Egypt court revokes death sentence for Morsi, orders retrial of MB leaders over 2011 Prison break.

Egypt court revokes death sentence for Morsi, orders retrial of MB leaders over 2011 Prison break. (AlAhram).

Egypt’s Court of Cassation revoked on Tuesday death sentences and ordered retrials for ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders over the 2011 Wadi El-Natrun prison break case.

The court also revoked the death penalties against Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, and other MB figures including Brotherhood deputy leader Rashad Bayoumy, and 2012's parliament speaker and MB figure Saad El-Katatni.

The court also cancelled life sentences for 21 others in the same case.

The defendants had been charged with "damaging and setting fire to prison buildings," "murder," "attempted murder," "looting prison weapons depots" and "releasing prisoners" while escaping from the prison outside Cairo during the January 2011 uprising.

This was the only death sentence issued against Morsi to date.

The ex-president has received only one final verdict: a 20-year imprisonment handed down in October over the Ittihadeya clashes case, after his defence exhausted all appeals in the case.

Morsi is still being tried in three other cases. In the first, known as the Qatar espionage case, he was sentenced to a total of 40 years in prison (a life imprisonment sentence of 25 plus an additional 15 years).

A court hearing to decide on his appeal is scheduled for 27 November.

In the second case, Morsi and 16 others including Brotherhood figures Mohamed Badie and Essam El-Erian, were convicted of espionage (unrelated to the Qatar case) and sentenced last June to life in prison.

In the case, prosecutors charged Morsi and 35 other defendants with conspiring with foreign powers -- including Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards -- to destabilize Egypt.
The sentence has been appealed.

Finally, Morsi is being tried with others on charges of insulting the judiciary.

A hearing on this case is set for December 10.

Egypt sentences 6 Morsi co-defendants to death sentence in Qatar espionage case.

Egypt sentences 6 Morsi co-defendants to death sentence in Qatar espionage case.(AlAhram).

Cairo criminal court issued Saturday preliminary death sentences against six of ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s co-defendants in what is known as the Qatar espionage case.


The court is yet to issue a verdict on Morsi, but this likely means that he won’t be sentenced to death in this case.

The verdict will be either confirmed or reduced on 18 June after consultation with Egypt's mufti, the highest Sunni cleric, whose opinion is not mandatory to the court.

The defendants sentenced to death are five men; Ahmed Abdo Afify, Mohamed Adel El-Kelany, Ahmed Ismail, Alaa Omar and Ibrahim Helal as well as one woman, Asmaa El-Khateeb.

The court will reveal Morsi’s verdict, along with verdicts on three other co-defendants, in the June court session once it deliberates the Mufti’s consultation.

Once the criminal court issues its verdict, Morsi and his co-defendants can appeal in front of the appeals court.

Morsi, who was ousted in July 2013, was charged with using his post to leak classified documents to Qatar with the help of secretaries and Muslim Brotherhood figures.

Morsi and the head of his office, Ahmed Abdel-Ati, were also charged with leaking secret information on general and military intelligence, the armed forces, its armaments and other state secrets. The prosecution argued that the two used their positions to pass the files from the presidential offices to Amin El-Serafy, a presidential secretary, who then passed them to his daughter, Karima, who gave them to agents to give to the Qataris.

The other defendants – who include Ahmed Afify, a documentary producer; Mohamed Kilany, a flight attendant; Ahmed Ismail, a teaching assistant; and Khaled Radwan and Asmaa El-Khatib, two journalists at pro-Brotherhood TV channels – were charged with turning over copies of the classified documents to two staffers of the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera and an unknown Qatari intelligence officer.

Three of the 10 defendants are being tried in absentia.

The espionage case is the fourth major trial of Morsi on various criminal charges since his ouster in 2013.

Morsi has already been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in the "Ittihadiya case," received a death sentence in the Wadi Natroun jailbreak case, and life in jail (25 years in prison) over leaks to foreign groups, including militant groups Hamas and Hizbullah.

All other sentences are currently being appealed.

Erdogan's son Belal has Egyptian citizenship? Court case to drop his citizenship given by MB President Morsi".

Erdogan's son Belal has Egyptian citizenship? Court case to drop his citizenship given by Morsi".(Almasryalyoum).[GoogleTranslated].


The Second Circuit Court of Administrative Justice, headed by Judge Ahmed Chadli, Sunday, postponed the lawsuit filed by lawyer Samir Sabri, which demanded the withdrawal of Egyptian nationality for «Bilal», the son of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the session October 11 next to the receipt of the report of the state Commissioners Authority.

And Achtsamt suit, No. 715 for the year 69 BC, both the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior legal in their capacity, said «Sabri» in his claim that the deposed President Mohamed Morsi, has granted son  of pres. «Erdogan», Egyptian nationality, and address in the passport he holds is 1 El Ahram St.

He pointed out that Morsi also granted citizenship to a large number of Turkish figures, Palestinian, affiliated with Hamas, including «Bilal» who was able to escape to Georgia through this passport, which was granted to him Mursi, after his involvement and his involvement in a corruption case.

He noted the case to that son Erdogan does not deserve to carry the citizenship given to him by Morsi, which proved Tkhabrh with Turkey and others, to the detriment of the homeland and national security, and that there was damage and risks surround the homeland, as a result of the continuation of Bilal to keep carrying Egyptian nationality. Hmmmm.......I wonder how many more of the 'Muslim Brotherhood club' received convenient passports from Morsi?

