Egypt's Real Ruler: Mohamed Tantawi.

Egypt's Real Ruler: Mohamed Tantawi.(DanielPipes).

By Daniel Pipes and Cynthia Farahat
The Washington Times.

N.B.: Differs in small ways from the Washington Times version.

What does it mean that Mohamed Morsi is president of Egypt? Speaking for the American consensus, Bret Stephens recently argued in the Wall Street Journal against the consolation that the Muslim Brotherhood's victory "is merely symbolic, since the army still has the guns." He concluded that "Egypt is lost."
We shall argue to the contrary: the election was not just symbolic but illusory, and Egypt's future remains very much in play.
Morsi is not the most powerful politician in Egypt or the commander in chief. Arguably, he does not even run the Muslim Brotherhood. His job is undefined. The military could brush him aside. For the first time since 1954, Egypt's president is a secondary figure, assigned the functionary role long associated with its prime ministers.

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A picture of Morsi and Tantawi reveals the terms of their relationship: Not only is Tantawi sitting on the right side, where prior Egyptian presidents (Nasser, Sadat, Mubarak) ritualistically sat when hosting a visitor, but their meeting took place in the Ministry of Defense, not in the presidential palace, which protocol would normally require.

Mohamed Tantawi is the real ruler of Egypt. Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Field Marshall, and Minister of Defense, he serves not only as the commander in chief but also as effective head of all three Egypt's governmental branches. Tantawi is an autocrat with near-absolute powers. As chief representative of the military junta that has been ruling Egypt since February 2011, his mission is to extend the junta's rule indefinitely into the future, thereby assuring officers their perquisites and privileges.
SCAF exploits the Muslim Brotherhood and other proxies as its civilian fronts, a role they are happy to play, by permitting Islamists to garner an outsized percentage of the parliamentary vote, then to win the presidency. During the suspicious week-long delay before the presidential votes were announced, SCAF met with the Muslim Brotherhood's real leader, Khairat El-Shater, and reached a deal whereby Morsi became president but SCAF still governs.
To understand SCAF's power, note three actions it took in conjunction with the presidential elections:
Imposition of martial law: On June 13, the Justice Minister authorized the General Intelligence Services and military police to arrest civilians at will and incarcerate them for six months if they express any form of written or artist opposition against SCAF, the police, or their Islamist proxies, while protesting these same institutions on the streets can lead to life in prison.
Dissolution of parliament: On the grounds that the parliamentary elections of Nov. 2011-Jan. 2012, breached the constitution (which prohibits party candidates to run for "individual" seats), the Supreme Administrative Court ruled them invalid in February 2012. On June 14, the SCAF-controlled Supreme Constitutional Court confirmed this decision and dissolved parliament. In retrospect, it appears that SCAF, which oversaw those elections, intentionally allowed Islamists to break the law so as to have an excuse at will to dissolve Egypt's fraudulent parliament.
Establish the premise for martial law: SCAF issued a constitutional declaration on June 17 that formalized its intention to prolong the military's 60-year-old rule. Article 53/2 states that, in the face of internal unrest, "the president can issue a decision to direct the armed forces – with the approval of SCAF - to maintain security and defend public properties." The basis for a complete military takeover could hardly be more baldly asserted; Morsi's plan to reconvene the dissolved parliament could justify such an action.

Morsi took the oath of office before the Supreme Constitutional Court and not before the parliament. Score another symbolic victory for SCAF.

If foreigners are largely blind to SCAF's power play, Egyptians widely recognize this reality. The liberal April 6 Youth Movement called its recent actions "a soft coup d'état." Journalist Zainab Abu El-Magd bitterly noted that "political coups these days are done through 'fair elections'." Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies calls the dissolution of parliament a "blatant military coup." One Egyptian newspaper called Morsi "president without powers," while an Islamist compared him to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain.
SCAF is struggling to perpetuate the status quo, whereby the officer corps enjoys the good life and the rest of the country serves its needs. Making Morsi the apparent president of Egypt cleverly saddles him with responsibility as the country's economic problems worsen. But SCAF's tricks run great dangers and could backfire, for a population fed up with tyranny and backwardness finds itself with more of the same. The next explosion could make the uprising of early 2011 look tame.
To help avoid that next explosion, Western governments should adopt a policy of pressuring SCAF gradually to permit increasing genuine political participation.

