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" … we wold like our
people to know also that we love them more than ourselves and that we wish to
sacrifice our souls for their honour, glory, dignity, religion and their
aspirations, we work for people only for God's sake more than we work for
ourselves; we are for- our belover brothers- and we will never be against
you".
Imam Hassan Al Banna.
*******
Mubarak Sends
MB Leaders To Military Tribunal!
Once again, the Egyptian regime proved its absolute
disrespect of law and human rights.
As if it was not brutal enough of regime to arrest tens of
innocent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose only crime was that they are
peacefully opposing the corruption, authoritarianism, and tyranny of the
regime, nor was it enough to re-arrest them after they were released by
civilian courts, completely overlooking and disrespecting the rule of law
in the country.
The regime decided to utilize the unjustifiable silence by
the international community (the very same voices who claim to be supporting
democracy, human rights and the rule of law) and took its campaign against the
largest opposition power a step further, this time presenting MB leaders to
martial courts.
The motives behind this decision are quite clear; the
detained MB members are innocent people who will be surely released by civilian
courts. The charges are clearly politically and lack any legal bases; a fact
that would send the detainees out of prison, against the regime's will.
Actually the most dangerous crime committed by these
leaders is that they pose a threat to the "tawreeth" plan; the
devilish plan of passing power from President Mubarak to his younger son Gamal.
They pose a serious threat to that authoritarian plan because they enjoy public
support, and work within the framework of the constitution, hence putting the
regime in an awkward position. The MB is "dangerous" in the eyes of
the regime because it does not compromise on fighting corruption, it teaches
people to defend their political rights, and threatens the interests of corrupt
rulers.
This is not the first time MB leaders are tried by martial courts; this happened
before under the
Both acts of brutality came simultaneously with the MB's
attempt to form a political party; conveying a very clear message from the
regime to democracy activists. It is very clear that if there is one thing the
regime won't tolerate it will be the Muslim Brotherhood forming a political
party.
The regime's struggle with the Brotherhood is not an
ideological struggle; they are not banning the MB because it is an
"Islamist" party, and they are not arresting its members because they
pose a threat to the society. In fact, all the crackdowns of the Egyptian
regime and the manipulation of law could fall under one big title, which is
Survival Strategies. The Egyptian regime is fighting the MB out of fear of
competition and being exposed with all its corruption and lack of
justice.
This
is not to say that the MB does not have a reform program that is ideologically
different than that adopted by the regime, for in fact the MB does have its
unique reform program; a peaceful comprehensive program that stems from an
indigenous ideology and presents a modern framework of reform.
This move by the regime will not force the MB out of
its chosen peaceful path of reform, but it will have negative impacts on the
Egyptian society. With the masses realizing that peaceful reform is
unfruitful and leads its supporters to br dragged to martial courts and
prison, ordinary citizens will hardly find an strong argument for peaceful
reform, as opposed to the violent, terrorist reform, that will enjoy the
empowerment of its radical sentement.
This has already happened before, when the 1995 arrests
gave rise to terrorist movements which have clear ideological differences with
the MB at the cost of the reformist MB; a fact that was manifested in the
terrorist attacks that took place all over Egypt in the mid 1990s, and the
brutal terrorist attacks that killed tens of tourists in Luxor in 1997.
Yet the effect of the arrests will be worse this time. With the technological
evolution, "neo-terrorists" do not need to organize in large cells to
undertake terrorist attacks, but only need to form small cells, and learn
everything about producing bombs from the internet, and then carry on their
deadly attacks to kill innocent people.
This unjustifiable move by the regime is not an attack on
the MB as much as it's an attack on the opposition in
Names
of MB Leaders Referred to
Lawyer Mostafa Al Demeiri said that the MB detainees told
the defense panel that they were officially informed that a military court will
investigate into and hear their case no. 963 high state security which known as
Al-Azhar students case.
Eight Muslim Brotherhood members are scheduled to be tried in absentia
in front of the military tribunal because five of them are living abroad:
Youssef Nada
Ali Himmat Ghaleb
Ibrahim Farouk Al Zayyat
Fathi Ahmed Al Khouli
Dr.Tawfik Al Wa'i
While the security forces didn't manage to arrest three others:
Asaad Al-Sheikh
Hassan Zalat
Ahmed Mohamed Abdul Ati
The other 32 MB detainees will be tried in person before the military
tribunal:
Eng. Khairat Al Shater (The
second deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood)
Dr.
