Situation in Egypt

[rmgill]

Drilled down to it.

[lucklucky]

Fear. The writing is on the wall...

 

A senior member of Egypt’s former militant Islamist group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya has warned that liberal politicians and intellectuals who oppose President Mohammed Mursi’s latest constitutional declaration could face a campaign of targeted assassinations starting from December.

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/26/251886.html

[Simon Tan]

Barack sure has that effect every time he picks up the phone.

[Fritz]

Fear. The writing is on the wall...

 

A senior member of Egypt’s former militant Islamist group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya has warned that liberal politicians and intellectuals who oppose President Mohammed Mursi’s latest constitutional declaration could face a campaign of targeted assassinations starting from December.

 

http://english.alara.../26/251886.html

 

 

[BansheeOne]

Deja vu all over again.

 

Deadly Clashes Test Egypt’s Transition to Democracy

 

Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood walked past tanks outside the Egyptian presidential palace in Cairo on Thursday. More Photos »

 

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: December 6, 2012

 

CAIRO — Angry mobs of Islamists battled secular protesters with fists, rocks and firebombs in the streets around the presidential palace for hours overnight in the first major outbreak of violence between political factions here since the revolt against then-President Hosni Mubarak began nearly two years ago.

 

By early Thursday, at least five people had died and more than 450 had been injured, according to the Health Ministry. Each side claimed that one of its own had been killed, spurring the fighting. Television footage showed armored vehicles, including tanks, deployed on a thoroughfare outside the presidential palace.

 

Three senior advisers to Mr. Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, resigned during the clashes, blaming him for the bloodshed, and his prime minister implored both sides to pull back in order to make room for “dialogue.”

 

The scale of the clashes, in an affluent neighborhood just outside Mr. Morsi’s office in the presidential palace, raised the first doubts about Mr. Morsi’s attempt to hold a referendum on Dec. 15 to approve a draft constitution approved by his Islamist allies over the objections of his secular opposition and the Coptic Christian Church.

 

[...]

 

The clashes followed two weeks of sporadic violence around the country since Mr. Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, seized temporary powers beyond the review of any court, removing the last check on his authority until ratification of the new constitution.

 

Mr. Morsi has said he needed the expanded powers to block a conspiracy by corrupt businessmen, Mubarak-appointed judges and opposition leaders to thwart Egypt’s transition to a constitutional democracy. Some opponents, Mr. Morsi’s advisers say, would sacrifice democracy to stop the Islamists from winning elections.

 

Mr. Morsi’s secular critics have accused Mr. Morsi and the Islamists of seeking to establish a new dictatorship, in part by ramming through a rushed constitution that they charge could ultimately give new power over society to Muslim scholars and Islamists groups. And each side’s actions have confirmed the other’s fears.

 

As Wednesday’s clashes began, Vice President Mahmoud Mekke offered a compromise that seemed to go nowhere. Mr. Mekke proposed that both sides agree in advance on a package of amendments to the text of the draft constitution to build more support for it before the Dec. 15 vote.

 

“All the political forces objecting to some articles in the constitution are welcome to provide suggestions or concepts about the articles,” he said, suggesting that through “calm dialogue” both sides could agree on revisions that would be approved by the future Parliament after ratification.

 

The vice president, however, did not suggest any means to overcome the lack of trust in the Islamist leaders among the secular opposition, or how to persuade liberals to back down from their vow not to negotiate until Mr. Morsi relinquishes the temporary expansion of his powers and cancels the referendum.

 

Mohamed ElBaradei, the former United Nations diplomat, was chosen Wednesday as coordinator for the newly unified secular opposition. He urged Mr. Morsi and his allies to “see what is happening in the Egyptian street, the division, the polarization. This is something that leads us to violence and worse.”

 

“The ball is in his court,” Mr. Mr. ElBaradei said at a news conference in which he threatened a general strike or other action to try to stop the referendum. “Bullying will not yield any results for this country.”

 

“The people of Egypt will be gathering everywhere,” he added. “We will not finish this battle for our freedom and dignity until we are victorious.”

 

Mr. Morsi did not respond to the clashes. His party, founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, said it held Mr. ElBaradei and other secular leaders responsible for any violence.

 

[...]

 

http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

[Simon Tan]

Hey, this is Nobel grade peace.

[mnm]

I really am sorry for the poor Jooz. If they happened to simply disappear from the face of the earth the Arabs in their absence would simply carry on, picking on anyone and anything that moved or stayed still. They are just one excuse, among others.Oh the purposelessness...

 

The Promised Land? What a joke. With neighbours like those they have what kind of a promised land can that be?

 

[BansheeOne]

Color me unsurprised about who is making a comeback.