Mr. Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and Taube fellow at the Hoover Institution. Ms Farahat, a fellow at the Forum, also works at the Center for Security Policy and Coptic Solidarity. © 2012 by Daniel Pipes and Cynthia Farahat. All rights reserved.

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Egypt’s parliament to reconvene as new crisis looms between Mursi and judiciary, million-man march planned for Tuesday

Egypt’s parliament to reconvene as new crisis looms between Mursi and judiciary, million-man march planned for Tuesday.(AA).Egypt’s lower house of parliament (People’s Assembly) will convene on Tuesday, at the call of Parliamentary Speaker Saad al-Katatni, following a decree by the country’s newly elected president Mohammed Mursi reinstating the assembly, which was dissolved following a ruling on June 14 by Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court. Egypt’s top court has rejected Mursi’s decree, setting him on a collision course with the military which says the rule of law must be respected. “All the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court are final and not subject to appeal... and are binding for all state institutions,” the court said in a statement Monday.
People’s Assembly Secretary General Sami Mahran was quoted by the online edition of the state-run al-Ahram as telling parliamentary correspondents on Monday that the assembly’s secretariat had “sent invitations to 508 MPs, asking them to return on July 10 and resume attending sessions and performing their parliamentary duties.” “MPs were allowed to enter the parliament building today [Monday] after they had been barred by security forces on June 14 following the Supreme Constitutional Court verdict that led to the dissolution of parliament’s lower house,” he said. Mursi’s surprise decree, according to Mahran, has overturned an order by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), commanding security forces to bar MPs from entering the parliament building. “Tantawi’s order is no longer valid,” Mahran was quoted as saying. “It expired today by virtue of Mursi’s decree in the latter’s capacity as president of the republic. “
Some MPs had declared on satellite television channels that they planned to resign from the assembly to object to Mursi’s order, but I have not received any written resignations,” he said. Ahmed al-Zind, the head of the powerful association of judges, gave Mursi a 36-hour ultimatum to rescind his decision and offer an apology to judges or face what he called “harsher” options. The SCAF, which ruled Egypt after former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year, underlined the “importance of the constitution in light of the latest developments,” the official MENA news agency reported. “The state will respect all aspects of the Constitutional Declaration,” stated the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday in reaction to Mursi’s decree. Egypt’s daily al-Masry al-Youm cited a statement by SCAF as stressing the necessity of respecting the rule of law, the constitution and governmental institutions to maintain the integrity of the Egyptian state and show respect to the Egyptian people. U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Egypt on July 14 to express U.S. support for the process of democratic transition in the U.S. ally state.The dispute over the fate of parliament has divided the nation just as Egyptians were looking forward to a semblance of stability after the tumult of the 17 months since the ouster of longtime authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. Egypt has seen a dramatic surge in crime, deadly street protests, a faltering economy and seemingly non-stop strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations.Hmmmm......"There will be blood?"Read the full story here.

Live Updates - Breaking!!!!! Mohamed Morsy declared winner of #Egypt's presidential elections

Live Breaking!!!!! Mohamed Morsy declared winner of #Egypt's presidential elections.(AlAhram).

Shafiq 12m 347,380 Mursi 13 million 230, etc. MURSI has it. 

