Thursday, July 04, 2013

Islamist Alliance Calls for Demonstrations Against Military Coup in Egypt

Islamist alliance maintains Morsi is Egypt's legitimate president

Ahram Online, Thursday 4 Jul 2013

The National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy called on security forces to ensure that demonstrators are kept safe

The pro-Morsi National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy stressed in a Thursday press release that ousted president Mohamed Morsi is still the legitimate ruler of the country, describing his overthrow on Wednesday as a "military coup."

In the statement, the group also expressed their dismay and announced their rejection of violence against peaceful pro-Morsi protesters, and called on state institutions to ensure the safety of peaceful demonstrations.

According to the Muslim Brotherhood's Ikhwanweb news site, 23 Morsi supporters have died in violence in various locations in Egypt since the military leadership announced that Morsi was being forced to step down.

The alliance also expressed distress at the closure of Islamist television channels, which "goes against freedom of expression," along with the arbitrary arrests of politicians and media personnel from Islamist parties, and demanded their immediate release.

Shortly after the military announcement of the ouster of Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-owned television channel Misr 25 went off air along with several other Islamist-run channels, including channels Hafez and Al-Nas. Some employees of the channels were arrested.

Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr was also taken off air on Thursday after its Cairo offices were stormed by Egyptian security forces. Several Al Jazeera staff were detained.

The alliance called for "peaceful protests on Friday in all of Egypt's provinces to denounce the military coup against legitimacy and in support of the legitimacy of President Morsi."

The alliance, officially launched last week, includes the moderate-Islamist Wasat Party, the Salafist Watan Party and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya's Building and Development Party.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75737.aspx


Egypt's Brotherhood refuses army move, calls it a 'coup d'etat'

Ahram Online, Thursday 4 Jul 2013

Muslim Brotherhood rejects Mohamed Morsi's removal, refuses to work with 'usurped authority' and calls on supporters to remain peaceful

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement on Wednesday announcing their refusal of the removal of former president Mohamed Morsi, calling the military's move a "coup d'etat."

"We refuse to engage in any work with the usurped authority," added the statement.

The Brotherhood, who Morsi was a member of its Guidance Bureau before his inauguration in June 2012, called on protesters to practice self-restraint and peaceful protesting.

The statement also denounced the "killing, arrests, chaining of media freedom and the closing of TV channels," describing it as tactic of the "oppressive police state."

On Wednesday night, Egypt's military commander-in-chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi handed over power to the head of High Constitutional Court Adly Mansour, dismissing Mohamed Morsi from presidency, in response to the demands of millions calling for early presidential elections.

The military statement was rejected by Morsi who issued a statement asserting that he remains president of Egypt and the high commander of the armed forces.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed El-Beltagy, currently on travel ban for insulting Egypt's judiciary, stated earlier on Wednesday that the removal of Morsi will push some groups to use violent resistance.

Morsi's dismissal was followed by the Muslim Brotherhood-owned television channel Misr 25 going off the air along with several other Islamist-run channels, including the controversial Hafez and Al-Nas.

The ejected president a long with nine leading Islamist figures will be investigated next week by the Egyptian prosecution for insulting the judiciary.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75718.aspx


Egypt's ex-president Morsi, 9 Brotherhood figures to face investigation

Ahram Online, Thursday 4 Jul 2013

Suspects, including former president Mohamed Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, face charges of 'insulting' judiciary

Investigations will begin next week into deposed president Mohamed Morsi and nine leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ahram Online's Sayed Gamal reported.

The ten face charges of "insulting" the judiciary.

Prosecutor Tharwat Hamad ordered the investigations.

The Brotherhood members who will face investigation include former parliament speaker Saad El-Katatni, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, former supreme guide Mahdi Akef, Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagi and Mohamed El-Omda.

Morsi, along with the other suspects, has also been slapped with a travel ban.

The decision comes after Morsi's removal by the military on Wednesday night amid massive popular demonstrations. Following his removal, Morsi, along with other group members, was detained by security forces.

