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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Morsi assumes sweeping powers; critics brand him ''New Pharaoh''

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Egypt Revolts: White House refuses to criticize Morsi's actions

Posted by Olog-hai on Mon Nov 26 22:26:59 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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White House cites ‘concerns’ over Egypt, won’t criticize Morsi

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket
November 26, 2012

The White House expressed "significant and serious" concerns on Monday about Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's shock power grab last week. But press secretary Jay Carney carefully avoided offering any criticism of a leader who just one week ago seemed to be on President Barack Obama's speed dial as they worked on a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Carney repeatedly addressed the political crisis in Egypt in relatively dry and mild diplo-speak, while emphasizing that Morsi "played an important role" in crafting the cease-fire and deserved "credit" for that. There was no "we strongly condemn" and no "we denounce," and even his "significant and serious" concerns came only after reporters underlined the lukewarm nature of America's public response.

"We continue to engage with the Egyptians on this," Carney said. "And I think that the important issue here is that the Egyptian people want a government that reflects their will, and we certainly support that." Morsi's actions triggered violent protests of the sort that ultimately pushed longtime strongman (and close U.S. ally) Hosni Mubarak from power in early 2011.

Does Obama feel disappointed or betrayed, given that Morsi's actions came after weeklong telephone diplomacy? "Well, no," said Carney. "We see those as separate issues." Was the White House forewarned or was it caught by surprise? "We have raised our concerns and I think that in part answers your question," he said. "Our interest is in the process, the transition towards democracy continuing and the development of a government that reflects the will of the Egyptian people. And we're working towards that," Carney said.

Invited to weigh in on whether Morsi's actions suggested a transition to democracy or steps toward dictatorship, Carney demurred. "That transition, if anyone ever promised that it would be smooth, they were foolhardy, because that was never going to be the case," he said.

"What is important here is that the transition to democracy will be achieved by the Egyptian people, not by the manner in which we raise concerns," Carney said.

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Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood stages counterprotests in support of Moris and power grab

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 1 13:36:06 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Egypt’s Islamists rally in support of President Morsi

By Jeffrey Fleishman
December 1, 2012, 9:51 a.m.

CAIRO — Islamists rallied Saturday to support President Mohamed Morsi in battling what they see as a conspiracy by loyalists from the deposed regime of Hosni Mubarak to instigate anti-government protests and disrupt Egypt’s political transition.

The Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Islamists marched in a counterdemonstration to a week-old protest across the Nile in Tahrir Square by opposition groups challenging Morsi’s expanded powers. Islamists back the president for his religious ideology but say Morsi’s central aim is to rid state institutions of decades of corruption left by Mubarak.

“There are different segments of society here. Not everyone who supports Morsi is a radical Islamist,” said Mohamed Hassanein, standing amid banners and the static of loudspeakers in front of Cairo University. “He is the president for all Egyptians. He is trying protect state institutions from remnants of the old regime.”

Such have been the president’s talking points since he took office in June. He and the Brotherhood say his recent power grab and a frantic race by an Islamist-dominated assembly to finish a draft constitution will open the way to parliamentary elections early next year and move the country forward.

That view is testament to how differently Morsi’s supporters and detractors view Egypt’s troubled political climate.

Protesters in Tahrir say the president has overstepped his bounds, peddling conspiracies and accumulating power reminiscent of Mubarak while brushing aside court rulings to propel the Brotherhood’s Islamist agenda. Morsi’s supporters argue that he is a good man, if inexperienced politician, who has been unfairly tainted by liberals and leftists.

“I’m here to watch and see what’s happening, not because I’m fully convinced of the president,” said Walid Alnasr, an Egyptologist, standing in a tightening crowd of men with their ears bent toward him. “The country is suffering from years and years of corruption. Do you think these things can change in three or four or five months? The president is new. He should be given time.”

Many of the tens of thousands of Islamists at the rally showed contempt for the courts, whose judges, many holdovers from the Mubarak era, are perceived by Morsi supporters to be against the president.

A poster pictured a regal Morsi standing next to an unruly collection of caricatures depicting holdover officials from the Mubarak era, including a constitutional court judge made to look like Miss Piggy and Prosecutor-General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, who resembled the Disney character Goofy.

“Morsi will save the nation,” said Ayman Alshahat, a teacher waving a banner. “He will continue the revolution to take back state institutions. … This is for all Egyptian people. This is an invitation to negotiations that will move the country forward.”

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Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood stages counterprotests in support of Morsi and power grab

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 1 13:36:25 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Egypt’s Islamists rally in support of President Morsi

By Jeffrey Fleishman
December 1, 2012, 9:51 a.m.

CAIRO — Islamists rallied Saturday to support President Mohamed Morsi in battling what they see as a conspiracy by loyalists from the deposed regime of Hosni Mubarak to instigate anti-government protests and disrupt Egypt’s political transition.

The Muslim Brotherhood and ultraconservative Islamists marched in a counterdemonstration to a week-old protest across the Nile in Tahrir Square by opposition groups challenging Morsi’s expanded powers. Islamists back the president for his religious ideology but say Morsi’s central aim is to rid state institutions of decades of corruption left by Mubarak.

“There are different segments of society here. Not everyone who supports Morsi is a radical Islamist,” said Mohamed Hassanein, standing amid banners and the static of loudspeakers in front of Cairo University. “He is the president for all Egyptians. He is trying protect state institutions from remnants of the old regime.”

Such have been the president’s talking points since he took office in June. He and the Brotherhood say his recent power grab and a frantic race by an Islamist-dominated assembly to finish a draft constitution will open the way to parliamentary elections early next year and move the country forward.

