Egypt

Q&A: The Mubarak trial verdict – What just happened?

Well worth the read: it explains much. Q&A: The Mubarak trial verdict—What just happened?
Mada Masr, by Hossam Bahgat

There appears to be the usual share of confusion about what the Mubarak trial judge just said and did. As seen on television, the judge promised his “sons in the media” flash drives containing talking points (in the neighborhood of 200 pages) to help them, he said, with their news coverage until they have had a chance to read the entire ruling. Until that summary is available, I will address here a couple of the most persistent questions so far, pending further updates. 

Q: Does Mubarak walk out now?

A: Yes. He is free to go for the time being. There have been some conflicting statements in the media on this point by named and unnamed legal sources after the verdict was announced. The confusion stems from the fact that Mubarak was sentenced last May to three years in prison on corruption charges related to embezzling millions of Egyptian pounds from state funds to spend on mansions owned privately by himself and his family.

Because Mubarak was convicted in the “mansions” case in May 2014, many have made the logical assumption that he would serve that sentence until 2017, notwithstanding today’s combination of acquittals and non-convictions of other charges of killing protesters and corruption, which isn’t the case. I have spoken to two senior criminal defense and human rights lawyers, who have independently confirmed that Mubarak’s three-year sentence in the mansions case does not start at the date of his conviction in May 2014, but rather at the date of his arrest and pre-trial detention in May 2011. With today’s acquittal, there is no legal basis for keeping him in prison.

Both sources have directed me to Article 483 of the Code of Criminal Procedures. This is my informal, non-lawyerly English translation:

“If a defendant is found not guilty of a crime for which he was held in pretrial detention then the period of pretrial detention shall be deducted from the period [of imprisonment] to which the defendant is sentenced for any [other] crime he might have committed or for which he has been investigated while in pretrial detention.”

The above is legalese for saying that a defendant’s prison term starts not at the time of sentencing but at the time of detention, even if that detention was for another charge. So even though Mubarak was held between May 2011 and May 2014 for the protester-killing charge, that period will count as time served for the mansions case.

The three-year sentence Mubarak was handed in May 2014 ended, therefore, in May 2014. A coincidence, of course – To suggest otherwise would be ground for prosecution for “insulting the judiciary.”

Q: Was Mubarak acquitted of the charge of killing protesters?

A: No, he wasn’t. He was not convicted either. The judge threw out the entire charge on procedural grounds.

First, the necessary background: Following Mubarak’s abdication of power in February 2011, Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud decided to investigate the killing of protesters during the 18 days of revolt that ended Mubarak’s tenure. On March 23, 2011, Mahmoud, who had served under Mubarak and remained in office until late 2012, indicted Mubarak’s Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and his senior assistants, but not Mubarak himself, for having ordered or otherwise abetted the killing of protesters throughout the country. Two months later, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which had succeeded Mubarak in power, faced pressure from street demonstrations demanding accountability for Mubarak too. On May 24, 2011, the public prosecutor added Mubarak as a co-defendant in the case.

via www.madamasr.com

Hosni Mubarak: Murder charges against Egyptian president dropped

Via CTV, Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt -- An Egyptian court on Saturday dismissed murder charges against former President Hosni Mubarak in connection with the killing of hundreds of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three-decade rule, citing the "inadmissibility" of the case due to a technicality.

The ruling marks another major setback for the young activists who spearheaded the Arab Spring-inspired uprising nearly four years ago -- many of whom are now in jail or have withdrawn from politics. It will likely reinforce the perception that Mubarak's autocratic state remains in place, albeit led by a new president, former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Saturday's verdict concludes Mubarak's retrial along with his two sons, his security chief and six top security commanders, who were all acquitted. Also acquitted was wealthy businessman Hussein Salem, a longtime Mubarak friend tried in absentia.

Mubarak, 86, was also acquitted of corruption charges that he faced along with his sons Alaa and Gamal -- his one-time heir apparent -- over a statute of limitations. The case involves their purchase from Salem of luxury villas in a Red Sea resort at a vastly discounted price, something that the prosecution had said amounted to bribery. The two sons face a separate trial on charges of insider trading.

