H/T The ever watchful Martin
Category Archives: Egypt
BREAKING: Pellets, Molotovs used as Tahrir clashes escalate
Egypt news:
Unknown assailants are firing pellets at protesters in Talat Harb Street from the direction of Tahrir Square, an Ahram Online reporter at the scene says.
Clashes are also still ongoing in the nearby Mohamed Mahmoud Street, with protesters throwing Mototov cocktail and rocks in both locations.
[Thanks to commenter and contributor Martin, there are more appearing in the comments quickly. Please check the comments for more]
From 1 hour ago now:
From 35 minutes ago:
Marty thank you for these:
Google translate from one of the video pages reads:
Broke out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square clashes between supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and demonstrators protesting against the failure of the President promises the first 100 days of his reign. To see more, please visit the website of Sky News through Arab pressure on the following link:
http://www.skynewsarabia.com/web/home
Copt home attacked after Egypt president promises security
what a surprise, the muslim brotherhood leader, can’t keep his brothers hands of Christian necks…
AFP – Gunmen opened fire on the home of a Coptic Christian in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, hours after a visit by President Mohamed Morsi to reassure Christian residents they would not be targeted again.
Gunmen “used automatic weapons when they opened fire on the house of a Coptic resident of Rafah hours after the president left,” a security official told AFP.
There were no reports of casualties, he said.
Witnesses told AFP three gunmen in a car fired on the house of Magdi Niruz before fleeing the scene.
Morsi had visited the Sinai peninsula on Friday to meet with and reassure families who fled Rafah to El-Arish after receiving death threats.
This “will not happen again,” Morsi told a group of local Bedouin tribal chiefs and other residents of El-Arish.
“Your security is our security,” he said.
“What happened is an individual case which represents neither Egypt nor its children, Muslim or Christian. It’s crime for which the perpetrators must be held responsible,” MENA quoted Morsi as saying.
According to residents and officials in Rafah, on the border with Gaza, Christian families fled to El-Arish about 30 kilometres (19 miles) away after having received death threats from Islamists.
Leaflets were circulated in Rafah demanding that the Coptic community leave or be killed, residents said. A shop owned by a Coptic family was subsequently machine-gunned.
Egypt’s Christians, who make up six to 10 percent of the country’s population of 82 million, have regularly complained of discrimination and marginalisation.
They have also been the target of numerous sectarian attacks.
from: http://www.france24.com
Muslim Egyptian Lawyer and His Sons Attempt to Demolish Church
AINA:
(AINA) — Mohammad Mostafa Kamel, a Muslim prosecutor at the Alexandria Criminal Court, and his two sons, aided by some hired Muslims, broke into the church of the St. Mary in Rashid at 4 PM today and demolished a great part of its alter. They came to the church with front loaders.
Kamel had no demolition order.
His fight with the church goes back to 2009 when he tried to take ownership of the church, claiming that he bought the ancient church, which dates back to the 9th century, from the Greek Orthodox Church. But it was the Coptic church who bought after it was up for sale due to the dwindling number of Greeks in Rashid, which is located 65 km (40 mi) east of Alexandria, in Beheira governorate.
Father Maximos of St. Mary’s Church said that he rushed to the police station with Father Luke Asaad and their lawyer to try to bring the police to help. In the police station the prosecutor and his two sons threatened to kill the two priest and their lawyer. A police report was filed regarding those threats.
“We stayed at the police station for over six hours with the police begging prosecutor Kamel and his two sons not to demolish the church,” said father Maximos, “In spite of them not having a demolition order.”
Egypt Salafists attack schoolgirls, tell them no to popsicles
H/T Shab
Bikyamasr:
Egypt Salafists attack schoolgirls, tell them no to popsicles
Joseph Mayton | 4 October 2012 | 1 Comment
Egyptian schoolgirls attacked by two Salafist men for eating popsicles.
CAIRO: Two bearded ultra-conservative men in Egypt attacked four elementary schoolgirls walking down a street eating ice popsicles. The men knocked the popsicles from the girls hands and began yelling at them.
They told them to stop eating the popsicles and go home, Bikyamasr.com witnessed. The girls, shocked at what was happening, stood frozen in their movement.
The two men continued their yelling, telling them to be “modest.” The girls began to cry.
