Egypt Presidency Statement on Cairo Terrorist Attack and Death of Prosecutor-General
Following today’s terrorist attack in Cairo that took the life of Egyptian Prosecutor-General Counselor Hisham Barakat, the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt issued the following statement:
“It is with great grief and deep sorrow that the Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt mourns Prosecutor-General Counselor Hisham Barakat, who died as a result of a heinous terrorist attack on his vehicle this morning. The Presidency offers its sincere condolences to his family and to all the people of Egypt.
“Egypt has lost a model of judicial integrity, who set an example of dedication and commitment to the principles and ethics of this noble profession. He exemplified patriotism and diligence. Counselor Barakat, who was assassinated by an abhorrent act of terrorism, will remain a symbol for honest Egyptian judges.
“The Presidency of Egypt affirms that the perpetrators will meet swift justice and that such atrocities will not deter the state from advancing development, upholding rights and realizing the aspirations of the people of Egypt. The Presidency also announces the cancellation of celebrations marking the second anniversary of the June 30 revolution as a sign of mourning.”
At the funeral for Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi demanded the implementation of harsher laws to better confront terrorism and impose justice.
Following the assassination of Barakat in a car bombing on Monday, which some argue signals a grave escalation in ongoing violence, Sisi said “the arm of justice is chained by the law,” vowing not to wait any longer to amend criminal laws that will allow the state to implement justice as soon as possible.
The president stood among Barakat’s family members, as he demanded the amendment of laws “within days,” amid the current unrest.
Hesham Barakat's funeral, June 30, 2015 (Courtesy Military spokesperson's official Facebook page )
“We will not wait five or 10 years before trying those who are killing us,” he said. “They are giving orders from inside their cells.”
“We will respect the law, but we will establish laws in keeping with what is happening,” he said. “This is up to the judicial authority.”
As the president spoke, someone interrupted yelling, “Mr. President, we want the death penalty,” to which Sisi responded by saying, “We are executing the law, if a death sentence is issued, a death sentence will be implemented; if a life sentence is issued, a life sentence will be implemented.”
“The law! The judiciary!” Sisi firmly stated.
The president added that this incident isn’t new. “We knew it would happen and were prepared to pay the price so that 90 million Egyptians can live.”
“This is the price we’re paying as Egyptians,” he emphasized.
“The blood of the martyr” is a reminder that Egypt is fighting a fierce battle and that it will not falter, Sisi said, calling on state institutions and the Egyptian people to continue the fight against terrorism.
“We want to offer condolences,” Sisi said, “but not with words, with action,” referring to achieving swift justice.
Sisi addressed judges, urging them to implement harsher laws. “We want courts and laws that can achieve justice,” he said, adding that the current courts, laws and conditions won’t do. “They [current laws] can apply to regular people, but these people require swift and efficient laws.”
He described the general prosecutor as the “voice of Egypt,” and those who carried out the attack as aiming to silence Egypt. “No one can silence Egypt,” Sisi said, reiterating, “but we can’t do this without the law.”
The president said he would only offer judges his condolences after they implement the required new procedures.
In three attacks, on three different continents, terrorists targeted innocent victims in response to the ISIS leader’s call to make the month of Ramadan a time of "calamity for the infidels.”
All in all, the attacks left over 60 dead and hundreds injured. They targeted an American-owned gas factory in Lyon, France; a Tunisian seaside resort along the Mediterranean; and a Shia mosque in the City of Kuwait. There was immediate speculation that the attacks were part of a coordinated effort, perhaps orchestrated by the Islamic State, to sow mayhem during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The attack on a seaside resort in Sousse, Tunisia, left 38 people dead and at least 36 wounded, many of them Western tourists. It was the second major attack on tourists in Tunisia since March, when militants killed 22 people, mainly foreigners, at Bardo museum in Tunis.