That view is testament to how differently Morsi’s supporters and detractors view Egypt’s troubled political climate.

Protesters in Tahrir say the president has overstepped his bounds, peddling conspiracies and accumulating power reminiscent of Mubarak while brushing aside court rulings to propel the Brotherhood’s Islamist agenda. Morsi’s supporters argue that he is a good man, if inexperienced politician, who has been unfairly tainted by liberals and leftists.

“I’m here to watch and see what’s happening, not because I’m fully convinced of the president,” said Walid Alnasr, an Egyptologist, standing in a tightening crowd of men with their ears bent toward him. “The country is suffering from years and years of corruption. Do you think these things can change in three or four or five months? The president is new. He should be given time.”

Many of the tens of thousands of Islamists at the rally showed contempt for the courts, whose judges, many holdovers from the Mubarak era, are perceived by Morsi supporters to be against the president.

A poster pictured a regal Morsi standing next to an unruly collection of caricatures depicting holdover officials from the Mubarak era, including a constitutional court judge made to look like Miss Piggy and Prosecutor-General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, who resembled the Disney character Goofy.

“Morsi will save the nation,” said Ayman Alshahat, a teacher waving a banner. “He will continue the revolution to take back state institutions. … This is for all Egyptian people. This is an invitation to negotiations that will move the country forward.”

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Re: Bahrain Revolts: Kim Kardashian Visit Sparks Riots

Posted by SMAZ on Sat Dec 1 17:56:15 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood stages counterprotests in support of Moris and power grab, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 1 13:36:06 2012.

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Re: Bahrain Revolts: Kim Kardashian Visit Sparks Riots

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Re: Bahrain Revolts: Kim Kardashian Visit Sparks Riots

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Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Dec 2 04:51:37 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood stages counterprotests in support of Morsi and power grab, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 1 13:36:25 2012.

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Remembering Some of Those Who Said the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt Wasn't a Threat to Democracy

By Tom Blumer | November 30, 2012 | 22:54

Reviewing several dispatches from the past couple of days, the latest news out of Egypt is that Egyptian "President" Mohammed Morsi "is not backing down in the showdown over decrees granting him near-absolute powers," that "clashes between the two camps (Morsi's Islamist supporters and secular opponents) … left two dead and hundreds injured," and that the country's Muslim Brotherhood-dominated assembly "pushed through the 234-article draft (constitution) in just 21 hours from Thursday into Friday … (after) Coptic Christians and liberals earlier had walked out."

The draft constitution includes several articles "that rights activists, liberals and Christians fear will lead to restrictions on the rights of women and minorities," and omits "bans on slavery or promises to adhere to international rights treaties." Oh, and I almost forgot: "The Obama administration is declining to criticize Egypt's draft constitution." It's worth identifying at this point several (but by no means all; what follows is surely a small sample) of those who in 2011 reassured the world that Egyptians had nothing to fear if the Brotherhood and Islamists became dominant.

At NewsBusters on February 4, 2011 ("David Gregory: Muslim Brotherhood 'Matured,' 'Sophisticated,' Egypt Not Comparable to Iran"), the NBC "Meet the Press" host said that "They don't want to turn it into an Islamist state. They have matured politically in that sense and are rather sophisticated."

At Reuters on January 29, 2011, Security Correspondent William Maclean relayed the insistence of Kamel El-Helbawy, "an influential cleric in the international Islamist ideological movement," that those who feared the Brotherhood were in essence engaging in paranoia: "The West is always afraid that if the Brotherhood came to power it would end freedoms or do something (negative) with Israel. But I stress that the Brotherhood are among the people who defend democracy in full, and like to see democracy prevailing, because democracy gives them some of their rights."

As reported at the Blaze on January 30, 2011, secular opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was either among the duped or has been in on a power-grabbing conspiracy all along (current Brotherhood opponents had better hope it was the former, because ElBaradei is also currently leading the current political opposition), telling CNN: "You know, the Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with the Iranian model, has nothing to do with extremism … The Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously conservative group. They are a minority in Egypt. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people, but they have a lot of credibility because all the other liberal parties have been smothered for 30 years. They are in favor of a federalist state. They are in favor of a wording on the base of constitution that has red lines that every Egyptian has the same rights, same obligation, that the state in no way will be a state based on religion. And I have been reaching out to them. We need to include them."

Tariq Ramadan, professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford and "the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928," wrote a column for the Christian Science Monitor on February 8, 2011 with the following headline and subhead: "Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is a democratic partner, not Islamist threat. The West's fearful stereotypes of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood are based on myth and misunderstanding. Today's Muslim Brotherhood rejects violence and must be a full partner in the process of change — and it will be, if a minimally democratic state can be established in Egypt."

At the Brookings Institution on January 28, 2011, Senior Fellow Bruce Reidel, in an item which apparently also appeared at the Daily Beast ("Don't Fear Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood"), wrote that Western leaders like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton "should not be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood. Living with it won’t be easy but it should not be seen as inevitably our enemy. We need not demonize it nor endorse it."

Reidel needn't have worried about Obama, who told Fox News's Bill O"Reilly the following in early February 2011:

“The Muslim Brotherhood is one faction in Egypt. They don’t have majority support in Egypt, but they are well organized and there are strains of their ideology that are against the U.S., there’s no doubt about it,” Obama said. “But here’s the thing that we have to understand, there are a whole bunch of secular folks in Egypt, there are a whole bunch of educators and civil society in Egypt that wants to come to the fore as well. So it’s important for us not to say that our own only two options are either the Muslim Brotherhood or a suppressed people.”