In his second to last speech before his removal, Morsi questioned judges' integrity, pointing to the recent acquittals of several leading Mubarak-era officials.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75714.aspx


More top Brotherhood members arrested by Egypt prosecutors

Ahram Online , Thursday 4 Jul 2013

Prosecutors crackdown on top Muslim Brotherhood members Mohamed Badie, Khairat El-Shater and others after Mohamed Morsi's ouster

Egyptian prosecutors ordered on Thursday the arrest of a number of senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood hours after the army ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi.

These include the Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat El-Shater.

Security authorities are continuing their efforts to arrest Brotherhood members on charges of inciting violence and disturbing general security and peace, state news agency MENA reported.

Late on Wednesday, Saad El-Katatni, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), along with Rashad Bayoumi, the deputy head of the Islamist movement were detained, security officials said.

They are being held in Tora Prison, located on the outskirts of Cairo, the same prison where ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his sons are detained, MENA reported.

Members of the Brotherhood are accused of murdering protesters outside the group's headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Moqattam on 30 June, when millions of Egyptians flooded the streets to call for Morsi's ouster.

The group allegedly hired and armed some 250 members and snipers at its head office to kill protesters outside, a judicial source said.

At least eight were killed when those inside fired at youth hurling petrol bombs and stones at the building.

Mohamed Morsi, whom the group presented as its second choice candidate in last years' presidential elections, was ousted on Wednesday by the Egyptian army. The head of Egypt's top court was sworn in as the caretaker head of state on Thursday.

The toppled president himself was also being held by the military-led authorities, a Brotherhood spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday night. A security official said he was being held at a military intelligence facility.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75681.aspx


Egypt army vows to protect Islamists

MENA, Thursday 4 Jul 2013

Army will not allow anyone to insult, provoke or abuse those belonging to Islamic current, spokesperson says

The Egyptian armed forces have issued a warning that they will not allow any assaults on Islamists following the fall of former President Mohamed Morsi.

“To Egypt's youth from all religious currents and orientations, no one in Egypt questions your patriotism and sincere dedication to this country,” army spokesperson Ahmed Ali said on Thursday.

The statement went on to stress that no group would be excluded in Egypt.

“The armed forces will not allow anyone to insult, provoke or abuse those belonging to the Islamic current,” he said. “They are like all the sons of Egypt. The armed forces have the same amount of esteem, respect and love for them as the others.”

On Wednesday evening, Egyptian Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced that Morsi had been removed from power and replaced temporarily with the head of the High Constitutional Court until new elections are held.

The announcement came after protests erupted on 30 June calling for Morsi to step down after only one year in power.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75660.aspx


Egypt's Islamist-led Shura Council in disarray following Morsi ouster

Gamal Essam El-Din, Thursday 4 Jul 2013

After removal of president Mohamed Morsi from power, upper house of Egypt's Islamist-led parliament – along with MPs – are in state of confusion

When Egyptian military commander-in-chief and defence minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced Wednesday that Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was no longer in power, that the constitution had been suspended and that High Constitutional Court (HCC) head Adli Mansour would be interim president, all noted that he refrained from mentioning whether the Islamist-led Shura Council (the upper house of Egypt's parliament) would be dissolved.

The 270-member council was elected in February 2012 and included a majority of 115 members loyal tothe Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails. Allies of the Brotherhood garnered an estimated 20 seats in the council. The ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party – not allied with the Brotherhood –occupies 48 seats.

This puts the total number of Islamist MPs in the Shura Council at around 158 MPs or around 75 per cent of the total.

The fate of the Shura Council was further shrouded in mystery when El-Sisi urged it to finish revising a law regulating elections for the House of Representatives (the lower house of Egypt's parliament, formerly known as the People's Assembly) as soon as possible. The law was drafted by the Shura Council last month and referred back to the HCC for revision.

