Violence deepens Egypt turmoil, Mohamed Morsi probed for murder

July 27, 2013

Morsi

Cairo, Jul 27: At least nine people were killed in heavy fighting in Egypt during rival mass rallies for and against the army overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, who was placed under investigation for murder in an escalating showdown with his Islamist backers.

The bloodshed deepened the turmoil convulsing the Arab world's most populous country, and may trigger a decisive move by the military against Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood three weeks after it was shunted from power.

In the sprawling capital, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians heeded a call by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to hit the streets and give him a popular mandate to confront violence unleashed by his July 3 overthrow of Egypt's first freely elected president.

The Brotherhood mounted counter-demonstrations, swelling a month-long vigil in northern Cairo before violence erupted. A Reuters reporter saw heavy exchanges of gunfire in the early hours of Saturday between security forces and Morsi supporters, who tore up pavement concrete to lob at police.

Clouds of teargas filled the air.

Quoting an unnamed security official, the MENA state news agency reported nine people killed in violence nationwide and at least 200 wounded. A spokeswoman for the pro-Morsi camp said eight Brotherhood supporters had died in the clash near the north Cairo vigil alone, and another said rooftop snipers had opened fire. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.

Of the official death toll, most occurred in Egypt's second city of Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast, where hundreds of people fought pitched battles, with birdshot fired and men on rooftops throwing stones at crowds below.

Several of those killed were stabbed, hospital officials said, and at least one was shot in the head.

Following Sisi's summoning of protests, news of the investigation against Morsi over his 2011 escape from jail signaled a clear escalation in the military's confrontation with the deposed leader and his Islamist movement.

MENA said Morsi, who has been held incommunicado at an undisclosed military facility since his overthrow, had been ordered detained for 15 days pending the inquiry.

Egypt's army-installed interior minister, Mohamed Ibrahim, said month-old Cairo vigils by Morsi supporters would be "brought to an end, soon and in a legal manner," state-run al Ahram news website reported.

On Facebook, the Brotherhood said the army had stormed its vigil overnight, triggering the violence. An army official, who declined to be named, denied this. He said the clashes were "near the Brotherhood's sit-in area, but not at it. There is and will not be any attempt to attack the sit-in or evacuate it tonight."

Sisi's rising star

The Brotherhood is bracing for a broad crackdown by the army to wipe out a movement that emerged from decades in the shadows to take power after Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak, only to be deposed after a year in government.

There is deepening alarm in the West over the army's move against Morsi, which has triggered weeks of violence in the influential Arab state bordering US ally Israel. Close to 200 people have died.

The country of 84 million people forms a bridge between the Middle East and North Africa and receives $1.5 billion a year in mainly military aid from Washington.

Fireworks lit up the night sky over Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where army supporters rallied clutching posters of Sisi in full ceremonial uniform.

In a sign of the general's rising political star, many of the posters depicted him alongside Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, former military officers who went on to become presidents of Egypt.

"The Brothers stole our revolution," said Salah Saleh, a horse trainer at the Cairo rally, voicing widespread criticism that Morsi refused to share power after taking office, and then failed to tackle Egypt's many problems.

"They came and sat on the throne and controlled everything."

Interior minister Ibrahim said authorities would act on complaints filed by Cairo residents against the Brotherhood vigils. Many thousands of men, women and children joined Brotherhood supporters at the group's main round-the-clock sit-in in northeast Cairo.

"It is either victory over the coup or martyrdom," senior Brotherhood politician Mohamed El-Beltagy told the pro-Morsi rally. "Our blood and our souls for Islam!" the crowds chanted.

The Brotherhood accuses the army and hired thugs of stoking trouble to justify a move against the Islamists.

Helicopters repeatedly buzzed low over the pro-Morsi vigil before flying around Tahrir Square, scattering Egyptian flags over the packed supporters.

Morsi charges

"The Muslim Brotherhood has deviated from the path of real Islam," said Gamal Khalil, a 47-year-old taxi driver. "The army is the only honest institution in the country."

The investigation into Morsi centers on accusations that he conspired with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to escape from jail during the 2011 uprising, killing some prisoners and officers, kidnapping soldiers and torching buildings.

Morsi has said local people helped him escape during the upheavals, and the Muslim Brotherhood denounced the accusations leveled against him. Hamas challenged investigators to find "one piece of evidence" that it had meddled in Egyptian affairs.

"At the end of the day, we know all of these charges are nothing more than the fantasy of a few army generals and a military dictatorship," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said. "We are continuing our protests on the streets."

Convulsed by political and economic turmoil, Egypt is deeply polarized, struggling to make the transition from the autocratic rule of Mubarak to a free and open democracy.

State television screened images on Friday of the celebrations that erupted the night Sisi announced Morsi had been deposed. The narrator declared it "the day of liberation from the Brotherhood occupation."

"Egypt against terrorism," declared a slogan on the screen.

The army has appointed an interim government tasked with preparing for parliamentary elections in about six months followed by a new presidential vote. The Brotherhood says it will not join the process.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 24,2020

Abu Dhabi: A senior Hindi teacher at Sunrise School in Abu Dhabi has died of coronavirus, it has been confirmed. Anil Kumar, 50, passed away on Sunday morning, May 24.

The sad and shocking demise of Mr Kumar, a senior Hindi teacher of Sunrise School on May 24, has left the entire Sunrise family in a pall of gloom, read a statement.

“The management, administrators, other faculty members, students and the school as a whole is struck with intense sorrow and is speechless.