To avoid such scenarios, Obama said that the U.S. must make sure “that we get all the groups together in Egypt for an orderly transition and the one that is a meaningful transition."

So who else in the media will remember these and other people, including many of their own, who either naively or deceptively reassured us that democratic forces in Egypt had nothing to fear from radical Islam or the Muslim Brotherhood?

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Re: Egypt Revolts: Summary of people so wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood

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Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood sets up *torture chambers*

Posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 8 22:52:54 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Al-Masry Al-Youm Reports On Brotherhood Torture Chambers

By: Mohamad Jarehi
December 7, 2012

Al-Masry Al-Youm spent three hours in total in the torture chambers established by the Muslim Brotherhood at the gates of the Ittihadiya Palace in the suburb of Heliopolis. The central torture chamber, which is located in front of the gate facing the Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz Mosque on al-Merghany Street, is secured with a cordon and iron barriers, where the Central Security Forces (CSF) prevent the access of any persons without the authorization of the Brotherhood.

We entered the chamber with a great difficulty, after a fellow journalist from the Misr 25 TV channel facilitated. The channel is owned by the Brotherhood. There are brigades and police officers in military uniforms, as well as others in civilian clothes from al-Nozha police station, who oversee the beatings, whippings and torture. Fifteen others from the group, distinguished by their strong bodies, are supervised by three bearded and well-dressed men who decide who will be in the chamber and who may leave, even if the person is a member of the Brotherhood.

The torture process starts once a demonstrator who opposes President Mohammed Morsi is arrested in the clashes or is suspected after the clashes end, and the CSF separate Morsi’s supporters from his opponents. Then, the group members trade off punching, kicking and beating him with a stick on the face and all over his body. They tear off his clothes and take him to the nearest secondary torture chamber, from which CSF personnel, members of the Interior Ministry and the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS) are absent.

It is hard to determine how many locations there are, given that the torture chambers are established as near as possible to where a person is arrested. Before the interrogation process starts, they search him, seize his funds, cellphones or ID, all the while punching and slapping his face in order to get him to confess to being a thug and working for money.

They ask him why he took to the street, whether he got paid to take part in the protest and whether he supports Mohamed ElBaradei, founder of the Constitution Party, or Hamdeen Sabahi, founder of the Egyptian Popular Current or the dissolved Egyptian Nationalist movement. As long as this person denies the allegations, they beat him and insult his parents. After that, a person will videotape the interrogation and contact the Misr 25 TV channel to tell them about the interrogation and arrest.

After a while, the detainee is transported from the secondary torture chamber to the central one. On his way, the beatings and insults continue. Every time the prisoner encounters a member of the Brotherhood, that person gets in his share of the insults and beatings. They also may collectively insult him before he enters the central room, while a Brotherhood lawyer hands over his national ID card, his funds and his belongings to the SSIS chief. Some members of the group claim to have seized weapons from the detainee and handed them over to the officers at al-Nozha police station. However, we were unable to verify that.

A young detainee shouted in the faces of the men in the chamber: “I am a bearded sheikh, and Sheikh Safwat Hijazi will avenge me. I am a friend of all sheikhs. God is all I need and he is the best guardian; I am a Muslim just like you.” Another bleeding man said, “I am educated; I am not a thug, leave me alone.” A third person, born in the region of Sayyida Zaynab, was accused of following Fathi Srour, former speaker of the People's Assembly, and got a significant share of the beatings.

The health conditions of some of the prisoners was very bad and they were unable to answer questions. Some of them were bleeding all over their bodies, severely exhausted and not receiving any medical aid. However, some got a bottle of water to drink or something to use to stop their bleeding.

Once 10 people had been arrested, police officers and state security chiefs in the chamber demanded that the three Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the room secure passage for the prisoners to the nearby al-Nozha police station and prevented the Brotherhood members from attacking them again.

This all really happened.

Once the arrested group left, another arrived. Outside the central torture chamber, three people were detained and brought into the security room within the palace at the main gate on Al-Ahram Street.

The Brotherhood youth don't have control over this location. Their role ends once they hand over the arrestees to the guards. We successfully took a picture of one of the detained men, but the other two were already in the palace. The Brotherhood youth accused one of them of possessing a weapon and shooting a member of the group. Some detainees remained in the secondary torture chambers and were not handed over to the state security officers.

We left the place and found blood flowing on the sidewalk of the palace. Someone had tried to cover the blood with soil to remove it. However, no one will be able to clean the image of this blood from the memory of Egyptians for hundreds of years.

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Egypt Revolts; Andrew Sullivan wonders if their "democracy" can "survive"

Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Dec 12 01:38:51 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Can Egypt's Democracy Survive?

Issandr El Amrani details the Muslim Brotherhood's militia-like role in last week's violence:

[Morsi] has pushed himself increasingly to rely solely on Islamists, and if this referendum takes places he will have only them to rely on for the rest of his administration. Moreover, he and his party last Wednesday incited people to go out into the street and "defend the presidency" — an unjustifiable action with predictable consequences (and an unnecessary one, after all he has the Republican Guards even if interior ministry forces are not to be trusted). Muslim Brothers went out there and held (and allegedly tortured) protestors for 12 hours, on presidency grounds, to extract confessions of a conspiracy. Morsi referred to these as "evidence" of a conspiracy in his speech the following day, but his own public prosecutor released these people.

Ahdaf Soueif says Morsi has failed to lead the Egyptian people:

The demands of the revolution were clear: bread, freedom, social justice. Concerning "freedom", Morsi has refused to restructure the state's security apparatus; he appointed as interior minister the man who'd been Cairo's police chief in 2011 when protesters were massacred in the city's streets. People continue to be killed in jail and in police stations across the country.

