Category Archives: Egypt
Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi wants to renew ties with Iran
It should be noted that Egypt cut ties with Iran when Iran named a main boulevard in its capital city after the man who shot Sadat because Sadat made peace with Israel. The fact that the Brotherhood desires renewed and stronger ties with Iran is a very strong statement on many levels not the least of which is a move against nationalism and towards a caliphate, even if the Sunni/Shia schism remains unresolved.
From Christian Science Monitor:
Dubai
Egypt‘s Islamist President-elect Mohamed Morsi voiced interest in restoring long-severed ties with Tehran to create a strategic “balance” in the region, in an interview published on Monday with Iran‘s Fars news agency.
Morsi’s comments are likely to unsettle Western powers as they try to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which they suspect it is using to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Tehran denies this.
Since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising last year, both countries have signalled their interest in renewing ties which were severed more than 30 years ago.
RELATED: Do you know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis? Take the quiz
“We must restore normal relations with Iran based on shared interests, and expand areas of political coordination and economic cooperation because this will create a balance of pressure in the region,” Morsi was quoted as saying in a transcript of the interview.
Fars said it had spoken to Morsi a few hours before Sunday’s announcement that declared him the winner of Egypt’s presidential election.
Asked to comment on reports that, if elected, his first state visit would be to Riyadh, Morsi said: “I didn’t say such a thing and until now my first international visits following my victory in the elections have not been determined.”
Rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi’ite Iran has been intensified by the “Arab Spring” revolts, which have redrawn the political map of the Middle East and left the powerful Gulf neighbors vying for influence.
Iran hailed Morsi’s victory over former general Ahmed Shafik in Egypt’s first free presidential election as a “splendid vision of democracy” that marked the country’s “Islamic Awakening”.
Western diplomats say in reality Egypt has little real appetite to significantly change relations with Iran, given the substantial issues the new president already has to face in cementing relations with regional and global powers.
Egyptian beats pregnant wife to death for not voting for Mursi
Al Arabia:
Sunday, 24 June 2012
h/t Hermes
An Egyptian plumber has been accused of beating his pregnant wife to death because she did not vote for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi. (File photo)
By Yasmin Helal
Al Arabiya
An Egyptian plumber in Alexandria beat his pregnant wife to death upon learning that she had not voted for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi, reported the Egyptian daily al-Wafd on Sunday.
According to police reports, the initial argument between the couple who was not named escalated into violence, despite her pleas. Battered and bruised, she was reported to have died at the hospital from injuries sustained.
Domestic fights have dominated Egyptian news headlines when the bid fell on the two most feared and most controversial candidates, Mursi and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.
Voters, along with Egyptian media personalities, heatedly defended their chosen candidates and eagerly await the result which will be announced Sunday.
Some hard core taqyyia and abrogation from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
It is really worth everybody’s time to go to the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) and the OIC, (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) web sites and check out what they mean by “human Rights” and “democracy”. Both terms mean one thing and one thing only as both sites specify in English. (English is one of the official languages of the OIC)
They mean sharia. Islamic human rigths mean the right to impose sharia on all people. That is it and that is all. When you listen to this video, you should be afraid. If you are not, you probably do not understand it.
H/T Hermes
Protests flaring up in Egypt
DW.De
NRS-Import
Tens of thousands of Egyptians have gathered on Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest the ruling military council’s power grab – and the delay in publishing the results of Sunday’s presidential election.
Members and supporters of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood gathered in the square for the protest, which was joined by several secular movements.
Egyptians are still waiting for the results of Sunday’s runoff election.
The Muslim Brotherhood insists that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, has won the election, a claim that has been rejected by his opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, a premier under former President Hosni Mubarak.
The race has polarized the country between those who want to keep religion out of politics and fear the Brotherhood would stifle personal freedoms, and others who fear a return to the old regime under Shafiq’s leadership.
The delay in the publication of results, which had been announced for Thursday, has raised suspicion in Egypt that the result was being negotiated rather than counted.
The ruling military council, which had promised to hand over power to civilians by July 1, dissolved the parliament on the eve of the election and then issued a decree as polls closed on Sunday, setting strict limits on the powers of whoever would be elected president.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed legislative powers after a court ordered the Islamist-led parliament dissolved and issued decrees giving the army powers of arrest and a broad say in government policy, curbing the powers of the president.
Protesters have been in Tahrir Square since the constitutional document was issued on Sunday.
They were chanting “down with military rule” and called on the military to reverse the constitutional declaration that gave it sweeping powers.
rg/mkg (Reuters, AFP)
Glenn Beck, (and all of us) were right
The Arab Spring. What could possibly go wrong?