The third attack hit a mosque during Friday prayer in Kuwait City, leaving 27 dead and hundreds injured—this mosque houses around 2000 worshippers at prayer time. The suicide bomber detonated himself amidst his kneeling-in-prayer victims.
The attacks are so disparate and yet so similar, the targets significantly different: a gas factory, a tourist resort, and a mosque. The victims, too, are notably dissimilar: Arabs and Europeans, Muslim and most probably Christians, young and old, and holiday seekers and Friday prayers.
The interconnection amongst the three attacks is hatred—hatred towards mankind. It cannot be allegiance to Islam since not even the prostrating Muslims were spared. A sobering question is why. How can hatred transcend nationalities, religions, age, and backgrounds? And how will the world react in the face of such terror?
So these three attacks were in synchronicity, creating shockwaves across the world, but hundreds of other attacks took place in recent years. In Canada, in October, 2014, an attack on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, one of the most secure and protected establishments in the Canadian capital killed a security officer and the attacker. This came just two days after another suicidal attack by a man with known jihadist sympathies who ran down a Quebec soldier,
Paris reeled from the Charles Hebdo massacre where 12 affiliated to the magazine admin and cartoonists met their death.
And in spite of the efforts that each country is putting into protecting itself, in 2015, alone, Islamist militants were behind endless terrorist attacks across the world, in Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, Denmark, Pakistan, Libya, Kenya, Chad, and Syria. Of course, other groups attacked other countries, too, but today my concern is with militant islamists.
These incidents leave the world at large susceptible to the danger of unpredictable attacks. No one country is safe—not in the West, Europe, Africa, or the Arab World. No person is safe—no tourist, no kneeling devout, no parliamentarian, no journalist or cartoonist, and no factory worker.
How will the world community react? Will folks stay at home avoiding harm’s way? Will they stop visiting resorts, going to work, or praying in mosques?
Chances are, when the dust settles, and since everyone is in the same boat, all will go about their business as though nothing has happened. It doesn’t make sense for world inhabitants to avoid the world.
However, countries will have to maintain a vigilant security plan to limit the number of fatal attacks. Vigilance at airports works, so vigilance everywhere should work, too. The Tunisian President said that Tunisia cannot face Jihadist terrorists alone. I agree; only if countries work together, share information, and communicate to each other their fears and suspicions will such countries overcome terrorism.
This is definitely not the time for countries to stand against one another. Now is the time for all countries to join hands in the face of terrorism.
A few days earlier I wrote a post on how the security plan in Egypt seems to be working. With fewer attacks on officers and soldiers, on innocent bystanders, too, Egyptians seem to be in control.
Maybe the Egyptian model can be followed. Egyptian security apparatus decided that it had to come down hard on anyone and everyone connected to the terrorists. It also decided that now isn’t the time for wreaking havoc on the street forcing activists to postpone creating mayhem until further notice. And you know what? It is working. Egypt is safer and is about to emerge from its security issues.
World, we are in for a lot of the same. We need to remain alert and vigilant but united against terrorism. Let's hope that we will get over the hump of terrorism before too many more human losses.
CAIRO (AP) — In Egypt, the years of turmoil following its 2011 uprising have seen revolutionary graffiti fade away as the country slowly tries to move on, but hidden scars remain for children who grew up during the chaos and lost loved ones.
The grief touches children of all kinds in this country, cutting across Christian and Muslim families, the sons of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group to the daughters of police officers and soldiers. And how they process the sorrow varies widely.
"Kids have different understandings for what they experience, and they are psychologically affected by different things than adults," says psychiatrist Eman Gaber, who leads a rehabilitation program for traumatized children. "When a child loses a parent, a relative, a friend or a person he likes or knows, maybe he wants the killer or killers to feel the loss he feels.
"The pain doesn't come to the person who is dead, but to the ones that are still alive."
Gaber says there are no statistics about how many children suffered trauma in Egypt's recent unrest, though it's "still hard not to be exposed to any violence," whether that was rioting in their neighborhood or images seen on television or the Internet.