16:25 All is calm inside Shafiq campaign headquarters, according to Ahram Online's Sarah El-Rashidi at the scene. "Everyone looks very relaxed and confident, with smiles on their faces," she tells us by phone. "Every time a violation is reported against Mursi, everyone claps."
 16:08 The head of the electoral commission says that of 456 appeals, two in particular caught their attention. The first related to a claim that upwards of one million voting ballots were found marked in favour of one candidate before they reached the polling station. The other claims Christians were stopped from casting their votes at one polling station in a village in the Upper Egypt governorate of Minya. But he says both alleged incidents could not be verified; in the first instance, SPEC could only identify close to 2,400 pre-marked ballots, in the second the turnout at the polling station in question was comparable in the runoffs to the first round. We're still awaiting the announcement of who's won...
 15:45 SPEC head Farouq Sultan embarks upon a longwinded prologue, reminiscent of Judge Ahmed Rifaat's speech before the announcement of Mubarak's verdict.
 15:40 The national anthem is played as the results will be announced immediately.
 15:35 Dozens of Mursi supporters are marching in the coastal city of Alexandria, political analyst and columnist Amro Ali tells Ahram Online. Ali says the crowd is marching to SCAF's headquarters in the northern part of the city from the Qiad Ibrahim mosque. They are calling for a second Egyptian revolution even before the results are announced.
 15:28 Tense expectation reigns at the central Cairo headquarters of Mohamed Mursi's campaign, according to Ahram Online's Yasmine Fathi at the scene. A press conference there is packed with reporters awaiting the result. A screen in the centre of the room shows live footage from Tahrir Square and other parts of Egypt. Members of the Freedom and Justice Party's High Committee are expected to arrive shortly.Read the full story here.

Live broadcast from Tahir square here.

Egypt’s military orders National Defense Council, increasing power.

Egypt’s military orders National Defense Council, increasing power.(BM).Cairo: Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) announced on Monday the formation of a National Defense Council with a majority of military men in charge.

1. The council will be in charge of national security and its power granted to the military.
2. The council will be headed by the president and will include 16 figures, 11 military personnel and five civilians.

The council is expected to create a storm of anger among Egyptians, who are still opposing to the new amended constitutional declaration the military issued on Sunday and in it, it grants itself greater powers and minimizes the president’s power and authority.
The declaration was called a “military coup” by activists and rights workers. They see it as an other step in militarizing the country.
The new president will be sworn in by the Supreme Constitutional Court instead of the lower house of the parliament.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi has claimed victory in the presidential run-off, although official results are not due until Thursday.
The tension and frustration began last Thursday, when the Supreme Constitutional Court appears to have dissolved parliament and annulled the political isolation law, granting former regime loyalists a chance to return to public life and politics.Read the full story here.

Pentagon ‘deeply concerned’ over Egyptian military’s move to stay in power.

Pentagon ‘deeply concerned’ over Egyptian military’s move to stay in power.(AA).The Pentagon said on Monday it was “deeply concerned” about the Egyptian military’s decree of an amended constitutional document which hands it sweeping powers, including legislative control. “We’re deeply concerned about new amendments to the constitution declaration, including the timing of their announcements as polls were closing for the presidential election,” spokesman George Little told reporters. According to the constitutional decree, the ruling military council (SCAF) will retain the powers to legislate until a new parliament is elected. The SCAF will also be responsible for deciding on all matters related to the armed forces and the head of SCAF, rather than the new president, will be the head of the armed forces until a new constitution is written. The president can only declare war with SCAF’s approval. If the assembly tasked with writing a new constitution faces any hurdles in completing its job, SCAF has one week to form another assembly that represents “all forces in society”. Egypt’s constitutional court effectively annulled the Islamist-dominated parliament last Thursday, ruling that a third of its members had been elected illegally, and the military subsequently informed the body that it considered it dissolved. Before the court ruling, the parliament had selected a constituent assembly to draft the constitution, replacing an earlier group that had been disbanded amid accusations of an Islamist monopoly. The Pentagon spokesman said the United States called on SCAF to hand over “full power” to civilian leaders as it has promised.“We support the Egyptian people and their expectation that the SCAF will transfer full power to a democratically elected civilian government, as the SCAF previously announced,” he said. “We have and will continue to urge the SCAF to relinquish power to civilian elected authorities,” he said.Hmmmm......Anyone still doubting with who Obama's BFF are?Read the full story here.

"CIVIL WAR NEXT?" - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 52 percent victory in presidential vote, Shafiq’s camp is accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.”