Updated story here.

HT and Source:

Huh... Erdogan's son Belal has an Egyptian citizenship? there is a court case to drop his citizenship http://t.co/aEpxjgvuop Arabic #Turkey

— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) May 24, 2015

In Egypt, the court case is definitely on going, but Bilal Erdogan denies he has an Egyptian citizenship. #saga! https://t.co/EFZ9zfT7PQ

— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) May 25, 2015

@Nervana_1 Bilal Erdoğan denies his Egyptian citizenship and the Egypt passport information released in Egypt press. https://t.co/po2LsXIyTG

— Vedat Samur (@VedatSamur) May 25, 2015

@Nervana_1 @dawit333 @VedatSamur he clearly said "i do not hold egypt citizenship and i never 'ran away' to Georgia"

— Tamil Şayyar (@DeutschenTurk) May 25, 2015

Ansar al-Sharia leader who led Benghazi "consulate" attack died in Turkey from wounds he sustained in Libya.

Hmm..."Don't Shoot we're being send by Morsi" !

Ansar al-Sharia leader who led Benghazi "consulate" attack died in Turkey from wounds he sustained in Libya. (MEE).

Mohammed Al-Zahawi had previously been wrongly reported as killed in June.

Mohammed Al-Zahawi, leader of Libya’s Ansar al-Sharia, is “almost certainly” the Libya Herald reported on Wednesday.

Sources told the newspaper that they believed the militant leader had died in Turkey last Thursday from wounds sustained in an earlier airstrike in Libya's second city Benghazi, which is partially controlled by the group.

Zahawi was first taken to Ajdabiya in the Al-Wahat district for treatment and then transferred to Misrata by ambulance, before being flown to Turkey where he later died, the Libyan daily reported.

Ansar al-Sharia have not released any official confirmation of Zahawi’s death and it would not be the first time the enigmatic fighter has been erroneously reported as killed.

In June, Zahawi was reportedly killed in fighting near Bouatni in Benghazi, but officials at the city’s Jalaa Hospital later reported that he had merely been injured in the neck. Hmmm.....Seems Turkey is the new "Place to be if you're a terrorist in need of medical help"Read the full story here.

What Is The Truth About Obama’s Brother And The Muslim Brotherhood?

What Is The Truth About Obama’s Brother And The Muslim Brotherhood?HT: Globalmbwatch.

The GMBDW has received numerous inquiries about reports that Kenyan citizen Malik Obama, the half brother of President Obama, is “one of the architects of the major investments of the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The claim appears to originate from recent statements by Tahani Al-Jebali, described as the former Chancellor of the Constitutional Court of Egypt. Ms. Al-Jebali has offered no evidence to date of her claim which we consider it to be outlandish on the face of it. However, in connection with this claim about Malik Obama, there those that have pointed to his alleged position with the Sudanese Islamic Dawa Organization (IDO) as support for the notion that he is a “major operative” of the Global Muslim Brotherhood.

The IDO is a Sudanese NGO that describes itself on its website as: Munazzamat al-Da’wa al-Islamiia is an international non-governmental religious organization; based in Khartoum , capital of sudan, founded in May 1980. The Munazzamat aims at spereading Islam courteously and gently and at providing social services to the deprived people in Africa regardless to colour , race or religion.The munazzamat claims liberty , justice and equality among people and it opposes racial discrimination. The Munazzamat is doing it’s best to spread tolerance and peace Among muslims and other religions followers , and to inspire the beautiful spiritual values of the religions which are meant for the welfare and happiness of mankind.

The IDO is headed by Field Marshal ‘Abd al-Rahman Siwar al-Dhahab described in a 2009 NEFA Foundation report as the Deputy Head of the Union of Good (UOG), a Hamas fund-raising organization headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. The NEFA report describes Al-Dhahab as follows:

Field Marshal ‘Abd al-Rahman Siwar al-Dhahab (Deputy) (Sudan) ‘Abd al-Rahman Siwaral-Dhahab is the former President of Sudan (1985-1989). During his term as President, Siwaral-Dhahab was close to the National Islamic Front (NIF), the political party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Dawa Organization, a Sudanese NGO working in Africa said to be close to Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Dawa Organization is also a [Union of Good] member organization.

Al-Dhahab was reported again in 2012 to be the IDO Chairman. It should also be noted that the Union of Good (UOG) was designated in 2008 by the US Treasury as a terrorist entity in connection with the financing of Hamas. Beyond Al-Dhahab’s role as a leader of the UOG, the IDO itself is one of the member organizations of the International Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief (IICDR,) an umbrella group for 86 Islamic organizations, many of which are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas fundraising, or support for Al Qaeda.

So, what exactly is the role of Malik Obama in the IDO and what evidence is there for the notion that he is a “major operative” of the Global Muslim Brotherhood? It has been reported that Malik Obama is the Executive Secretary of the IDO but there is no evidence that he has any role in the Sudanese parent organization. He is not identified on the IDO website as a Trustee nor could any mention of him be found on the website or anywhere else as an IDO officer. A 2012 Saudi media report does identify Malik Obama as the Executive Secretary of the Kenyan IDO branch and photos from Malik Obama’s Foundation website do identify its Kenya compound as the site of the Kenyan branch of the Munazzamat al-Da’wa al-Islamiia (IDO) as well as of the “Women’s Section” of the Al-Islah Society of Bahrain, known to be the Muslim Brotherhood of Bahrain. Other Foundation photos show Malik Obama at a 2010 IDO Board of Directors Conference in Khartoum, Sudan including photos of him together with Field Marshal Al-Dhahab.