All rulings can be appealed.

It was not immediately clear whether Mubarak would now walk free since he is serving a three-year jail term for corruption charges he was convicted of in May. He has been in detention since April 2011, but it is unclear if the past 3 1/2 years will be considered as time served.

"There is no justice for the poor," said Ramadan Ahmed, whose son Mohammed was shot dead in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria during the uprising. "This is Mubarak's law!"

Nearly 900 protesters were killed in the 18-day uprising that ended when Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, handing over power to the military. The trial, however, was concerned only with the killing of 239 protesters, whose names were cited in the charges sheet.

The early days of the protests were marked by fierce street battles between the demonstrators and both police and government supporters. Vehicles plowed into crowds, and bricks and stones were hurled from the rooftops of buildings onto demonstrators gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. At one point, men on camels and horses galloped into the square and beat protesters with batons and whips.

Nearly 170 police officers and security officials put on trial in connection to the killings since 2011 have either been acquitted for lack of evidence or because they were found to have acted in self-defence. Some received short, suspended sentences.

Mubarak was greeted by jubilant well-wishers when he was helicoptered back from court to the Nile-side military hospital where he has been staying. A television interviewer reached him by telephone and asked whether he had ordered the killing of protesters.

"I did not do anything at all," Mubarak replied.

Mubarak was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2012 on charges related to the killing of protesters, but the verdict was overturned on appeal the following year.

He has spent virtually all the time since he was detained in hospitals due to poor health. On Saturday, he was brought to the defendants' cage on a gurney. He wore dark glasses, a navy blue tie and a matching cardigan.

Presiding judge Mahmoud al-Rashidi said the dismissal of the charges did not absolve Mubarak of the corruption and "feebleness" of the latter years of his 29-year rule and praised the 2011 uprising, saying that its goals -- freedom, bread and social justice -- were legitimate.

Al-Rashidi said Mubarak, like any other human, erred at times and suggested that his old age should have spared him a criminal trial. He also cited Mubarak's long years in public service and what he called the enshrinement of "constitutional legitimacy" following the ouster of Mubarak's successor, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Mubarak was a career military pilot who led the air force during Egypt's last war against Israel in 1973. He was made vice-president in the mid-1970s and assumed the highest office in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

"To rule for or against him after he has become old will be left to history and the Judge of Judges, the Righteous and the Justice (God) who will question him about his rule," said the judge.

The reaction to the verdicts was muted, after the judge threatened to jail anyone attending Saturday's 45-minute hearing if they interrupted the proceedings. After the trial was adjourned the courtroom broke into cheers and applause.

Morsi, the Islamist who succeeded Mubarak, is also detained and faces a slew of charges, including some related to the killing of protesters, which could see him sentenced to death. He was elected in Egypt's first democratic presidential election in 2012 but was overthrown by el-Sissi a year later amid massive protests calling for his resignation.

Since then the government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group and other supporters, killing hundreds and jailing thousands. It has also jailed scores of secular activists, including some of the leaders of the 2011 uprising, for violating a draconian law regulating street protests that was adopted a year ago.

via www.ctvnews.ca

Egypt Commission Concludes: Political Islam Must Be Banned

Worth the read—continue here. Clarion Project, by Ryan Mauro 

A gov't report concluded that the Muslim Brotherhood ‎and other political Islamists favor armed ‎confrontation and not peaceful dialogue.

Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood attack the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012 The Egyptian commission concluded that Brotherhood supporters are often violent. (Photo: © Reuters)

An Egyptian government commission investigating the crackdown on pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators last year has come to a bold conclusion: Egypt must ban political parties subscribing to Political Islam

“We highly ‎recommend that political Islam parties be dissolved in ‎accordance with Article 74 of Egypt's 2014 Constitution ‎and also in order to safeguard society against the ‎reactionary ideology of these factions which like to mix ‎religion with politics,” the study concludes.

