Egyptian Leftist Bloc Leader Calls Morsi 'New Mubarak'

Hamdeen Sabahi, chairman of Egypt's leftist Popular Current and former presidential candidate, speaks to Al-Monitor's Mohannad Sabry at his Cairo headquarters on Sunday, March 10, 2013. (photo by Mohannad Sabry)

CAIRO — Hamdeen Sabahi, Egypt’s former presidential candidate and head of powerful leftist block the Popular Current, described the country’s first democratically elected president — Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s bearded academic who was endorsed by leftists, democrats, liberals and revolutionary youth who opposed the return of Mubarak’s Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq as president — as a "new Mubarak."

The grey-haired opposition figure who garnered 4.8 million votes — or 20.7% of the turnout — in the first phase of Egypt's presidential elections (held in June 2012) blamed Morsi for the bloodiest wave of events in the country since the deadly confrontations of the 18-day uprising in January 2011 that ended the three-decades-long dictatorship of the now-jailed Hosni Mubarak.

Talking to Al-Monitor in his Cairo headquarters, Sabahi listed a number of reasons why he holds Morsi responsible.

Sabahi explained: "He was elected to fulfill the demands of a revolution and proved incapable of doing so, was elected to be president of all Egyptians and proved to represent only one group, was elected to embody the unity of Egyptians in Tahrir Square and is now leading a policy that significantly divides the people, was elected to end a reign of oppression but more than one hundred people were killed under his regime and hundreds were injured. We are back to the time of torture in jails and police stations, imprisonment of political activists and violations against the basic rights of Egyptians."

Sabahi fiercely criticized Morsi amid ongoing chaos that kicked off on Jan. 26, 2013, in the city of Port Said after 21 defendants accused of killing more than 70 people in the city’s soccer stadium on the night of Feb. 1, 2012, were sentenced to death.

The violence crept to other cities of the Suez Canal, the Nile Delta... To Continue Reading The Full Article Press More


Mohannad Sabry is an Egyptian journalist based in Cairo. He has written for McClatchy Newspapers and The Washington Times, served as managing editor of Global Post's reporting fellowship "Covering the Revolution" in Cairo as well as a contributor to its special reports "Tahrir Square" and "Egypt: the military, the people." Sabry was nominated to the 2011 Livingston Award for International Reporting. Born in Saudi Arabia and raised around the world, Sabry returned to Cairo in 2001 and has been covering Egypt since 2005. Follow him on twitter @mmsabry

Excited revolutionaries to return to Tahrir with 'Day of Dignity' Friday

Political groups and parties call for a demonstration on Friday to demand immediate transfer to civil rule, a year on from the 28 January, 2011 police attacks on anti-Mubarak protesters.

Egyptians march during a demonstration toward Tahrir Square marking the first anniversary of the popular uprising that unseated President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (Photo: AP)

Following the success of the January 25 anniversary mass protests on Wednesday, almost 60 political groups and parties have announced their participation in Friday, 27 January protest called Friday of Dignity or Second Friday of Rage. The main demands, the groups say, are the end to the military rule and the immediate handover of power to a civilian government.

Political groups calling for the protests include the April 6 Movement, Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Wa’i (“Awareness”) Party, the Popular Movement for the Independence of Al-Azhar, the Justice and Freedom youth movement, the Free Front for Peaceful Change, the Participation Movement and the Maspero Protesters Movement, among others.

April 6 Youth Movement and National Front for Justice and Democracy have also stated that they will stay after the Friday’s demonstrations and stage an open-ended sit-in in Tahrir Square.

Following Wednesday’s festivities, which saw hundreds of thousands in the streets, tens of people decided to remain on Tahrir until the expected demonstrations at the weekend. Groups from the Muslim Brotherhood, who initially said they would leave the square at 4pm, also stayed overnight.

“We are staying here to take care of our stage in preparation for Friday,” a member of Muslim Brotherhood told an Ahram Online correspondent in the early hours of Thursday morning. The Islamist group led the festivities on the square yesterday, despite publically distancing itself from anti-SCAF sit-ins in July, November and December.

A smaller sit-in was also formed on Wednesday night in front of Maspero, the state-owned television and radio headquarters. Protesters marched to the television building in the afternoon calling for the purification of state media, which they believe, has been spreading lies since the revolution began.

This Friday will mark the anniversary of the Friday of Rage: one of the most significant dates of the ongoing revolution. 28 January, 2011 was the first instance that the Egyptian military attacked protesters resulting in 20 deaths. The police, who traditionally dealt with demonstrations, had vacated the streets and many prisons were left open. In the ensuing security vacuum the former president Hosni Mubarak ordered the military to take control.

Source : Ahram Online

Ekram Ibrahim , Thursday 26 Jan 2012

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