Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi clash with opponents to ousted president Morsi (not in picture) in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on July 26, 2013., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Islamist Wasat Party agrees to meet with ElBaradei without conditions
Ahram Online , Wednesday 7 Aug 2013
Morsi allies will meet with vice president ElBaradei for talks on resolving political deadlock as government declares negotiations failed
Leaders of an Islamist party allied with ousted president Mohamed Morsi have agreed to meet with Vice President for International Affairs Mohamed ElBaradei, in an attempt to find a way out of the current political deadlock between supporters of Morsi and the new military-backed government.
Deputy-secretary general of the Wasat Party, Hussein Zayed, told Ahram’s Arabic website on Wednesday that his party will accept a proposal by Egyptian NGO the Egyptian Democratic Agency to meet with ElBaradei.
The party, Zayed said, will enter into negotiations on the condition that the solution to the deadlock be political and peaceful.
The interior ministry has urged Morsi’s supporters, who have been holding sit-ins in Cairo and Giza for several weeks, to disband the protests and go home. Brotherhood leaders have responded with defiance.
Zayed denied claims that his party intends to propose the same initiative that was proposed recently by Islamist figure Selim El-Awa as a base for negotiations, saying that the meeting will be held without any preconditions.
Islamist thinker and former presidential candidate El-Awa, who is known to be close to the Wasat Party, proposed an initiative in late July by which Morsi would delegate his powers to a new interim cabinet which would replace the current interim government. Parliamentary elections would be called within 60 days, according to that effort.
The initiative was adopted by the pro-Morsi National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, of which the Wasat Party is a member.
The Egyptian government, with the help of foreign mediators, has been engaged in reconciliation talks with the Muslim Brotherhood this week, but so far no solution has been reached.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies have insisted on Morsi's reinstatement since he was deposed by the army on 3 July following mass protests against him.
The Wasat Party was established in the late 1990's as a splinter group from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Two of its leading members, Abu Ela Madi and Essam Sultan were jailed by the government in mid July on charges of inciting violence.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/78582.aspx
Wasat Party leader detained for 4 days
Ahram Online, Saturday 3 Aug 2013
Essam Sultan, already serving a 15-day detention for inciting violence, is now given another four days' detention for 'insulting the judiciary'
A senior figure in the Islamist Wasat Party, who is a former close ally of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, has been detained by prosecutors on charges of “insulting the judiciary.”
Judge Tharwat Hammad ordered on Saturday that Essam Sultan by detained pending investigations on the charges.
Hammad has been delegated by the justice minister to investigate reports against Sultan filed by judges and prosecutors which accuse him of “insulting the judiciary” in reference to his comments about the legal system in media interviews.
Tensions between Islamists and the judiciary soared in April after Islamist members of the upper house of parliament, Shura Council – now dissolved – proposed amendments to a law regulating the work of the judiciary. The proposed changes were opposed by a majority of Egyptian judges.
Sultan was detained earlier in July by the general prosecution for 15 days, along with Wasat Party head Aboul-Ela Madi, on charges of inciting violence and murder during clashes at the Republican Guard headquarters on 8 July in Cairo which left at least 50 pro-Morsi demonstrators dead.
Sultan was also given another 15 days’ detention on charges of inciting violence and murder during clashes outside the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters on 1 July.
Many senior Muslim Brotherhood figures were detained after Morsi’s 3 July ouster. Morsi has been in military custody since 3 July; he was formally detained last week on charges of inciting violence.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/78198.aspx
Cabinet to consider ‘next step’ after political impasse: Government source
Dina Ezzat, Wednesday 7 Aug 2013
Government sources fear 'little hope' for way forward as cabinet prepares to convene Wednesday to review outcome of recent mediation efforts
After Egypt's presidency announced the failure of mediation efforts to jump-start reconciliation between the interim government and the Muslim Brotherhood, a government official told Ahram Online that preparations are underway for a cabinet meeting early Wednesday afternoon to consider possible outcomes of the failure.
The failed mediation efforts were aimed at reintegrating the Islamist group within the political process following the popularly-backed army ouster of president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July.
"There seems very little hope left that there could be a way forward. We were hoping to reach an understanding. We worked hard and were very open to all possible mediations, but things did not work out," the government source said. He added that the cabinet meeting will convene to review the outcome of a series of political and diplomatic talks in which the state was involved during the past weeks, especially during the last few days.
