Warnings of patience running out in Egypt
Print Edition
Egypt’s highest security body warned yesterday that the clock is ticking for a peaceful end to the standoff over sit-ins by ousted President Mohammed Morsi’s supporters, suggesting that authorities will break up the vigils unless mediation efforts produce results soon.
More than a month after the military overthrew Morsi, tens of thousands of the Islamist leader’s supporters remain camped out in two main crossroads in Cairo demanding his reinstatement.
Egypt’s military-backed interim leadership has issued a string of warnings for them to disperse or security forces will move in, setting the stage for a potential bloody showdown.
Also yesterday, authorities announced a court case accusing the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and his powerful deputy of inciting murder will start on August 25. Morsi hails from the Brotherhood.
Standing trial
Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater are to stand trial for complicity and incitement in the killing of eight demonstrators outside the group’s Cairo headquarters.
Badie is at still large, while el-Shater is in custody.
The Egyptian interim government signaled that its patience with the pro-Morsi camp was running out. The National Defense Council, which is led by the interim president and includes top Cabinet ministers, said the search for a peaceful resolution is not open-ended. The council said a negotiated resolution also would not shield what it called “law-breakers” and others who incite against the state from legal proceedings.
It said a chance should be given to all “negotiations and mediations” that could end the protests without bloodshed, but that the timeframe should be “defined and limited and ... not infringe on the law and the rights of citizens.”
It also called on the protesters to abandon the sit-ins and join the political road map announced the day of Morsi’s ouster.
In a move that underlined the government’s resolve in dealing with the protests — now in their second month — Egyptian authorities denied Yemen’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman entry into Egypt after she landed at Cairo airport.
Karman said she had intended to join the pro-Morsi sit-in protests.
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