For 13-year-old Adham Ehab Anwar, whose policeman father was shot to death in an attack on his station after the bloody security force breakup of Islamist sit-ins in Cairo in 2013, the idea of joining the military brings solace. Holding a wrench before a portrait of his late father, Adham says he wants to invent "anti-terrorism devices."
Two Coptic Christian children, 10-year-old Abanoub Samaan Nazmy and 9-year-old Youstina Malak Rasmy, lost their fathers to suspected military snipers as they protested in March 2011 over the burning of a church. Abanoub, turning a toy pistol over in his hands, wants justice: "I want to be a police officer to avenge my father."
For Youstina, art helps deal with her grief.
"I'd like to be a painter like him, because I love his paintings and to meet him in heaven," she says.
Jihad Abdo Elmasry, 12, also wants to join the security forces after watching her father, who was selling stone-carved figurines, get badly beaten at Tahrir Square in August 2013 over offering pro-government views.
"I dream to be a police officer and to inspect women in veils" Jihad says, as some believe Islamists at the time hid weapons in women's loose-fitting niqabs to avoid detection.
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In this picture taken on Nov. 6, 2014, 13-year-old Adham Ehab Anwar, whose policeman father was shot …
Jana Amr Elbana, a 5-year-old girl whose father supported the Muslim Brotherhood and was shot to death protesting in 2014, finds no solace at school. She says her teachers beat students at school for not doing their work.
She wants to manage a school, "because the teacher beats the kids and the manager beats the teacher."
But it isn't just the young who remain haunted. For liberal Salah Gaber, 49, who is not related to the psychiatrist, he misses his son, who was killed by security forces in November 2012 near Tahrir Square. His son once spent hours on a computer his father bought him looking online at "see how other boys his age in the world have rights, good education, good hospitals and job opportunities," Gaber said.
"If he came back to life, I would support him if he went to the street again," his father said, sitting near a portrait of yet another lost.
Here are a series of images by Cairo photographer Hamada Elrasam showing the collective grief felt by many Egyptians after years of turmoil.
According to some of my followers, my writing spree will ultimately dry up if things are on the mend in Egypt, to which, I must say, I agree with. Still, my venting may lessen, but my scrutiny will continue.
Though much work is needed in Egypt, Sisi’s government implemented some real fruit-bearing improvements with regard to the economy, the infrastructure, essential provisions such as power and bread, international relations, and most importantly on the security front. Let’s weigh in on the changes.
Every attempt is being made to overcome the stagnancy that faced the Egyptian economy after January 25th. Egyptians reel as mega projects worth billions of dollars are announced. The New Suez Canal is one such project. It is a feat that, if you ask experts about, they would say the project is unaccomplishable in the time schedule set for it, and yet it seems the new waterway will be open for usage in August, 2015, as originally promised. The task is monumental, but the efforts are equally huge. This change is in itself progress since Egyptians rarely worked so relentlessly to achieve the unachievable.
Mega corporate businesses, such as Siemens and BP are flooding Egypt to work on developmental projects and the Suez Canal Project especially after the Economic Summit of March 2015. A new 1,200 km road network, at a cost of LE 17 billion is almost completed, its evidence seen by travellers all around Egypt.
Successful reform addressing food and fuel subsidies is underway. As a direct result of such efforts, the bread ration system is working to the benefit of the needy as lineups for bread and butane cylinders disappear, and power outages are negligible compared to last year.
Unknown source
Internationally, Sisi visited dozens of countries including most Gulf States, and many European and African countries. As a consequence to these visits, Egypt now has solid connections with many of these countries. He visited Germany, too, and will also visit Britain in the near future as he has been invited by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Now, don’t get me wrong; it’s not the number of visits that count, it is the leadership aura and effort that Sisi exudes that is worth noting. Morsi visited a similar number of countries; however, the result is the difference between night and day.
