How Egypt's millitary stole the freedom of the Nation | World News

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Another update

Egypt’s new capital city is Sisi’s way of preventing being overthrown

There are few things that shock me in foreign affairs anymore, but observations from a friend who just returned from holiday in Egypt sent shivers down my spine. I hadn’t heard that the regime of General Fattah al Sisi had started building a new capital city about 35 km outside of Cairo called New Cairo, which is to be the seat of government and the military. New Cairo, which is an empty work in progress, already has soldiers guarding it, and sentries posted in guardhouses almost every 200 meters.

Alarm bells or let’s say sirens started going off in my head, as I realised immediately what had precipitated such a move. I had seen it all before in Myanmar. Some years back the military regime in Myanmar had started building a new capital city, Naypyidaw, in secret in order to move the seat of government and military barracks away from the bustling capital of Yangon, to a secure guarded location in the centre of the country. The perimeters of the new city had been concealed over the six years it took to construct, with the local population unable to even access the area.

To be honest, Naypyidaw is the most “creepy” place I have ever visited. If there is a place that exudes a negative energy that makes you want to run the other way, it is Naypyidaw, and I am not alone in that observation. Much to my relief, the official delegation was moving out of the new capital of Myanmar by nightfall, and we never had to actually sleep there. My private tour of the “fake” capital city that day had left me shell-shocked. It was the audacity of a regime to create a false city from scratch for the sole purpose of ensuring that the regime could never be overthrown and that its key institutions would be under maximum security, away from any potential popular revolt.

The poor civil servants of Myanmar were given just a few weeks notice to relocate their families from Rangoon to Naypyidaw. Resistance was futile, and unlike foreign diplomats, civil servants were forced to relocate to the ghost-like city of 16 lane roadways with guard houses at every intersection just a few hundred meters apart – just like the New Cairo.

Driving down a 16 lane roadway with no other cars in sight in the middle of the day, with four sentries watching you at regular intervals was a scene out of something approximating George Orwell’s 1984, although even Orwell couldn’t have imagined something that extreme.

There was a fake tourist tower overlooking the city, an empty amusement park, a military museum that stretched for blocks built to glorify the junta’s rule, and neighbourhoods of mansions built for the governing elite.

The military barracks were in an inaccessible part of the city, and the new “parliament” looked like a fake castle right out of Disney world. I have often wondered how Aung San Suu Kyi has so willingly become part of this fake democracy, operating in this Disney-like parliament, all designed to legitimate the continuation of military rule behind their new puppet with limited powers.

It seems that the Egyptian regime has taken a leaf right out of the Naypyidaw fairytale, and found a way to ensure that the people could never encircle the seat of government or military through another Arab spring uprising. New Cairo will ensure that the country’s administrative buildings no longer overlook Tahrir square.

Under the guise of developing a “smart city,” and alleviating congestion in Cairo proper, Sisi is ensuring that his military elite is encased in a new walled city, with each entry point heavily guarded, and sentry posts adorning the length of the perimeter walls. The massive new city is equipped with a brand new water and power supply and guess what, yes those empty 16 lane highways have been constructed through the desert.

This seems to be the new way to circumvent peoples’ power and real democracy.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/egypts-new-capital-city-is-sisis-way-of-preventing-being-overthrown-17092326

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Another update

Egypt freezes assets of charities tied to Muslim Brotherhood

Egyptian judicial committee freezes assets of more than 1,000 charities tied to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

An Egyptian judicial committee on Tuesday announced that the assets of more than 1,000 charities tied to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, as well as those of hospitals and individuals, have been frozen, AFP reported.

The funds of 1,133 charities were to be frozen, the committee said in a statement, as well as numerous other entities it said were owned by the Brotherhood.

The decision came after a law was passed earlier this year to oversee the freezing of assets of “terrorists” and “terrorist groups”.

The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and designated a terrorist organization in Egypt in December 2013, several months after the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, following mass protests against his rule.

The judicial committee additionally announced the assets of 1,589 Brotherhood members would be frozen, including some of the movement’s leaders, according to AFP.

Some 118 companies, 104 schools, 69 hospitals and 33 websites and satellite channels were also hit with an asset freeze.