Concerning the economy it's become clear that the Brotherhood's programme is basically Mubarak's: Morsi visited China accompanied by some of the biggest business allies of Mubarak; the banking communities talk of deals already being made by high-ranking officials and their relatives, and borrowing from the IMF and the World Bank is suddenly not sinful. Meanwhile, the president is able to issue the wildest constitutional declarations but is unable to make the smallest step towards establishing minimum and maximum wages.

Along the same lines, Rami G. Khouri considers the Morsi cohort to be amateurs:

The Muslim Brotherhood leaders who have spent much of the last 25 years in and out of jail were catapulted into the presidency without any previous experience in managing national politics. President Mohammad Mursi is revealing his inability to act as the president of all Egyptians and the shepherd of a historic constitutional transition in which basic governance institutions are being built. Unlike Nelson Mandela who spent decades in jail and then showed his compassion, flexibility and statesmanship when he became president of South Africa, Mursi seems focused on pushing through his agenda (presumably also the Brotherhood’s) and is unable at this stage to act as the magnanimous leader of all Egyptians.

Ahmad Shokr goes over the Islamist-drafted constitution:

[It] does not reflect a democratic consensus, as many in the opposition have argued that it should. It reflects an emerging relationship between the Muslim Brothers and existing state institutions, like the army, along with a great deal of appeasement of the salafis, whom the Brothers have embraced as junior partners. The rush to a referendum suggests a deep anxiety among the state elites about continuing instability and a desire to seize the opportunity to cement a new political framework as quickly as possible. More worrisome than the text itself is the vision these leaders have for which voices count and which alliances matter in the new Egypt. Should this vision go unchallenged, the losers would be all those who have been calling for more pluralistic and inclusive system.

In his December 6 post, Jason Brownlee writes, "It is important that the ideological debate between liberalism and Islamism not be seen as a battle between democracy and authoritarianism." Perhaps recent events in Egypt call for a rethinking of these terms. True, liberalism and democracy are not automatic counterparts, no more than Islamism and authoritarianism are. But the battle in Egypt is indeed one between a democracy that reflects the country’s political diversity and a remodeled authoritarianism, led by the Muslim Brothers and their allies, that seeks to circumscribe it.

Another area of concern is women's rights, as Vivienne Walt explains:

Women’s organizations have for months pressed to have an article [added to the constitution] that guaranteed women’s equality only insofar as it did not clash with Islamic values deleted from Egypt’s draft constitution. Now [the sentence "the principles of Shari‘a are the main source of legislation" has been removed] — but any specific assurance of women’s equality has also been excised. In its place is a clause guaranteeing government-funded maternal and child health care (something most Americans don’t have), but those benefits are offered specifically in order "to preserve the genuine character of the Egyptian family" and to balance "the duties of a woman towards her family and her work." That, says Coleman, is "a not-so-subtle code for keeping women in a traditional role."

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Re: Egypt Revolts; Andrew Sullivan wonders if their ''democracy'' can ''survive''

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Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Dec 12 02:45:33 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts: Muslim Brotherhood sets up *torture chambers*, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Dec 8 22:52:54 2012.

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12/11/2012
Accusations of Torture in Egypt

Muslim Brotherhood Metes Out Vigilante Justice

By Nicola Abé and Matthias Gebauer in Cairo

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood are resorting to vigilante justice in Egypt's power struggle. During clashes with opponents of President Mohammed Morsi last Wednesday night, the Islamists took prisoners and tortured them with beatings. Eyewitness reports suggest that the police tolerated the attacks.

The Islamists got hold of Mohammed Omar just as he was delivering bandages to a gas station where injured people were being treated. "You're an enemy of God!" they yelled at him.

"There were five men. They beat me and dragged me away," says Omar, a computer expert who lives in Cairo. His face is bruised and his eyes are swollen shut, and his wrists are cut from the plastic cuffs they put on him.

They took him to a sort of room consisting on one side of a gate to the presidential palace, with the other walls made up of steel barriers and police officers. Here members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups interrogated and mistreated their "prisoners."

Mohammed Omar is one of many demonstrators who say they were held by Islamists last Wednesday, in some cases for more than 12 hours. Now, as witnesses are telling their stories of that night, a clear picture is emerging not just of the violence committed by members of the Brotherhood, but also their readiness to mete out arbitrary vigilante justice.

Last Wednesday, supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi fought running battles in front of the presidential palace in Cairo's upscale district of Heliopolis. Both sides were extremely violent, beating each other with baseball bats, firing guns and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails. Eight people died. The Muslim Brotherhood said all the dead were from their ranks, but that's probably not entirely true. There is no reliable information, however.

Some 140 people, among them women and minors, were "arrested" — not by the police, but by the Islamists. "That is an incredible occurrence," says human rights lawyer Ragya Omran, who was at the scene. "They have no right whatsoever to do that."

The Islamists had set up a number of improvised "chambers" around the palace. Mohammed al-Garhi, a journalist for daily newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, had access to such a chamber located near the Omar-Bin-Abdel-Azis mosque. "At first they didn't want to let me in," he says. But then a friend who works for Misr TV, the Muslim Brotherhood's channel, came by and led Garhi inside.

Bloodiest Night Since The Revolution

"There were around 15 members of the Brotherhood — big strong guys who looked like bodybuilders. They hit the prisoners with their fists and kicked them and tore their clothes off them," he says. He saw how the Islamists repeatedly brought in young men whom they had picked out of the crowd at random. Their money, telephones and identity papers were confiscated. They were passed on to the police later. "The Muslim Brotherhood members demanded the young men tell them who had paid them, and accused them of being thieves or supporters of the old regime," he says.