"CIVIL WAR NEXT?" - Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 52 percent victory in presidential vote, Shafiq’s camp is accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.”(AA).Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed a historic victory for their candidate Mohammed Mursi on Monday in the country’s first presidential vote since a 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak. “Doctor Mohammed Mursi is the first Egyptian president of the republic elected by the people,” the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said in the tweet that first announced their projected win. Mursi’s campaign director Ahmed Abdelati confirmed the projected victory. At a press conference he said Mursi had garnered 52.5 percent of the vote to 47.5 percent for his rival, ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, with the ballots from nearly all of the country’s 13,000 polling stations counted. “Its a moment that all the Egyptian people have waited for,” he said.But Shafiq’s camp was quick to contest the claim by the Brotherhood. “We reject it completely,” Shafiq campaign official Mahmoud Baraka told reporters of the Brotherhood’s proclaimed victory. “The campaign of Ahmed Shafiq is astonished by the conference of the FJP that represents a violation of the laws of the election commission,” Mahmoud Baraka, the media of Shafiq’s campaign, said, accusing the Brotherhood of “hijacking the election result.” “It is the only authority entitled to issue results, however our counting of the votes have so far showed that we are ahead with 52 percent of the vote but we refuse to break the law and issue any numbers now,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were scenes of jubilation at Mursi’s headquarters, where the candidate himself thanked Egyptians for their votes in brief remarks. Mursi said he would be a president for all Egyptians and said he would not “seek revenge or settle scores.”
“Thanks be to God who has guided Egypt’s people to the path of freedom and democracy, uniting the Egyptians to a better future,” Mursi said. He pledged to serve both those who voted for him and those who did not and also vowed to seek justice for those killed in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.More than 850 people died in the uprising, and dozens more have in violence since then. “To all the martyrs and to their families ... I pledge to return their rights through law and in a law-abiding nation,” Morsi said, speaking at the Cairo headquarters of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Brotherhood officials said the results were initial because there were still appeals to be filed. “We are reaching out to Shafiq’s campaign to end the elections race and competition and to part amicably as friends” Mursi campaign official Yasser Ali said. But shortly before the final result the generals who have run the country since the overthrow of Mubarak issued new rules in a constitutional declaration outlining the president’s powers that made clear real power remains with the army. We will sit with the military council to discuss the constitutional decree amendments which we refuse fully and will go to Tahrir Square next Tuesday to protest against these amendments,” Ali said. He also said Mursi would only accept to swear an oath before the parliament that was dissolved by a court order last week.
The jubilation at Mursi’s headquarters was overshadowed however by a looming showdown between the Brotherhood and the ruling military, which issued a new constitutional document shortly after polls closed on Sunday. The document issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces grants the body legislative powers after a top court on Thursday ordered the dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament. The document also gives SCAF veto power over the text of a new permanent constitution, and states that no new parliamentary vote will be held until after a permanent constitution is approved.
The declaration appeared to put the military on a collision course with the Brotherhood, which called the constitutional declaration “null and unconstitutional.” The document was issued after a Thursday ruling from the constitutional court, which found a third of the parliament’s members had been elected illegally, effectively ordering the dissolution of the body.The military informed parliament after the ruling that it considered it dissolved, and Sunday’s declaration confirmed it was retaking the legislative power it handed the body in January, after a drawn-out election process. “The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces shall exercise the powers referred to under the first clause of article 56 (on legislative power)... until the election of a new People’s Assembly,” the document reads.Such an election cannot be held until a new permanent constitution is written and adopted by a referendum, it adds. The writing of the new constitution will be carried out by a “constitutional commission representing all segments of the society” that will have three months to complete its work, the document says. It also grants SCAF a veto right over any article of a draft constitution it considers “contrary to the supreme interests of the country.” Egypt’s parliament has already appointed a constituent panel to replace an initial group that was dissolved over allegations it was Islamist-dominated. But the declaration leaves it unclear whether that panel will be able to continue its work, and gives SCAF the right to form a new panel if the current body “is prevented from doing its work.” It also stipulates that SCAF “as currently constituted, has the power to decide on all matters related to the armed forces, the nomination of its commanders and the extension of their service.”Hmmmm......Get ready for the 'real bloodshed'.Will Obama again support the Muslim Brotherhood?Read the full story here.