I think Brian Lilley had one thing wrong here though.
What he said was that everything was just “hunky dory” when what he meant to say was, ‘tickety boo’
Israeli killed as IDF, terrorists exchange fire along Egypt border
Haaretz:
Terrorist cell penetrates border fence and sets off explosive device; Israeli communities near border have been put on high alert.
By Gili Cohen | Jun.18, 2012 | 7:40 AM
The fence along Israel’s border with Egypt. Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz
Israel’s border crossing with Egypt.
An Israeli citizen was killed Monday morning during clashes between Israel Defense Forces soldiers and terrorists who infiltrated the southern border with Egypt.
Initial information reveals that a terrorist cell penetrated the fence along the border with Egypt on Monday morning, and set off an explosive device near Be’er Milka, an Israeli moshav near the Egyptian border.
After penetrating the border, the terrorists started to open fire and as a result, a construction worker was wounded, and died later of his wounds.
The IDF’s Golani Brigade was called to the scene and began exchanging fire with the armed men near the Philadelphia corridor near Kerem Shalom.
The attack follows a few days of intelligence warnings.
Israeli communities near the border have been put on high alert.
Breaking: SCAF surrounds Egyptian Parliament, no one allowed in without special authorization.
STRATFOR is reporting that the dissolution of parliament is now formal and that the building is surrounded by security.
NYT reports:
Security Forces Surround Parliament in Egypt, Escalating Tensions
Adam Ferguson for The New York Times
Protesters outside the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo on Thursday. More Photos »
CAIRO — Egypt’s military rulers formally dissolved Parliament Friday, state media reported, and security forces were stationed around the building on orders to bar anyone, including lawmakers, from entering the chambers without official notice.
Multimedia
Photographs 
Adam Ferguson for The New York Times
A defaced photo of the presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik. More Photos »
Adam Ferguson for The New York Times
Graffiti in Tahrir Square on Thursday showing former President Hosni Mubarak (R), military ruler Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (2nd R), and former foreign minister Amr Mussa (2nd L). More Photos »
The developments, reported on the Web site of the official newspaper Al Ahram, further escalated tensions over court rulings on Thursday that invalidated modern Egypt’s first democratically elected legislature. Coming on the eve of a presidential runoff, they thrust the nation’s troubled transition to democracy since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak last year into grave doubt.
Things moving fast in Egypt.
SITREPS and analysis from STRATFOR are coming in every hour or so.
What it looks like at the moment is, the military has declared that a third of the seats held by theMuslim Brotherhood are illegal and that Mubarek’s old PM will be allowed to seek office despite strenuous objections from the usual suspects.
Here is a story from FOX:
Egypt court orders entire parliament dissolved, deems election unconstitutional
Published June 14, 2012
Associated Press
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Jan 23, 2012: FILE – In this file photo, members of parliament stand and pray for the souls of the victims who died during the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak during the first Egyptian parliament session after the revolution, in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt’s highest court has ordered the country’s Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved, saying its election about six months ago was unconstitutional. (AP)
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June 3, 2012: FILE – In this file photo, Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq holds a clipping from an Arabic newspaper with a headline that reads, “The Muslim Brotherhood–not suited for presidency or government,” during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)
CAIRO – Egypt’s highest court on Thursday ordered the country’s Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved and ruled that the last prime minister to serve under Hosni Mubarak could stay in the presidential race, twin blows to the Muslim Brotherhood that could sweep away its political gains since Mubarak’s ouster 16 months ago.
The rulings by the Supreme Constitutional Court, whose judges are Mubarak appointees, escalated the power struggle between the Brotherhood and the military, which stepped in to rule after Mubarak’s fall. The decisions tip the contest dramatically in favor of the ruling generals, robbing the Brotherhood of its power base in parliament and boosting Ahmad Shafiq, the former Mubarak prime minister who many see as the military’s favorite in the presidential contest against the Brotherhood’s candidate.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy said the rulings amounted to a “full-fledged coup.”
“This is the Egypt that Shafiq and the military council want and which I will not accept no matter how dear the price is,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
The Brotherhood and liberal and leftist activists who backed last year’s revolution against Mubarak accused the military of using the constitutional court as a proxy to preserve the hold of the ousted leader’s authoritarian regime and the generals over the country. Many of them were vowing new street protests.
Jerusalem to Be the Capital of … What?
Diana West:
If Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood candidate for president Mohammed Mursi (above) wins, Egypt’s capital moves from Cairo to Jerusalem. So stated a leading Islamic leader, Safwat Hagazy, during a recent campaign rally as Mursi and MB head honcho Mohammed Badei looked on.