Three of the Muslim Brotherhood men appeared to be in charge and were issuing orders. "If the prisoners denied the accusations then the beatings got worse," says Garhi. One of the men begged: "I'm an educated man. I have a car. Do I look like a thief?" Most of the prisoners were too weak to be able to speak. Two of them were unconsciousness and looked to be in life-threatening condition.

"I'd call what happened there torture," says Garhi.

An investigating committee set up by the Justice Ministry issued a statement saying that on this night, the bloodiest since the revolution almost two years ago, 31 people were tortured. Human rights lawyer Ragya Oman insists the total is higher than that. "116 people were badly mistreated," she says.

The Muslim Brotherhood insists on its version of the story. "These people had weapons," says Mahmoud Hussein, general secretary of the Brotherhood. "They attacked us and we only defended ourselves." He admits that some of the people making arrests were members of the Muslim Brotherhood. But he says they immediately handed the men over to the police.

He defended the protests despite the violence. "It is our duty to defend our democratically legitimate president." He said the prisoners were supporters of the old regime and paid troublemakers.

Particularly controversial is the fact that President Morsi also initially championed this version of the story. How much he knew of the Islamists' indiscriminate vigilante justice is not yet clear. However something he said in a statement on national television last Thursday raises questions. Morsi said the detained had admitted to having ties to the political opposition and having been paid to carry out violence. He appeared to be referring to statements forced out of the prisoners by the Islamists.

Shock over Cooperation Between Islamists and Police

"At that time, the logs of the state prosecutor's office had not yet been released," says Ragya Omran. Spokesmen for the Muslim Brotherhood and the government have reassured that Morsi was only referring to the official confessions. "But there weren't any confessions at all, and there wasn't any evidence," Omran says. "Practically all of those who were arrested were released on the next day because they were innocent." She says she finds it scandalous that Morsi publicly and prematurely discredited the prisoners.

"The Interior Ministry did nothing to protect the citizens from the brutality and vigilante justice of the Islamists," Omran says. Garhi, the journalist, also says he was shocked by the cooperation between the Islamists and the police. "They didn't just tolerate the abuse, they also supported them by covering up their torture chambers." A spokesman for the Morsi government has since told The New York Times that there will be an investigation into the incidents.

Since that night, there has been intensified debate on whether the Brotherhood has a militia — thugs who train in so-called sports clubs. The Muslim Brotherhood disputes that the brutal interrogations were organized in any form.

"There was a hierarchical structure at least," Garhi says. "With the Muslim Brotherhood, everything is organized." However he did sense that the violence itself was spontaneous. "I could see the rage that they fought with, the glow of revenge in their eyes. They were fighting jihad."

On the morning after the fighting, burned cars were still smoking in the side streets by the presidential palace and the stench of burned tires and tear gas lingered in the air. The Muslim Brotherhood was presenting itself as the clear victor of a war. "This here is our area now," said Fatih al-Mahdi. "We have protected our president in a heroic fight, and clearly won."

The trophies of the victory squatted behind Mahdi. In front of a gate of the palace, the Muslim Brotherhood followers had herded together 63 young men like animals. They squinted fearfully in the morning sun with swollen, bruised and bloody faces.

Photos weren't allowed of the brutal scene, which said much about the hate between the political opponents in Egypt's power struggle and about the Muslim Brotherhood's certainty of victory. "They are our prisoners," said Madih, who said he was a lawyer. "Like in war, the Geneva Convention applies to them, and that prohibits photos."

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Re: Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

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Re: Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

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Re: Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

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Re: Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

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Re: Egypt Revolts: More on Muslim Brotherhood's torture chambers; police cooperating with MB

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Egypt Revolts; intimidation keeping Christians away from poll stations on constitutional vote

Posted by Olog-hai on Fri Dec 21 03:22:51 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Fear keeps Egypt's Christians away from polls

BY HAMZA HENDAWI
Dec. 19 2012 7:33 PM EST

ASSIUT, Egypt (AP) — A campaign of intimidation by Islamists left most Christians in this southern Egyptian province too afraid to participate in last week's referendum on an Islamist-drafted constitution they deeply oppose, residents say. The disenfranchisement is hiking Christians' worries over their future under empowered Muslim conservatives.

Around a week before the vote, some 50,000 Islamists marched through the provincial capital, Assiut, chanting that Egypt will be "Islamic, Islamic, despite the Christians." At their head rode several bearded men on horseback with swords in scabbards on their hips, evoking images of early Muslims conquering Christian Egypt in the 7^th Century.

They made sure to go through mainly Christian districts of the city, where residents, fearing attacks, shuttered down their stores and stayed in their homes, witnesses said.

The day of the voting itself on Saturday, Christian voting was minimal — as low as seven percent in some areas, according to church officials. Some of those who did try to head to polling stations in some villages were pelted by stones, forcing them to turn back without casting ballots, Christian activists and residents told The Associated Press this week.

The activists now see what happened in Assiut as a barometer for what Christians' status will be under a constitution that enshrines a greater role for Shariah, or Islamic law, in government and daily life. Even under the secular regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's Christians complained of discrimination and government failure to protect them and their rights. They fear it will be worse with the Islamists who have dominated Egypt's political landscape since Mubarak's ouster in February 2011.

"When all issues become religious and all the talk is about championing Islam and its prophet, then, as a Christian, I am excluded from societal participation," said Shady Magdy Tobia, a Christian activist in Assiut. "If this does not change, things will only get worse for Christians."