All this seems like a drop in a bucket since so much more is needed. The educational and medical systems have a very long way to go, and unless Egypt puts massive efforts into fixing these two issues, it will remain a third world country. The other hurdle is the population growth, a thorn in the side of any change since it eats up all the good generated. Still, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
But, most importantly, as Ramadan befalls us, Egyptians are back to enjoying their festivities and walking their streets till the wee hours of the morning, unafraid and undaunted. Neither threatened nor bullied into hiding, Egyptians are both hopeful and feeling safe. This is by far the achievement that should be focused on, and to this I ask, is Sisi’s security plan working?
For a period in time, Egyptians feared the streets, being in the wrong place at the wrong time or turning into collateral damage in the large scheme of things. But most of all they feared for their beloved sons and fathers in Sinai and elsewhere. This foreboding dread has diminished.
Two set apart groups are the cause of the making or the breaking of this hopeful image: the militant terrorists that emerged after the ousting of President Morsi, and the activists who believe that Egypt has to be ruled, or not ruled, according to their beck and call.
As far as the first cause goes, attacks on soldiers and officers indeed dwindled. In Sinai, the security apparatus drained the web of terrorists of fighters, funding, and arms, curtailing attacks. In Cairo and other districts, every now and then, a homemade bomb is thrown on an innocent person, but these cases have become far and a few in between and remain minor in comparison to the major catastrophes that befell officers and soldiers of the armed and police forces in 2013 and 2014.
Most terrorist and radical pockets were annihilated. The success in this matter can be attributed to how the security apparatus feels about itself today. The current regime recaptured and re-instilled allegiance and patriotism in the hearts of the men facing the enemy. Egyptians, too, now regard the army with the respect and appreciation it deserves. It is only then that these men were able to function with dedication oblivious to danger and the brutal consequences they might face.
In addition, the security apparatus succeeded in restricting if not liquidating the Muslim Brotherhood. The organization lost its power and its leaders, and its dominance over the poor. Its image shattered, the Muslim Brotherhood will never relive its glorious days again, for now Egyptians know.
We are left with the activists, those who seek to create yet another downfall of Egypt. They argue to their hearts’ content that the current government is upholding their rights, that they are being gagged and muffled, that they are imprisoned for no cause, and that the situation now is worse than during Mubarak’s era. However, the restrictions implemented have left Egypt safer and calmer, its security apparatus focusing on the real enemy not dispersing protests. If such measures would overcome the turbulences that Egypt lived since January 25th, then albeit, Egypt has to resort to such measures.
No, fascism is not the answer. We don’t want all Egyptians to back one man, but we also don’t want an everlasting ongoing spew of hatred. I tell activists criticize, yes, but maintain a positive attitude. Not every crisis should call for the downfall of the government or the country’s leader. We have come to realize that countries’ futures are at stake with every provocation.
We are nowhere near where we should be—nowhere near, but the light at the far end of the tunnel, though still very far, is bright and clear.
The Egyptian army is digging a trench in northern Sinai along the border with Gaza in an effort to prevent smuggling, security sources said on Monday, as the government steps up activities to prevent militant attacks that often target security forces.
Egypt had already doubled to one kilometer (0.62 mile) the depth of a security buffer zone on its border with the Gaza Strip after some of the worst anti-state violence since President Mohamed Mursi was overthrown by the army following mass protests against his rule in 2013.
Authorities are still battling an insurgency in which the most active group, Sinai Province, has pledged allegiance to Islamic State. Hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed in the attacks, which have surged since the army ousted Mursi.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has described Islamist militant groups as an existential threat to Egypt, the most populous Arab country.
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The trench would help detect more tunnels used in the smuggling trade, which Egyptian authorities see as a threat.
Once the trench is dug, no vehicle or person will be able to pass except through the trench.