It says, “The ‎lesson we must learn from this experience is that ‎political Islam forces must not be allowed to exercise ‎politics in this country” and the “Muslim Brotherhood ‎and other political Islam factions usually favors armed ‎confrontation at the expense of peaceful dialogue.”

How the Brotherhood Came to Power

The report states that the military’s removal of former President Hosni Mubarak was necessary to avoid civil war but former Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who ran the country afterwards, erred in not taking action against the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood was the most organized political force, enabling it to win the parliamentary and presidential elections and achieve a monopoly on power within the government. Tantawi was subsequently dismissed by Morsi.

Evaluation of the Overthrow of Morsi

The official presentation of the report opened with a video designed to expose the Brotherhood’s deception and hijacking of the democratic process and how it threatens every segment of society. It began with footage of President Morsi promising to abide by the constitution.

The film then chronicles Morsi’s dictatorial actions. It features how the Brotherhood preached against virtually every part of society — Coptic Christians, secular Muslims, the ruling government, the military, the judiciary, the media and Al-Azhar University, the top school of Sunni jurisprudence.

The commission determined that the military’s overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood at the request of millions of Egyptian protestors was necessary because the group “adopted the strategy of scorched earth and were about to plunge Egypt into a civil war.”

Conclusions About the Rabaa “Massacre”

The most controversial conclusion is that the Brotherhood was responsible for the government's bloody crackdown on the Brotherhood's anti-government protests last year. It counted 607 deaths in Rabaa Square and 86 Al-Nahda Square in Giza. Ten police officers were also killed.

Another 1,492 civilians and 156 policemen were injured.

The report charged that the Brotherhood consistently inflated casualty reports and did not provide evidence to substantiate its numbers when asked.

“The evidence detailed by the report show that the group’s leaders, espousing the extremist ideology of Islamist ideologue Sayed Qutb, turned the sit-in into armed confrontation against state authorities,” the commission chairman explained.

The security forces were criticized for allowing the sit-ins to grow in number, increasing the casualties in the inevitable confrontation. Forces were not deployed to make sure weapons weren’t smuggled into the protest site. The former prime minister said the decision was to wait until after Ramadan and the follow-up feast had passed.

The security personnel gave both protest sites an opportunity to leave on their own. Most of the pro-Brotherhood demonstrators at Al-Nahda Square in Giza departed but armed militants stayed put in Rabaa. A total of 51 guns were found at the site.

The dispersal lasted for two hours on August 13, 2013 and initially used non-lethal force like tear gas and water cannons. Lethal force only started after a Brotherhood member shot and fatally wounded a police officer. This account is substantiated by a separate study done by the National Council for Human Rights.

The commission determined that the police did not limit their retaliation only to identified attackers, causing casualties among the non-violent but insubordinate protestors. The report does not attribute to this malice. It says that the gunfire from multiple angles caused the police to “lose their focus.”

Rabaa Square was surrounded during the clashes in order to help control the situation. Demonstrators that remained until the end and did not resist were permitted to leave even though they disobeyed orders to leave.

Christians were heavily victimized by violent Islamists in the aftermath. The commission counted 52 churches in 23 provinces as having been destroyed or damaged by Brotherhood supporters. It did not accuse the Brotherhood of directly orchestrating all these acts, but blamed the group’s incitement.

Other Violent Incidents

The commission also investigated violence at universities after Morsi was overthrown. The death toll was 14 students and four security personnel, consisting of three soldiers and a police officer.

It determined that the pro-Brotherhood students and collaborating professors triggered violent incidents by illegally obstructing education by disrupting classes and blocking hallways. The intervening security forces escalated their means as required by the resistance.

The study reviewed an attack on the Republican Guard military barracks in Cairo on July 8, 2013 by Brotherhood supporters who believed Morsi was detained there. A total of 59 civilians and two security personnel were killed. Notably, most of the attackers previously attended the supposedly peaceful Rabaa Square sit-in.

On July 26-27, Brotherhood backers violently clashed with anti-Brotherhood civilians near Rabaa Square. When police intervened, they were fired upon; one died and one was injured. A total of 95 civilians died.