 

8 December 2012 Last updated at 13:11 GMT

 

Egypt: Army warns it will not allow 'dark tunnel'

 

The army in Egypt has called for dialogue to resolve a crisis over President Mohammed Morsi's new powers, warning it will intervene to stop Egypt going into "a dark tunnel".

 

In its first statement since protests erupted, it vowed to protect public institutions and innocent people.

 

It came as protests continued outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

 

The opposition has rejected his call for talks, unless he gives up powers and halts a constitutional referendum.

 

Critics say the draft was rushed through the constituent assembly - a body dominated by Islamists who support Mr Morsi - without proper consultation and does not do enough to protect political and religious freedoms and the rights of women.

 

Vice-President Mahmud Mekki has indicated that Mr Morsi could delay the 15 December plebiscite if the opposition agreed not to challenge the move on those grounds later, AFP news agency reports.

 

Under Egyptian law, referendums must be held two weeks after being formally presented to the president.

 

Sensitive position

 

The army statement was read on Egyptian TV by a spokesman.

 

"The armed forces... realise their responsibility to preserve the higher interests of the country and to secure and protect vital targets, public institutions and the interests of innocent citizens," it said.

 

"The armed forces affirm that dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus," it added.

 

"The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow."

 

The military, which ruled Egypt for more than a year after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 has maintained a low profile in the current stand-off, says the BBC's Shaimaa Khalil in Cairo.

 

But observers say that, with Egypt so polarised, it cannot be seen to be taking sides.

 

Abdel Khaleq al-Sherif, a senior official from the Muslim Brotherhood that backs President Morsi, said the army statement was "balanced".

 

The statement "announces that the army's loyalty is to the people and this is good", he told Reuters news agency.

 

[...]

 

Analysis

 

Jon Leyne

BBC News, Cairo

 

The statement from the Egyptian military immediately raised fears that it might be about to intervene and take power, just as it did after the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year.

 

Both the military and the ruling Muslim Brotherhood have been quick to insist that is not about to happen.

 

However, state media were already reporting that President Morsi was considering giving new powers to the military to help the police maintain order.

 

Some commentators believe military intervention is becoming increasingly likely, as President Morsi has proved such a divisive leader. Yet many Egyptians believe that last year's revolution was not just against Hosni Mubarak, it was against six decades of military rule, which began when the military took power in 1952.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-20651896

[Simon Tan]

Quelle surprise.

[Leo Niehorster]

Indeed, the light at the end of a dark tunnel can also be an oncoming train.

[BansheeOne]

Seems the message was received.

 

8 December 2012 Last updated at 22:54 GMT

 

Egypt crisis: President Morsi 'annuls' powers decree

 

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has annulled a decree he issued last month that hugely expanded his powers and sparked angry protests, officials say.

 

However, a news conference in Cairo was told that a referendum on a draft constitution would still go ahead as planned on 15 December.

 

Mr Morsi's critics have accused him of acting like a dictator, but he says he is safeguarding the revolution.

 

He said the extra powers were needed to force through reforms.

 

Since taking office, Mr Morsi has been at loggerheads with the judiciary.

 

"The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment," said Selim al-Awa, an Islamist politician acting as a spokesman for a meeting Mr Morsi held earlier with political leaders.

 

[...]

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-20655412

[Jeff]

Seems the message was received.

 

8 December 2012 Last updated at 22:54 GMT

 

Egypt crisis: President Morsi 'annuls' powers decree

 

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has annulled a decree he issued last month that hugely expanded his powers and sparked angry protests, officials say.

 

However, a news conference in Cairo was told that a referendum on a draft constitution would still go ahead as planned on 15 December.

 

Mr Morsi's critics have accused him of acting like a dictator, but he says he is safeguarding the revolution.

 

He said the extra powers were needed to force through reforms.

 

Since taking office, Mr Morsi has been at loggerheads with the judiciary.

 

"The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment," said Selim al-Awa, an Islamist politician acting as a spokesman for a meeting Mr Morsi held earlier with political leaders.

 

[...]

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-20655412

 

Until he feels stronger and thinks no one is looking again. Eternal vigilance...

[Simon Tan]

He has shown the hollowness of his office and the Brotherhood. The military remains the arbiter and he will not be able to move against the economic dominance they have. This pretty much means there will be no realignement of the economy to free it up for greater economic development, the only way the Egyptians can meet the aspirations of the young population. The frustration will only grow. The Brotherhood is unable to perceive Egypt beyond the directed state model. It essentially wants to run Egypt the same way the miltary has done, for the benefit of the few.

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

 

Egypt constitutional vote: 'Things are definitely worse than under the old regime'

 

Egyptian artists fear for their future in cultural backlash after Arab spring

[Simon Tan]

Save me Barack, you're my last hope..........

[Jeff]

Save me Barack, you're my last hope..........

 

They should ask the Iranian people how that worked out for them.

