Morsi – praag.org

Egypt’s Mubarak leaves jail for house arrest

Egypt’s toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak was transferred from prison to house arrest at a military hospital on Thursday, in a move overshadowed by a blistering crackdown against his Islamist successors.

The former strongman, forced to quit in early 2011, was flown by medical helicopter to a military hospital, where he will remain under house arrest as he stands trial on corruption and murder charges.

His ouster in 2011 was a pivotal moment in regional democratic upheavals that in Egypt led to an Islamist government, which lasted a year before a popularly backed military coup last month.

In other circumstances, the 85-year-old’s removal from prison might have caused shockwaves.

But with Egypt mired in a deadly conflict between the military-installed government and Islamists, Mubarak’s transfer took place amid little fanfare or protest.

He was ordered released after his lawyer argued Mubarak’s stay in prison had exceeded the maximum pre-verdict detention, and Mubarak made financial amends for one of his charges.

He still faces trial for corruption and his role in the deaths of protesters during the uprising that toppled him, with his next hearing on Sunday.

Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi, empowered with the authority to order arrests under the current state of emergency, ordered Mubarak to be placed under house arrest after release from jail.

Mubarak chose to be held at the military hospital, the official MENA news agency reported.

The decision to grant Mubarak pre-trial release added a volatile new element to the political turmoil that has gripped Egypt since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on July 3 following massive protests against him.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the past week in violence following the forcible break-up of two pro-Morsi camps in the capital.

Authorities have arrested dozens of members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, including its supreme guide Mohamed Badie — the first time the group’s chief has been arrested since 1981.

Morsi himself is being held at a secret location and faces charges related to his 2011 escape from prison and inciting the death and torture of protesters.

The juxtaposition between the fates of the two ousted presidents, Mubarak and Morsi, is notable, analyst Hisham Kassem said.

Mubarak “committed numerous crimes… against the country, but managed to hide the evidence, particularly as all the state’s institutions were working for him at the time he was overthrown”.

“The opposite is true for Morsi, who was thrown in prison while all the state’s apparatus were against him.”

Arrests of Brotherhood leaders continued, with authorities detaining Ahmed Aref, a spokesman for the group, in Cairo.

Despite the pressure, a Brotherhood-led coalition has defiantly called for mass rallies on Friday, in a test of its support following the crackdown.

Egypt has experienced unprecedented political bloodletting since August 14, when security forces stormed two pro-Morsi protest camps in the capital.

The crackdown and resulting violence across the country killed nearly 600 people in a single day, the bloodiest in Egypt’s recent history.

Islamists have been accused of torching and attacking dozens of Christian churches, schools, businesses and homes — mostly in the rural south –accusing Egypt’s sizable Coptic minority of backing Morsi’s ouster.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch condemned the government for failing to protect churches, but also the Brotherhood for failing to halt incitement against Christians.

Violence has also targeted police and soldiers, including two who were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Suez Canal town of Ismailia on Thursday.

The unrest has prompted international criticism, and EU foreign ministers agreed at an emergency meeting Wednesday to suspend the sale of arms and security equipment to Cairo in response to the mounting violence.

They issued a statement calling recent security operations “disproportionate”, while also condemning “acts of terrorism” in the Sinai and the church attacks.

But they expressed concern over the economic situation and said “assistance in the socio-economic sector and to civil society will continue”.

The United States has also criticised the violence, as well as Badie’s arrest, and announced the cancellation of joint military exercises.

But it has stopped short of halting its $1.3 billion annual defence aid package to Egypt, and denied reports it was withholding aid.

Washington on Thursday also sidestepped questions about Mubarak’s release, saying it was a matter for Cairo to decide, but called for Morsi to be freed.

“With respect to the Mubarak trial and decisions made, this is an internal Egyptian legal matter,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

“Our position on Mr. Morsi remains the same. We believe there should be a process for his release,” Psaki said.

Reporters had for days asked the State Department to comment on the seemingly paradoxical situation of the two leaders.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which backs the army-installed interim government, has said it would step in with other Arab nations to fill any funding gap if Washington halts aid.