 Accusations of Puppetry to be Expected

The objectivity of the commission will inevitably be challenged by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists who will call it a propaganda organ of President El-Sisi and the military. Some human rights groups in the West will also call it into question.

However, the commission was led by Dr. Fouad Abdel-Moneim Riad, who was appointed by the United Nations as a judge for the International Criminal Tribunal investigating war criminals in Yugoslavia. He was also a law professor at Cairo University.

Riad says the Muslim Brotherhood rescinded earlier pledges to cooperate and he made sure that “our work remained completely independent and unbiased.”

Human Rights Watch published a study in August that concluded that some pro-Brotherhood demonstrators were armed and fired shots, but condemned “grossly disproportionate and premeditated lethal attacks on overwhelmingly peaceful protesters.”

Human Rights Watch's report was sharply criticized by Tawfik Hamid, a Muslim reformer and former Islamist from Egypt. He showed that Human Rights Watch cherry-picked information from other reports, and its interviews were disproportionate in favor of protestors most likely to support the Brotherhood.

The Egyptian government issued an official statement complaining that Western media outlets were not reporting on Brotherhood violence and provocations. One Muslim Brotherhood official quit the group after he saw it “trading with the blood of its youth and innocent demonstrators.” He wants the leadership put on trial and executed.

The Clarion Project closely followed the crackdown and saw very strong evidence that the Brotherhood and its supporters deserved most of the blame for the bloodshed. Photos and videos showed the Brotherhood organizing children to go to the protest and declaring their intention to be killed.

We also posted 10 eye-opening videos showing Brotherhood calling for violence, shooting at Egyptian security personnel, attacking government buildings and churches, hiding weapons inside coffins at the protest sites and framing government forces.

The videos feature Egyptian civilians on the scene describing the crimes of the Brotherhood before and during the crackdown. One can see in the videos Egyptians cheering as a Brotherhood operative is arrested and hear Egyptians comparing the crackdown to the American raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

Recommendations

The study came up with about 60 recommendations. Here are some of the more important ones:

Chairman Riad said a campaign must begin towards “reforming religious discourse, promoting tolerance, and helping Coptic Christians restore their churches.”

It calls for a “complete vision” to address radical ideologies. Components should include: 

• Dissolution of political parties that are based on political Islam/Islamism and prevent such ideologies from having political participation
• Ban parties based on religion, as already outlawed in the constitution
• Create a separation between religious preaching and political activism
• Create a separation between unions and political groups
• Develop measures to counter radical religious and financial influence
• Ban the incitement of violence but “stress freedom of expression.”
• Use Al-Azhar University to promote “moderate Islam”
• Cultural, educational and religious institutions should study the causes of violence
• Such institutions must advocate for democracy and human rights and promote peaceful activism through protests.
• Ban media campaigns from inciting hatred, violence and exclusion
• Promote family values by educating the populace about the need to prevent children from being influenced by radicalism or criminals.
• Regulate television so that programs “present the truth and expose lies in an objective way and not with disrespect to others or with inciting language.”

via www.clarionproject.org

Egypt Girds for Islamist Protests, but They Don’t Come

NY Times, by David Kirkpatrick

CAIRO — Two senior Egyptian Army officers were killed in drive-by shootings Friday, on a day of largely unfulfilled fears about planned Islamist protests against the military-backed government.

A small, ultraconservative Islamist group known as the Salafi Front had called for a day of protests on Friday, contending that Egypt’s religious identity has come under assault since the military takeover last year that removed President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood, Egypt’s mainstream Islamist group, issued mixed statements about the protest, supporting the concept but urging demonstrators to avoid confrontations with the police and to keep protests peaceful.

Most other Islamist groups opposed the call to protest under a banner of Islam rather than democracy. Those included the main ultraconservative Islamist movement, which had supported the takeover, as well moderate or liberal Islamist groups who have joined the Brotherhood in opposition to the current government. Gamaa al-Islamiya, which led a violent insurgency in the 1990s but later renounced violence, also condemned the protests as polarizing.

