The Unrest in Egypt Thread 2013

Morsi Supporters Call for New Protests

Supporters of Egypt's ousted president called for new protests on Monday, threatening to deepen the country's crisis as the EU foreign policy chief held talks with the government and opposition.

The Anti-Coup Alliance of Islamist groups organising protests against the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi urged demonstrators to march on security buildings on Monday night and called a million-man march for Tuesday.

Their statement came after the National Defence Council warned on Sunday that it would take "decisive and firm action" against demonstrators if they went beyond their right to peaceful protest.

Tensions were running high after the deaths of 72 people at a pro-Morsi rally in Cairo on Saturday.

"We... call for a million person march under the banner of 'Martyrs of the Coup' on Tuesday," the Anti-Coup Alliance said in a statement.

The group urged Egyptians "to go out into the streets and squares, to regain their freedom and dignity -- that are being usurped by the bloody coup -- and for the rights of the martyrs assassinated by its bullets."

It also called for protesters to march on security buildings across Egypt on Monday night "to condemn the criminal acts and the firing of live ammunition by the interior ministry at peaceful demonstrators."

The calls raised the possibility of fresh confrontations after the National Defence Council warned protesters "not to exceed their rights to peaceful, responsible expression of their opinions".

The council, which includes the military-installed interim president and the army chief, said demonstrators would face "decisive and firm decisions and actions in response to any violations."

With tensions rising, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was due to hold discussions with a range of government and opposition figures.

She was expected to meet interim president Adly Mansour and vice president for international affairs Mohamed ElBaradei, as well as members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and the Tamarod group that organised protests calling for his ouster.

In a statement, Ashton said she would be calling for "a fully inclusive transition... including the Muslim Brotherhood".

"I will also repeat my call to end all violence. I deeply deplore the loss of life," she said.

The Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, confirmed it would meet with Ashton on Monday on the basis of "constitutional legitimacy and in pursuit of an end to the military coup."

The group has insisted that it will not accept any solution to the crisis that does not involve Morsi's return to office.

The bloodshed in the Arab world's most populous nation has sparked mounting international concern, with UN leader Ban Ki-moon warning Egypt's interim leadership on Sunday that every death made it harder to end the crisis.

Ban "expressed his profound concern about the direction in which the transition in Egypt is moving" and condemned the heightened violence, UN spokeswoman Morana Song said.

He called on the authorities to protect "all Egyptians, regardless of party affiliation", Song added.

In its first comments on the bloodshed, Egypt's interim presidency said on Sunday that it was "saddened," but dubbed the protest area where the deaths occurred a "terror-originating spot".

"We cannot decouple this (incident) from the context of terrorism," presidential adviser Moustafa Hegazy told reporters.

Morsi's supporters remained defiant, with thousands still camped at the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest site where the violence erupted.

A security source and the Anti-Coup Alliance said two leaders of the moderate Islamist Wasat party -- president Abul Ala Mady and vice president Essam Sultan -- were arrested early on Sunday.

The party is taking part in the protests calling for the reinstatement of Morsi, who has been in custody since just hours after his July 3 ouster.

Last week, he was formally charged with offences related to his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.

In the Sinai Peninsula, where security has deteriorated rapidly since the 2011 uprising, an attack on a military post in Rafah near the border with Gaza killed one Egyptian soldier and wounded eight overnight.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 29 Jul 2013 09:52
 
Egypt Police Arrest Two More Islamist Leaders

Egyptian officials say police have arrested two leaders of a Muslim Brotherhood-allied Islamist party on suspicion of inciting violence.

The officials said Monday that Abul-Ela Madi and Essam Soltan of the Wasat Party have been taken to Tora prison where a number of Brotherhood leaders have been held since the July 3 military coup that deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Officials say the two men, who had warrants out for their arrest, were found late Sunday hiding in a home in a Cairo neighborhood located near the main protest site of Morsi's supporters.

Egypt's interim leadership has cracked down on the Brotherhood and its allies since the coup, detaining several leading Islamist figures. Morsi himself has been held incommunicado by the military since his ouster.