Given all of the above, it certainly can be said that Malik Obama appears to be serving as an officer of the Kenyan branch of the IDO, an organization that sits clearly in the midst of an important Islamist/Global Muslim Brotherhood organization and headed by an individual who is a both a close associate of Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and who is tied to Hamas fundraising though the Union of Good (UOG).

Yet, still missing is any evidence that Malik Obama himself is a “major operative” of the Global Muslim Brotherhood and the GMBDW has never come across his name in connection with any other organization, meeting, conference, or anything else connecting him to the rest of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. It seems to us that more likely than being an important Brotherhood operative that instead, Malik Obama was welcomed into the IDO organization precisely because of the prestige that his relationship to President Obama brings or is perceived to bring with him.

That said, the GMBDW wonders about the propriety of Malik Obama’s Foundation being awarded tax-exempt status by the Department of Treasury given his apparent role in an organization headed by an individual who is a leader in a Treasury Department designated terrorist entity as described above.

"The War on Christianity" Two Christian Churches in Egypt Attacked By Muslims This Week.

"The War on Christianity" Two Christian Churches in Egypt Attacked By Muslims This Week.(Aina).By Mary Abdelmassih.

The escalation of Muslim attacks on Christian churches in Egypt continues unabated. This week two attacks were carried out, one in Alexandria and one in Menbal in Upper Egypt -- both allegedly prompted by harassment of Muslim women. Yesterday the church of St. Mary, in the Dakhela district, west of Alexandria, was attacked by Molotov cocktails and bricks, causing the gate to burn and the breaking of most of the stained glass windows. One Copt was killed and several injured.

According to the official police explanation, the Copt Basem Ramzy Michael was seen by the Muslim Hamada Alloshy, a registered criminal, allegedly extending his body from his balcony to gaze at the flat of Alloshy's sister, who lives on the ground floor. A quarrel broke out and when the church was attacked, hundreds of Copts hurried to the area to defend the church, among whom was 36-year-old Sedky Sherif, a father of three children. According to his nephew Rabah, who was with him at the time of his death, 1000 Copts were present and were attacked by over 20,000 Muslims, who were firing bird shots at them and throwing bricks.
While the church was being attacked the Muslims were shouting "Allahu Akbar." Security forces were sent out to diffuse the situation and disperse the crowd. They made several arrests on both sides.

According to the Security report, the Copt "died of fright," suffering a heart attack after hearing the sound of gun fire. According to his family and those who saw him, his body was full of bruises and marks from bird shots.

The family and relatives of Sedky Sherif waited this morning at Kom el Dekka morgue to receive his body and the results of the autopsy. A death certificate was issued quoting cause of death as "under investigation." Weesa Fawzy from Al-Kalema Human Rights Center said that this was the first time that a death certificate is issued and the cause of death is still under investigation. "Has he been seen by the forensics team or not, so how are they still investigating when the body is already buried?"

Coptic Mina Milad Saber, 19 years, was severely injured in yesterday's attack and underwent brain surgery, but this morning he was found shackled to his bed by the police for fear he might escape, although he is still in a coma.

Most Christians who were injured during the attack either went privately for treatment or quietly left hospital, "as it will end by them being arrested too," said Weesa Fawzy.

On May 13, in the village of Menbal, district of Matay, north of Minya province, a Muslim mob stormed the village church of Prince Tadros el-Mashreki and assaulted a person inside. They hurled stones and broke everything inside the church, including doors and windows. The mob then went along the streets looting and destroying all Coptic-owned businesses and pharmacies and torching cars. The Copts were also threatened to be expelled from the village. According to witnesses, any Copt who was met by the mob in the street was beaten up.

Attorney Dr. Ehab Ramzy, former MP, said that Menbal has a Muslim majority while Manshiet Menbal, 10 kilometers away, has a Coptc majority. In the afternoon of that day three Muslim youths went to Manshiet Menbal and harassed Coptic girls as they came out of church. "As they drove by, the Muslims threw plastic bags filled with urine at the girls," Ramzy said. "The Coptic youth defended the girls and, being outnumbered, the Muslims left." A couple of hours later Muslims congregated and attacked the church and the Coptic minority in village of Menbal.

"The two villages have nothing to do with each other, and Copts in Menbal have nothing at all to do with the quarrel that took place in Manshiet Menbal. They were attacked just because they are Christians," said Ramzy. Two Muslims were arrested from Menbal, and there is talk of a "reconciliation" meeting to be held. "Now security are looking for Christians to arrest them as a bargaining chip for this forthcoming "reconciliation" meeting," said Dr Ramzy.

Video - Tahrir Square Friday Sermon: Egyptian Preacher Calls to Kill Hamas Members in Egypt and to Send President Morsi to Jail.

Tahir Square Friday Sermon: Egyptian Preacher Calls to Kill Hamas Members in Egypt and to Send President Morsi to Jail. Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by an Egyptian cleric at Tahrir Square, which was posted on the Internet on March 22, 2013.