“The bond that he had developed over the years, just as how we have with each faculty, makes the loss unbearable. The entire SEPS family is shaken and finds it hard to come to terms with this most saddening news.

“Anil Kumar was a very inspiring teacher. He always brought a creative aspect to the classes he handled and would make it an enjoyable class to attend to. Mr. Anil Kumar had a great way of motivating his students to do their best, and pushed them to be the best they could be. He was a great strength and support to the Department of Hindi, always willing to scaffold and mentor students and teachers. He was a very approachable man, warm and friendly at heart and that is something I will truly miss about Mr. Anil.

“Mr Anil Kumar has left behind his wife and two children. Mrs. Rajini, his wife is also a member of the school family. She is a faculty of the maths department. Our prayers and sincere condolences to each and every one of the family. May God give the strength to endure and face this most challenging phase of their life.”

It is learnt Mr Kumar fell ill with COVID-19 and had been in hospital since May 7.

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Agencies
May 1,2020

Saudi Arabia has initiated refund of work visa fee to foreigners unable to travel to the Kingdom due to the suspension of international flights in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic.

Several work visas were cancelled, following which the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced the refund. The cancellation and refunding of the stamped visas will be considered effective from the date of issuance of the royal decree on March 18, reported Saudi Gazette.

As a precautionary measure to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Kingdom suspended all international flight. The ministry of health in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced 1,325 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases and 169 recoveries. With this, the total number of cases in the Kingdom now stands at 21,402, while recoveries stand at 2,953, as on Wednesday reported KT.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Dubai, Jan 6: Iran announced a further rollback of its commitments to the troubled international nuclear accord Sunday amid anger over the US killing of a top commander which also prompted Iraq's parliament to demand the departure of American troops.

While vast crowds gathered in Iran's second city of Mashhad as Qasem Soleimani's remains were returned home, the Tehran government said it would forego the "limit on the number of centrifuges" it had pledged to honour in the 2015 agreement which was already in deep trouble.

The announcement was yet another sign of the fallout from Friday's killing of Soleimani in Baghdad in a drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump, which has inflamed US-Iraqi relations and among the rival camps in Washington.

Iran's 2015 nuclear accord with the United Nations Security Council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany has been hanging by a thread since the US withdrew unilaterally from it two years ago.

European countries have been pushing for talks with Iran to salvage the deal, inviting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to Brussels for talks, but the prospect of progress seemed remote after the government's statement on Sunday night.

"Iran's nuclear programme no longer faces any limitation in the operational field", said the statement.

This extends to Iran's capacity for enriching uranium, the level of enrichment carried out, the amount enriched, and other research and development, it said.

"As of now Iran's nuclear programme will continue solely based on its technical needs," it added.

Europe urges Iran to rethink

Until now, Iran has said it needs to enrich uranium up to a level of five percent to produce fuel for electricity generation in nuclear power plants.

Tehran said it would continue cooperating "as before" with the International Atomic Energy Agency but the leaders of Germany, France and Britain reacted by urging Iran to rethink its announcement.

"We call on Iran to withdraw all measures that are not in line with the nuclear agreement," Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a joint statement.

The European leaders also urged Iran to refrain from taking "further violent actions or support for them."

"It is crucial now to de-escalate. We call on all the players involved to show utmost restraint and responsibility."

The Europeans have been among the chorus of voices urging restraint in the aftermath of the drone strike which killed Soleimani, the veteran commander of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations.

But as his remains were paraded through the streets of Mashhad, cries of "Revenge, Revenge" echoed through the streets while mourners threw scarves onto the roof of the truck carrying his coffin.

Soleimani's remains had been returned before dawn to the southwestern city of Ahvaz, where the air resonated with Shiite chants and shouts of "Death to America".

Some 5,200 US soldiers are currently stationed across Iraqi bases to support local troops preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group.

But the government could be poised to demand they leave after a vote in the Baghdad parliament where caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi joined 168 lawmakers -- just enough for quorum -- to discuss a motion to force US troops.

"The parliament has voted to commit the Iraqi government to cancel its request to the international coalition for help to fight IS," speaker Mohammed Halbusi announced.

The cabinet would have to approve any decision but the premier indicated support for an ouster in his speech.

'Iraqi people want the US'

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted by saying he would "take a look at what we do when the Iraqi leadership and government makes a decision" but indicated that he felt American troops were still welcome.

"We are confident that the Iraqi people want the United States to continue to be there to fight the counterterror campaign," Pompeo said on Fox News.

Two rockets hit near the US embassy in Baghdad late Sunday, the second night in a row that the Green Zone was hit and the 14th time over the last two months that US installations have been targeted.

Pompeo defended the decision to kill Soleimani while insisting that any further US military action against Iran would conform to international law.

Trump triggered accusations that he had threatening a war crime by declaring cultural sites as potential targets in a Tweet on Saturday night.

Zarif drew parallels with the Islamic State group's destruction of the Middle East's cultural heritage following Trump's tweets that sites which were "important to... Iranian culture" were on a list of 52 potential US targets.

"We'll behave lawfully," Pompeo told the ABC network.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been leading the backlash against the Soleimani strike, an operation that Trump only officially informed Congress about after the event.

But Trump made light of the calls for him to get Congressional approval in the future, saying such notice was "not required" -- and then saying his tweet would serve as prior notification if he did decide to strike against Iran again.

"These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any US person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner," Trump wrote.

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