Since Morsi’s ouster, Egyptian authorities have launched a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters. As part of the crackdown, thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been jailed and the group was blacklisted as a terrorist organization.

Last week, an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against 75 people, including leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The sentences are linked to clashes in 2013 between security forces and Morsi supporters in August of 2013, one of the bloodiest days in Egypt’s modern history.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/251834

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Another update

Popular Egyptian preacher silenced following spat with TV personality

Mohamed Raslan has praised Sisi, attacked political Islam and defended the Rabaa massacre - but that hasn't stopped him getting banned

Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments has cancelled the preaching permit of prominent and popular Salafist cleric Mohamed Raslan, banning him from delivering sermons.

According to the ministry, Raslan violated the state’s regulations on Friday sermons given in mosques. The ministry has been issuing a unified weekly sermon - a prepared written speech for preachers to read - since 2016, to avoid the “distortion” of the religion.

“No one is above the law,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday, stressing that “everyone is accountable for his actions”.

For two years the ministry has been issuing unified written sermons to preachers across the country, part of a string of measures taken to tighten the government’s grip on religious discourse in Egypt.

The sermon in question appears to have been one Raslan made on 14 September.

In the sermon, Raslan predominantly sticks to the official one provided by the state. However, he then goes on to say a prayer that seems to implicitly criticise Mohammed al-Baz, a high-profile, pro-government TV personality.

The row between Raslan and Baz dates back to June, when one of the preacher’s former followers, Mohamed Abdel Hayy, published a book titled Why We left Him, accusing him of insulting prophets in his sermons.

These allegations were then addressed on television by Baz, who declared Raslan unfit for preaching.

In response, Raslan denounced Baz, saying “the whole world knows how those people unjustly smear honourable men”.

Baz then told Raslan to “stay at home” and said that he has been “misleading people for years”.

Support for Sisi

The punitive measures taken against Raslan come as some surprise, as the preacher is known to be a supporter of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

Raslan has also garnered attention for his outspoken criticism of political Islam, which Sisi, who ousted Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi as president in a 2013 military coup, has attempted to stamp out of Egypt.

Raslan has, however, come to the defence of Sisi and the Egyptian authorities in the past. In 2015, he branded anyone attacking the Egyptian state a “traitor”.

Raslan’s comments followed an explosive sermon given by Egyptian preacher Mohammed Gibril at a Cairo mosque in Ramadan, much of which was dedicated to “corrupt politicians who divided the Egyptian people”, more specifically, “those who killed youths in the squares” and “imprisoned thousands unjustly”.

Gibril’s comments were seemingly in reference to the killings in Egypt’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square which saw at least 800 protestors killed at the hands of police and army forces in 2013.

“If you find a preacher attacking the state, then be sure he has a hidden agenda and wants to incite sedition among the people,” Raslan said in reference to Gibril, further accusing him of being ungrateful to the “state” that “raised him to this rank.”

Ahmed Gatnash, co-founder of the Kawaakibi Foundation, a think tank that works on promoting liberal values in the Muslim world, told Middle East Eye that the marriage between authoritarian leaders and preachers is an increasingly fractious one.

"Dictators try to use religious leaders as a source of legitimacy, and that's increasingly resulting in young people abandoning the religious leaders rather than accepting the authoritarian leaders," he said.

"Ironically, the scholars who spent decades declaring that obedience to the ruler is an unconditional religious obligation are now cornered, because they've pre-empted their own ability to oppose rulers who don't follow their vision of what society should look like - especially in Saudi Arabia."

Following his preaching ban, Raslan took to Facebook to urge his followers to accept the decision. Without a preaching permit, it is illegal for Raslan to give sermons in Egyptian mosques.

The preacher is a Madkhali, a branch of Salafi Islam that espouses unwavering commitment to the ruling power’s unquestionable authority. The branch believes that good Muslims should not engage in politics or democracy.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/popular-egyptian-preacher-silenced-following-spat-tv-personality-227794126

Salaam

Another update

Morsi vows never to recognise Sisi's coup, says son after prison visit

Deposed president's family visited him in prison on 19 September, spending 25 minutes with him

Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told his family in a rare visit that he “would never, ever recognise the coup” that ousted him from power in 2013, his son has said.