But some of the Christians of Assiut are pushing back against the emboldened Islamists. In recent weeks, young Christians joined growing street protests to demand that the charter is shelved, casting aside decades of political apathy.

Assiut province is significant because it is home to one of Egypt's largest Christian communities — they make up about 35 percent of the population of 4.5 million, perhaps three times the nationwide percentage. At the same time, it is a major stronghold of Egypt's Islamists, who now dominate its local government. The province was the birthplace of some of the country's most radical Islamist groups and was the main battlefield of an insurgency by Muslim militants in the 1990s.

It was one of 10 provinces that voted in the first round of Egypt's referendum. Nationwide, around 56 percent voted in favor of the draft charter, according to preliminary results. Assiut had one of the strongest "yes" votes at more than 77 percent. It also had a turnout of only 28 percent — one of the lowest in a round marred by a low participation of only 32 percent nationwide.

The second and final round will held the coming Saturday in 17 provinces, including in Minya, which has the country's highest proportion of Christians, at 36 percent.

Rights groups reported attempts at suppression of the "no" vote in many parts of the country. But Christians say intimidation and suppression are more effective in this smaller, largely rural province.

"In Assiut, we face more danger than in Cairo," said businessman Emad Awny Ramzy, a key organizer of local protests against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his ruling Muslim Brotherhood. "Here they can easily identify, monitor and attack us."

A senior figure of the Gamaa Islamiya — which was once one of the main groups waging the Islamic militant insurgency in Assiut but has since renounced violence and is allied to Morsi's government — dismissed the Christians' allegations of intimidation in the province.

The claims are "just lies and rumors that surface every time we have an election," Assem Abdel-Magued said. The Brotherhood and officials in Morsi's government have similarly dismissed claims of violations around the country.

The draft constitution, finalized by Islamists on a Constituent Assembly despite a boycott by liberals and Christians, has polarized Egypt, bringing out huge rival street rallies by both camps in the past four weeks. Opponents of Morsi accuse him of ramming the document through and, more broadly, of imposing a Brotherhood domination of power. Morsi supporters, in turn, accuse his opponents of seeking to thwart a right to bring Islamic law they say they earned with election victories the past year.

Egypt's main Coptic Orthodox Church and smaller ones have taken an uncharacteristically assertive approach in the constitutional struggle. They withdrew their six members from the Constituent Assembly to protest Islamist domination of the process and later refused to send representatives to a "national dialogue" called for by Morsi.

The new Coptic pope, Tawadros II, enthroned last month, publicly called some of the charter's articles "disastrous."

In response, the Muslim Brotherhood — which usually keeps a moderate tone toward Christians — has turned toward more inflammatory rhetoric.

Senior Brotherhood figure Mohammed el-Beltagi in a newspaper interview this week depicted mass anti-Morsi rallies outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month as mainly made up of Christians, hinting at a Christian conspiracy against the president.

In a recent speech, Safwat Hegazi, a famous Islamist preacher linked to the Brotherhood, warned Christians against joining forces with former Mubarak regime figures to topple Morsi.

"I tell the church, yes, you are our brothers in Egypt, but there are red lines. Our red line is Morsi's legitimacy. Whoever dares splash it with water, we will splash him with blood," he said, using an Arabic saying.

In Assiut, Tobia, Ramzy and other Christian activists spoke of an atmosphere of intimidation ahead of the vote, including the large Islamist march.

They said threatening messages were sent on mobile phones and on social networking sites. During an opposition demonstration on Dec. 7 outside the offices of the Brotherhood's political party in Assiut, suspected Morsi supporters seized six protesters — five Muslims and one Christian — beating them and shaving the head of one.

With tension building up over the last four weeks, many Christian voters registered at polling centers located in predominantly Muslim areas did not vote, fearing violence, they said.

Those who made it to polling centers in districts with significant Christian populations were soon frustrated by the long lines or delays, which activists said was intentional. In some cases, they said, Islamists who had voted elsewhere then went to stand in lines in mainly Christian areas to make them longer, increase delays and prompt Christians to give up and leave.

Two Christian clerics said that outside the province's main cities, only about 12 percent of registered Christian voters left their homes on Saturday to vote and that no more than seven percent were able to cast their ballots. They based the figures on statistics gathered by members of the Coptic Church's youth group who monitored voting across the province. The two clerics spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitivities over the church role in political issues.

In the Christian village of el-Aziyah, only 2,350 of the village's 12,100 registered voters cast ballots on Saturday, according to acting mayor Montaser Malek Yacoub.

Yacoub is among the growing number of Christians who are pushing back against persecution.

He has taken advantage of the tenuous security situation of the past two years and built two churches without permits and reclaimed a large area of state-owned desert that lies outside the village's boundaries toward a rock mountain. Under Mubarak's rule, Christians rarely received permits to build or renovate churches.

"Let me just tell you this: As far as I am concerned, this is our country and everyone else are guests," he said. But "we're ready to cooperate with anyone who shares Egypt with us."

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Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

Posted by Olog-hai on Mon Dec 24 03:32:21 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Forget Sharia, The New Egyptian Constitution Enshrines Socialism

Bill Frezza
12/19/2012 @ 9:48AM

It isn’t every day that the world gets to watch the birth of a new constitutional democracy. As the political drama in the land of the Pharaohs unfolds, the Western commentariat seems totally focused on the extent to which Egypt’s new constitution will be informed by Sharia law. Alas, nary a peep can be heard about a far greater threat to Egypt’s freedom and prosperity.