Security sources said passages had been made for vehicles and for pedestrians. They said the U-shaped trench is two kilometers away from the border and will have a
depth of 20 meters and a width of 10 meters.
Egypt has kept its Rafah closing with Gaza largely shut since 2013 but has recently opened it for a few days. The Sinai Peninsula is a strategic region that borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.
Cairo has accused Hamas of helping militants in Egypt's Sinai desert, which borders Gaza, to attack its security forces. Hamas denies this.
But an Egyptian court earlier this month canceled a previous ruling labeling Hamas a terrorist group, a decision that was praised by Palestinian Islamists.
Some residents criticized the trench, saying it had choked traffic and had caused the destruction of vegetation, which many farmers in the area depend on.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Michael Georgy, Larry King)
This is only an excerpt from the middle of this well-worth reading article. Egyptian Streets, by Ramy Oraby
Who Writes Egypt’s Modern History?
King Fuad’s idea of reshaping history in this way was so appealing that President Gamal Abdel Nasser and President Anwar el-Sadat formed similar committees to “rewrite” the history of Egypt. However the work of these committees was largely unknown.
Before the 1952 revolution/coup, Ahmed Urabi’s uprising of 1882 was called an “insurrection”. History books told us that members of Mustafa Kamel’s National Party, among others in Egypt, treated Urabi as a traitor and held him responsible for the British occupation of Egypt. After 1952, this was reversed. Urabi was represented as a national hero, whose “revolution” backfired due to a conspiracy by the British and the royal palace. The picture of Urabi Pasha -denoting the army- on his white horse safeguarding the demands of the Egyptian people replaced the old tale of treason. Considerable criticism of Urabi’s judgments and decisions was sidelined, even if it was the work of respectful intellectuals like Abd al-Rahman al-Rafai. Denouncing a historical leader would have grave consequences on the leadership of that time.
This continued throughout the century. A reporter once toured downtown Cairo asking: “Who was the first president of the Arab Republic of Egypt?” The majority replied: “Nasser”, while only few remembered that it was in fact Muhammad Naguib. This was not a coincidence.
In 1954, the Revolution Command Council announced Naguib’s resignation, which happened due to a disagreement between him and Nasser. Naguib was placed under house arrest and his role in the revolution/coup was eliminated. This remained the case until 1972 when President Sadat put an end to his house arrest. President Mubarak attended his funeral, and in 2013 the Order of the Nile was awarded to his name by interim-president Adly Mansour.
Artistic depiction of the famous 1882 Urabi revolt
A similarly remarkable incident was when President Sadat ignored four of his top generals – the Chief of Staff Saad el-din el Shazly, the commander of the third Egyptian Army Abd el-Munim Wassel and the commanders of the second Egyptian Army Saad Mamoun and Abd el-Munim Khalil – during the 1973 victory celebration ceremony, which took place in the Egyptian parliament. Bypassing these men covered up the series of Sadat’s fatal decisions that had led to a failed eastward advance, followed by a successful Israeli counter attack crossing the canal and trapping the third Egyptian army. In the diaries of Saad el din el Shazly, he recalled a conversation with Saad Mamoun prior to the war: Mamoun told him if the troops failed to cross the Suez Canal, they will take all the blame. Ironically, the troops succeeded yet the four men were punished for an ordinary professional disagreement, regardless that they were proven right. President Sadat wanted a total victory, and so it was!
For Saad el-Din el-Shazly, the worst was yet to come. After Hosni Mubarak, who served as commander of the Egyptian air force during the war, became president, the story of the victory changed once again to glorify the role of the air forces above the rest. In the memorial of 6th October’s war, a big portrait was set, in which Mubarak replaced Saad el-Din el-Shazly, as if the man never existed. Again, after 25th of January revolution, the name of Saad el-din el-Shazly was awarded the Order of the Nile. But the damage had already been done.