Egyptian cleric: Oh people of Syria, rise up today. Do not let any foreigner remain in your country. Kill any armed man you find, in order to avenge the killing of Sheik Al-Bouti.

Oh Egyptians, beware! If you encounter a Hamas member who supports the Muslim Brotherhood, in any Egyptian province – it is permitted to kill him, because he has violated the sanctity of our country.

We say to the people of Gaza: Take to the streets in order to topple Hamas. They have killed the [Egyptian] soldiers.

(Leading the people in a chant) The people want to topple the regime.

The people want to topple the regime. […]

Stop glorifying [Morsi]. He is no president and no doctor. He is an elementary-school dropout. He is mentally insane. He is an escaped convict, and we will send him back to jail.

[…] I swear to God that Morsi did not even get an elementary-school diploma. How could he possibly have obtained such a diploma if he does not even know that it was Ibn Al-Nafis, and not Al-Biruni, who discovered the circulation of the blood? How could he possibly have obtained a Ph.D. from a university if he does not know that Pakistan did not take part in the 1973 [Arab-Israeli] war?

Note: The reference is to various factual errors made by President Morsi on March 18 in an address at Pakistan's National University of Science and Technology, where he was presented with an honorary Ph.D.

We say to Morsi: Dr. Abdel Kader Helmy sends his regards. Remember him? He is the Egyptian scientist who discovered the black carbon [sic]. You betrayed him and turned him in to the American intelligence.

Note: The reference is to a former rocket scientist who was convicted by a U.S. court in 1989 of attempting to illegally export restricted rocket material – white carbon – to Egypt.

Oh Morsi, by Allah, prison is very near.Source: Memri.

Egypt prosecutor orders apprehension and arrest of five opposition activists.

Egypt prosecutor orders apprehension and arrest of five opposition activists accused by the Muslim Brotherhood of inciting attacks on headquarters.(AO).a statement from the prosecutor's office said.

Those ordered arrested included Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a prominent blogger; Ahmed Domah, a member of the Popular Current; and Hazem Abdel-Azeem, a leading member in the oppostion National Salvation Front.

The five were also banned from travel.

Earlier on Monday, Abdel-Moneim Maksoud, the Muslim Brotherhood's lawyer, had filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general against 169 individual including party heads, politicians, and "thugs" accusing them of inciting violence against the group. South Cairo's General Prosecution on Monday summoned Mohamed Abul Ghar, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and other political figures to hear their testimony in the allegations against them of instigating attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Mokattam.

South Cairo Prosecution also summoned other political activists including Free Egyptians Party member Mahmoud El-Alaily, member of the Revolution Youth Coalition Khaled Telima, and Hazem Abdel-Azeem.Abdel-Moneim Maksoud, the Brotherhood's lawyer, filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general against 169 individual including party heads, politicians, and "thugs" on Monday.

The prosecution earlier listened to the testimony of a large number of injured protesters from the Brotherhood who accused a number of political figures and party members of instigating the attacks.

The Brotherhood protesters accused Abul Ghar, El-Alaily, Abdel Hameed, Telima, and activists Ahmed Domah and Alaa Abdel-Fatah.

Proesters also accused Khaled Ali, a renowned lawyer and activist, Nawara Negm, revolutionary activist, Bothaina Kamel, TV presenter, Ziad El-Olimy, member of Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Takadum El-Khateeb, member of National Association for Change.Hmmmm......The Muslim brotherhood Dictatorship is starting, welcome to Egypt ....Iranian style.Read the full story here.

Hamas elections in Cairo called off over 'political tensions'.

Hamas elections in Cairo called off over 'political tensions'.(AO).Palestinian group Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, will not hold elections for its political bureau in Cairo, after being asked by Egyptian authorities to wait until existing political tensions in the country diminish.

The movement usually holds its elections every four years in Syria, where its main foreign headquarters are located, but this year had initially planned to hold polls in Cairo.

“There is a desire by Hamas to hold elections in Cairo, as the most adequate place. However, the delegation was advised not to due to current circumstances,” a source from the Muslim Brotherhood who requested anonymity told Ahram Online.

Recently, a number of media outlets have quoted “military sources” accusing members of Al-Qassam Brigades - the armed wing of Hamas - of being behind the attack on Egyptian border guards that took place last August and left 16 guards dead.

Hamas has vehemently denied the accusations.

The source said that the meeting between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hamas delegation at the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo's Mokattam on Sunday was not held to discuss the accusations against the movement.

The meeting only dealt with issues related to Hamas, stressed the source.

Khaled Meshaal, current head of the movement's political bureau, has stated that he doesn’t intend to run for the bureau's leadership again.

Several members within the movement are calling for his re-election, with some suggesting the creation of a new post for Meshaal as “a historic leader for the movement.”Read the full story here.

Jordanian King Abdullah: PM Erdogan views democracy as ‘bus ride,’

Jordanian King Abdullah: PM Erdogan views democracy as ‘bus ride,’. (HD).Jordanian King Abdullah II has criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying the prime minister views democracy as a “bus ride.”

Erdoğan is merely promoting a softer version of Islamism, the king told the Atlantic magazine in an interview. “Erdoğan once said that democracy, for him, is a bus ride,” King Abdullah said. “‘Once I get to my stop, I’m getting off,’ [Erdoğan said].” King Abdullah paid a two-day official visit to Turkey earlier this month, where he shed tears as he visited Anıtkabir, the mausoleum dedicated to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey.