Mohamed Ali Beshr (Muslim Brotherhood Executive Bureau member and a professor
at the Faculty of Engineering, Monofiya university)
Dr.
Khaled Awda, a businessman and a professor at the Faculty of Science,
Eng. Ahmed Shousha (businessman)
Hassan Malek (businessman)
Sadek al Sharkawy (businessman)
Eng. Mamdouh Al Husseini
Dr. Farid Galbat, a professor in the Faculty of Sharia and Law, Al-Azhar
University.
Said Saad Ali
Mohamed Mehanna Hassan
Dr. Mohamed Hafez
Dr.Mohamed Baligh
Diya' Al-Din Farahat
Dr. Salah Al Desouki (A professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar
University)
Fathi Mohamed Baghdadi (Al-Masaei school principal)
Eng. Ayman Abdul Ghani
Eng. Mahmoud Al Morsi
Dr. Essam Abdul Mohsen (A professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar
University)
Dr. Mahmoud Abu Zeid (a surgery professor at Al-Qasr Al-Aini faculty of
medicine)
Ahmed Ezzuddin (journalist)
Mostafa Salem (accountant),
Sayed Maarouf (a manager at Omar Effendi Co.)
Gamal Shaban (accountant)
Yasser Abdou (accountant and Secretary-General of the Syndicate of Commercial
Professions in Giza)
Ahmed Ashraf ( the manager of the Islamic Publishing House)
Mohamed Mahmoud Abdul Gawaad
Ahmed Al Nahhas
Dr.Essam Hashish (A professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University
and a Muslim Brotherhood leader in Giza)
Medhat Al-Haddad, Director of Arabiya for Construction Co.
Osama Abdul Mohsen Sharby, Director of Egilica Tourism Co.
Dr. Abd Al-Rahman Saudi, Director of the Urban Development Co. and a Muslim
Brotherhood leader in Giza
Dr. Amir Bassam – a Muslim Brotherhood candidate in 2005 legislative elections
for Sharqiya.
*******
Muslim Brotherhood members to be tried
by court known for swift trials with no appeal
The Associated Press
Published:
The move represents and escalation of the state's crackdown on the
group, many of whose members have been jailed for periods of several months
during the last two years, but were not convicted by the courts. Those members
were detained pending investigation or under legal provisions for precautionary
custody.
El-Shater, the Brotherhood's No. 3 member and a leading strategist
was among 29 others whose assets were ordered frozen late January by an
Egyptian prosecutor.
He was arrested in mid-December along with about 140 other members
on allegations they were recruiting students and providing them with combat
training, knives and chains.
The last time a group of Muslim Brotherhood members was referred
to a military court was in late 2001, when 22 were put on trial, a lawyer for
the group, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud told The Associated Press.
The recent campaign against the Brotherhood began in December
after some 50 Brotherhood students staged a military-style parade at Al-Azhar
Islamic University.
The banned organization is
The group, founded in 1928, was banned in 1954.
*******
Transferring
MB to Military Tribunal
Hurts Egyptian Interests
The decision of
referring Khairat Al Shater and other Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders to
court-martial is a flagrant violation of the rights of citizenship” said MB
leader, Dr. Essam El-Erian, commenting on referring Eng. Khairat Al
Shater and other top MB leaders to a military tribunal.
El-Erian added in a statement to Ikhwanweb that:” Every
Egyptian citizen has the right of appearing before a civil not a military
tribunal and in front of an independent judiciary and has the right of lodging
appeals and complaints in addition to all legal rights which a military
tribunal lacks.
Al-Erian added that:" While the Egyptian regime is
propagating for the constitutional amendments and is confirming that there is a
political reform,this authoritarian Egyptian regime is surprisingly
transferring this group of MB leaders to a military court in an inhumane
manner.
Al Erian described the decision of transferring them to a
military as unjust, and a flagrant violation of the rights of these citizens
and their families in addition to creating a state of instability and harms
Egyptian interests inside and outside.
Al Erian pointed out that this decision shows that the Egyptian civil judiciary
protects all Egyptians;thus, they must defend the independence and full freedom
of the judiciary.