Source : Sapa-AP /pk
Date : 29 Jul 2013 11:07
 
Garyvdh said:
Most likely, they would be absolutely nuts to actually harm him... they would have a civil war on their hands.
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Yip!
From the news reports US and Germany and now UN have asked for his release but the army havent said anything. Has any news reports mentioned anything from Morsi?
 
Garyvdh said:
Most likely, they would be absolutely nuts to actually harm him... they would have a civil war on their hands.
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Egypt is in a civil war gary, they already have a civil war on their hands.

It is looking increasingly like a coup to me, so no more US funding which isn't a major issue. Saving the american government money because there is no way even the americans can make claims that this wasn't a coup while the brotherhood are being rounded up and arrested. I don't know how they can resolve the situation, morsi supporters vs military well the military supporters don't support the military but they don't support morsi so for now they support the military. American money won't be missed, in fact they will now receive 5-6 times more from the saudis

Jailing morsi and hunting the brotherhood down is only inciting more and more violence, as i said some countries can kill protesters by the hundreds and injure thousands, other countries it's genocide and there must be an intervention. I am no supporter of morsi but he should not be in jail.

Haldex morsi is in jail because he was working with hamas according to the egypian/saudi people running the show. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/23464016
 
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Haldex said:
Yip!
From the news reports US and Germany and now UN have asked for his release but the army havent said anything. Has any news reports mentioned anything from Morsi?
Click to expand...

I can't recall seeing any direct quotes from him in the last two weeks or so.
 
Garyvdh said:
I can't recall seeing any direct quotes from him in the last two weeks or so.
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Nope there haven't been. I check like 4 or 5 sites daily for news and aljazeera by far has the best coverage of the situation, Rt should rename themselves to the snowden issue and issue an alert warning viewers that is all they will cover for the next 2 months!!!!!!

Anyways just a rant about my fav channel, anyways moving back on track to my point is the military have him locked up somewhere and have charged him with extremism, links to hamas plus some other rubbish from 2011. Morsi could very well be dead for all we know. The UN or even the americans should be demanding to know where he is, although the americans look silly demanding morsis release. Being held indefinitely without trials and so on make the US look idiotic considering their policies.

The bad thing in my opinion is the US have no control in egypt now. The saudis own egypt and the americans can't really attack or demand too much from egypt due to their own policies and the saudi influence. No idea who can actually get the egypian military to allow someone from the UN to check on him. The UN can try to get someone in but nobody gives a crap about the UN.
 
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15 Cairo Street Vendors killed in Fight: Security

At least 15 people were killed on Monday night in a fight between Cairo street vendors over spaces, including 13 people who burned to death, a security source told AFP.

The source said two people died of gunshot and stab wounds in an initial brawl in central Cairo, and 13 more were killed after the shop they took refuge in was set on fire.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 29 Jul 2013 20:46
 
Trial for Egypt Brotherhood Chief over Deadly Clash: Judiciary

Egypt's prosecution on Wednesday referred the fugitive leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and two of his imprisoned deputies to trial over a deadly clash in Cairo, judicial sources said.

The three are accused of inciting the murder of protesters outside their headquarters on the night of June 30, three days before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 31 Jul 2013 17:56
 
Garyvdh said:
Egypt's prosecution on Wednesday referred the fugitive leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and two of his imprisoned deputies to trial over a deadly clash in Cairo, judicial sources said.

The three are accused of inciting the murder of protesters outside their headquarters on the night of June 30, three days before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 31 Jul 2013 17:56
Click to expand...

Amazing the army is killing pro morsi people and allowing the two sides to clash but arresting brotherhood folk, the military said come out and support us, the morsi guys said come out and show support for us but they are being arrested?

Unbelievable how many people have been removed for the exact same thing that is happening in egypt, not a single uprising has helped any of the countries, the beginning was tunisia and go read the latest on that country. Biggest mistake the Egyptians made was removing muburak. So basically democracy does not work and as now egypt have shown that you can remove a president who has been democratically elected. So now you can rise up against democracy as well.