Former Egyptian Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak
A few years ago, Ahmed el-Moslemany – an Egyptian journalist – advocated in a series of articles the need for reevaluating the historiography in Egypt. Many intellectuals and historians were encouraged to do so, but an idea such as this, which sits outside traditional nationalistic clichés, faced fierce opposition. Truth be told, all regimes in Egypt have been giving much more attention to their own persistence, even if the awareness of many generations was at stake.
It is clear where the consequences of several attempts of “rewriting” the history of Egypt has led us. Even “reevaluating” the history won’t make enough relevant change. Writing history is not about taking sides. Historiography is an inclusive process that aims to understand the lessons of the past. In the words of E. H. Carr — history is an unending dialogue between the past and the present. Tackling the history of Egypt in a way that considers different perspectives of events won’t just highlight the fundamentals of the malfunctioning stage we are going through, but will give us some room for free debates that could enlighten our way toward a better future.
President Al Sissi’s move to anchor Egypt within a new Africa bloc is promising
PUBLISHED: 12:46 JUNE 24, 2015
BY DR MOHAMMAD AL ASOOMI, SPECIAL TO GULF NEWS
It does seem that Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Al Sissi has placed economic issues at the top of his government’s agenda given the current stability after years in which the economy lost a great deal of its capacity and suffered heavy losses that cannot be easily compensated.
This trend is in evidence through the firming up of the domestic situation and restructuring of the Egyptian economy on the one hand, and the creation of new bilateral economic and trade partnerships with various countries and blocs on the other.
At the domestic level, some sectors have been restructured, including energy, to respond to emerging variables. Moreover, policies to reduce the general budget deficit have been set up, alongside those to achieve sound growth rates in the coming years. This looks to be the case especially as large projects have been announced, such as the establishment of a new administrative capital in cooperation with the UAE at a cost of $150 billion (Dh550.5 billion).
At the external level, in addition to the remarkable development of economic ties with countries such as Russia and China — which will be important outlets for Egyptian exports — President Al Sissi led a trade gathering of 26 African countries in which he announced the establishment of a free trade area comprising three African blocs — the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Southern African Development Countries and East Africa — to abolish trade restrictions and custom fees, while facilitating the movement of goods and services between these countries.
This will contribute to a large market of 625 million people, or equivalent to 10 per cent of the world’s population and 52 per cent of Africa’s, which exceeds the population of the EU.
The economic size of the countries within the new free trade area is $1.3 trillion, which is a little less than the size of the GCC economy, while its total trade reaches $1.2 trillion annually.
Moreover, the volume of trade is expected to increase after the actual application of the new agreement by 2017. If this date is committed to without any delay, which is what Al Sissi affirmed in his speech at the Conference held in Sharm Al Shaikh.
Certainly there are some obstacles that could arise before or during the initial application, such as confirming the cancellation in customs duties, the determination of the origin of national products and compliance with legal frameworks.
Increase competitiveness
However, the 26 member nations of the new African free trade area have the potential and capability to take advantage of this agreement. They can contribute to creating jobs and thus reduce the worsening unemployment situation. They will also open the doors of 26 markets for goods to move free of any fees, which will increase their competitiveness.
At the same time, this will encourage the establishment of joint ventures, through opportunities that will be available on the grounds that there is a single commercial market. This will include infrastructure projects necessary to develop the trade links and which will in turn contribute to lowering the high cost of transport.
By virtue of its economic and commercial importance and the presence of the Suez Canal, Egypt can be the locomotive for this group, by contributing to the many future gains that can be expected. Especially, given the fact that the Egyptian economy needs to accelerate its growth rates to make up for missed opportunities and the degradation it was subjected to during the sabotage era and the bad administration under former president Mohammad Mursi.
Egypt has a lot of components that can turn it into an economically advanced country — natural resources, qualified and experienced people, a prime geographical location, an appropriate infrastructure and trade relations with countries and economic blocs, including the Gulf states which
have consistent backed it through the years.