Update 1. Katatny: SCAF's Complementary Constitutional Declaration is Null and Void.(IW).Katatni tells SCAF complementary constitutional declaration is – for many reasons, evidently unconstitutional, as he rejects both the dissolution of the elected Parliament and SCAF’s addendum to the Constitutional Declaration.Read the full story here.

Update2. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims 53 percent victory in presidential vote.(AA).The latest statements from the Islamist group reveal Mursi has garnered 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for his rival, ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, with 99 percent of the ballots from nearly all of the country’s 13,000 polling stations counted. “Its a moment that all the Egyptian people have waited for,” he said.But Shafiq’s camp was quick to contest the claim by the Brotherhood. “We reject it completely,” Shafiq campaign official Mahmoud Baraka told reporters of the Brotherhood’s proclaimed victory.Read the full story here.

Muslim Brotherhood pushing for confrontation with Army, "Parliament was Created by Popular Will; Can Only Be Dissolved by Popular Will."

Muslim Brotherhood pushing for confrontation with Army, "Parliament was Created by Popular Will; Can Only Be Dissolved by Popular Will."(IW).The Muslim Brotherhood reminded that Parliament was elected by pure popular will. It added that the Constitutional Declaration does not confer on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) the power to dissolve parliament, which means that SCAF’s recent rush to grab legislative power was illegitimate, indeed a coup against the democratic process as a whole, taking us back to square one.
In a statement, Saturday, the Brotherhood denied that the Supreme Constitutional Court’s verdict meant dissolution of the whole Parliament. It further condemned SCAF’s claim that its indefensible actions were based on the Constitutional Declaration. The statement pointed out that Parliament was created by popular will, that billions of pounds were spent from state coffers on the exhausting marathon elections that created it, and that it was SCAF itself that passed the law on which parliamentary elections were conducted.
The Brotherhood’s statement, addressing the Egyptian people, further added that the blessed revolution was launched to effect change and to march on the path of democracy – which was proven by thirty million Egyptians turning out to cast their votes in free and fair legislative elections. The organization warned of steps taken by SCAF to turn back the clock, through the issuance, by the Minister of Justice, of a decision to grant military intelligence officers broad state-of-emergency powers to arrest and detain civilians without judicial warrant - which effectively reproduces the climate of terror and oppression of bygone dark times, and obliterates the people’s hopes of democracy. Furthermore, the Brotherhood’s statement exhorted the great Egyptian people to be vigilant and positive and to come out en force to vote in the runoff presidential elections, to protect the democratic gains, to prevent all hidden hands from forging their will and replicating the despotic former regime. It pointed out that the organization will not stand by as a silent spectator of attempts to eliminate the goals of the revolution for freedom and democracy.The PA Speaker mentioned that the Constitutional Declaration issued on March 30, 2011, which governs all state institutions and establishments, is devoid of any implicit or explicit mention of any body or authority entitled to implement or impose such a ruling. Dr. Katatni further added that he referred the verdict to the PA’s Committee on Constitutional and Legislative Affairs for consultation with professors of constitutional law, to determine how to best deal with this provision. He asserted that the PA was elected by the free will of the people. Thus, it is not permissible for any authority or state institution to issue a decision to dissolve it, except through a constitutional referendum in accordance with the constitutional precedents of 1987 and 1990.Read the full story here and here.More here from Al Arabia.

Egypt - 220 detained in Abbassiya, including 14 female protesters, 18 journalists assaulted, injured or arrested in Cairo, including one female Belgian photojournalist.