Meanwhile, a Hamas official said Egypt was set to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip daily from Saturday after closing it in the wake of last week’s bloodshed. – AFP

Saudi will bankroll Egypt after crackdown sees Western aid withdrawn

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Monday pledged to fill any financial gaps left by Western countries withdrawing aid from Egypt over its crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters that has left hundreds dead since last week.

“To those who had declared they are stopping aid to Egypt or are waving such a threat, the Arab and Muslim nations are wealthy with their people and resources and will not shy away from offering a helping hand to Egypt,” he told state news agency SPA.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered on Monday the detention of deposed President Mohamed Morsi for 15 days pending an investigation into allegations he participated in “violent acts”, state news agency MENA said.

On Thursday, Egyptian judicial authorities extended Mursi’s detention period for 30 days in a separate case.

Morsi, who was overthrown by the army on July 3, is being held at an undisclosed location on allegations of murder and spying. The new case centres on protests that took place in front of the presidential palace last December, MENA said. – Reuters

Egypt’s Christians terrified after church attacks

Egypt’s Christians are living in fear after a string of attacks against churches, businesses and homes they say were carried out by angry supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

As police dispersed Morsi supporters from two Cairo squares on Wednesday, attackers torched churches across the country in an apparent response.

“People are terrified; no one dares leave home,” Marco, a 27-year-old engineer, told AFP by phone from the central city of Sohag.

The city has become a ghost town, he said, describing an atmosphere of terror where attackers “know where the Copts live” and torched several churches before turning to homes.

The Maspero Youth Union, a Coptic Christian youth movement, denounced what it called a “retaliation war” against the religious minority, which makes up around 10 percent of Egypt’s population.

The group accused Morsi supporters of targeting them in response to Coptic Pope Tawadros II’s support for the July 3 coup that ousted the Islamist leader.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a local NGO, says at least 25 churches were torched on Wednesday and Thursday, and that attackers also targeted Christian schools, shops and homes across all 27 provinces.

Iraq’s Chaldean Christian archbishop Louis Sako told AFP that one of his community’s churches was among those targeted on Wednesday.

“This is a real disaster,” he said, saying the region is a “dangerous volcano.”

For Marco, the attacks against the churches were not a surprise –Christian religious buildings have been targeted before.

It was the torching of Coptic Christian homes and the looting of their businesses that shocked him.

The attackers were “people chanting pro-Morsi slogans and wearing headbands with the phrase ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ written on them,” he said.

The Maspero Youth Union, which documented abuses against Christians during Morsi’s one year in office, also laid blame for the attacks on supporters of the ousted leader.

“Maspero Youth Union condemns the terrorism Copts are facing now in Egypt after supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi waged a retaliation war against Copts and their churches, homes and businesses,” the group said.

“Copts were attacked in nine governorates, causing panic, losses and destruction for no reason and no crimes they committed except being Christians.”

Morsi’s supporters have often accused Christians of supporting president Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in Egypt’s 2011 uprising. Ironically, Christians were also targeted when Mubarak was in power.

On Thursday, the country’s interim army-installed government described attacks on Egypt’s Christians as a “red line” and pledged that authorities would “respond forcefully” to any new attack.

Shortly afterwards, the defence minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army chief who led the coup, pledged that the army would pay for the rebuilding of the churches attacked on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, interim prime minister Hazem Beblawi also announced he had met with Coptic Pope Tawadros II to express solidarity in the wake of the attacks.

And state news agency MENA reported that 80 Morsi loyalists had been arrested and turned over to military courts for their alleged involvement in torching churches in Suez province on Wednesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood had little to say on the issue, with spokesman Gehad el-Haddad suggesting the authorities were behind the violence.

“Military coup regime is resorting to instigating sectarian violence exactly as they did when Mubarak was about to fall,” he tweeted.

The government’s promises have so far failed to convince Christians and activists that authorities would prevent future attacks.