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

 

Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam

By Benjamin Weinthal

Published January 16, 2013

FoxNews.com

 

The 15-year prison sentence given to a woman and her seven children by an Egyptian court for converting to Christianity is a sign of things to come, according to alarmed human rights advocates who say the nation's Islamist government is bad news for Christians in the North African country.

 

A criminal court in the central Egyptian city of Beni Suef meted out the shocking sentence last week, according to the Arabic-language Egyptian paper Al-Masry Al-Youm. Nadia Mohamed Ali, who was raised a Christian, converted to Islam when she married Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab Mustafa, a Muslim, 23 years ago. He later died, and his widow planned to convert her family back to Christianity in order to obtain an inheritance from her family. She sought the help of others in the registration office to process new identity cards between 2004 and 2006. When the conversion came to light under the new regime, Nadia, her children and even the clerks who processed the identity cards were all sentenced to prison.

 

Samuel Tadros, a research fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, said conversions like Nadia's have been common in the past, but said Egypt's new Sharia-based constitution "is a real disaster in terms of religion freedom.”

 

"The cases will increase in the future," Tadros said. "It will be much harder for people to return to Christianity."

 

President Mohamed Morsi, who was elected last June and succeeded the secular reign of Hosni Mubarak, who is now in prison, pushed the new constitution through last year.

 

Tadros said the constitution limits the practice of Christianity because “religious freedom has to be understood within the boundaries of Sharia.” He added that the constitution prescribes that the highest Sunni authority should be referred to as an interpreter of the religion clause contained in the constitution.

 

Opponents of the constitution, including Coptic Christians and secular and liberal groups, protested at the time against passage of the document because of the mix of Islamic-based Sharia law and politics. Roughly 10 percent of Egyptians are Coptic Christians.

 

A government spokeswoman told FoxNews.com she would determine “who is responsible for this and covers this issue in Beni Suef,“ a city of 200,000 located about 75 miles south of Cairo. She did not offer further comment.

 

The case is the latest example of the increasingly dire plight of the nation's roughly 7 million Christians, say human rights advocates.

 

"Now that Sharia law has become an integral part of Egypt's new constitution, Christians in that country are at greater risk than ever," said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice. "This is another tragic case that underscores the growing problem of religious intolerance in the Muslim world. To impose a prison sentence for a family because of their Christian faith sadly reveals the true agenda of this new government: Egypt has no respect for international law or religious liberty.”

 

Morsi has been under fire for failing to take action against rising violence inflicted on Egypt’s Christians. In August, the roughly 100-family Christian community in Dahshour was forced to flee after Muslim neighbors launched attacks against the Christians’ homes and property. Morsi said the expulsion and violence was “ blown out of proportion.” Radical Salafi preachers -- who have formed alliances with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood -- called for Muslims to shun Christians during Christmas.

 

Sekulow urged U.S. diplomatic intervention in Egypt to promote religious freedom. Morsi is scheduled to meet with President Obama, possibly in March.

 

”The U.S. State Department must play more of a role in discouraging this kind of persecution," Sekulow said. "The U.S. should not be an idle bystander. The U.S. provides more than $1 billion to Egypt each year. The State Department should speak out forcefully against this kind of religious persecution in Egypt.”

 

http://www.foxnews.c...-converting-to/

[DKTanker]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

 

Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam

By Benjamin Weinthal

Published January 16, 2013

FoxNews.com

Well yeah, what's the big deal, isn't Christian bashing the in vogue thing for this century?

[mnm]

By Benjamin Weinthal

 

So you have Muslims converting to Christianity, reported by likely a Jew. How ecumenical can you get?

[lucklucky]

New video from Morsi the "moderate ® ™ " ,seems to be a really nice guy : http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/164282#.UPhN7ExE7TO

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCopdzv29WY&feature=player_embedded

[bd1]

but his judgement on obama is about the same as the tanknet´s right wing

 

 

a massive rightwing islamist conspiracy?

Edited January 20, 2013 by bd1

[lucklucky]

He might like the same recipe as you, does it makes you an Islamist too ?

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

 

Suspected Islamists deface Egyptian cultural icons

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON

02/24/2013 14:06

 

Vandals place Islamic veil on statue of famous Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, decapitate statue of writer Taha Husayn.

 

Monuments to two of Egypt’s most important cultural icons – singer Umm Kulthum and Taha Husayn, one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th century, have been vandalized, apparently by Islamists.

 

In Mansoura, the Nile Delta hometown of Umm Kulthum, vandals placed an Islamic veil on a statue of her, according to a report in the the current issue of Al-Ahram Weekly, which was released last week.

 

“What did those ignoramuses who attacked the statues do to Islam? They insulted it, and Islam is innocent of their behavior,” the paper quotes an article by Mohamed Salmawy published in the liberal daily Al-Masry Al-Youm as stating.