                   Abbassiya demonstration, May 4, 2012 – photo Amanda Mustard for Bikya Masr


Egypt - 220 detained in Abbassiya, including 14 female protesters, 18 journalists assaulted, injured or arrested in Cairo, including one female Belgian photojournalist.(BM).The Egyptian military arrested around 220 people, including journalists and media persons, following the forced evacuation of the Abbassiya sit-in on Friday. Among the detained are 14 women and 8 journalists, reported the Legal Front to Defend Egypt’s protesters. The non-profit legal front reported that the military prosecutor investigating the detainees harassed lawyers and refused to let them enter the prosecutor’s office initially. They asked for “special permission” to give legal assistance to the arrested protesters. One woman lawyer said she was told, “women are not allowed in the prosecutor office after 5 pm.” 14 out of the 15 women arrested were handed 15 days in prison pending investigation. The women were taken to the Qantarah female detention on Saturday. At least 18 journalists have been assaulted, injured, or arrested in the past three days while covering clashes between protesters and thugs and uniformed military personnel in front of the defense ministry in the neighborhood of Abbassiya in Cairo. The report comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Authorities cannot stand by while journalists are being beaten–at times so viciously that their lives are put at risk,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “We call on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to identify the attackers and bring them to justice immediately, as well as to release journalists in custody. Journalists must be allowed to carry out their work without threat of physical assault or arrest.” Intense clashes in front of the defense ministry between protesters on the one hand and armed thugs and uniformed military personnel on the other began on Wednesday with at least 11 people killed and hundreds injured, according to news reports. The demonstrations began as a sit-in protesting the exclusion of presidential candidate, Abu Ismail, a hard-line Salafist. Other groups soon joined. The protests were largely in response to the deaths in Wednesday’s clashes, news reports said. The military stepped in today to clear protesters out of Abbassiya Square; the demonstrators were met not only by uniformed personnel but also unidentified thugs with guns and batons, firing birdshot, live ammunition and assaulting hundreds of people. Mohamed Raafat was the most badly injured.
A reporter for the news website Masrawy, he was beaten and pelted with birdshot by three unidentified armed men who noticed him filming them as they were assaulting protesters on Wednesday in Abbassiya, his employer reported. The three men confiscated his camera and continued to beat the journalist for one hour, Raafat said in a phone interview from his hospital bed on privately owned satellite broadcaster ONTV. Rafaat was severely beaten, as shown in several graphic photographs of him published on Masrawy’s website after his assault. Raafat sustained multiple injuries to his head, back, face, and the rest of his body, he said. The journalist was taken to the hospital and received 25 stitches in his head, he saidin the interview.
Today, Abd al-Rahman Yousef, a photographer for the independent news site Hoqook, was taking pictures of the clashes when an unidentified man approached him with a knife and cut part of his ear off, his employer reported. Yousef has been unable to reach a hospital due to the military surrounding the square and preventing anyone from getting out, the report said. Ahmed Ramadan and Islam Abu al-Ezz, both working for the independent daily Al-Badil, were arrested today while covering the clashes in Abbassiya, according to the newspaper. The two journalists were assaulted and captured by unidentified thugs and handed over to the military, the report said. The two journalists were taken in a military vehicle to the military prosecutor’s office, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Khaled el-Balshy, posted on his Twitter account. A crew of seven cameramen and correspondents from the satellite broadcaster Misr25 — Ahmed Lotfy, Hassan Khodry, Ahmed Fadl, Musaab Hamid, Ahmed Abd al-Alim, Mohamed Rabie, and Mohamed Amin — was arrested today while covering the clashes, the broadcaster reported on the air. Abd al-Alim told Misr25 that he and about 70 other people who were being transported in a vehicle by security forces were being viciously beaten, the broadcaster said.
Virgine Nyugen, a Belgian photojournalist for the English-language daily Egypt Independent, was injured in the face while covering clashes in Abbassiya today and taken to Ein Shams hospital for treatment, according to news reports. Military forces entered the hospital and arrested her and took her to a state security office, multiple local journalists reported from their Twitter accounts. She was questioned briefly and released three hours later, according to the same sources. Mohamed al-Shami, a journalist from the Arabic-language sister publication Al-Masry Al-Youm, was also arrested, Abeer Saadi, an Egyptian Journalists Syndicate board member, told Al-Badil. Abd al-Rahman Musharaf, a reporter for Egypt’s newest daily, Al-Watan, was arrested and beaten today by military police while covering the clashes in Abbassiya and remains in custody, his employer reported. Three other Al-Watan journalists covering the clashes — Mohamed Kamel, Ahmed Abdu, and Ahmed Bahnasi — were rushed to the hospital suffering the effects of tear gas, the newspaper reported.Read the full story here and here.