For weeks, however, the state-run and pro-government media were full of escalating warnings about the dangers of the day. Pro-government clerics supported calls for a forceful response by security forces, and military and police forces were on high alert Friday.

Much of the capital was under a tight lockdown. Many businesses were closed and streets were deserted. State media reported that the police had arrested more than a hundred alleged members of the Muslim Brotherhood accused of plotting violence, adding to the many thousands of Brotherhood members already jailed since the takeover.

Aside from the killing of the two officers, however, there were only sporadic, scattered protests and a few small explosions with no casualties, a level of violence that has become unexceptional here since the takeover. Security officials said that three protesters had been killed in clashes with the police in the neighborhood of Matareya, on the outskirts of the capital, and that at least 135 were arrested from Cairo and Giza, the district across the Nile.

The outsize fears of the day may reflect growing fears of a militant insurgency centered in the North Sinai. Attacks by Islamist extremists have killed hundreds of soldiers and police officers since the takeover, and two recent assaults have been unusually brazen. One killed at least 31 officers at a military checkpoint in the North Sinai in October, and another this month targeted an Egyptian naval vessel at sea.

via www.nytimes.com

Islamists Hold Small Protests in Egypt, 5 Killed

Via ABC News—By MAGGIE MICHAEL Associated Press 

Egyptian plainclothes police officers detain a protester during a demonstration against the Egyptian government on Al Haram Street in Giza, a neighboring city of Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. At least two senior Egyptian army officers were killed early Friday morning as security forces arrested more than 100 Islamists ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations. (AP Photo/Eman Helal

Egyptian security forces quickly put down scattered protests Friday as an attempt by Islamists to hold the first major anti-government rallies in months fizzled, with at least two protesters and three army and navy officers killed in separate incidents.

The call for nationwide rallies to topple the government marked the first attempt in months to hold large protests in the face of a massive crackdown since the military's ouster last year of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Several mosques listed as gathering points by organizers remained largely empty. Small, scattered demonstrations by a few hundred protesters were quickly quashed by security forces.

The three military officers were killed in separate shootings early Friday morning. The army officers were shot dead in Cairo while the navy officer was killed in Alexandria. After Friday prayers, two civilians were killed in the eastern Cairo neighborhood of Matariya, where security forces clashed with protesters, according to the Health Ministry.

Security forces had vowed to use "lethal force" and maintained a heavy presence from the early morning. Armored vehicles deployed across the city while cement blocks sealed off roads leading to security headquarters, the presidential palace, the Ministry of Defense and the main Cathedral. Army helicopters hovered overhead.

Friday sermons by government-appointed clerics spoke against demonstrations. In a Cairo sermon aired on state TV, an imam said: "Don't do it ... You can't fix corruption by sabotage, terrorizing safe people, and shedding blood."

While previous demonstrations by Morsi supporters have played down their Islamist nature ? focusing instead on opposing his overthrow and restoring Egyptian democracy ? the calls for Friday's protests were overtly religious. The ultraconservative Salafi group organizing the rallies warned of a war against Islam and urged protesters to raise Qurans in the air. The theme of the demonstrations was "Muslim Youth Uprising."

Salafi Front spokesman Hisham Kamal said, "this is only a beginning" and added that turnout was satisfactory if compared to "stagnant water" of the past period.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group supported the protest call but warned its supporters against being dragged into a violent confrontation.

via abcnews.go.com

Sephardic Jews, Egypt Berebi

Worth watching—the story of a family that left Egypt. It also reminds me of Fatma Orayid's سفر الترحال
the story of a Jewish family, which stuck to its guns and stayed in Egypt in spite of the hatred. 

 

Hosni Mubarak verdict due, but Egyptians' interest wanes

My take, as support for January 25th wanes, sympathy for Mubarak escalates. I wouldn't be surprised if Mubarak is found not guilty.