Who here thinks the US is pro or anti this coup? I think they against it but can't do anything due to
the saudis.
 
Cabinet orders police to end pro-Morsi sit-in

Egypt's cabinet Wednesday ordered a police crackdown on protests by ousted president Mohamed Morsi's loyalists, as European envoys headed for Cairo to try to ease tensions between the army-installed government and Islamists.

The order to the interior minister raised the prospect of a dangerous showdown just days after 82 people were killed at a pro-Morsi protest in Cairo.

It came as diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful way out of Egypt's crisis gathered pace, with the EU and Germany sending envoys to urge a peaceful resolution to the standoff.

Adding to the tensions, judicial sources said prosecutors had referred to trial the Muslim Brotherhood's fugitive supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, for allegedly inciting the killing of protesters.

The cabinet's announcement came in a statement that said pro-Morsi protest camps at two Cairo squares posed a "threat to national security".

It added: "The continuation of the dangerous situation in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, and consequent terrorism and road blockages, are no longer acceptable given the threat to national security."

The Islamists, camped out for weeks calling for the reinstatement of Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, reacted defiantly.

The coalition of Islamists behind the protests called for a mass rally on Friday.

"Nothing will change," Gehad El-Haddad, a Brotherhood spokesman for the coalition, told AFP, dismissing the cabinet order as an "attempt to terrorise Egyptians".

Washington also expressed concern, urging Egypt to "respect the right of peaceful assemblies."

"That obviously includes sit-ins," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for "an urgent end to the current bloodshed" and the release of Morsi, in a phone call to Egypt's interim vice president Mohamed ElBaradei, Britain's Foreign Office said.

Amnesty International denounced the cabinet order as a "recipe for further bloodshed".

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for Amnesty's Middle East section, said: "Given the Egyptian security forces' record of policing demonstrations with the routine use of excessive and unwarranted lethal force, this latest announcement gives a seal of approval to further abuse."

In Rabaa al-Adawiya, the mood was calm after the announcement. Thousands of people have been camped out in a protest tent city at the square.

The interior ministry had already warned that the demonstrations would be dispersed "soon," but without saying when or how.

Foreign trade minister Munir Fakhry Abdel Nur said Wednesday's statement did not "give room for interpretation".

Accusing the Morsi supporters of bearing arms, he told AFP: "It is clear the interior ministry has been given the green light to take the necessary measures within legal grounds."

Confrontations between Morsi loyalists and security forces have turned increasingly deadly, with 82 people killed in clashes with police on Saturday morning.

And at least 51 people were killed in earlier violence between demonstrators and soldiers outside Cairo's Republican Guard headquarters.

Brotherhood leaders, including supreme guide Badie, who is in hiding, are facing charges related to violence that preceded Morsi's ouster.

On Wednesday, judicial sources said Badie and jailed deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi had been referred to trial for inciting the killing of demonstrators, further weakening the already dim prospects for talks between the two sides.

The allegations relate to the deaths of protesters outside Brotherhood headquarters on the night of June 30.

Morsi himself has been detained on suspicion of involvement in prison breaks and the killing of policemen during the 2011 revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The international community is stepping up efforts for a peaceful resolution to Egypt's stand-off.

An EU spokesman said Wednesday the bloc's Middle East envoy, Bernardino Leon, would be in Cairo later to continue mediation efforts. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrived in Cairo on Wednesday evening.

In Washington, Senator Lindsey Graham said he and fellow Republican John McCain would head to Cairo next week at the White House's request.

President Barack Obama's administration has refrained from calling Morsi's overthrow a coup, a designation that would require the United States to halt its $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt.

On Wednesday, the Senate easily rejected a bid to end assistance by 86 votes to 14.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton left Cairo on Tuesday after her own mediation bid, but there was no indication her meetings had brought compromise any closer.

She met with several officials from the military-installed interim government and the opposition, as well as Morsi.

Her meeting with him at a secret location was the ousted leader's first announced visit, though the presidency said on Wednesday that an African Union delegation had also met Morsi.

"Morsi is well," she told reporters after the two-hour meeting with Morsi.

