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

Egyptian opposition groups call for mass protests over Mubarak appeal

Revolutionary forces demand mass demonstrations in Cairo as deposed president announces appeal and row grows over polls.

Egyptian opposition and revolutionary forces have called for a million-strong demonstration in Tahrir Square to denounce the verdict in the trial of the former president, Hosni Mubarak, and protest against the candidacy of his prime minister in the election run-off.

The vote will see the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi, challenge Mubarak's ally, Ahmed Shafik, for the presidency after the first round of elections saw them come first and second.

However, the third-, fourth- and seventh-placed candidates, Hamdeen Sabahy, Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh and Khaled Ali, have cast doubt on the legality of the first round and issued a joint statement claiming electoral fraud in the first round. The three losing candidates met with Morsi on Monday to consider ways to proceed.

The idea of a joint presidential council has been proposed by Ali, which would ignore the elections and its results. Sabahy has filed a legal complaint in an attempt to void the results of the first round, hoping that a ruling would force the polls to be repeated.

Morsi still has a chance to win the election, however, making the Brotherhood reticent about joining forces with the other candidates and forgoing the elections. Rather, it would prefer to have the other candidates' backing for Morsy in round two.

Michael Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation thinktank, said: "There's obvious anger with regards to the [Mubarak] verdicts among certain sectors, but in a recurring theme, it's difficult to see how this might be translated into effective political actions."

The failure to reach a unified front is fragmenting the opposition and weakening its position.

All of the candidates agree to oppose Shafik, suggesting a victory for him would signal a return of the Mubarak regime and its oppressive security apparatus. Shafik, however, insists his policies represent a break with the past.

There is also anger at the Mubarak trial verdict, which saw the deposed leader sentenced to life in prison but spared the death penalty over the killing of protesters during the street revolt that ended his three-decade rule.

Source : Guardian

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