“The state must intervene to protect the population. Concrete action is needed after all the big speeches,” said Ishak Ibrahim, an EIPR researcher on religious issues.

He described a “discourse of hatred” against Christians throughout the country, more from the Salafists, the most conservative of Islamists, rather than members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And he pointed out that most of the attacks had taken place outside the major cities, in areas where security presence is often minimal.

“Families who are too scared to go out to get supplies are waiting for something concrete,” added Karem, another resident of Sohag.

“Right now as we speak, attacks against Christians are continuing,” he said.

“No one is protecting us!” – AFP

Almost 280 dead after Egyptian police storm protestors

Egypt was under a tense state of emergency Thursday after security forces stormed the Cairo protest camps supporting ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in a bloody assault that sparked violence across the country which officials said claimed 278 lives.

The army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency, and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces after the violence on Wednesday.

Gory photographs and video images of the Cairo bloodbath dominated social media networks, as world powers called for restraint and condemned the show of force by security forces.

At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt”.

Hours after tear gas canisters first rained down on tents of protesters in the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in eastern Cairo, an AFP correspondent counted at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues there.

In a field hospital, its floors slippery with blood, doctors struggled to cope with the casualties, leaving the hopeless cases, even if still alive.

The health ministry said 235 civilians were killed in the Cairo crackdown and in subsequent clashes across Egypt. The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood spoke of 2,200 dead overall and more than 10,000 wounded.

Among those killed in Cairo was 17-year-old Asmaa al-Beltagui, daughter of wanted Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagui, a spokesman for Morsi’s movement said.

Britain’s Sky News said a veteran cameraman, Briton Mick Deane, was shot and killed while covering the assaults.

The violence prompted vice president and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei to resign, saying his conscience was troubled over the loss of life, “particularly as I believe it could have been avoided”.

“It has become too difficult to continue bearing responsibility for decisions I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear,” he said.

The state of emergency went into effect at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, with daily overnight curfews from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am.

The dramatic descent on the squares shortly after dawn came as a surprise to many. Security officials had originally spoken of gradually dispersing the sit-ins over several days.

Shortly after dawn on Wednesday, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said security forces fired tear gas before surging into Rabaa al-Adawiya, sparking pandemonium among the thousands of protesters who had set up the camp soon after Morsi was ousted in a military coup on July 3.

Men in gas masks rushed to grab each canister and dunk them in containers of water, as the main stage near the mosque of the camp blared Islamic anthems and protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

Many Morsi supporters were given safe passage out of the camp, some flashing victory signs as they left through a security corridor.

A security official told AFP that hundreds of people were taking advantage of the safe passage offer, but that some diehards had stayed behind to fight on.

By Wednesday evening, a security official said Rabaa al-Adawiya was “totally under control”, adding: “There are no more clashes”.

In the smaller of the protest camps, at Al-Nahda square in central Cairo, police said they had control of the area after two hours.

Television footage showed flattened tents, as women and children flanked by police and army troops were led out of the square.

Dozens rounded up in the dispersal were shown sitting on the ground, handcuffed and surrounded by security forces.

Authorities later said calm had been restored across the country.

Use of force widely condemned

Europe’s leading powers, along with Iran, Qatar and Turkey, strongly denounced the use of force by the interim government.

The White House said Washington, which provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in annual military aid, “strongly condemns” the violence against the protesters and opposes the imposition of a state of emergency.

Interim prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi praised the police for their “self-restraint” and said the government remained committed to an army-drafted roadmap that calls for elections in 2014.

The Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to take to the streets in their thousands to denounce the “massacre”.

“This is not an attempt to disperse, but a bloody attempt to crush all voices of opposition to the military coup,” Brotherhood spokesman Gehad al-Haddad said on Twitter.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said no more protests would be tolerated.

The anger against the Islamist movement was evident as residents of several neighbourhoods clashed with Morsi loyalists.

Clashes also erupted between security forces and Morsi supporters in the northern provinces of Alexandria and Beheira, the canal provinces of Suez and Ismailiya, and the central provinces of Assiut and Menya.