"He has access to information in terms of TV, newspapers, so we were able to talk about the situation and we were able to talk about the need to move forward."


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 01 Aug 2013 04:24
 
Military keeps Morsi's whereabouts a secret

Egypt is taking extreme measures to keep Mohammed Morsi hidden. It says dignitaries are helicoptered to the deposed president's place of detention after nightfall, flying in patterns aimed at confusing the visitors. The military also has reportedly moved Morsi at least three times.

"Maneuvers have been undertaken during the nighttime helicopter flight so as to disorient (the visitors) in regard to where the location is," Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, the military spokesman, told The Associated Press Wednesday, following a visit to Morsi Tuesday night by an African Union delegation.

The Egyptian army has kept Morsi in hiding since ousting him in a July 3 coup. But the military-backed interim leadership is under international criticism about Morsi's continued detention, and by allowing two high-level visits in quick succession it apparently hoped to ease the pressure.

"There are lies going around that he is badly treated, that he is under pressure, or that he is not taking his medication, and these were conveyed to the West," Ali said. "This step was part of a transparency policy and to refute such allegations. We have nothing to hide."

He said Morsi's whereabouts were being kept secret for his own safety because "there are millions of people against him, and moving him is not considered appropriate at the moment."

It's also possible, however, that if his place of detention were revealed, it would also attract throngs of Morsi supporters.

He has already been moved at least three times between Defense Ministry facilities in armored vehicles under heavy guard, security officials told the AP, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the details of Morsi's case with the media. They said he is currently in a facility outside Cairo, but would not elaborate.

The African Union delegation head, former Mali President Alpha Oumar Konare, offered no clues to Morsi's location. He told reporters he had a "very frank meeting" with him but gave no details. Egypt's state news agency said it lasted an hour.

"We had a very good meeting with President Morsi," Konare said. "Permit me not to talk about it for the time being because probably there will be other meetings."

The African Union has suspended Egypt's membership because of the coup.

On Monday Morsi had a two-hour visit from Catherine Ashton, the European Union's top diplomat. She said the 61-year-old was well and keeping up with developments through TV and newspapers, but gave no other details. She said she saw the facility holding him, but didn't know where it was.

The military originally said it was holding Morsi for his own safety. But last week authorities announced he was being detained pending an investigation into allegations that he conspired with the militant Palestinian Hamas group to escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi's supporters have called his detention illegal.

"A second visit after Baroness Ashton to President Morsi from the African Union. When will his family, which is more deserving, visit him?" tweeted Essam el-Erian, a leading member of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi is married with five children.

Ali, the military spokesman, said there are unlikely to be more visits by foreign dignitaries, now that two delegations have found him to be in good health.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle arrived Wednesday, and his request for a meeting was refused. A delegation of U.S. senators arriving shortly has not asked for one. A two-member delegation from Egyptian human rights groups visited Morsi this weekend, but he refused to meet them, according to local media.

Despite the visits, Egypt's politics remain deadlocked.

Morsi's supporters say they will continue their street rallies until Egypt's first freely elected president is reinstated, while the interim government took a defiant stance Wednesday, declaring a monthlong sit-in by thousands of Morsi supporters is a national security threat, terrorizing residents and threatening state institutions. The government said the sit-ins will be broken up by legal means.

Shortly after the coup, thousands of Morsi supporters converged on a Republican Guard club in Cairo where they believed he was being held. Days later security forces killed more than 50 Morsi supporters near the facility, saying some were armed and tried to break into the building. The Morsi supporters denied it.

One intriguing detail that emerged from the meeting with Ashton was disclosed to the AP by a government official familiar with the talks between Ashton and Morsi. He said Morsi expressed the wish to consult the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme leader, Mohammed Badie.

That could mean that Morsi, isolated for a month, needs to hear the Brotherhood's view on whether he should stand his ground, compromise or relinquish the presidency. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to speak to the media.


Source : Sapa-AP /mm
Date : 01 Aug 2013 00:03 OrigID : LC339722
 
Morsi Backers plan fresh rallies, defy police

Supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi urged fresh rallies on Friday, raising fears of renewed violence as police prepared to disperse their Cairo sit-ins amid international appeals for restraint.