Morsi’s family visited him on 19 September in their third visit since the 3 July 2013 coup led by then-defence minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is now president. The two other visits were on 6 November 2013 and 4 June 2017.

On 5 December, Morsi’s lawyers submitted a petition to the administrative court requesting regular visits for his family.

Details of the visit - the first in which Morsi's three sons were allowed to see him - were recounted by Abdullah Morsi to London-based news site Arabi21.

According to the report, Morsi’s son Abdullah said he and his two brothers and sister, along with their mother Najlaa, saw the former president last month. The visit lasted only 25 minutes and no lawyer was present, he said.

Morsi told his family that “out of respect for the Egyptian people and their choices” he would not recognise the legitimacy of the Sisi government, despite the ongoing crackdown against him and his supporters.

Morsi is the country’s first democratically elected president, and a member of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

He was sentenced to death and various jail terms totalling 48 years in five separate cases, on charges including espionage with Hamas, Hezbollah and Qatar, and insulting the judiciary. He is currently appealing all of the sentences against him.

Concerning his health, which has reportedly deteriorated in detention, his son said overall he “seemed well”.

However, he said Morsi still suffers from chronic diabetes and, as a result of the unhygienic prison conditions and denial of access to medication, he has suffered “severe repercussions”, including extreme weakness in the left eye, ulcers in the mouth and the jaws, and hypoglycemic comas.

Inadequate care

Last March, a panel of British parliamentarians and international lawyers warned that Morsi may die prematurely as a result of inadequate medical care.

“As a result of being forced to sleep on the floor, he has suffered acute rheumatic inflammations in the backbone and in the neck vertebrae,” Morsi’s son said.

The former president requested medical treatment as far back as 8 August 2015. But despite a repeated court order that he should be allowed to see a diabetes specialist, this has not happened until the date of the last visit. On 29 November, his family reported this medical negligence to the court, but with no success.

On Wednesday, Cairo criminal court adjourned a hearing against Morsi and 23 others in the case known as “Espionage with Hamas”. The next session will he held on 4 November.

Morsi is denied access to the media, and is barred from having any books or papers, according to Abdullah. He is also denied any contact with others, except the prison guards.

Restrictions on his family visits were criticised by Human Rights Watch (HRW) last year as unlawful.

“Egyptian authorities appear to have seriously violated former President Morsi’s due process rights and may be interfering in his proper medical treatment,” said Joe Stork, then deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

“Morsi’s treatment is a window into the appalling conditions suffered by thousands of political detainees in Egypt.”

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/morsi-says-he-would-never-recognise-coup-says-son-after-prison-visit-1886153813

Salaam

Another update, seculars moving in, mind your their PR is getting better.

Egypt drafts bill to ban burqa and Islamic veils in public places

Legislators have argued that full face veils are un-Islamic and that the Quran only requires women to dress modestly and cover their hair

The Egyptian parliament is drafting a law banning women from wearing the niqab veil. The ban will apply to wearing the clothing in public places and government institutions, it has been reported.

The full-face veil is worn by some followers of Islam and typically covers all of the wearer’s face other than their eyes. The clothing is common in Egypt which is a predominantly Muslim country.

MP Amna Nosseir, professor of comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, who has backed the ban, said that wearing the veil is not a requirement of Islam and in fact has non-Islamic origins. She has argued that it is a Jewish tradition which appeared in the Arabian Peninsula prior to Islam and that a variety of Quran passages contradict its use. Instead, she has advocated that the Quran calls for modest clothing and covered hair, but does not require facial covering.

A number of restrictions have been placed on wearing the niqab in Egypt in recent years. In February, Cairo University banned nurses and doctors from wearing it in medical schools and in teaching hospitals, arguing the ban would: “protect patients’ rights and interests.”

In September of last year, the university also banned academic staff from wearing the niqab in classrooms in response to complaints from students that it was too difficult for niqab wearers to communicate effectively with students.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/egypt-drafts-bill-to-ban-niqab-veil-in-public-places-a6920701.html

Salaam

Another update

Al-Sisi’s World Youth Form Doesn’t Reflect Sinai’s True Reality

On November 3, the World Youth Forum(WYF) took place for the second consecutive year in Sharm el-Sheikh under the patronage of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. As a specially selected group of Egyptian youth was welcomed in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, young people in North Sinai were doing their utmost to avoid arrest or disappearance, their efforts sometimes ending with a shot in the head and an official statement celebrating that another “terrorist” has been eliminated.