The question now is whether, once the draft law is revised by the HCC, it will be sent back to the Shura Council for ratification, meaning that the council was still endowed with legislative powers.

Before Morsi was removed from office on Wednesday, several members of the Shura Council, estimated at 35 and mostly allied to secular forces, tendered their resignations. Ahmed Fahmi, chairman of the Shura Council and leading official of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), has not come to his office since Monday.

On that day, he held a closed-door meeting with FJP spokesman Essam El-Erian. Fahmi, however, tried to hold another meeting to discuss the flurry of resignations from the council, but failed to do so because his two deputies – one from the Nour Party and one from the liberal Wafd Party – refused to attend.

After Morsi was removed from office on Wednesday, the majority of Shura Council members – particularly those of the Muslim Brotherhood – did not show up. An informed senior security official in charge of guardingShura Council headquarters told Ahram Online that he did not receive any official orders thatShura Council MPs should be barredfrom entering the building.

"But in spite of this," said the security official, "no Muslim Brotherhood deputy has dared to enter the council." He indicated that most Muslim Brotherhood deputies had visited the Shura Council two or three days ago to collect their personal belongings.

The security official's interview with Ahram Online came in response to several online statements issued by Muslim Brotherhood activists announcing that "Shura Council MPs had decided to meet for an urgent session with the aim of dismissing Defence Minister El-Sisi from office and stressing that Morsi's removal amounted to a military coup."

Commenting on this, the security official told Ahram Online that he thought that "if Muslim Brotherhood MPs had decided to remove General El-Sisi from office as minister of defence, they would do this not through the Shura Council but rather through meeting inside one of their FJP offices."

He pointed out that the Brotherhood's FJP had an office near the Shura Council – on the nearby Mansour Street – that they could use for an urgent session. "But this would be very difficult because the office is directly in front of interior ministry headquarters and near Tahrir Square, where anti-Morsi rallies were being held."

Meanwhile, El-Sisi's statement on Wednesday left constitutional experts divided over the fate of the Shura Council. A constitutional law professor with the Shura Council, who asked not to be identified, told Ahram Online that "as there was not clear word about whether or not it would be dissolved, the Shura Council will remain in effect."

He said: "I think the final word on the issue will be settled when the judge presiding over the High Constitutional Court, who is now himself acting as interim president, issues a constitutional declaration determining, among other things, whether the Shura Council should be dissolved or not."

Most constitutional law professors, however, agree that, "as long as the constitution, promulgated last December, was suspended, the Shura Council should automatically be dissolved."

Rafaat Fouda, a Cairo University constitutional law professor, stressed that, "the HCC last month ordered that the Shura Council be dissolved because the laws governing the election of its members violated the constitution." He added: "It's true that the HCC also said that the Shura Council should stay, but only until the election of a new House of Representatives."

Fouda went on: "Now, after the 30 June Revolution, the equation has completely changed. No one in Egypt will allow parliament, heavily dominated by Muslim Brotherhood, will be entrusted with drafting laws until a House of Representatives is elected."

Fouda also argued that "apart from the fact that it was ruled unconstitutional by the HCC last month, the resignation of most secular deputies, along with the arrest of several Muslim Brotherhood deputies, now makes it quite difficult for the Shura Council to convene again."

Joining forces with Fouda, Gaber Nasser, a prominent anti-Brotherhood constitutional law professor recently elected president of Cairo University, stressed that "the suspension of the constitution automatically leads to the dissolution of the Shura Council."

Nassar said that "when General El-Sisi indicated that interim president Adli Mansour would be authorised with issuing constitutional declarations, it meantthat he would also be in charge of issuing legislation until a new parliament was elected rather than entrusting the Shura Council, which is no longer valid for this job."

Nassar argued that "when Egyptians revolted against Islamist president Morsi, they were also in revolt against the Brotherhood-led Shura Council, which they will never allow to chart their cherished course towards liberal democracy."

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75723.aspx

No comments: