the footage, a somber looking Badie in an off-white Arab robe, or galabeya, sits motionless on a black sofa as a man in civilian clothes and carrying an assault rifle stands nearby.

Badie's arrest came after suspected Islamic militants ambushed two minibuses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula early on Monday, forcing the men to lie on the sand and shooting 25 of them dead.

The daylight attack raised fears that the strategic desert region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip could be plunged into a full-fledged insurgency. The policemen were given a funeral with full military honors late on Monday. The men's coffins, draped in red, white and black Egyptian flags, were jointly carried by army soldiers and policemen, and Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour declared a nationwide state of mourning to mark their deaths.

The Sinai Peninsula has long been wracked by violence by al-Qaida-linked fighters, some who consider Morsi's Brotherhood to be too moderate, and tribesmen who have used the area for smuggling and other criminal activity. Attacks, especially those targeting security forces, have been on the rise since Morsi's ouster.

Monday's attack targeting the policemen took place near the border town of Rafah in northern Sinai. A few hours later, militants shot to death a senior police officer as he stood guard outside a bank in el-Arish, another city in the largely lawless area, security officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack. The United States condemned the slaying of the police officers and repeated its commitment to help Egypt combat terrorism in Sinai. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also denounced the attack.

The Sinai attack came a day after security forces killed 36 detainees during a riot on a prison-bound truck convoy north of Cairo. The killings came as police fired tear gas to free a guard who was trapped in the melee, security officials said.

Hamas supporters rally against Sisi in Jerusalem

August 16, 2013

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Hundreds of Hamas supporters rallied on Friday at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound in protest against Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

Some 600 people affiliated with the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip held the demonstration after Friday prayers, an AFP correspondent said.

They also conducted a special prayer for the hundreds of Morsi supporters killed on Wednesday when security forces dispersed Cairo protest camps set up by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters.

The demonstrators, who held posters commemorating the dead, called Sisi an "American collaborator" who served Israel and chanted that Morsi was still Egypt's president.

Some compared Sisi to Hitler, who they said "killed Jews for his people," while the Egyptian army chief "killed his people for the Jews".

Other Islamist movements also took part in the demonstration, with Israeli police not intervening.

A large rally in support of Morsi was being planned by the northern faction of the Israeli Islamic Movement for Saturday afternoon.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Aug-16/227561-hamas-supporters-rally-against-sisi-in-jerusalem.ashx.

Temperature records broken in Austria and Hungary

August 08, 2013

VIENNA (AP) — Temperatures have hit all-time highs in Austria and neighboring Hungary as a stubborn heat wave nears the end of its second week.

Thursday's 40.5 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit Thursday eclipsed the previous record of 39.9 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) set just five days before. In Hungary, temperatures were fractionally lower at 40 C Thursday. Officials there have issued a heat warning, while some government ministries have relaxed dress codes. For men, that means ties and jackets can be left at home. For women, pantyhose is optional.

Croatia sent two water-dropping planes to Bosnia earlier in the week to help battle wildfires set off by drought and sweltering heat that threatened several villages. A Russian aircraft was dispatched to fight blazes in Serbia.

Temperatures also nearly broke records in Poland.