However, all this needs stability and an economic vision, such as that enjoyed now by Al Sissi. Some of its aspects are clearly seen in the trends and economic policies.
Dr Mohammad Al Asoomi is a UAE economic expert and specialist in economic and social development in the UAE and the GCC countries.
Will Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Implode from Within?
The most probable answer to this question is: No. Yet, the almost 90 year old organization is suffering considerable internal cracks that should convince all observers to rephrase the question to become: What kind of a new organization will emerge from the current phase of both internal and external pressures?
The elements of whatever will emerge from this new phase in the evolution of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) will be determined by the interaction between two interlinked kinds of pressures currently reshaping the group: internal struggle and factionalization on the one hand, and the authorities’ crack down on the other. This whole process is grounded on the one year the organization ruled Egypt which culminated in toppling former President Mohamed Morsi. The failure of the group to govern, due to its nature and the persistent obstacles created by its adversaries, resulted in a deep internal crisis and deprived the organization of a good part of its popular support.
In this new weakened version of the MB it was only natural, for the frustrated members, to look back at Morsi’s year in the Presidential palace and wonder what went wrong. This single year ended in huge popular protests, then the military intervention and the arrest of thousands of members, confiscation of assets and the ongoing crack down.
Internal criticism led to unleashing an unprecedented internal mutiny in an organization built on the principle of absolute obedience and strict discipline. It was a sign of the changing times. Never before did the leaders of the organization faced such internal opposition from ordinary members. The internal split of 1954 was actually led by prominent high level leaders not by base members. But that was a testimony of the change in the nature of membership and the weight of urban middle class presence within the group.
The internal conflict, which we exposed in a couple of previous issues of MEB, reached a climax recently. The “Old Guard” led by the Acting Murshid (Guide) decided to assert their role and enter the ring directly to distinguish the fire when the members elected new leadership structures. The main issue raised by the old guard was that it is inappropriate to have a “dual-headed” leadership. Recent elections placed some new faces in different organizational levels.
The fact that the old guards are mostly in prison opened the way to the emergence of a “natural” leadership that represented a de facto alternative and filled the gap. Coupled with a deep search about the reasons of their one year rule, the emergence of the alternative leadership was soon reflected on the organizational structure of the MB.
In one hand there was the old guard’s leadership represented in the acting Murshid, Mahmoud Ezat, the organization’s spokesman Mahmoud Ghuzlan, and the MB Mufti Abdul Rahman Al Barr. On the other hand, the emerging alternative leadership was represented by Mohamed Kamal, Hussein Ibrahim, Mohamed Wahdan and others. It is not accurate to assume that the alternative leadership has any real margin of movement to reach a compromise with the old guards. The reason is that the activist members enjoyed a large degree of independence during the last year. They do not seem to be ready to give that up, particularly to a leadership that led to the catastrophic one year rule.
Wikileaks posted a document from the Saudi Foreign Ministry on Friday quoting an anonymous Egyptian official as saying that Khairat al-Shater, a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, agreed to release former President Hosni Mubarak in exchange for US$10 billion from the Gulf states, which was not welcomed by Riyadh.
This occurred after the January 25 revolution, while the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was ruling the country.
The document says the official had suggested the deal come as an initiative from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, so as not to embarrass the SCAF.
It also says that the official had told Shater, a candidate for the post of prime minister at the time, that the Egyptian people would not benefit from Mubarak’s imprisonment and that Mubarak’s wife should be allowed to leave with him.
The official suggested that Mubarak’s sons also be released, provided they return any money they had syphoned from abroad, according to the document.
A handwritten remark from an unknown person was included in the document saying it was not a good idea to release Mubarak because the Muslim Brotherhood would not be able to do in light of the fact that the revolutionaries wanted him in prison. The anonymous person suggested instead that things may change in two years.
The remark may have been by former Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal because other similar documents clearly bore his signature.
