Tag: Mohamed Morsi

Hundreds in Cape Town march against coup in Egypt

egyptmorsisitHundreds of people, who have marched on Parliament in Cape Town to protest against the ousting of Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi, have dispersed after handing over a memorandum to a member of the Committee for International Relations.

The protesters marched to parliament in Cape Town today condemning what they called “illegitimate military rulers who are trying to silence the voices of peaceful protesters in Egypt”.

Some Capetonians who were present at a demonstration organised by the Muslim Judicial Council support the council’s view that Morsi’s ousting undermines democracy.

Secretary General of the MJC, Abdul-Khaliq Ebrahim Allie has described the events taking place in Egypt as “unacceptable.”

“We are speaking as fellow South Africans who have enjoyed democracy, South Africans that have seen apartheid. What we see and witness in Egypt today is unacceptable. And as fellow South Africans, we are saying to the Egyptians that we stand with the masses who have elected the first democratically elected government. This we regard as a military coup.”

Some said the MJC did not speak on behalf of Egyptians.

“I’m an Egyptian citizen living in South Africa. I really love and appreciate the freedom in this country. They have changed the Constitution in Egypt. They want us to go backwards again. They don’t want us to be a prosperous country. Besides the fact that I’m an Egyptian, this violates everything to do with Human Rights, and we are here to show our support for the Muslim brothers and sisters who are being killed in Egypt for the mere fact that they stood up against oppression and injustice.”

Meanwhile, an Egyptian court has ordered the release of former President Hosni Mubarak. Security sources say he will leave prison later in the day as there are no longer any legal grounds for his detention.

85-year old Mubarak was being retried on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his downfall. Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators.

Army determined to crush Egypt’s Brotherhood

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

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

The bloodshed came after Egypt’s military chief vowed a “forceful” response to violence roiling the Arab world’s most populous nation.

Judicial sources said new accusations of inciting the deaths of protesters had been levelled against Morsi, who has been held in a secret location since the military deposed him on July 3.

Meanwhile, Former president Hosni Mubarak won conditional release  in the third of four cases against him, but remained in detention on the fourth, judicial sources added.

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

Egypt is struggling to put a lid on a deep political crisis and violence that has killed almost 900 people in days of clashes between Islamist protesters and security forces across the country.

Western states have condemned the violence and are threatening to cut off billions of dollars in aid, though Saudi Arabia said Monday that Arab nations would step in to fill any gap.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Authorities said 37 Islamist detainees died after police fired tear gas in a bid to free an officer taken hostage by prisoners, as the inmates were being transferred to a north Cairo jail.

However, the Brotherhood, the once-banned movement from which Morsi hailed, held the police accountable, accusing them of “murder”. They said the incident affirmed “the intentional violence aimed at opponents of the coup, and the cold-blooded killing of which they are targets”. – Sapa