The call came as US Secretary of State John Kerry said the military's removal of the Islamist Morsi -- Egypt's first democratically elected president -- had been requested by millions.

Kerry's comments are the closest Washington has come to publicly embracing the July 3 coup that toppled Morsi, as European diplomats held talks in Cairo with the interim government and Morsi's backers seeking a way out of the impasse.

Kerry told Pakistan's Geo television: "The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence."

"And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgement -- so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy," he added.

Allaa Mostafa, a spokeswoman for the pro-Morsi Anti Coup Alliance, told AFP that demonstrators would "continue our sit-ins and our peaceful protests" against what she termed a "coup d'etat".

Morsi backers rejected an earlier interior ministry offer of a "safe exit" if they quickly left their Cairo protest camps, as police discussed how to implement orders from the military-installed interim government to end the protests.

In a statement, the ministry called on those in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares "to let reason and the national interest prevail, and to quickly leave".

The ministry pledged "a safe exit and full protection to whomever responds to this appeal".

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, quoting police sources, reported Friday that police have prepared a plan to end the sit-ins, but had not decided when, as the cabinet was still hoping for a peaceful resolution.

The stand-off raised fears of new violence less than a week after 82 people were killed in clashes at a pro-Morsi rally in the capital.

More than 250 people have been killed since the president's ouster following nationwide protests against his single year in power.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to avoid further bloodshed gathered pace, with the European Union's Middle East envoy Bernardino Leon and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle both in Cairo to urge the rival camps to find common ground.

A senior member of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, said the European envoys asked them to end their sit-ins.

"All the European delegates have the same message; they are pressuring the anti-coup protesters to disperse the sit-ins," said the official.

After meeting Muslim Brotherhood representatives, Westerwelle warned that the situation was "very explosive".

"We have seriously and adamantly pressured for a peaceful solution. I hope that those concerned have gotten the message," he said in a statement.

"The international community has to keep up its diplomatic efforts, even though we don't know today whether these will prove successful."

Kerry also warned against further violence, saying the US was "very, very concerned" about the killing of dozens of pro-Morsi protesters in clashes with security forces and warning such loss of life was "absolutely unacceptable".

Amnesty International condemned the cabinet order as a "recipe for further bloodshed" but Egypt's foreign trade minister Munir Fakhry Abdel Nur said a government order to disperse protesters did not "give room for interpretation".

Accusing Morsi supporters of being armed, he told AFP: "It is clear the interior ministry has been given the green light to take the necessary measures within legal bounds."

Egypt's interim government also faces an increase in militant attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula, where gunmen on Thursday shot dead a policeman in the northern town of El-Arish.

Further raising tensions, three top Brotherhood leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, are to be referred to trial for incitement to murder.

Morsi himself has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences when he broke out of prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

He was detained hours after the coup and is being held at an undisclosed location, where EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met him on Tuesday, later telling reporters he was "well".


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 02 Aug 2013 09:42
 
Egypt says clock ticking in sit-in stand-off

Egypt's highest security body warned Sunday that the clock is ticking for a peaceful end to the standoff over sit-ins by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, suggesting that authorities will break up the protests unless mediation efforts produce results soon.

More than a month after the military overthrew Morsi, thousands of the Islamist leader's supporters remain camped out in two main crossroads in Cairo demanding his reinstatement. Egypt's military-backed interim leadership has issued a string of warnings for them to disperse or security forces will move in, setting the stage for a potential showdown.

Also Sunday, authorities announced that a court case accusing the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and his powerful deputy of inciting violence will start Aug. 25. Morsi hails from the Brotherhood.

A top U.S. official visiting Cairo over the weekend urged all sides to find a peaceful resolution to the standoff to avoid a repeat of violence that has killed more than 250 people - at least 130 of whom pro-Morsi protesters shot dead by security forces - since the July 3 military coup.

While diplomats raced to find a compromise, the Egyptian interim government signaled that its patience with the pro-Morsi sit-ins was running out.