The drafters of the new Egyptian constitution are blessed with having the history of two centuries of constitutional democracies to study. Evidence abounds on what works and what doesn’t, of which economic policies lead to rapid growth and which to stagnation and bankruptcy. Yet with all this information at their fingertips, the Egyptian people appear set to go to the polls to endorse … socialism.

Let’s peel back the draft Egyptian constitution and count the ways in which it paves the road to ruin.

PART I: Chapter Three: Economic Principles

Article 14

National economy shall be organized in accordance with a comprehensive, constant development plan, ensuring the increase of national income, enhancement of standard of living, elimination of poverty and unemployment, increase of work opportunities, and increase of production.

The development plan shall establish social justice and solidarity, ensure equitable distribution, protect consumer rights, and safeguard the rights of workers, dividing development costs between capital and labor and sharing the revenues justly.

Wages shall be linked to production, bridging income gaps and establishing a minimum wage that would guarantee decent living standards for all citizens, and a maximum wage in civil service positions with exemptions regulated by law.

Bang, right out of the blocks—a centrally planned economy. No doubt this will be managed by just and wise bureaucrats, appointed on their merits and without regard to connections, and magically immune to graft—given how corruption is so rare in Egypt’s political culture. How could central planners possibly fail with all the tools the constitution puts at their disposal, like wage and price controls, unconstrained income redistribution, and centralized allocation of capital?

Article 15

Agriculture is an essential asset of the national economy. The State shall protect and increase farmland, work on the development of crop and plant varieties, develop and protect animal breeds and fisheries, achieve food security, provide the requirements of agricultural production, its good management and marketing, and support agricultural industries.

The law regulates the use of land, in such a way as to achieve social justice, and protect farmers and agricultural laborer from exploitation.

A centralized farm policy, no doubt based on its long track record of success in other democracies. I wonder how long it will be before the Egyptians build their first cheese cave?

Article 17

Industry is an essential asset of the national economy. The State shall protect strategic industries, support industrial development, and import new technologies and their applications.

Long live protectionism! And whose businesses do you think will be declared “strategic,” earning the right to be shielded from competition? Only your lobbyist—or uncle ensconced in a government ministry—knows for sure.

Article 18

The natural resources of the State belong to the people, who have a right to their revenues. The State is committed to preserving such resources for future generations and putting them to good use.

Communal ownership of all natural resources. No private investment or development here! Prospectors be gone, Allah forbid that the one large Arab country not awash in oil might encourage entrepreneurs to search for shale gas deposits.

Article 27

Workers shall have a share of the management and profits of enterprises. They shall be committed in turn to the development of production, to protecting its means and to the implementation of plans in their production units, in accordance with the law.

Workers shall be represented on the boards of directors of public sector units within the limit of 50 percent of the number of members of these boards. The law shall guarantee for small farmers and small craftsmen 80 percent of membership on the boards of directors of agricultural and industrial cooperatives.

A lesson in corporate governance straight from the Jimmy Hoffa School of Management. This will surely attract multinational companies to rush in and set up lots of cooperatives, well-known engines of progress.

Article 28

Saving is encouraged and protected by the State. The State shall also safeguard insurance and pension funds, in accordance with legal regulations.

The new government isn’t even functioning yet and it’s already being set up for TARP on the Nile.

Chapter Three: Economic and social rights

Article 58

High-quality education is a right guaranteed by the State for every citizen. It is free throughout its stages in all government institutions, obligatory in the primary stage, and the State shall work to extend obligation to other stages.

Yes, high quality and free because wishing it so will make a great education fall like manna from heaven.

All educational institutions, public and private, local and otherwise shall abide by the State educational plans and goals, and realize the link between education and the needs of society and production.

Don’t forget central planning of all curricula, including private schools and universities. That should contribute to progress and diversity.

Article 59

The State shall guarantee the freedom of scientific and literary research. The autonomy of universities, scientific and linguistic academies, and research centers shall be safeguarded; the State shall provide them with a sufficient percentage of the national revenue.

Because nothing ensures the “independence” of scholars and scientists like putting them on the government dole.

Article 62

Healthcare is a right of every citizen, and the State shall allocate a sufficient percentage of the national revenue.

The State shall provide healthcare services and health insurance in accordance with just and high standards, to be free of charge for those who are unable to pay.

All health facilities shall provide various forms of medical treatment to every citizen in cases of emergency or life danger.

The State shall supervise all health facilities, inspect them for quality of services, and monitor all materials, products and means of health-related publicity. Legislation to regulate such supervision shall be drafted.

Obamacare, meet Morsicare. Top quality for all, of course. But it doesn’t stop there. Get a load of the parade of goodies to be provided by the new government. Egypt’s new founding fathers must be wealthy indeed to make all these promises.

Article 63

The State guarantees for every worker the right to fair pay, vacation, retirement and social security, healthcare, protection against occupational hazards, and the application of occupational safety conditions in the workplace, as prescribed by law.

Article 65

The State shall provide social insurance services. All citizens unable to support themselves and their families in cases of incapacity, unemployment and old age have the right to social insurance guaranteeing a minimum sustenance.

Article 66

The State shall provide an adequate pension for small-scale farmers, agricultural workers, casual workers, and all who do not have access to the social insurance system. All are subject to law regulations.

Do you think Egypt will adopt the successful Chilean private pension model for its Social Security system? Nah. If you are going to establish a Ponzi scheme the salad days are right at the outset! No doubt all of the money collected from Egyptians’ payroll taxes will be safely invested in a trust fund. Maybe Al Gore can lend them his lock box.

Article 67

Adequate housing, clean water and healthy food are given rights. The state adopts a national housing plan, its basis in social justice, the promotion of independent initiatives and housing cooperatives, and the regulation of the use of national territory for the purposes of construction, in accordance with public interest and with the rights of future generations.