Via The Washington Times,  Associated Press, by Merrit Kennedy - Thursday, November 27, 2014

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, seated, and his two sons Gamal Mubarak, left, and Alaa Mubarak, right, attend a hearing in a courtroom at the Police Academy, Cairo, Egypt, in this Sept. 14, 2013, file photo. A verdict is expected 

CAIRO (AP) — Amal Shaker’s 25-year-old son Ahmed was fatally shot in the back on the “Friday of Rage,” one of the bloodiest days of Egypt’s 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Nearly four years later, she is still waiting for justice.

“We want blood for blood,” she said.

Her wait is supposed to end Saturday when a verdict is expected in the 86-year-old Mubarak’s trial on charges connected to the killing of more than 900 protesters against his rule. But Egypt’s “trial of the century,” initially watched with excitement, has largely dropped from public attention. That’s partly because of how drawn out the process has been — with a trial and retrial — and partly because subsequent upheaval has flipped the political narrative.

The revolutionary fervor of 2011 has been largely extinguished, replaced among many Egyptians by exhaustion from nearly four years of turmoil. Many of the pro-democracy activists central to the uprising are in prison for attempting to protest against the new president, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Others are dismissed in the media as troublemakers, while the police who in the revolutionaries’ eyes were the hated tools of Mubarak oppression are now lauded in the press as heroes in a fight against Islamists.

“The issue is over,” Ahmed Hani, a Cairo accountant, said of the trial, which he like many is not following closely. “What’s important is to improve the country, to bring it back to its prior state, more than to take an interest in a thing like this.”

When the trial began in 2011, Egyptians were initially transfixed by TV images of the former strongman who ruled for 30 years being rolled on a gurney into the defendant’s cage. In June 2012, he was convicted of failing to stop the killing of protesters and was sentenced to life in prison.

But the conviction was thrown out by a higher court, and a retrial began in May 2013. On trial with Mubarak are his former interior minister and other top security officials, as well as his sons Alaa and Gamal on corruption charges.

During the retrial, the political landscape dramatically transformed.

Mubarak’s elected successor, Islamist Mohammed Morsi, was ousted by el-Sissi and the military after massive protests that began on June 30, 2013 against the domination of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood. A sweeping crackdown against Islamists ensued and has widened to suppress any dissenting voices.

Now the state routinely blames all violence on Islamists and foreign conspirators. TV stations and newspapers have largely dropped criticism of Mubarak’s old regime and focus all their venom on Islamists. They also at times promote a revised history painting the 2011 uprising as part of a conspiracy to destabilize Egypt that the 2013 “revolution” corrected.

“The urgency of holding Mubarak to account … is much less now,” particularly when many Mubarak-era officials including el-Sissi are in positions of influence, said Issandr al-Amrani, North Africa Project Director at International Crisis Group. El-Sissi was promoted to head of military intelligence during Mubarak’s last year in power.

“There’s been a steady narrative to say 2011 wasn’t a real revolution, the real revolution was the June 30, 2013 one against Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

During the retrial, Mubarak’s defense has tried to blame protester deaths on the Brotherhood, to ride the anti-Islamist tide, said lawyer Mohammed Farouk, who is representing families of the victims in the trial.

He said he expected Mubarak to be convicted and given a life sentence again, arguing that there has been ample evidence Mubarak failed to protect protesters. Mubarak is currently serving a 3-year sentence on a separate embezzlement charge.

Another lawyer for the victims, Hoda Nasrallah, said she is worried that renewed empathy for Mubarak could have an impact on the judge’s ruling, especially given recent court verdicts criticized by rights advocates as politicized and vindictive against Islamists.

via www.washingtontimes.com

Egypt gears up for Friday of 'Islamic revolution' protests

Read on here. Ahram Online, by Mariam Rizk

Salafist group's call for mass protests on Friday 28 November may lead to a day of violent confrontation; some observers believe the level of potential Islamist mobilisation was exaggerated by the media

Army preparations for November 28 protests (Photo: Aswat Masriya)

As Egypt’s Islamists gear up for renewed protests, fear and anticipation have increased in a country that has experienced four years of unrest and street violence.