In February, Sisi encouraged the military to use “brute force” to crush militants in the Sinai Peninsula in the name of “counter-terrorism.”The push was in response to a terrorist attack that took place a year ago.

More than 300 people were killed in the attack by Islamic State-inspired militants on a North Sinai mosque in Rawda, which was inexplicably left unprotected by Egyptian troops despite warnings that militants would attack the mosque.

Last month, the Egyptian military announced that its that troops had killed 450 fighters in Sinai since the start of the campaign, news that was greeted as a blow to Islamic State forces. But such perceptions of success are naïve—especially when placed in context: The military carrying out this counterterrorism campaign is also behind the most severe political repression in modern Egyptian history.

What Sisi and his security forces claim as success are often gross exaggerations and sometimes wholesale fabrications. Since the massacre at the mosque in Rawda and the launch of the military offensive, the largest army in the Arab world has destroyed thousands of homes, taken down the power grid for days at a time, and cut off hundreds of thousands of residents from food during an eight-month blockade of Alareesh, Rafah and Sheikh Zowaid cities in North Sinai.

Between January and April of this year alone, more than 3,600 buildings were demolished, Human Right Watch found purportedly to prevent their use by terrorists. The Egyptian government disputed the report. Meanwhile, the promise of compensation for lost homes and farms seems to lead almost nowhere, despite the regime’s claims to the contrary.

Reporting on Sisi’s clandestine war, which is mired in secrecy, is extremely difficult. The Egyptian government has banned outsiders from visiting the region, even going so far as to call CNN “deplorable” taking a page from President Donald Trump’s book, merely for questioning why journalists are not allowed in. And yet such aggressive tactics have largely failed to prevent the truth from getting out.

The economy in the Sinai Peninsula has ground to a halt, power outages are frequent, petrol is rationed. Many of the “terrorists” that Sisi claims with such pride to have killed were in fact civilians, murdered in cold blood, and then armed after the fact to look like militants.

The Egyptian security forces are running the Sinai operation as a counterterrorism campaign when it should actually be treated as a counter-insurgency, either way, it is being handled miserably. The homes upended, the people displaced, the civilians killed or starved or bullied, stoke the fires of resentment that already existed in the peninsula. The insurgency continues to thrive and grow precisely because of Sisi’s scorched-earth tactics. An estimated £40 million has been lost in the razed agricultural land.

Sinai’s Bedouin people are banned from serving in the police or military and denied many government services, in effect separating them in perpetuity from the rest of the country. Sisi pledged to use a $500 million grant, gifted to him by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to strengthen Sinai’s economy by investing in infrastructure projects. The Sinai people never saw any relevant spending. Any further investment, Sisi has said, will only take place after the region has been purged of “terrorists.”

The actions of the Egyptian army amount to collective punishment, which is a violation of international law. It is not the first time that Sisi’s actions have failed to live up to his words. His ongoing position as president demeans the country and demeans democracy. While his government talks of “stability” and female empowerment, at venues like the World Youth Forum, Sisi permits show trials, mass executions, detention without charge and the punishment of women who speak out against sexual harassment. Sisi, in his compulsive and desperate need to suppress dissent, has created the kind of swirling vortex in which violence thrives.

According to Human Rights Watch, “Now, a humanitarian crisis is looming ever larger in Sinai. Food, water, fuel, and medical supplies are failing to reach the 420,000 civilians who inhabit North Sinai, and rates of unemployment may now be as high as 60 per cent. ”

All schools and universities have been closed since February of this year. In the meantime, Sisi’s planned three-month campaign to “restore stability and security” in the region is in its eleventh month.

It is both deeply ironic and deeply disturbing that it was Sisi, as defense minister under President Mohamed Morsi, who warned that a low-level revolt could mutate into major unrest if the army did not treat the Sinai situation delicately. He would have done well to take his own advice.

https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2018/11/13/al-sisis-world-youth-form-doesnt-reflect-sinais-true-reality/