The King sees Erdoğan as a more restrained and savvier version of Mohamed Morsi, according to the interview. “Instead of the Turkish model, taking six or seven years, [instead of] being an Erdoğan, Morsi wanted to do it overnight,” the King said.

“There is no depth there,” Abdullah reportedly told the Atlantic of he and Morsi’s discussion on Hamas. “I was trying to explain to him how to deal with Hamas, how to get the peace process moving, and he was like, ‘The Israelis will not move.’ I said, ‘Listen, whether the Israelis move or don’t move, it’s how we get Fatah and Hamas ‘together.’” When Morsi remained fixated on the Israelis, the King said, he tried to reiterate the importance of sorting out “the mess” on the Palestinian side.

“There’s no depth to the guy,” he repeated of Morsi.Hmmmm......The Islam 'Light' will just as well get to the same result, Morsi and Erdogan are not that different.Read the full story here.

Related: King Abdullah chides Atlantic interviewer, citing ‘fallacies’ in article

Qatar says no more financial aid to Egypt for now, will Turkey or Obama come to Morsi's rescue?

Qatar says no more financial aid to Egypt for now, will Turkey or Obama come to Morsi's rescue?(Reuters). Qatar does not expect to give further financial aid to Egypt in the immediate term, Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal said on Monday.

"We already announced $5 billion," Kamal told Reuters, when asked how much aid Qatar had provided Egypt to date.

Asked whether Qatar expected to provide more, he replied: "Not yet." He did not elaborate.

A $4.8 billion grant from the IMF could stanch the bleeding, but it requires Egypt to accept austerity measures. Austerity remains deeply unpopular with most Egyptians, and politicians are reluctant to risk losing support among constituents.

With the IMF loan in limbo and Qatar now unwilling to help out, Egypt may be at the mercy of the White House, Turkey.....or IRAN!Hmmmm.....Starving people make weird choices. Read the full story here.

'Mutaweem a La Morsi' - Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood To Form Civilian 'police Units' With Other Islamist Groups.

'Mutaweem a La Morsi' - Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood To Form Civilian 'police Units' With Other Islamist Groups.(GMBR).Egyptian media is reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood is cooperating with other Islamist groups in order form to form civilian police units with powers of arrest. According to an Egypt Independent report:

Tue, 12/03/2013 Jama’a al-Islamiya and the Muslim Brotherhood announced Tuesday that they are working to form groups known as the civilian police in cooperation with other Islamist groups.The militias will be able to arrest people they deem to be criminals or breaking laws. Ahmed al-Iskandarani, a spokesman for the Jama’a al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party, said the groups would not take action if police were on the streets.

However, should police call for further strikes or withdrawals, community police groups would step in under the supervision of the Interior Ministry. ‘This system is applied in other countries,’ he said. To garner further support for the militias, the organizers have issued an open call online. The civilian police initiative is due to growing strike action of police across much of the country.

Many are also distrustful of the police after reports of torture and excessive force used against protesters.

Yehia al-Sherbini, coordinator of the Muslim Rebels Movement, said his group is willing participate as civilian police to maintain security and protect public and private property. ‘Islamist movements are capable of replacing the police,’ he said. ‘We can arrest outlaws and hand them over to the police or the army.’ ‘We already started organizing committees in the Assiut and Minya,’ he added.

Youth members of the Muslim Brotherhood also demanded on Tuesday that they be allowed retribution after the group’s supreme guide was insulted while dining at a restaurant in Citystars mall on Monday evening.

However, Brotherhood leadership is shrugging off the incident.‘It is a trivial incident,’ said Brotherhood member Islam Fares. ‘The prophet himself was insulted and pelted with stones.’ He added that Egyptians are not known for such behavior and called for residents to respect each other.”Hmmmm.....Obama: "Morsi is a strait shooter"....yup only who's the target?Read the full story here.

U.S. lawmakers 'finally' call for review of Obama 'Admin' financial aid to Egypt.

U.S. lawmakers 'finally' call for review of Obama 'Admin' financial aid to Egypt.(AA).As President Mohamad Mursi opens national dialogue on the trajectory of Egypt, members of the United States House of Representatives do the same.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa held a hearing discussing the changes in Egypt over the last two years, and the future of U.S. policy, particularly U.S. aid, in the near future.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Ilena Ros-Lehtinen introduced House Resolution 416, a bill that would limit specific military and economic aid to Egypt if certain standards are not met by the current government. The bill states that foreign aid to Egypt should only be used to further U.S. national security interests in the country and the advancements of freedom in Egypt.

“We should not be providing funds without condition to the Muslim Brotherhood-led government that is not conforming to democratic principles, and is not on the right path to fulfill its obligations to the international community and to its own citizens,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
Ros-Lehtinen’s colleagues stand somewhat divided regarding aid to Mursi’s tumultuous regime. Members discussed foreign aid to Egypt with a panel of Washington experts, specifically in light of the country’s current and future political environment.
“Despite my objections to many aspects of the current Egyptian government, I cautiously support our military and economic assistance in Egypt but only if we can be certain that our aid is used in the smartest and most effective way possible, only if it protects the security interests of the United States and our allies,” said ranking member Congressman Theodore Deutch.
Elliott Abrams, former foreign policy advisor to two U.S. Presidents, made the point that in two years, the country of Egypt has changed profoundly, but U.S. foreign aid has remained the same. “We need to take a bottom to top look at our aid program, the timing, the conditionality and the composition,” Abrams said.
Abrams argued that aid must be reassessed for numerous reasons, one being the current floundering of the Egyptian economy.
Many Egyptians are living “hand to mouth” and Adams said this is directly correlated to government turmoil. “Egypt cannot solve its economic problems until it solves its political problems… the political crisis and the economic crisis are linked,” Abrams said. 
Many concerns rose over Mursi’s recently unearthed anti-Semitic comments and the future of the 1979 treaty, but those in the hearing disagreed over the degree of this threat.