Muslim Brotherhood Targeting United Arab Emirates?
GATESTONE:
by Mudar Zahran
October 4, 2012 at 2:30 am
If the US has tolerated the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, why not in the UAE?
Last April, the United Arab Emirates started cracking down on Islamists operating there, and eventually arrested 60 of them. Shortly after that, Dhai Khalfan, Dubai’s Police chief, started publicly warning of an “international plot” to overthrow the governments of Gulf states, saying the region needs to be prepared to encounter any threat from Islamist dissidents as well as Syria and Iran”. Is the Muslim Brotherhood now ready to expand its dominance to oil-rich Arab nations after taking control of Egypt, the Arab country with the largest population?
In August — in one of his many statements about the matter — Khalfan said, “There is an international plot against Gulf states in particular and Arab countries in general.” Khalfan was clear about the reason he thought the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to control Gulf states: Wealth. “This is preplanned to take over our fortunes…the bigger our sovereign wealth funds and the more money we put in the banks of Western countries, the bigger the plot to take over our countries.”
Khalfan also posted on his Twitter account that, “since the Muslim Brotherhood has ‘become a state,’ anyone advocating its cause is considered a foreign agent.”
Until last April, the existence of Islamist opposition groups in rich nations such as the UAE had not been an issue of attention to either the global media or even the UAE government itself; Khalfan admits he too — as Dubai’s top cop — did not realize there were so many Muslim Brotherhood members in the Gulf states.
Liberal, secular ‘infidels’ must be prosecuted, says Brotherhood preacher
Egypt Independent:
Sun, 30/09/2012 – 21:15
Liberals, modernists and secularists are infidels and must be brought to trial for abandoning Islam, according to an ultra-conservative preacher in the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a video posted on the YouTube channel of the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk newspaper on Sunday, preacher Wagdy Ghoneim said: “If they do not repent, the judge must apply the penalty for apostasy.
“If anyone tells you that he is liberal, tell him directly that he is infidel.”
Earlier this month, Ghoneim caused controversy after issuing a fatwa — an Islamic religious edict — that said joining the Constitution Party, led by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, is forbidden by Islam. Calling it an “infidel” party, Ghoneim said he refused to recognize secular, liberal or leftist political movements.
Two Egyptian Christian Boys, 9 and 10, Accused Of Defamation Of Islam
AINA:
(AINA) — Two Coptic children were detained on charges of Defamation of Islam. Mina Nady Farag, 9, and Nabil Nagy Rizk, 10, both from the village of Ezbet Marco in Beni Suef, were arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center until Sunday, pending investigation into a complaint submitted by the village Muslims. The children will appear again before prosecution on Sunday.
Nabil’s father told Copts United that his son does not read or write. He said the children were searching in a pile of trash to find “something useful” when they came over a plastic bag with torn papers. They were stopped by a Salafi sheikh, who took the children to church to report them to the priest. “He insisted that the priest stop mass and come outside to talk to him,” said a resident of the village. The priest went out and chided the two boys.
U.S. Move to Give Egypt $450 Million in Aid Meets Resistance
H/T Martin
The New York Times:
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: September 28, 2012 331 Comments
The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday that it would provide Egypt’s new government an emergency cash infusion of $450 million, but the aid immediately encountered resistance from a prominent lawmaker wary of foreign aid and Egypt’s new course under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The aid is part of the $1 billion in assistance that the Obama administration has pledged to Egypt to bolster its transition to democracy after the overthrow last year of the former president, Hosni Mubarak. Its fate, however, was clouded by concerns over the new government’s policies and, more recently, the protests that damaged the American Embassy in Cairo.
The United States Agency for International Development notified Congress of the cash infusion on Friday morning during the pre-election recess, promptly igniting a smoldering debate over foreign aid and the administration’s handling of crises in the Islamic world.
An influential Republican lawmaker, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, immediately announced that she would use her position as chairwoman of the House appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid to block the distribution of the money. She said the American relationship with Egypt “has never been under more scrutiny” than it is in the wake of the election of President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.