The National Defense Council, which is led by the interim president and includes top Cabinet ministers, said the timeframe for any negotiated resolution should be "defined and limited." The council also said any negotiated resolution would not shield from legal proceedings what it called "law-breakers" and others who incite against the state.

The group called on the protesters to abandon the sit-ins and join the political road map announced the day of Morsi's ouster.

With the Islamist-backed constitution adopted last year suspended and the legislature dominated by Morsi's supporters dissolved, the road map provides for a new or an amended constitution to be put to a national referendum later this year and presidential and parliamentary elections early in 2014.

In a move that underlined the government's resolve in dealing with the protests - now in their second month - Egyptian authorities denied Yemen's Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman entry into Egypt after she landed at Cairo airport on Sunday.

Karman, the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace prize, has stated her opposition to Egypt's military coup and said she had intended to join the pro-Morsi sit-in protests. She won the prize for her role in protests in Yemen in 2011 that forced longtime dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh from office.

Airport officials did not say why she was denied entry, only that her name had been placed by various security agencies on an airport stop list. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The decision to bar Karman suggests authorities wanted to deny the pro-Morsi camp the publicity she would have generated. Morsi supporters strongly condemned Karman's barring, claiming it was evidence of the "resurrection" of the police state under autocrat Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a 2011 popular uprising.

Meanwhile, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns extended his visit to Cairo by one day so he could have further talks with Egyptian leaders. He met Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, who led the coup, and the country's prime minister on Sunday.

The State Department said Burns discussed the importance of avoiding violence and fostering an inclusive process "that helps Egypt's ongoing transition succeed" - another clear sign Washington has moved on from Morsi's presidency.

Burns also met for a second time this weekend with an anti-coup delegation that included two Muslim Brotherhood figures. He requested the meetings and urged them to avoid violence, said Nevine Malak, who attended both meetings with Burns as part of the anti-coup delegation.

Malak described Burns' position in the meetings as "neutral" and said delegates told him that the government needs to foster trust for national unity talks to take place. She said this includes reigning in the use of force against pro-Morsi protesters, improving prison conditions for top Islamist political figures detained and ceasing arrests of Islamists, she said.

"The current climate does not build confidence nor lay the groundwork for talks or real reconciliation," Malak told The Associated Press. The delegation insisted that any solutions must be based on the Islamist-drafted constitution, she said.

Other top diplomats in Cairo are the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, which had been at odds with Morsi's government, and Qatar, which maintains close ties to the Brotherhood. European Union special envoy Bernardino Leon was also in Cairo. The UAE's diplomat met with Egypt's president and vice president, but Qatar's foreign minister had not held any meetings by late Sunday, presidency officials said.

At the core of discussions is the political future of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies.

Morsi has been held at undisclosed locations since July 3. He faces accusations of comprising with the militant Palestinian Hamas group to escape prison in 2011.

Egypt's state news agency said on Sunday that Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater are to stand trial Aug. 25 for complicity and incitement in the killing of eight demonstrators outside the group's Cairo headquarters.

Badie is at still large, while el-Shater is in custody.

The killings took place during the first day of the mass street protests calling for Morsi's ouster. The agency also said that senior Brotherhood figure Rashad Bayoumi will face trial on the same charges. Three others face murder charges in the same case.

Morsi's palace aides Rifaah el-Tahtawi and Asaad el-Sheikha meanwhile faced questions over allegations they illegally held and tortured anti-Morsi protesters last Dec. 5 after supporters of the ousted leader descended upon a group of unarmed demonstrators camped outside the presidential palace. Clashes lasting all day left at least 10 dead and hundreds injured.

Both el-Tahtawi and el-Sheikha are in detention.

---

Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Cairo and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /mjs
Date : 04 Aug 2013 22:27
 
Trial date set for Egypt Brotherhood leaders

An Egyptian court on Sunday set a trial date for Muslim Brotherhood leaders in a move likely to enrage supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

It came as US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met the army chief amid intense efforts to try to resolve the political crisis since the army ousted Morsi in a July 3 coup.

The Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohammed Badie, who is currently in hiding, and his two deputies -- Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi --who are being held in Cairo's Tora prison, are accused of inciting violence against protesters outside the Islamist group's headquarters on June 30.

They will face trial on August 25 together with three Brotherhood members who are accused of killing protesters.

Morsi himself has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences committed when he escaped from prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

Sunday's announcement comes after army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Burns, a military source said, stressing the need for national reconciliation based on an army-drafted roadmap providing for elections in 2014.

Sisi earlier met Islamist leaders to try to mediate a solution with Morsi supporters who have staged two major sit-ins for more than a month demanding his reinstatement.

He met "several representatives of the Islamist movements... and stressed that there are opportunities for a peaceful solution to the crisis provided all sides reject violence," army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement.

Among those attending the talks were influential Salafist clerics Sheikh Mohammed Hassan and Mohammed Abdel Salam, who just days ago addressed pro-Morsi supporters at one sit-in.

"The Islamists who met Sisi, while not members of the Muslim Brotherhood, have been supporting them at the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in. Hopefully, the Brotherhood will listen to what they have to say to find a way out of the crisis," a source close to the talks said.

But Yasser Ali, a spokesman for the pro-Morsi demonstrators, said the clerics had met Sisi "without having been mandated".

Days of heated diplomatic activity in Cairo have seen visits by Burns, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and an African Union delegation.

Supporters of Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected president-- see his ouster by the military as a violation of democracy and insist on nothing short of reinstatement.

They called more protests on Sunday night.

"The police? I'm not frightened," said Nadia, a young woman at the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in, where the mood was festive ahead of this week's Eid feast marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Authorities have repeatedly urged protesters to go home, promising them that a safe exit would allow the Muslim Brotherhood to return to political life.

After meeting Burns, the Brotherhood's political arm stressed its continued commitment to "legitimacy, which stipulates the return of the president, the constitution and the Shura Council," or upper house of parliament.

The Islamists' latest declaration suggested Burns had failed to shift their position.

"We affirm our welcome of any political solutions proposed on the basis of constitutional legitimacy and rejection of the coup," said the Freedom and Justice Party statement.

-- 'Inclusive political process' urged --

---------------------------------------------

Burns also met foreign minister Nabil Fahmy in a bid to broker a compromise as Washington kept up the pressure from afar, with Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel urging Sisi to support an "inclusive political process", the Pentagon said.

The diplomatic push came as the Washington Post published an interview with Sisi in which he urged Washington to pressure Morsi supporters to end their rallies.

"The US administration has a lot (of) leverage and influence with the Muslim Brotherhood and I'd really like the US administration to use this leverage with them to resolve the conflict," he said.

Sisi said that police, not the military, would be charged with dispersing the protests, and insisted that millions of Egyptians "are waiting for me to do something".

But Fahmy insisted authorities have "no desire to use force if there is any other avenue that has not been exhausted".

"There is an open invitation for all political forces to participate. The door is open for everybody, including the Brotherhood, to participate in the process," he told reporters.

The interior ministry has warned that protesters not quitting the sit-ins would be exposed "to legal action over the involvement in several criminal acts by some in the gatherings, including killing, torture, kidnap, carrying weapons... and incitement to violence".


Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 04 Aug 2013 21:24
 
Tourists desert Egypt as protests rage

By Giza's Great Pyramids, souvenir vendors wait restlessly in the shade, watching for the handful of tourists who still make their way down the empty street to the once-bustling landmark.

The 2011 revolution that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak dealt a severe blow to the country's tourist industry, once a mainstay of Egypt's economy.

And things have gone from bad to worse since June, when violent protests broke out against president Mohamed Morsi. On July 3, the army ousted the Islamist leader, leading to further deadly violence and an ongoing standoff between the two sides.

The tour buses that lined the streets around the pyramids have disappeared.

"We hope to the Lord that he will bring back those busy days, because all of us rely on tourism alone," said Gameel Hassan, who has run a shop near the pyramids selling papyrus prints for nearly 20 years.