Katrina Lantos Swett, the head of a U.S. government watchdog group that monitors religious freedom abroad, said that Mursi’s words showed how the Egyptian society is embedded with what she called “deplorable” attitudes; attitudes that she thinks could lead to violence in times of desperation.“Anti-Semitism continues to be deep-seated and pervasive throughout both society and government,” Swett said. 

She added that in much of Egyptian public discourse, Jews are inseparable from Israel, and this could lead to enhanced conflicts in the future if the Egyptian government does not adopt democratic principles.
Congresswoman Grace Meng said Egypt’s government needs to be careful to over-enhance Israel. “Egypt must recognize that its greatest threat is not Israel, but rather the scourge of extremism and violence that is overtaking its country and threatening the stability of its neighbors,” she said.
Though this piece of legislation is likely to be sidelined by more pressing issues in Congress, the introduction of Ros-Lehtinen’s bill shows a shift in the previously hands-off U.S. policy toward the Mursi regime. Read the full story here.

Obama urges Egyptian leader to protect democratic principles, while approving $2.5 million order of Tear gas to crush protests.

Obama urges Egyptian leader to protect democratic principles, while approving $2.5 million order of Tear gas to crush protests.(AA). President Barack Obama urged Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to protect democratic principles in Egypt and work to build political consensus as he prepares for parliamentary elections.
Obama and Mursi spoke by telephone on Tuesday, a White House statement said.
Liberal and leftist parties in Egypt have vowed to boycott the parliamentary elections to protest against a law they say favors Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
This has raised the prospect of an election fought mostly between the Muslim Brotherhood and more hardline Islamist groups. The elections are planned in four stages between late April and June.
“The president welcomed President Mursi’s commitment to serving as a president for all Egyptians, including women and people of all faiths, and emphasized President Mursi’s responsibility to protect the democratic principles that the Egyptian people fought so hard to secure,” the White House said.
Obama encouraged Mursi and all political groups within Egypt, to try to build consensus and advance the political transition, according to the statement.
Meanwhile the Egyptian Interior Ministry has won U.S. approval to order 140,000 tear gas cannisters from an American company. The Egyptian procurement was coordinated with the Defense Ministry, the leading recipient of U.S. assistance. “The permit from the U.S. government was obtained after removing the company’s name and country of origin written on the items,” an Interior Ministry memorandum said.
On Feb. 25, the State Department confirmed the tear gas export to Egypt.
Officials said Washington was urging training of Egyptian security forces in the use of the tear gas. “When used appropriately these products can save lives and protect property,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. The Egyptian correspondence said the shipment — which consisted of 70,000 gas bombs and 70,000 long-range gas projectiles — was delayed, which required the intervention of the Defense Ministry.Hmmmm......'Deceit is the mother of all warfare tactics'.Read the full story here.

'Islamist' Egypt calls for the removal of ‘shameful’ Paris statue of French archaeologist Champollion.

'Islamist' Egypt calls for the removal of ‘shameful’ Paris statue of French archaeologist Champollion.(AA).Egyptian archeologists have condemned the Paris statue of Jean François Champollion, the French archaeologist who deciphered hieroglyphics, as “derogatory” and “shameful.”
The reason is that Champollion appears on the statue standing with his left foot on a Pharaonic head.
The statue was carved in 1875 by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and is located in the main courtyard of the Collège de France.
Al Ahram Online reported on Tuesday that Egyptian archaeologists have condemned the statue as “derogatory toward Egyptian Civilization,” in a letter sent to the Egyptian foreign and antiquities ministries. The archaeologists also urged the French government to remove the “shameful statue.”
Omar al-Hadary, chairman of the Tourism and Antiquities Committee of the Revolutionary Youth Federation, demanded that government ban all French archeological missions until the statue is removed and the French government Issue an apology to Egyptians, according to Al Ahram Online.
The news website quoted Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as saying that he would send an official complaint to the French mission in Cairo and to the French minister of culture.
“Such a statue disturbs the cultural relationship between Egypt and France which has been good since the French expedition to Egypt,” Ibrahim told Ahram Online.
Al-Masry Al-Youm had reported in January that al-Hadary warned of increased hatred to the West if the statue is not removed.
“This will make us hate the West more,” he said. “The French learned a hard lesson during their campaign that Egypt gained independence with the blood and lives of its sons.”
“The French government must remove this shameful statue or we will make thousands of insulting statues to put in all squares of Egypt and outside the French Embassy,” Hadary added, according to the Al-Masry Al-Youm.Hmmmm......Egypt Better sort out first their own 'stable'.‘Destroy the idols,’ Egyptian jihadist calls for removal of Sphinx, Pyramids.Read the full story here.