Egypt imposes curfew in Abbassiya after clashes; 2 killed, 296 injured, 170 arrested

Egypt imposes curfew in Abbassiya after clashes; 2 killed, 296 injured, 170 arrested.(AA).Egypt’s military council on Friday imposed curfew in the central Cairo neighborhood of Abbassiya from 11:00 pm on Friday until 7:00 am on Saturday (Cairo Local Time), after fierce clashes between troops and anti-military protesters there. At least two people were killed in fierce clashes between anti-military protesters and soldiers in Cairo, officials at a hospital that received the dead and medics said.
The officials at the al-Zahra University hospital said they received two people who died in the skirmishes outside the defense ministry. A frontline medic group said the two died of gunshot wounds, according to AFP. An Egyptian soldier, described as “conscript,” was shot dead during the clashes, the Health Ministry said in a statement published by the official MENA news agency. “A curfew has been imposed in the Abbassiya square, around the defense ministry and the surrounding streets,” said General Mukhtar al-Mulla, a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in a television address. At least 296 people were also hurt in the clashes, the health ministry said in a statement, including 131 treated in hospital. The military arrested 170 people who have been involved in the clashes, the military prosecution said.
A ruling military council said in the TV statement that “all legal measures will be taken against those involved in the Abbassiya events, or those inciting them.” Earlier, heavy gunfire could be heard as clashes between troops and anti-military protesters spread around the defense ministry in Cairo on Friday and street battles raged in side roads, an AFP reporter said. Military police used tear gas and water cannon, under a volley of rocks hurled from both sides.Hundreds of troops guarding the ministry surged forward when protesters began cutting through barbed wire used to seal off the ministry building in Abbasiya neighborhood in central Cairo.
The protesters responded by throwing rocks towards the soldiers, who responded with water cannon, according to Reuters. Bleeding protesters were ferried away by motorbike by fellow demonstrators and ambulances rushed to the scene of the anti-military rally. Reuters witnesses counted at least eight people hurt in the clashes which flared as thousands demonstrated in Cairo to denounce violence against protesters and the exclusion of candidates from a presidential election. Military police holding their shields in one hand, picked up the rocks from the ground and threw them back at the protesters, in the first violence of the day after peaceful rallies throughout the morning. Soldiers charged forward and retreated several times from the barbed wire separating them from the protesters. Thousands of anti-military protesters took to the streets Friday in Cairo and Alexandria, days after deadly clashes near the defense ministry raised tensions ahead of landmark presidential elections, AFP correspondents reported. In the capital, several thousand gathered in Tahrir Square and hundreds were in the Abassiya neighbourhood near the defence ministry, despite stern warnings from the army.Friday’s protests come just three weeks before the country’s first post-revolt presidential election, after which the ruling military is to hand power to civilian rule. But protesters say they fear the elections will be rigged in favour of a pro-military candidate. Others say they do not trust the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to fully hand power to civilian rule. Friday’s protests also followed the killing of at least 11 people in clashes that broke out Wednesday when apparent supporters of the military rulers attacked a mostly Islamist crowd staging a sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense in Cairo to call for an end to the generals’ rule. Army troops were accused of standing idly by near the clashes and not intervening until after the deaths. Some suspect the military wants to create turmoil so it can justify holding onto power by claiming it is needed to maintain law and order. While some liberal and religious groups called for Friday’s protests to be staged in Cairo’s Abbassiya neighborhood, near the defense ministry, others, especially the Muslim Brotherhood group, called for the protest to be held in the Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the Jan.12, 2011 revolution. Maj. Gen. Mullah sternly had warned protesters that if they try to approach the Defense Ministry. “Self-defense is applicable against anyone who approaches a military facility. Whoever does that must endure the consequences,” Mullah told a news conference. “The Defense Ministry, all military units and facilities are symbols of military honor and the dignity of the state, those who approach them will have themselves to blame.” Read and see (Video) the full story here.