In Alexandria, hundreds of angry Morsi supporters marched through the streets armed with wooden clubs chanting “Morsi is my president”.

An AFP reporter said they set fire to tyres and tore down pictures of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup against Morsi.

It was a dramatic turn of events for the Muslim Brotherhood, who just over a year ago celebrated Morsi’s victory as Egypt’s first elected president.

His turbulent year in power, marred by political turmoil, deadly clashes and a crippling economic crisis, turned many against the Islamist movement, with millions taking to the streets on June 30 to call for his removal. – AFP

Egypt declares State of Emergency

Egypt declared a month-long state of emergency on Wednesday as violence raged across the country following a crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

The nationwide state of emergency, announced by a presidency statement read out on state television, began at 4pm (2pm GMT).

The exceptional measures came as “the security and order of the nation face danger due to deliberate sabotage, and attacks on public and private buildings and the loss of life by extremist groups,” the presidency said.

Interim president Adly Mansour “has tasked the armed forces, in cooperation with the police, to take all necessary measures to maintain security and order and to protect public and private property and the lives of citizens.”

The emergency was imposed come as clashes raged around the country after police moved in to disperse two pro-Morsi camps in Cairo.

At least 124 were killed in the Rabaa al-Adawiya camp alone, according to an AFP count.

Egypt: Security forces move in

Security forces backed by bulldozers moved in on Wednesday on two huge protest camps set up in Cairo by supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi, launching a long-threatened crackdown that left dozens dead and injured.

The operation began shortly after dawn when security forces surrounded the sprawling Rabaa al-Adawiya camp in east Cairo and a similar one at Al-Nahda square, in the centre of the capital.

Witnesses and an AFP correspondent said police rained canisters of tear gas down onto tents before entering Rabaa al-Adawiya, sparking pandemonium among the thousands of protesters who set up the camp soon after Morsi was ousted by the army on 3 July.

Clashes quickly erupted between protesters and security forces on one side of the camp, as automatic fire could be heard. It was not immediately clear who was doing the shooting.

Television footage showed injured people being carried to a makeshift medical centre as well as police dragging away protesters, who have defied numerous ultimatums to end their demonstrations.

Protest leaders wearing gas masks stood defiantly on a stage while crowds of people wearing face masks stood amid the swirling tear gas as bulldozers began dismantling the camp.

Egypt’s interior ministry mid-morning said security forces have “total control” over Al-Nahda Square, the smaller of the two camps.

“Police forces have managed to remove most of the tents in the square,” the ministry said.

A security official told AFP that dozens of Morsi supporters had been arrested with the help of residents of the area.

Television footage showed protesters who had been rounded up sitting in the ground handcuffed and surrounded by security forces.

Families, with their children, carrying plastic bags were seen being escorted out of the square by police.

Railway authorities announced that all trains had been grounded to prevent protesters from moving outside of Cairo and reassembling.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood urged Egyptians to take to the streets in their thousands to denounce the “massacre”.

“This is not an attempt to disperse, but a bloody attempt to crush all voices of opposition to the military coup,” Brotherhood spokesperson Gehad al-Haddad said on Twitter.

The Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp, where several Brotherhood leaders are staying, “is calling on Egyptians to take to the streets to stop the massacre,” Haddad said.

In a separate tweet, Haddad said at least 250 people were killed and over 5000 injured in the crackdown. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the tolls.

An AFP correspondent counted 17 bodies at a makeshift morgue at Rabaa al-Adawiya, adding that many appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.

Egypt’s interior ministry said two members of the security forces were killed in the operation.

The crackdown came just hours after the United States urged the military-backed interim government to allow Morsi supporters to protest freely.

State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said Washington regarded freedom to protest as a “key part” of the democratic process but would be concerned by reports of violence.

The United States, which provides $1.5-billion in mostly military aid to Egypt every year, maintains close ties to the Egyptian military but says it favours a rapid return to elected civilian rule.

Morsi, Egypt’s first elected president, was overthrown by the military on 3 July with popular backing.