Egypt - April 6 nominates President Morsi for a 'trip to space'.

Egypt - April 6 nominates President Morsi for a 'trip to space'.(AO).He may not have worked for NASA in his youth but President Morsi could yet find himself in space if an influential Egyptian opposition group has its way.
The April 6 Youth Movement, firm opponents of the president, has nominated him in a competition for a much-coveted seat on a spaceship bound for the Earth's orbit.
The online worldwide contest is run by Axe, a brand of male grooming products. Its call appeared to have garnered support from many, with Morsi making a rapid progress to move into second place with 9,703 votes. Fellow Egyptian Ahmed Haggagovic, a well known adventurer, tops the list with 14,112 votes.
“The president is taking concrete steps towards space. Your support is vital to transmit our renaissance experience to our sister-planets,” the 6 April Movement, which played a key role in organising the protests which eventually toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, said on its Facebook page.
Morsi was ridiculed by his opponents after claiming during his election campaign that he used to work as an adviser for NASA. He later denied that he had worked for the US space agency.
The 6 April Movement has staunchly opposed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, during the past few months for what it believes as their attempts to monopolize power.
Morsi’s critics also argue that he failed to deliver on his promises during his first seven months in office.
His trip to the space might give him the chance to replicate his Egyptian success, but in another part of the universe, 6 April believes.
“If Morsi got your votes, he would travel to the moon and rule there. Definitely, he will find people there who would be patient and kind and would accept murder, tyranny and dictatorship,” the group said.Hmmmm.....Ahmadinejad: ""I'm ready to be the first Iranian to sacrifice myself for our country's scientists,"Rumor has it that Ahmadinejad speaks of a 'Zionist Plot'.Read the full story here.

"Forward" - ‘Brotherhoodization’ of Egypt jeopardizes economy.

"Forward" - ‘Brotherhoodization’ of Egypt jeopardizes economy.(AA).Two years after a pro-democracy uprising, Egypt resembles a rickety bus rolling towards a cliff, its passengers too busy feuding over blame to wrench the steering wheel to safety.
Foreign exchange reserves are dwindling. Tourism is moribund. Investment is at a standstill. Subsidized diesel fuel and fertilizer are in short supply, while the cost of subsidies is swelling the budget deficit unsustainably.
The Egyptian pound has lost 14 percent of its value since the 2011 revolt. Dollars are scarce. An IMF loan that could unlock wider aid is on hold. Unemployment is rising. Public security has deteriorated, and arms smuggling is rife.
With little regard for the looming economic cliff, politicians in the most populous Arab nation are trading blows over an Islamist-tilted constitution, political violence and an alleged power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood.
To President Mohamed Mursi and his supporters in the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, this is just a tough home stretch in Egypt’s delayed transition to democracy.
With the strongest national machine, they confidently expect to win parliamentary elections in April or May, completing their conquest of the new democratic institutions, then set about reforming the country along conservative Islamic lines.
“We are going through a bottleneck,” said Essam Haddad, the president’s national security adviser.
“We’d like to get through this bottleneck as quickly as possible, and without cracking the bottle.”
Cash injections from Qatar, the Brotherhood’s main foreign backer, are holding the country’s head just above water, and Haddad says a big informal economy will keep Egypt going.
Others are less sure. U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson warned this month that the dearth of foreign currency could cause food and fuel shortages and put social stability at risk in a country where two-fifths of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
Contacts with the International Monetary Fund continue by telephone and email, but there is no sign of an IMF mission returning to Egypt to conclude a $4.8 billion loan agreement vital to stabilize the economy.
The IMF demanded in December that Egypt amend its economic adjustment program to qualify for the loan. Diplomats say an IMF deal could unlock up to $12 billion in funding from a range of sources including the World Bank, the European Union, the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
Haddad made clear the government would not risk implementing before polling day the unpopular subsidy cuts and austerity measures required by the global lender.
“It is very well known by the IMF that nobody would do such an action just before the elections,” he said. “However, our message is very clear. These reforms are essential for the economic recovery. There is no other choice.”
The opposition intelligentsia in Cairo and young street activists who spearheaded the anti-Mubarak uprising and feel their revolution has been confiscated, denounce what they call a growing “Brotherhoodization” - a drive to infiltrate and control all institutions.
Dan Kurzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Cairo now teaching at Princeton University, said Egypt was only in “round three of a 15-round heavyweight contest.”
Among the players in the ring, he sees the Brotherhood, the military, the internal security forces, the revolutionary street, and what he called “the fourth heavyweight - old regime loyalists who may be off balance, in jail or in exile but who will be energized if the economy collapses.”Hmmmm.......Egypt seems for sale to the highest bidder....thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Obama Admin....... I can't help wondering if the IMF doesn't come over the bridge will Morsi accept the money Ahmadinejad proposed?Read the full story here.

Obama's new BFF Morsi splashes the cash as many Egyptians can’t afford to eat.