Outrageous? Fantastic? Not in Muslimworld. As crack Islamic law expert Stephen Coughlin pointed out to me today, the 2008 charter of the Organization of the Islamic conference similarly calls for OIC’s “permanent headquarters” to be moved to Jerusalem after the city’s “liberation.”
Article 21 of the OIC Charter:
The Headquarters of the General Secretariat shall be in the city of Jeddah until the liberation of the city of Al Quds so that it will become the permanent Headquarters of the Organisation.
Al Quds is the Islamic name for Jerusalem.
The OIC is the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (it used to be known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference). With 56 Islamic member states represented by heads of state and foreign ministers, it is the largest voting bloc on the international stage, a unified front to advance Islam and its laws across the world.
Mob attacks women at Egypt anti-sex assault rally
Google News:
By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press –
CAIRO (AP) — A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
From the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement.
The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues — mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak’s regime backed by the ruling military.
Earlier in the week, an Associated Press reporter witnessed around 200 men assault a woman who eventually fainted before men trying to help could reach her.
Friday’s march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined to hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, “The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser,” and chanted, “The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric.”
After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.
The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.
Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.
“After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?” wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organizers of the event on Twitter.
The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.
Mariam Abdel-Shahid, a 25 year-old cinema student who took part in the march, said “sexual harassment will only take us backward.”
“This is pressure on the woman to return home,” she said.
Ahmed Mansour, a 22 year-old male medical student who took part in the march, said there are “people here trying to abuse the large number of women protesters who feel safe and secure. Some people think it is targeted to make women hate coming here.”
“I am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society,” he said.
Assaults on women Tahrir have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt’s protest movement.
During the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly experienced a “new Egypt,” with none of the harassment that is common in Cairo’s streets taking place in Tahrir. Women participated in the anti-Mubarak uprising as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs. They have continued the role during the frequent protests over the past 15 months against the military, which took power after Mubarak’s fall on Feb. 11, 2011.
But women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military and security forces in crackdowns, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security against protesters. Lara Logan, a U.S. correspondent for CBS television, was sexually assaulted by a frenzied mob in Tahrir on the day Mubarak stepped down, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came to the square to celebrate.
Christians Should “Convert, Pay Tribute, or Leave,” Says Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Candidate?
Gatestone:
by Raymond Ibrahim
May 30, 2012 at 4:00 am
“They need to know that conquest is coming, that Egypt will be Islamic, and that they must pay jizya or emigrate,” Morsi reportedly said.
According to the popular Egyptian website, El Bashayer, Muhammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate, just declared that he will “achieve the Islamic conquest (fath) of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam, or else pay the jizya,” the additional Islamic tax, or financial tribute, required of non-Muslims, or financial tribute.
In a brief report written by Samuel al-Ashay and published by El Bashayer on May 27, Morsi allegedly made these comments while speaking with a journalist at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, adding “We will not allow Ahmed Shafiq [his contending presidential candidate] or anyone else to impede our second Islamic conquest of Egypt.”
After his interviewer pointed out that the first Muslim conquest of Egypt was “carried out at the hands of Amr bin al-As [in 641],” he asked Morsi, “Who will the second Islamic conqueror be?” Morsi, replied, “The second Muslim conqueror will be Muhammad Morsi,” referring to himself, “and history will record it.”
Egyptian protesters set fire to headquarters of Hosni Mubarak’s presidential candidate
Telegraph:
Protesters set fire to the campaign headquarters of Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister after it was confirmed that the former regime figure would face the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate in the second-round of Egypt’s election.
Image 1 of 5
Ahmed Shafiq has said he will honour the revolution, but has refused to distance himself from his previous description of Mr Mubarak as his ‘role model’ Photo: AFP/GETTY
By Richard Spencer, Cairo
11:10PM BST 28 May 2012
The flames at Ahmed Shafiq’s offices are believed to have been started by the same young revolutionaries who overthrew Mr Mubarak and who have warned that they would not accept any of his former henchman as their president.
Mr Shafiq, a former air force general, essentially took day-to-day control of the Egyptian government last year as anti-Mubarak crowds gathered in Tahrir Square.
No one was was reported hurt after the demonstrators vandalised the Cairo offices and set them on fire.
Coptic Facebook group reports on major events in Egypt now and ongoing
This just in from Coptic Facebook group:
Egypt is burning. Shafiq headquarters burnt down in Cairo and reports of mb building burnt in Minya.
I am assuming that mb = Muslim Brotherhood