His supporters had said nothing short of his reinstatement would persuade them to disperse.

Clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators and security forces have killed more than 250 people since the end of June.

On Monday, the judiciary extended Morsi’s detention for a further 15 days pending an investigation into his collaboration with Palestinian group Hamas.

The Muslim Brotherhood, banned in 1954 and repressed by successive governments, won both parliamentary and presidential elections in 2011 after the ouster of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Prosecutors have set an 25 August date for the trial of the Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie and his two deputies. – AFP

Egypt deplores SA’s claim of Morsi legitimacy

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry expressed its extreme dissatisfaction with South Africa’s statement on the most recent events in Egypt.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation had declared its rejection for the latest events which caused former president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster and the constitution’s suspension.

These measures oppose the conventions and customs of the African Union, the department said.

South Africa’s continued claim of Morsi’s legitimacy insults millions of Egyptians’ will, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“It is sadly ironic that Egypt was among the first to defend the rights of South Africans in their fight against apartheid whereas South Africa’s current government takes a negative stance regarding the Egyptians’ attempt to rectify the course of their revolution.”

Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have defied a new warning from the military-backed cabinet and are continuing their sit-ins in the capital, Cairo.

The country’s interim leaders have ordered police to end ongoing protests at two sites in the city.

But Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood said they had no option but to continue the month-long sit-ins.

The United States has again urged Egypt to respect freedom of assembly.

Pro-Morsi demonstrators want to see the Islamist leader reinstated. He was removed by the army on 3 July, after just one year in office.

They have defied previous threats of removal, despite clashes with security forces that have left dozens dead.

The Egyptian interior ministry says gradual steps will be taken to disperse the crowds.

“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,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Police had been tasked to end the demonstrations “within the law and the constitution”, it added.

‘Attempt to terrorise’But Essam el-Erian, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political party, said the protesters would not be deterred by the latest threats.

“There are expectations of a massacre taking place in front of the eyes of the whole world,” he said.

“The free people in Egypt and the world must stand against this stupid cabinet mandate for the police to end the sit-in protests.”

The main protest sit-in is at a square near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the capital’s north-east, where clashes erupted on Saturday in which some 70 people were killed, and in Nahda Square near the main campus of Cairo University.

“Nothing will change,” Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told AFP news agency after the cabinet threat.

He dismissed the dispersal announcement as an “attempt to terrorise Egyptians” and said the decision to clear the camps had been taken by a “gang” that had no respect for the law.

Another Muslim Brotherhood member, Mohamed el-Beltagy, told Associated Press the army had forgotten “its main role in protecting the Egyptian borders and decided to kill its people”.

The government has not given details of when the clearance could happen.

US state department spokeswoman Marie Harf appealed for it to avoid violence.

“We have continued to urge the interim government officials and security forces to respect the right of peaceful assembly,” she said.

“That obviously includes sit-ins. So we’ve made that point publicly and privately, and we’ll continue to do so.”

Official visitorsMeanwhile, three top Muslim Brotherhood figures have been referred to court on charges of inciting violence.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie, his deputy Khairat al-Shater and senior leader Rashad Bayoum face trial over allegations of inciting the killing of protesters outside of their headquarters last month.

An African Union delegation confirmed on Wednesday that it had met Mr Morsi, who has not been seen in public since being ousted.

He had received no official visitors until Tuesday, when he met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who said he was “well”.

The ousted leader has been formally remanded in custody at an undisclosed location, according to a judicial order.

He has been accused of the “premeditated murder of some prisoners, officers and soldiers” when he and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were freed during a breakout at a Cairo prison in January 2011.

He is alleged to have plotted attacks on jails in the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Morsi is also accused of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip and has strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

He was overthrown by the military after mass rallies in which millions of Egyptians calling for his removal took to the streets. – Aswat Masriya/BBC

EU’s Ashton visits Morsi

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday she found that deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was well and had access to television and newspapers when she visited him.

