Egyptian police beat protesters, arrest Muslim Brothers in crackdown
EGYPT: Despite U.S. criticism, police beat pro-reform
protesters in the streets and arrested more than 300 for the second week
in a row as Egyptian courts dealt new setbacks to activists seeking
greater democracy.
While club-wielding police chased activists in downtown Cairo
Thursday, a court rejected the appeal of prominent opposition leader
Ayman Nour, the runner-up in last year's presidential elections. The
ruling means Nour will have to serve a five-year prison sentence on
forgery charges he says are intended to eliminate him from politics.
The United States sharply criticized the ruling, saying it and the
violence "raise serious concerns about the path to political reform in
Egypt."
"The Egyptian government's handling of (Nour's) case represents both
a miscarriage of justice by international standards and a setback for
the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people," State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Also Thursday, another court issued a reprimand against Hesham el-Bastawisy,
a judge on Egypt's highest court who went public with accusations of
fraud during parliament elections monitored by judges in November and
December. A second judge was cleared by the disciplinary court.
The day's events were a new blow to already fading U.S. hopes that
Egypt, a top ally, could be the centerpiece of America's push for
greater democracy in the Middle East.
For Egypt's reform movement, the violence and court rulings only
fueled their belief President Hosni Mubarak had reneged on promises of
democracy.
"This is a punishment to every judge who has demanded free and fair
elections," one pro-reform judge, Ahmed Mekky, said after the ruling on
el-Bastawisi. The demand for an independent judiciary "has now become
hard to realize contrary to all the political promises that were made,"
he said.
The prosecution of Nour has strained relations with the United States
in the past, and Washington called for his case to be reconsidered after
he was convicted in December.
U.S. officials also sharply criticized Egypt after police broke up
similar protests last week in support of the judges, arresting more than
250 people.
On Thursday, police in anti-riot gear cordoned off several streets in
downtown Cairo leading to the building where the two court sessions were
being held separately.
Uniformed police and plainclothes security officers surged into
groups of demonstrators, swinging batons. The activists - who included
members of the pro-reform Kifaya movement and the Muslim Brotherhood -
fled, some clambering over cars.
Some regrouped nearby, shaking their fists and chanting, "We are the
(Muslim) Brotherhood. God is great." About a dozen protesters took
refuge on the balcony of an office of Nour's al-Ghad party, chanting,
"Freedom for Ayman Nour" and "Down, down with Hosni Mubarak."
The Interior Ministry said it detained 314 people - most of them
apparently Brotherhood members. But Brotherhood lawmaker Hamdi Hassan
said police picked up 500 Brothers, including prominent members Essam
el-Erian and Mohammed Morsi. Nour, 41, was convicted Dec. 24 and
sentenced to five years in prison on charges of forging signatures on
petitions to register al-Ghad as a party in 2004.
The appeal court judge said the rejection of his appeal was final,
and Nour's wife Gameela Ismail - also a prominent figure in the al-Ghad
party - said there was no further legal recourse.
"There is nothing we can do except to continue to struggle for
reform," she told The Associated Press.
This "reflects the Egyptian regime's persistent rejection of any
serious reform and its exploitation of the international community's
leniency with Egypt," al-Ghad Party chief Nagi el-Ghatrifi said after
the verdict. Cairo, Friday, AP |