The protests, called for by the Salafist Front, have gained attention after months of low-level street activity from supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, apart from protests at universities.

The ultraconservative group calls it an “uprising of the Muslim youth” and a day of “Islamic Identity,” where supporters are encouraged to raise the Quran in demonstrations. The group's demands include the imposition of sharia.

"There’s a war on my religion and my Islam, a war on our values, ethics and identity,” a video that circulated online to call for demonstrations said.

The video listed reasons that ranged from claims of assaults on mosques and immoral acts, to the inequality in wealth distribution and the heavy handedness of security forces when dealing with protesters.

Since Morsi’s toppling last year, protests by his supporters have regularly descended into violence as protesters clashed with security forces or local residents.

Protesters have often set tyres and sometimes public and personal property on fire, and have on some instances been witnessed carrying weapons. 

Over the last 16 months, police have violently dispersed many Islamist protests, including the Rabaa and Nahda camps in August 2013, leaving thousands injured and hundreds dead.

Meanwhile, Islamist militants have carried out tens of attacks against churches in the summer of 2013 as well as ongoing attacks against security forces killing hundreds of army and police personnel in Sinai and elsewhere in the country.

But with more violence expected by many on Friday, security has been beefed up, some main roads closed and many churches have suspended their activities for the day.

Who is protesting?

The call for Friday’s protests by the Salafist Front has been welcomed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hailed and which is now listed as a terrorist organisation.

It is the first time the Salafist Front has acted outside of the pro-Brotherhood coalition, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, which has led efforts against Egypt's current authorities since Morsi's ouster.

"The Muslim Brotherhood treasures the call to preserve the nation's identity, which the Egyptian people including the Muslim Brotherhood fought for," said a statement published on the Brotherhood's website on Sunday. "The Egyptian people won't accept any attempt to obliterate its Islamic identity."

Other Islamist forces, however, said they will not participate, including the Salafist Call and its political wing the Nour Party.

Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, the group that has led most of the violent attacks on the state in the 1980s and the 1990s but later rejected violence, has also declined to join the protests.

Islamist-affiliated parties Al-Watan and Al-Wasat, both former members of the pro-Morsi national alliance, have said they will not participate either.

Ahmed Amin, a leading member of Al-Wasat Party, said his party is not going to participate despite their opposition to the current government because this day “stamps the confrontation with the regime with a sectarian stamp.”

“Any kind of protest have to emerge from the January 2011 revolution,” Amin said. “It is a matter of freedom and democracy, a much bigger picture than what they are depicting.”

He said that the regime might even be “happy” with this day which will “limit the opposition into Islamists.”

“A sectarian tone will divide people while we are in dire need of unity,” he said.

Other groups opposing the regime, like the centrist Strong Egypt party and the radical April 6 youth movements, have also ruled out participation in Friday’s demonstrations. 

via english.ahram.org.eg

Dana Gas aims for higher prices in Egypt

The National, by LeAnne Graves

Sharjah-based Dana Gas is negotiating a higher price for natural gas extracts in Egypt ahead of drilling its first offshore well in the country.

“What we do need right now is a clear mechanism for a payment method going forward,” the chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward said yesterday.

Egypt needs to increase its natural gas production, which has remained stagnant since the early 2000s. But the price the government pays producers is fixed at US$2.65 per 1,000 cubic feet. Mr Allman-Ward said that while Dana Gas appreciates the willingness of the government to revise prices, the company would like a market-based gas system in Egypt. “While the increase[d] flexibility is extremely welcome, it’s difficult to do a discounted cash flow on the basis of a promise.”

Egypt’s natural gas production fell 12.2 per cent in September compared with the same month a year earlier. Exports also declined 81.4 per cent as more natural gas was needed for domestic use.

The country faces its worst power crisis in history as it relies heavily on natural gas for power generation, much like the UAE. The Egyptian state-run Information and Decision Support Centre said that power generation accounted for 68.7 per cent of natural gas consumption, an increase from last year’s 59.6 per cent.

Power outages have crippled the country’s economy. Egypt dropped 14 places to 121 out of 144 countries for electricity supply in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Index 2014-15.