Sources told AFP that Ashton had left Cairo in a military helicopter heading to the undisclosed location where Morsi is being held.

Ashton was speaking to journalists after meeting Morsi on Monday night. “I’ve tried to make sure that his family know he is well,” said Ashton.

Ashton, who is trying to mediate a resolution to Egypt’s political crisis, added: “I said I wouldn’t come unless I could see him (Morsi).” Asked about a media report that she had offered Morsi a “safe exit”, she replied: “I did nothing of the kind.”

Spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said on her Twitter feed that Ashton and Morsi had an “in-depth discussion” lasting two hours.

Morsi is in army detention at an undisclosed location, facing charges of conspiring with Islamist group Hamas to carry out “hostile acts.”

Ashton was on her second visit to Egypt since widespread political unrest gripped the country following Morsi’s ouster on July 3. – Voice of Russia/dpa

Muslim Brotherhood leader vows to reinstate Morsi in Egypt

The head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Friday vowed that the group’s followers would hold open-ended protests to press for the reinstatement of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, as violence mounted in the country.

“All the measures taken (by the army) are invalid,” Mohammed Badie said at a massive Cairo rally. “The millions supporting Morsi will stay in the squares until the president of Egypt is reinstated.”

Badie, who is the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood to which Morsi belongs, denied media reports he had been arrested.

His influential deputy, Khayrat al-Shater, was arrested Friday in Cairo on charges of inciting violence against opponents, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

The army ousted Morsi on Wednesday following unprecedented protests by millions of Egyptians who demanded his resignation and early presidential elections. Several leading Islamists have since been detained.

The former president’s backers staged huge protests across Egypt, demanding his reinstatement.

“The situation is very clear. The democratic process in Egypt has been assassinated by a coup d’etat against the first democratically elected president,” Omar Ibrahim, a school teacher attending the pro-Morsi rally in the Cairo area of Nasr City, told dpa.

“But I can assure you that the Egyptian people will defend their revolution.”

Violence on Friday in the wake of Morsi’s overthrow left 17 people dead and 315 injured in Cairo and other areas, state television reported, citing the Health Ministry. There were no details on how and where the casualties occurred.

The broadcaster reported clashes between Morsi’s opponents and backers in Alexandria, Egypt’s second most populous city, the Nile Delta provinces of Damietta and Beheira, and the coastal city of Suez.

One person was reported killed and 66 injured in fighting between the two sides near the Nile-side TV building in Cairo near Tahrir Square, where Morsi’s opponents continued to celebrate his removal.

The army positioned tanks and armoured vehicles outside the building apparently to prevent potential attacks.

There were clashes in al-Arish, a city in the Sinai Peninsula near Israel. A police car was torched in the violence.

State television said the army had foiled an attempt by Morsi’s supporters to storm the city hall of the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. No casualties were reported.

Egypt’s top Muslim cleric, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, appealed for calm.

“I call on all Egyptians to avoid bloodshed. I entreat to God to put an end to this ugly sedition,” al-Tayyeb, head of the prestigious Sunni al-Azhar institution, said in a televised statement.

Earlier Friday, gunmen attacked army and police checkpoints in Sinai, killing one soldier and injuring three others, a security official said.

The attacks prompted Egyptian authorities to indefinitely close the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Troops deployed in Suez and South Sinai provinces were put on maximum alert following the assaults.

Interim President Adli Mansour, sworn in Thursday, has dissolved the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, which served as a temporary legislature.

Mansour appointed Refaat Shehata, outgoing intelligence service chief, as presidential advisor on security and named Mohamed Farid as new intelligence chief.

The African Union Peace and Security Council suspended Egypt on Friday from the 54-nation bloc, citing an unconstitutional power grab in the North African nation.

Cairo said it “deeply regretted” the bloc’s decision.

“We deeply regret this decision, which has been taken on the basis of unrealistic information,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti said.

Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president last year after winning the polls with a narrow margin.