Now, his shop is empty. Only a few tourists come each day to browse the hundreds of pictures of Egyptian gods and pharoahs that cover the walls.

"To bring tourism back, we need stability and security," he said. "The parties must calm down and leave the president to rule the country in the way he sees fit," he said, referring to the country's new interim authorities.

Out in the street, Mahmoud Attiyah, who offers horseback tours of the pyramids, is glum about business.

"There have been no tourists coming from outside. From June 30 until now, there have been none," he complained.

But Morsi's removal cheered Attiyah. Like many of the vendors, he thought the Morsi government was harming Egypt's tourist industry, which once accounted for some 10 percent of GDP.

Yet not everyone has been put off.

Two travellers, laden by backpacks, made their was past the gate to the pyramids. They were followed by a crowd of jostling vendors offering souvenirs and horse rides.

Ryan Gary and Ashley Westcott, from the US state of Colorado, were unfazed by the State Department's travel warnings about the country and alarming stories on the news.

"As long as you travel safe and are smart about the kind of decisions that you are making, a lot of times the people are a lot nicer than the media makes them out to be," one said, beaming.

But tourists like Westcott and Gary are increasingly rare.

They have disappeared from the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in Cairo. This warren of narrow streets used to see coachloads of people coming to haggle over souvenirs, soak up the atmosphere and relax in cafes over a mint tea and a sheesha (water pipe).

After dark, the area is crowded with Egyptians talking a stroll after the iftar meal to break the Ramadan fast, but the foreigners are nowhere to be seen.

Hussam Manaf, 41, is a university professor in the mornings but, in the evenings, he runs the small Khan el-Khalili souvenir shop his father founded.

Surrounded by hundreds of alabaster pyramids, glass ornaments and papyrus scrolls, Manaf said only one or two tourists had visited his shop each day since June 30

He was adamant that the tourism ministry needed to do more to promote Egypt abroad.

"Where are the films showing Egypt outside of Egypt," he asked, pointing out that other countries had done a far better job of promoting themselves.

"When you look around you see that, when they do film adverts, they show important places," he said, amazed that the ministry was happy to stick to old cliches about the country.

"Tourism in Egypt is not only the pyramids," he said, exasperated.

Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou acknowledge to AFP that the sector is suffering even more, as the current unrest is hitting the peak season.

"In the first 15 days of July 2013, Egypt welcomed 387,000 tourists compared with 515,000 tourists in the same period last year," Zaazou said.

In 2010, the year before the revolution, Egypt attracted 14.7 million visitors, a record high. That plunged by nearly a third to around 10 million in 2011, then rose to 11.5 million in 2012.

Zaazou said he had plans for a fresh PR offensive abroad, but added that getting countries to lift advisories against travelling to Egypt is his main aim.

"At this stage of the development of tourism in the world, a tourist won't go abroad without travel insurance," he said. Warnings issued by embassies and foreign ministries make it harder for them to get the insurance they need to travel to Egypt.

Zaazou said he was already talking to European ambassadors to lift the travel warnings in certain areas, such as Egypt's pristine Red Sea resorts.

"There are other destinations different than Cairo and Alexandria that are safe away from the hot events," he says.

But Zaazou said he is bullish about the future, and aims to bring 13 million tourists to Egypt this year.

"I think that in the medium and long term, tourism will see a strong comeback," he predicted.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 07 Aug 2013 07:10
 
Foreign Mediation has failed: Egypt Presidency

Efforts by Western and Arab diplomats to mediate an end to Egypt's political deadlock between the interim government and Islamists have failed, the presidency said on Wednesday.

The statement suggested the government may now move against sit-ins by the Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, which the international community fears could lead to further bloodshed.

"The phase of diplomatic efforts has ended today," the presidency said, referring to mediation by US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and EU envoy Bernardino Leon, among other diplomats who travelled to Cairo.

"These efforts have not achieved the hoped for results," the statement added.

The presidency "holds the Muslim Brotherhood completely responsible for the failure of these efforts, and for consequent events and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering public safety."


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 07 Aug 2013 12:18
 
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