 

Umm Kulthum, who died in 1975 and was also known as The Star of the East, was perhaps the Arab world’s most popular singer. She grew up in a rural village and moved to Cairo with her family like many others who sought a better life in the city. She sang in various genres, from religious to nationalistic songs, and broadcast legendary concerts monthly from Cairo from the 1930s to the 1970s.

 

The growing strength of conservative Muslims in Egypt since the victory of Islamists in national elections has given them confidence in challenging the parts of the country’s cultural heritage that do not meet their religious standards.

 

In Minya, 245 km. south of Cairo, vandals cut off the head of a 10-year-old marble memorial bust of Taha Husayn in a square named after him, according to the Al-Ahram Weekly. Husayn (1889-1973), known as The Dean of Arabic Literature, wrote novels and political opinion pieces. He went blind at the age of two and in 1902 went to study Islam at Al-Azhar, the most important Sunni center of learning. He clashed with the conservative views there and later moved to study in secular institutions, including the Sorbonne in Paris.

 

He was named the minister of education in 1950 and some of his writings angered religious authorities and Islamists, which helps explain why his monument was targeted.

 

Late last year, reports emerged that Islamists want to destroy the Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx. Sheikh Murgan Salem al-Gohary, who is linked with jihadists, called for the destruction of the landmarks in an Egyptian TV interview at the end of last year and said, “All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,” according to Al-Arabiya.

 

Because these monuments come from the pre- Islamic period (known as Jahiliyya), the “Era of Ignorance” before the revelation of the Koran to Muhammad, these monuments are deemed to be a form of idolatry.

 

http://www.jpost.com...?ID=304321&R=R1

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!

Morsi issues ominous warning to Egypt opposition

By Tom Perry, Reuters

 

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi threatened on Sunday to take unspecified steps to "protect this nation" after violent demonstrations against his Muslim Brotherhood, using vague but severe language that the opposition said heralded a crackdown.

 

In remarks following clashes outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters on Friday, Morsi warned that would be taken against any politicians shown to be involved in what he described as violence and rioting.

 

"If I am forced to do what is required to protect this nation, then I will do it. And I fear that I might be on the verge of doing it," Morsi said in a statement. He did not elaborate.

 

Morsi has faced increasing anger since the Brotherhood propelled him to power in a June election, and several spates of protest have turned into violent riots.

 

The president's opponents accuse him and the Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era and resorting to undemocratic police powers two years after autocrat Mubarak was brought down by popular protests.

 

The brotherhood accuses its secularist opponents of stirring trouble to seize power they could not win at the ballot box, and says the relentless civil unrest is wrecking efforts to salvage an economy driven to its knees by uncertainty.

 

"They are very scary comments," said Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the National Salvation Front (NSF), an alliance of non-Islamist parties formed late last year to oppose Morsi.

 

"I can see language that is heading towards taking some suppressive measures," he added.

 

Dozens of people were hurt on Friday when several thousand supporters and opponents of the Brotherhood fought near the Islamist group's headquarters.

 

RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE

 

Dawoud said the NSF was not behind those protests, but added that some of its members may have decided to take part.

 

Morsi said everyone had the right to peaceful protest, but "what is happening now has nothing to do with the revolution".

 

"I urge all political forces not to provide any political cover for acts of violence and rioting. I will not be happy if investigations prove the guilt of some politicians," he said in the remarks, which were published on his Twitter account.

 

"Some are using the media to incite violence and those whose involvement is proven will not escape punishment," he added. "Anyone who takes part in incitement is a partner in the crime."

 

He also spoke of attempts to portray the state as weak but said these had failed: "The apparatus of the state are recovering and can deter any law breaker," he added.

 

Exactly what new steps Morsi is considering became the subject of speculation.

 

In late January, he declared a state of emergency rule in three cities near the Suez Canal to combat a wave of violence there. A declaration of a state of emergency elsewhere is unlikely, said Yasser El-Shimy, Egypt analyst for the International Crisis Group, adding arrests were more probable.

 

"My impression is that Morsi and the Brotherhood in general have had it with the violence that is taking place and they are running out of patience," he said.

 

"This is definitely the strictest he has spoken regarding the rioting," he added. "Now Morsi feels there is enough public opinion on his side to justify taking stricter measures."

 

One recent source of tension between Morsi and the opposition was his call for parliamentary elections based on a controversial election law. The vote, due to begin in late April, has been postponed by a court ruling and it is now not clear when it will happen.

 

Morsi's political supporters and opponents signed a document agreeing to renounce violence following riots in late January.

 

Morsi's opponents say they are committed to peaceful protest and have also accused the Brotherhood of using violence and inciting tension in the street. The Brotherhood says the opposition has done little to rein in its followers.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/24/17443030-morsi-issues-ominous-warning-to-egypt-opposition?lite