Obama's new BFF Morsi splashes the cash as many Egyptians can’t afford to eat.(AA).Reports that Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi recently sent his family and friends on an expensive vacation that consisted of a private jet ride to the Red Sea resort town of Taba and the booking of 12 rooms at the Hilton has caused outrage in country, battered by an ongoing political and economic crisis.
Earlier this week, an official at the Taba resort told the Egyptian newspaper, Almasry Alyoum, that Mursi’s family arrived on Wednesday. The official also said Mursi’s family reserved 12 rooms at the Hilton Hotel, which overlooks the Red Sea, and in addition to the Mursi clan wives of officials from the Freedom and Justice Party came to stay.
Egyptian screenwriter Wahed Hamed on Sunday spoke out against the alleged luxurious vacation.. Hamed, in remarks published in the Egyptian daily Al-Shrouq, asked who was paying the bill for the 12 reserved rooms.
“The country is poor, and the [rate of hunger] increases every day. Mursi’s [financial] resources do not allow these huge expenses. And since when has Mursi’s family traveled via a private jet?” he added.
Almasry Alyoum reported the president’s family, as well as the others who accompanied them, returned to Cairo on Saturday afternoon, on a private jet.
An official at the Smart Aviation Company said expenses for the flight per hour costs 6,000 U.S dollars. The official added that the total cost encompasses the time from when the jet was prepared for travel and until it lands at its destination.
Radwan Salam, head of the Smart Aviation Company, said he did not know who rented the jet which Mursi’s family boarded, Almasry Alyoum added.
During an interview with the channel An-Nahar on Saturday evening, Hamed, the Egyptian screen writers, acknowledged that Mursi’s wife, Najlaa Mahmoud, may have “nothing to do with politics.” But she “must look at the poor citizens.”
Reports on the alleged expenses of the vacation were also not well-received on the social networking website Twitter. One user tweeted: “I thank all the respectful citizens who paid the price for the Taba vacation.”
Another wrote: “All of this is from the citizens’ pockets.”
News of the president’s family’s vacation comes during a week of deadly clashes, which killed at least one leaving up to 48 people injured. On Friday, heated demonstrations kicked of riots between security forces and protestors in front of the presidential palace.Hmmmm.....'Let them eat falafel'? Read the full story here.

VIDEO: Egyptian police strip, beat man in front of presidential palace.

Footage from Al-Hayat satellite channel shows security forces stripping a grown man naked and beating him in front of Egypt's presidential palace on Friday, 1 February 2013.HT: Ahram.

Live Updates: Teargas, Molotov cocktails are being thrown into Morsi's palace gardens on Egypt's 'Friday of Deliverance'.

Live Updates: Teargas, Molotov cocktails are being thrown into Morsi's palace gardens on Egypt's 'Friday of Deliverance'.(AO).19:10 Security forces remove protesters’ tents that were erected outside the Presidential Palace before torching them.
19:15 Thousands of protesters remain assembled near the Presidential Palace but remain at a safe distance due to the continuous use of teargas by security forces. Protesters, for their part, continue to shoot fireworks at security personnel, Osman El-Sharnoubi reports.
“An armoured vehicle is now moving closer, firing volleys of teargas at protesters,” added Osman.

19:18 According to President Morsi’s official facebook page, a statement will soon be released by the president’s office. No further information is given.

19:05 According to the Freedom and Justice Party’s official Facebook page, four bullet-proof armoured vehicles were deployed by security forces near the presidential palace as clashes intensified.

19:00 Thousands are gathered at Ahly club stadium to commemorate the 72 Ahly football fans who were killed in last year’s Port Said football massacre. Present at the commemoration were families of the slain.

18:55 The April 6 Youth Movement has announced on its official Twitter account that it withdrew from the presidential palace when the clashes started and has nothing to do with what is going on there.
The April 6 Democratic Front also withdrew in protest at the use of violence.
“The protests started peacefully, the security even withdrew inside the palace; however, we were surprised to see the use of violence by some people,” Mohamed Youssef, spokesman of the 6 April Democratic Front told CBC channel, condemning the violence and stressing that the revolution had always been a peaceful one.

18:50 Hundreds of protesters are heading from Tahrir Square to the Shura Council in a rally . There are reports that the protesters will start a sit-in.
In the Delta city of Kafr El-Sheikh, 18 protesters and CSF soldiers were injured during clashes between protesters and police forces, reports Al-Ahram Arabic website. Clashes reportedly intensifed when police forces fired a heavy round of teargas at protesters, who hurled rocks at security forces during the protest in front of the governorate headquarters.
Five protesters were reportedly arrested during the clashes.

18:45 It seems as though the situation at the presidential palace is getting more tense, with lots of teargas being fired and protesters lighting flares and throwing Molotov cocktails.
Ahram Online’s Bel Trew reports that two or three hundred people are in front of the palace, and they have been pushed back to where the security baricade used to be in front of the Heliopolis Club. Three or four Central Security Forces armoured vehicles are facing the protesters, and police behind them are intermittendly firing teargas at the protesters. Ten ambulances are stationed nearby, with no confirmation of any injuries so far. Protesters are defiantly chanting “Leave means go” according to Trew. 

18:30 Ahram Online’s Osman El-Sharnoubi says protesters are starting to move away from the palace en masse as more tear gas is fired and armoured security vehicles are moving in the direction of protesters.

18:20 Teargas is being fired close to the presidential palace's main gate, reports Ahram Online's Osman El-Sharnoubi.

18:00 Some minor clashes have started at the presidential palace in Heliopolis between protesters and security forces. According to Ahram Online’s Salma Shukrallah, Molotov cocktails are being thrown into the palace gardens, causing a minor fire, while security forces are using water cannons against the protesters. Some protesters are starting to leave, apparently scared off by these incidents.Read the events as they take place here.