In September, the Suez Canal Authority declared a state of emergency as blackouts paralysed the movement in the important waterway. The canal brings in about US$5 billion in revenue annually for Egypt, but ships were forced to remain stationary because communications, including mobile phone coverage, was down as a result of the power failure.

Operations were momentarily stopped at 10 oil refineries and pumping stations. Other industries like iron and steel also suffered, costing Egypt about $140 million in lost revenue.

Dana Gas has invested more than $1 billion for exploration and drilling activities in the North African country since 2007, doubling its reserves.

However, Mr Allman-Ward said that since 2011 the country’s instability has created a “crisis of trust” between Dana Gas and the Egyptian government.

Dana Gas will begin a new exploration and drilling programme in Egypt in the first quarter of next year, including its first offshore well on Block 6 in the North El Arish Concession Area near Gaza. The work programme will span over a seven-year period with the company drilling more than 20 new development wells and conducting a similar number of improvements of existing wells.

The firm is still owed $276 million, of which $160m is overdue payment since 2011. The new drilling programme was created to help the company accrue the money owed, which Mr Allman-Ward said he expects to receive by 2018.

“However, if you don’t know what the gas price is going to be, you can’t calculate whether that investment is going to make you money or not,” he said.

via www.thenational.ae

A Cypriot Answer To Egypt's Energy Woes

Forbes, by Christopher Coats

This week, Egyptian officials announced that they would accelerate talks with Nicosia ahead of an expected natural gas boom in Cyprus. According to a Reuters report, Cairo moved to expedite the import process to help Egypt deal with a newly found role as a gas importer, with the country’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sherif Ismail telling reporters in Nicosia that a pipeline would be the most viable path forward.

Over the last five years, Egypt has steadily moved from a net exporter of natural gas to an importer, hampered by political and economic insecurity and waning confidence from foreign investors. The country’s decline in domestic production has exacerbated a challenging energy environment for the country’s 85 million residents. Widespread shortages and blackouts have become commonplace as successive governments have struggled to address demand while still managing an unsustainable public subsidy system.

Recently, the country’s exports have also suffered. Egypt’s export decline can be traced to a damaging combination of increasing domestic consumption during the hot summer months, which made up 65.2 percent of local natural gas, and lower production levels that have plagued the country since the collapse of the government of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. Coupled with attacks on energy infrastructure in the country’s eastern Sinai region, Egypt’s energy standing has struggled to find its footing.

To help cope with shortages without adding to the country’s multi-billion debt to foreign producers, Cairo has sought out affordable, often local import solutions, which now include Cyprus.

“Egypt has a very huge (natural gas) infrastructure and can accommodate the production coming from the Cyprus economic waters,” Ismail told Reuters. “It will be very fruitful for both countries to work together to materialize this cooperation in terms of developing the resources in Cyprus and exporting it.”

Although Cyprus currently lays claim to an estimated 50 to 60 trillion cubic feet of gas and 1.7 billion barrels of crude in waters off its southeastern coast, the country faces substantial financial challenges associated with export options, such as pipeline projects or possible Liquefied Natural Gas plants. For Egypt, a Mediterranean pipeline appears to be the preferred option.

Egypt has previously explored possible import options with other regional providers, most notably Israel. Recent reports suggested  a pipeline project linking Israel’s Tamar gas field with an export facility in Egypt run by Spain’s Union Fenosa Gas. However, for many reasons, pursuing Israeli gas remains a challenge for Cairo.

In recent years, the possibility of buying Israeli gas has become a political land mine as critics were quick to cite investigations that allege years of selling Egyptian gas to Israel for far less than market prices. Revealed in the weeks after the collapse of the Mubarak government, the allegations included payments to Mubarak officials in exchange for low cost gas, including a now-cancelled 20-year agreement.

Coupled with ongoing tension between the governments of the two countries, the recent memory of these agreements and lost revenue that resulted from them, the possibility of a revived trade agreement has been a difficult policy to sell.

via www.forbes.com