No deal with Shafiq; men can beat wives on conditions, says Salafist leader
AHRAM.Org
Salafist cleric Yasser Borhamy denies accusations of a deal with former military candidate Ahmed Shafiq, argues against constitutional articles forbidding men from beating their wives
Ahram Online , Saturday 29 Sep 2012
Salafist Yasser Borhami (Photo: Reuters)
Related
Popular Salafist preacher Yasser Borhamyconfirmed in a media statement Friday that the meeting which he was blamed for attending, with former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, was part of an initiative made by El-Nour Party to mediate between different groups.
Borhamy said the meeting was arranged because of the rising fear at the time that Shafiq might win. He confirmed that discussions tackled only very specific points, including that violence should not be used against protesters, that the Muslim Brotherhood should not be again isolated, that Copts should not be given any “special position” in society and that Quranic verses should not be removed from school curriculums.
According to Borhamy, El-Nour Party member Ashraf Thabet, who had earlier also come under attack for meeting with Shafiq, was also present during the talks, which were only part of an initiative that also included several other meetings with various concerned parties, like the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Muslims Order Christians Out of Their Village in Egypt
AINA:
(AINA) — Copts in the North Sinai border town of Rafah have started leaving their homes after receiving an ultimatum from Islamists to leave “within 48 hours” or be killed. According to confirmed reports 9 Coptic families have left the town. The remaining 23 Coptic families are still there, waiting to leave. “it is difficult for us to leave as most of us are shop-owners and have property, so it is not easy just to leave everything and go,” said one Copt who is still with his family in Rafah. The Copts are all confined to their homes, afraid to venture out.
However, two days ago. masked men on motorcycles sprayed Coptic stores with bullets, but no one was hurt.
The nine Coptic families who left Rafah were government employees and the Governor of North Sinai offered to transfer them to neighboring Sinai Province capital, Al-Arish, to take posts there instead.
About three weeks ago a Coptic shop owner received a hand-written threat that “all Christians should leave Rafah within 48 hours, otherwise they will be killed.” Copts reported these threats to security but were told not to take the threats “earnestly,” because threats were during the time of the YouTube clip mocking Mohammad. “We thought the writers of these threats were just being vindictive against the Copts since it was claimed that a US Copt is responsible for it [the film],” said a Copts resident of Rafah.
Coptic families went with church representatives and met with the Governor of North Sinai asking for protection, he promised none, but just transferred nine government employees to work in Al-Arish.
The Coptic Church issued a statement this afternoon, after a meeting of the Holy Synod, signed by acting Patriarch Anba Pachomios, condemning the forced displacement of the Copts from Rafah, demanding that the “responsible state agencies address those that are trying to undermine the state authority and show it unable to protect its citizens.”
Egypt: NCW Rejects Marriage of Nine-Year-Old Girls
All Africa.Com
Photo: The National Council for Women (NCW) has expressed its profound dismay at statements made by some members of the Constituent Assembly in charge of writing Egypt’s new constitution on the possibility of sanctioning marriage of sexually mature girls even if they were at the age of nine.
The NCW described such viewpoint as a setback to child rights and is only expressive of outdated traditions still prevailing in the Egyptian society.
SOURCE: STATE DEPARTMENT CONSIDERING TALKS TO TRANSFER ‘BLIND SHEIKH’ TO EGYPT
The Blaze:
TheBlaze’s Jason Howerton contributed to this report.
An Egyptian follower of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman flashes his poster outside in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept.11, 2011. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The U.S. State Department is actively considering negotiations with the Egyptian government for the transfer of custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” for humanitarian and health reasons, a source close to the the Obama administration told TheBlaze.
The Department of Justice, however, told TheBlaze that Rahman is serving a life sentence and is not considered for possible “release.” Previous calls to the State Department were referred to the Department of Justice and so far, the State Department has neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Glenn Beck revealed the controversial news on his show Monday.
The Blind Sheikh is currently serving a life sentence in American prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, but the newly-elected Islamist government in Egypt has been actively petitioning his release. Many have pinpointed a cause of last week‘s unrest in in the country to be protests over the Blind Sheikh’s release — not an anti-Muslim YouTube video.
Click to continue:
Egyptian PM explains how important it is that the West surrender all our basic freedoms and rights
He gave a subtly different message in Arabic which is being translated for us right now. As I understand it, there are different accusations and threats in the Arabic version of this interview as well.