The presidency released a statement early Wednesday announcing the failed mediation's outcome. The statement claimed that the government went the extra mile to reassure the Muslim Brotherhood, however the group made impossible demands that disregarded the public will demonstrated on 30 June.
The government source said that the cabinet meeting would issue an appeal – the third in two weeks – for the Muslim Brotherhood to end their sit-ins in Cairo and Giza which "have not met the standards of peaceful marches and sit-ins."
"If the Muslim Brotherhood does not respond positively, then it would be up to law enforcement bodies to decide the next step in collaboration with the rest of the cabinet,” the same source added.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Diyab, a Muslim Brotherhood figure and spokesman for the National Coalition for Legitimacy – which is opposed to Morsi's ouster – told Ahram Online that the sit-ins "would not be ordered to disperse" by the Muslim Brotherhood leadership "because these sit-ins reflect the will to re-establish the legitimacy of the elected president."
Diyab, who said he was speaking from the sit-in of Cairo's Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque, blamed the authorities for the failure to reach a deal "based on the legitimacy of the president and the constitution."
"We were open to a deal that would have recognised legitimacy," Diyab added.
US, EU and Arab mediators tried during the last week to strike a deal that would convince the Muslim Brotherhood leadership to order the sit-ins' dispersal. The deal failed because the Islamist group would not back down on their extensive demands, authorities say.
"Their demands overlooked the new legitimacy that was established by the 30 June demonstrations," said another government source.
Inaugurated on 30 June 2012 as the nation's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, a leading figure of the long outlawed and persecuted Muslim Brotherhood, served only one year in office after facing mass protests against what his opponents called major political and economic failures.
Morsi is under detention pending investigation into charges of jailbreak and espionage. The former president has been held in an undisclosed location since his ouster, however in late July he was visited by international delegations hoping to encourage him to reach a political deal.
The failure of the mediation efforts could effectively mean that security personnel will disperse the sit-ins by force, with casualties expected.
On Thursday, Egyptian Muslims will celebrate the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the start of the feast. It is unlikely, according to identical government and security sources, that the sit-ins would be forced to disperse before the second or third day of the feast.
As joint international-Arab mediation efforts hit an impasse, Egyptian political figures are making a last ditch effort to prevent a political showdown. One such group is urging Muslim Brotherhood leaders to consider a deal with the authorities that would secure the group and its continued political participation in exchange for an end to the sit-ins.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/78541.aspx
Prosecutors drop one charge against Brotherhood's Katatni, keep Shater detained on 'inciting violence'
Ahram Online, Wednesday 7 Aug 2013
The head of the Freedom and Justice Party remains in custody on other charges
The Egyptian prosecution has ordered that charges of incitement of violence facing leader of the Freedom and Justice Party Saad El-Katatni be dropped.
The charges relate to clashes at the presidential palace in December 2012. El-Katatni will not be released from imprisonment as he is facing a number of other charges, including incitement of violence during clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents in front of the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters in June.
The prosecution also ordered the detention of the Brotherhood's second-in-command, Khairat El-Shater, for 15 days pending investigation on charges of inciting violence during the December clashes. El-Shater had already been detained without charge since his arrest on 4 July.
El-Shater will be further investigated on charges of inciting the forced detention and torture of anti-Morsi protesters as well as taking part in acts of “thuggery” and “terrorising citizens" during December's clashes, which took place between supporters and opponents of now-deposed president Mohamed Morsi in front of the presidential palace, leaving ten dead and dozens injured.
El-Katatni and El-Shater, along with a number of other Brotherhood figures, were arrested the day after Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power.
US Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham - who visited Cairo Tuesday to take part in mediation efforts between Egypt's rival political camps - called for the release of Brotherhood figures from prisons.
A group of foreign envoys, including assistant secretary of state William Burns, the assistance to the EU envoyBernadino Leon, and the foreign ministers of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Khalid Al-Attiyah and Abdullah bin Zayed, reportedly visited El-Shater in prison on Sunday.
Egypt has been in a state of heightened tension as the Brotherhood insists on the reinstatement of Morsi while the government - which has renewed its intention to disperse the five week pro-Morsi sit-in - has called on Morsi's supporters to "give up violence" and reintegrate in the political process and the interim roadmap.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/78568.aspx
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