*******
Rights
Organizations Reject
Transferring
Al Shater, MB Members to Military Courts
By: Ikhwanweb -
A number of
human rights organizations expressed their complete rejection to referring
Khairat Al Shater and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders to the military courts
and considered this as a serious violation to the right of having a fair trial
which is guaranteed by the constitution and international human rights
covenants.
The Egyptian
Organization for Human Rights and the
The statement pointed out that the military courts violate
many guarantees which are necessary for having a fair trial like: violating the
defendant's right to prepare his defense, violating the defense right in
knowing the case files and meeting clients privately, and not taking into
consideration torturing the defendants; add to this that the military courts
are exceptional courts for civilians, because their rulings can't be challenged
in front of any other court, and their rulings aren't supervised by any higher
Court to observes the right application of law; these rulings are only ratified
by the president who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces or
any authorized military officer.
The statement demanded also repealing the state of
emergency which is imposed since 1981, according to which are violated the
rights and public freedoms guaranteed by the constitution and international
human rights covenants, and specially the right to appear before a fair trial.
The statement demands also including the various political powers in the fabric
of the Egyptian society and allowing them to participate in the political
process, and allowing political powers to form parties regardless of their
intellectual affiliations and allowing them to have a space in the political
landscape.
*******
Egypt shifts
its strategy in tackling Brotherhood
Published:
By Alaa Shahine
Analysts say
The Brotherhood won nearly one-fifth of seats in the lower
house of the parliament in 2005, its members running as independents to bypass
the 53-year-old ban on the group.
Past mass arrests have failed to curb the Brotherhood’s
progress. Now
“The Brotherhood has crossed the red lines and gone beyond
the space the regime allows for opposition, so now it has to be weakened,”
political analyst Amr el-Choubaki said.
“The regime has realised that the tactics of mass arrests
were not effective, so it is opting for new methods.”
The Brotherhood says it wants a democratic state which has
Islam as state religion but does not bar non-Muslims from power.
Members of the Brotherhood, which operates openly despite
the official ban, have also been barred from running in trade union polls, a
move analysts say may be a dress rehearsal for blocking them from future
elections including the 2007 race for parliament’s upper house.
In December Islamist students staged a protest at Al Azhar
University wearing militia-style uniforms, which analysts say gave the government
the excuse it needed for a new clampdown.
A media campaign and a round of arrests followed that saw
270 Brotherhood members detained including third-in-command Khairat el-Shatir,
who is also seen as a key financier.
“He (Shatir) is the highest ranking Brotherhood official to
be detained in a long time and arresting him sends a message that the group’s
leader could be next,” said Mohamed Salah, an expert on Islamist groups.
Authorities also froze the assets of Shatir and 28 fellow
Islamists, a move the Brotherhood says is politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Egyptian media have accused the Brotherhood of
forming a militia — a charge it denies — and some even linked it to a knife
attacker terrifying women in a
President Hosni Mubarak has said the Brotherhood poses a
threat to
The proposals are expected to ease restrictions on
recognised but weak opposition parties to run for president while entrenching
restrictions on independent candidates.
Such restrictions, the Brotherhood claims, aim to ensure a
smooth succession for Mubarak’s politician son Gamal, who, though, has
repeatedly denied presidential ambitions.
To bypass restrictions barring independent candidates from
running for president, the Brotherhood would need the approval of 25 members of
parliament’s upper house and 160 from local councils, where it has little
presence.
– Reuters
*******
UN Report: Hepatitis
Patients 5 million Egyptians
The latest government survey
in
The report pointed that
" The annual infection rate is more than 70,000 new cases, of which at
least 35,000 would have chronic hepatitis C."
The report quoted Dr Manal el-Sayed, Professor of Paediatrics at
The Egyptian Health Ministry officials warned that by the year 2020
"we are going to have so many patients who are having liver failure and
liver cancer, because the disease may remain inactive for 10 to 30 years.
Treatment of HCV is usually done with a drug called Interferon. However the
most typical type of HCV in
The report said that the Health Ministry is trying to
produce the Interferon with a reduced cost, but even with the cost of
Interferon reduced, the financial burden of
*******
With Greeting
Ikhwan Message Newsletter
riseditor@hotmail.com ikhwanpress.com