What good is democracy if it doesn’t guarantee a roof over your head? I hear the executives that used to run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are looking for work; perhaps they can land a good gig showing the Egyptians how it’s done.

Article 71

The State shall provide care for children and youth; shall support their development spiritually, morally, culturally, educationally, physically, psychologically, socially and economically; and shall empower them for active political participation.

I guess no constitution these days is complete without a promise of free day care, with a wee bit of political indoctrination.

What the people of Egypt need is neither sharia nor socialism but free enterprise, which doesn’t even merit a passing mention in the draft constitution. If rich countries like those in Europe and the U.S. are running out of other people’s money pursuing redistributionist central planning, how is a basket-case economy like Egypt’s supposed to pay for similar schemes? What entrepreneur in his right mind would not book the first flight out after this constitution passes seeking a better life where he can keep what he earns? (Not that there are many countries like that left.)

If you want proof that human beings are incapable of learning from history, the new Egyptian constitution is exhibit A.

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Olog Hai doesn't know what "socialism" is.

Posted by Nilet on Mon Dec 24 03:57:40 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism, posted by Olog-hai on Mon Dec 24 03:32:21 2012.

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Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Re: Olog Hai doesn't know what ''socialism'' is.

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Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

Posted by Nilet on Mon Dec 24 04:56:04 2012, in response to Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism, posted by Olog-hai on Mon Dec 24 04:02:17 2012.

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Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Re: Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

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Re: Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Re: Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

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Re: Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

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Re: Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

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Re: Egypt Revolts; new constitution enshrines both Sharia and socialism

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Re: Olog Hai Fails Turing Test

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Egypt Revolts; starting to dump dollars

Posted by Olog-hai on Sun Dec 30 04:52:28 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Egypt to Start Dollar Auctions as Reserves Hit ‘Critical’ Level

By Alaa Shahine & Tarek El-Tablawy
Dec 30, 2012 2:59 AM GMT-0500

Egypt’s central bank will start foreign-exchange auctions today after appealing to Egyptians to scale back their use of dollars to avert a currency crisis fueled by the country’s political turmoil.

The central bank said yesterday it will hold auctions to buy and sell dollars periodically after foreign-currency reserves dropped to the “minimum and critical level that must be preserved.” They plunged almost 60 percent to $15 billion since the revolt that ousted Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago. That covers three months of imports, central bank data show.

The move, announced hours after President Mohamed Mursi called for unity to end more than a month of escalated protests, is the latest attempt by the regulator to curb speculation that Egypt will devalue the Egyptian pound as the unrest delays an International Monetary Fund loan. The currency, subject to managed float, has weakened 1.2 percent this month while forward contracts show investors expect a 15 percent drop in 12 months.

The auctions “are one of the central bank’s final defense lines to prevent a disorderly devaluation of the pound as it awaits the resumption of negotiations with the IMF,” Mohamed Abu Basha, a Cairo-based economist at investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE, wrote in a report. The auctions “will give a clear and transparent level of pricing for the local currency that market participants can monitor,” he wrote.

National Industries

The central bank called on Egyptians to “ration” their foreign currency use and support national industries. Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, abandoned a peg to the dollar in 2003 after foreign reserves plunged. The pound weakened 0.3 percent last week to 6.1858 a dollar, near the lowest level in eight years.

Mursi, an Islamist politician elected in June, called on his opponents to work with the government to stabilize the country. His critics, including Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, accuse the president and his allies of dividing the nation after supporting the passage of a constitution they say increases the role of religion and infringes on basic rights.

“It is now time for us to work toward the advancement of the Egyptian people as whole,” Mursi said in his first speech before the upper house of parliament, which now serves as the country’s only legislative power until parliamentary elections, expected in two months. “There is no room for tyranny, discrimination or the absence of social justice. Regardless of the differences, all citizens are equal before the law and under this constitution.”

Borrowing Costs

Mursi’s opponents and his Islamist backers clashed in the weeks preceding passage of constitution, which was approved by a majority of 64 percent in a two-stage referendum earlier this month. The Islamists said it was necessary to push through the constitution to revive the economy, which grew 2.2 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June, compared with about 5 percent in the year that preceded the uprising.

The political turmoil has prompted Mursi to delay a $4.8 billion IMF loan agreement, which his government says is crucial to lower borrowing costs and restart foreign investments. Egypt’s credit worthiness was also lowered at Standard & Poor’s last week to the same junk level as Greece and Pakistan, raising the government’s borrowing costs.

Egypt canceled the sale of 6 billion pounds ($970 million) in six-month and one-year treasury bills Dec. 27. The Finance Ministry plans to raise 4 billion pounds in nine-month notes today, according to central bank data on Bloomberg.

The central bank said it was committed to honoring external debt payments, and called the financial position of the banking sector “is strong and sound.” S&P lowered the credit ratings of three Egyptian banks, including Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE (COMI), the biggest publicly traded lender, on Dec. 26.

The foreign-exchange auctions “will also aim, in our view, to limit speculation in the local market,” Abu Basha of EFG- Hermes wrote. “The next few auctions will be critical in setting up a trend for the local currency.”

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Re: Egypt Revolts; starting to dump dollars

Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Dec 30 05:01:44 2012, in response to Egypt Revolts; starting to dump dollars, posted by Olog-hai on Sun Dec 30 04:52:28 2012.

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Re: Egypt Revolts; starting to dump dollars

Posted by Dave on Sun Dec 30 07:52:44 2012, in response to Re: Egypt Revolts; starting to dump dollars, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Dec 30 05:01:44 2012.

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