The opposition accused him of being keen on tightening the Muslim Brotherhood’s hold on power and becoming a dictator. – dpa

Morsi’s support for intervention in Syria was the straw that broke the camel’s back

The protests in Egypt against president Mohammed Morsi were – according to the BBC – the largest in history.

The Irish Times reports:

Army concern about the way President Mohamed Morsi was governing Egypt reached tipping point when the head of state attended a rally packed with hardline fellow Islamists calling for holy war in Syria, military sources have said.

Mr Morsi himself called for foreign intervention in Syria against Mr Assad, leading to a veiled rebuke from the army, which issued an apparently bland but sharp-edged statement the next day stressing that its only role was guarding Egypt’s borders.

“The armed forces were very alarmed by the Syrian conference at a time the state was going through a major political crisis,” said one officer, whose comments reflected remarks made privately by other army staff. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to talk to the media.

For the army, the Syria rally had crossed “a national security red line” by encouraging Egyptians to fight abroad, risking creating a new generation of jihadists, said Yasser El-Shimy, analyst with the International Crisis Group.

At the heart of the military’s concern is the history of militant Islam in Egypt, homeland of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The military source condemned recent remarks made by “retired terrorists” allied to Mr Morsi, who has deepened his ties with the once-armed group al-Gamaa al-Islamiya.

Obama had recently sent American troops to prop up Morsi, and the protesters were furious at the U.S. for backing Islamic radicals.

(The U.S. backed Egypt’s previous dictator, as well).

Support of Western intervention in Syria was also one of the main causes of the recent enormous protests in Turkey … which came close to toppling the Turkish leadership.

Indeed, the American government has been providing arms, money and logistical support to Al Qaeda in Syria, Libya, Mali, Bosnia and other countries – and related Muslim terrorists in Chechnya, Iran, and many other countries. So moderate Arabs all over the Middle East and North Africa are becoming furious at U.S. interventionist policies.

Note: The coup is a set-back for the U.S., because Egypt – unlike Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran – isn’t on the 20-year-old list of countries targeted for regime change. – Zero Hedge

Egypt: Morsi wrestles with Army

President Mohamed Morsi rebuffed an army ultimatum to force a resolution to Egypt’s political crisis, saying on Tuesday that he had not been consulted and would pursue his own plans for national reconciliation.

The Islamist leader described as potentially confusing Monday’s 48-hour deadline set by the head of the armed forces for him to agree on a common platform with liberal rivals who have drawn millions into the streets demanding Morsi’s resignation.

Members of his Muslim Brotherhood have used the word “coup” to describe the military manoeuvre, which carries the threat of the generals imposing their own road map for the nation.

But in a statement issued at nearly 2am, nine hours after General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delighted Morsi’s opponents by effectively ordering the president to heed the demands of demonstrators, the president’s office used considerably less direct language to indicate he would try to take little notice.

“The president of the republic was not consulted about the statement issued by the armed forces,” it said. “The presidency sees that some of the statements in it carry meanings that could cause confusion in the complex national environment.”

Official video was released showing Morsi meeting the uniformed Sisi. Their body language seemed awkward, although it was unclear when it was shot.

The statement from Morsi’s office continued: “The presidency confirms that it is going forward on its previously plotted path to promote comprehensive national reconciliation regardless of any statements that deepen divisions between citizens.”

Describing civilian rule as a great gain from the revolution of 2011, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, in office for just a year, said he would not let the clock be turned back.

A sense of disintegration in the administration since the protests on Sunday has been heightened by the resignations tendered by several ministers who are not members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. On Tuesday, the state news agency said the foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, had also asked to step down.

Attacks on Brotherhood offices have added to feelings among Islamists that they are under siege.

Some Brotherhood leaders, who swept a series of votes last year, said they would look to put their own supporters on the streets. After the destruction of the Brotherhood’s headquarters in a battle overnight on Monday in which eight people were killed, the possibility of wider violence seems real.

World powers are looking on anxiously, including the United States, which has long funded the Egyptian army as a key component in the security of Washington’s ally Israel.

President Barack Obama has urged Morsi and his rivals to compromise. But Washington has also defended the legitimacy of Morsi’s election. It is unclear how far the Egyptian military has informed, or co-ordinated with, its US sponsors.

The sight of military helicopters streaming national flags over Cairo’s Tahrir Square at sunset, after Sisi had laid down the law, sent huge crowds into a frenzy of cheers.

But on the other side of Egypt’s polarised politics, a Brotherhood spokesman said it might considering forming “self-defence” committees after a series of attacks on its premises.

Among Morsi’s allies are groups with more militant pasts, including al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, a sometime associate of al-Qaeda, whose men fought Mubarak’s security forces for years and who have warned they would not tolerate renewed military rule.

An alliance of Islamist groups, including the Brotherhood, issued a cautious joint statement that avoided criticising the army but spoke of it being manipulated by rival parties.

Morsi has said he favours moving to elections for a new parliament that would give the opposition more say – if, as he points out, it has popular support. But the opposition, convinced the Brotherhood is out to entrench its rule forever, does not trust Morsi and wants to wipe clean a messy slate of institutional reforms since 2011 before holding a vote.

How far Sisi is prepare to push Morsi is not clear. Despite a hard line being taken by opposition leaders, some compromise in which Morsi was given time to lead the country, or perhaps to call a referendum on finishing his term, might be possible.

A military source said Sisi was keen not to repeat the experience of the year and a half between Mubarak’s fall and Morsi’s election, when a committee of generals formed a government that proved unpopular as the economy struggled.

The army’s preference would appear to be for a more hands-off approach, supervising government but not running it.

For many Egyptians, fixing the economy is key. Unrest since Mubarak fell has hobbled tourism and investment and the state finances are in poor shape, drained by extensive subsidy regimes and struggling to provide regular supplies of fuel. – Reuters

Obama Administration condemns Christian Copt protest in Egypt

Obama fully supported protests to overthrow the relatively friendly Egyptian Government of Mubarak. U.S. support paved way for an Islamist takeover by the oppressive and violent Muslim Brotherhood.

Now those suffering the most under this brutal Islamist rule want to protest, and the Obama Administration is trying to prevent it.

As Egyptians of all factions prepare to demonstrate in mass against the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi’s rule on June 30, the latter has been trying to reduce their numbers, which some predict will be in the millions and eclipse the Tahrir protests that earlier ousted Mubarak. Among other influential Egyptians, Morsi recently called on Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II to urge his flock, Egypt’s millions of Christians, not to join the June 30 protests.While that may be expected, more troubling is that the U.S. ambassador to Egypt is also trying to prevent Egyptians from protesting—including the Copts. The June 18th edition of Sadi al-Balad reports that lawyer Ramses Naggar, the Coptic Church’s legal counsel, said that during [Anne W.] Patterson’s June 17 meeting with Pope Tawadros, she “asked him to urge the Copts not to participate” in the demonstrations against Morsi and the Brotherhood. […]

So why is the Obama administration now asking Christians not to oppose their rulers–in this case, Islamists–who have daily proven themselves corrupt and worse, to the point that millions of Egyptians, most of them Muslims, are trying to oust them?

What’s worse is that the human rights abuses Egypt’s Coptic Christians have been suffering under Muslim Brotherhood rule are significantly worse than the human rights abuses that the average Egyptian suffered under Mubarak–making the Copts’ right to protest even more legitimate, and, if anything, more worthy of U.S support.

Among other things, under Morsi’s rule, the persecution of Copts has practically been legalized, as unprecedented numbers of Christians–men, women, and children–have been arrested, often receiving more than double the maximum prison sentence, under the accusation that they “blasphemed” Islam and/or its prophet. It was also under Morsi’s reign that another unprecedented scandal occurred: the St. Mark Cathedral–holiest site of Coptic Christianity and headquarters to the Pope Tawadros himself–was besieged in broad daylight by Islamic rioters. When security came, they too joined in the attack on the cathedral. And the targeting of Christian children–for abduction, ransom, rape, and/or forced conversion—has also reached unprecedented levels under Morsi.