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Eager to prove their candidate’s commitment to women’s rights and empowerment, the campaign for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh’s presidential bid organized a rally of hundreds of women on Tuesday in a Cairo conference hall.

The crowd reflected a diverse constituency, with veiled and unveiled women of varying social and economic backgrounds. Among cheers from his campaigners, Abouel Fotouh’s prominent backers took to the podium to renew their endorsement of the 60-year-old physician, including non-veiled actress Athar al-Hakim, his socialist political advisor Rabab al-Mahdy and moderate Islamist political scientist Nadia Mostafa.

Simultaneously, hundreds of young, bearded men convened in an adjacent hall waiting for the kick-off of the rally sponsored by Egypt’s largest Salafi movement, the Salafi Dawah, and its political arm, the Nour Party, dedicated to the same candidate. A few women walked in the male-dominated arena and had to abide by rules of gender segregation and sit on the side of the conference hall.

The back-to-back rallies attest to the dichotomous nature of Abouel Fotouh’s constituency on the eve of Egypt’s presidential poll.

For almost a year, Abouel Fotouh has marketed himself as a liberal Islamist, who was cast out of the Muslim Brotherhood for his progressive outlook. He also presented himself as the missing link between Islamists and secularists in the midst of fierce polarization, with a discourse that recognizes the importance of religion but also liberal values.

The Salafi Dawah's and the Nour Party’s endorsement of his nomination last month had shaken this fine mix. On one hand, it alarmed Abouel Fotouh’s non-Islamist backers, who began to reconsider their choice. On the other hand, it poses a huge challenge for Salafi leaders, who are attempting to convince their followers to endorse a man who had once expressed his full support for freedom of faith and women’s and non-Muslims’ right to run for president.

The non-Islamist’s ordeal

Noha al-Shafei, a 33-year-old marketing specialist sitting at the women’s conference, admitted that the Salafi backing of Abouel Fotouh made her question her choice.

“I felt worried after the Salafi announcement,” Shafei told Egypt Independent on the sidelines of the rally. “I fear that he may become influenced by them.”

“I fear that Salafis may bar women from going out unless they wear the veil or prevent them from working certain jobs,” she said as she was preparing to walk into the adjacent hall to hear how Abouel Fotouh addressed the Salafis.

“I want to attend [the Salafi conference] but I am worried. I tried to put on loose clothes today because I am concerned about Salafis’ looks. They are not like us. They are tough. I am Muslim but I am not intolerant,” she said, with her long, black hair uncovered.

Neveen Madkour, a 35-year-old housewife, headed straight to the Salafi rally after she read on Facebook that Wael Ghonim, one of the revolution’s youth leaders, would speak there.

But the minute she set foot inside, Madkour, wearing jeans, a brown long-sleeve shirt and with her hair covered in a fashionable orange scarf, says she felt alienated.

“What I saw today made me worry,” said Madkour. “The gender segregation, the beards, the robes, the niqab...”

Madkour has recently begun leaning towards the Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi.

“Sabbahi has nothing to do with the Brothers or Salafis. One feels comfortable about backing him,” said Madkour, who refuses to vote for any remnant of the old regime, including Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq.

Since Salafis threw their backing behind Abouel Fotouh, many pro-revolutionaries, leftists and liberals had voiced reluctance to support a nominee endorsed by an ultra-orthodox force. 

They suspect that Abouel Fotouh made promises to Islamize the state and society in order to garner Salafi support. They also argue that Abouel Fotouh’s discourse on individual freedoms has become more ambiguous since Salafis backed him. Eventually, many switched to Sabbahi, arguing that he is the only candidate who bears no Islamist stigma and no ties with the old regime.

Secularists who changed their minds about Abouel Fotouh and those who did not took their disagreement to social media. While the former contended that Abouel Fotouh is a fundamentalist in disguise, the latter held that he is the right bet to reverse secular-Islamist polarization that has benefited the military since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.

Ali al-Bahnasawy, Abouel Fotouh’s media advisor, who identifies himself as a liberal, rebuffed all suspicion that his nominee had struck a deal with the Salafis.

“We went to all parties with one message that we have to end the [Islamist-secular] polarization in the political sphere,” Bahnasawy told Egypt Independent earlier this month.

“We go to all parties and tell them that we have revolutionary demands: bread, freedom and social justice. These demands have nothing to do with religion, secularism or liberalism,” he added.

According to another member of Abouel Fotouh’s campaign, Salafis had demanded that the latter appoint a Salafi vice president.  

“Abouel Fotouh told them that he would not decide on the matter of his vice president now. So he did not give them any guarantees,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Controlling the Salafi rank-and-file

As soon as the Salafi audience settled down, Nader Bakkar, a spokesperson for the Nour Party, walked to the podium to deliver a speech aimed primarily at convincing the rank-and-file of the Salafi Dawah to support Abouel Fotouh and warning them against voting for the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohamed Morsy.

“Do not listen to anyone who promises to implement Islamic Sharia tomorrow,” Bakkar said, in an oblique reference to Morsy, whose campaign has portrayed him as the sole Islamist nominee capable of implementing Islamic law, reclaiming Jerusalem and resurrecting the Muslim caliphate.

Bakkar added that the implementation of God’s Sharia does not fall within the jurisdiction of the next president but within that of Parliament and the Constituent Assembly that will be tasked with writing the new constitution. In the meantime, he addressed the negative campaigning launched by the Brothers against Abouel Fotouh in Islamist circles. The Muslim Brotherhood has questioned Abouel Fotouh’s commitment to Sharia and highlighted his controversial views, hoping to dissuade conservative voters from backing him.

“For whoever tells you that Abouel Fotouh’s views contradict Islamic Sharia, I swear to God, we reviewed with him everything he said and he had gone back on it and said he is no [religious] scholar and that he will abide by matters of consensus and what Al-Azhar says,” said Bakkar, whose group had questioned Abouel Fotouh’s faith for his full espousal of democracy, equality, and freedom of thought and faith in the past.

In the meantime, Bakkar argued that only under Abouel Fotouh will Salafis have the freedom to proceed with their proselytizing activities with no interference from the state.

“Abouel Fotouh will not be concerned about your activities in mosques because there is no organization or party behind him that wants to compete with you over the same space or present its own viewpoint,” said Bakkar in another oblique reference to Morsy, whose organization had competed with Salafis for years over conservative constituencies.

As soon as Bakkar pronounced his closing remarks, the session was suspended and the audience flocked to a mosque for sunset prayers.

“There is a segment of young Salafis who are not convinced with Salafi Dawah’s decision [to back Abouel Fotouh],” said Ahmed Shalata, an author and expert on the Salafi movement.

Some would not abide by this decision because they had been already disillusioned with the Salafi Dawah’s leaders due to their reluctance to back Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, said Shalata.

Before being disqualified from the presidential race for his mother’s dual citizenship, Abu Ismail, a Salafi lawyer-turned-preacher, attracted thousands of young Salafis with his revolutionary discourse and unequivocal commitment to implementing Sharia. Salafi sheikhs had been reluctant to back him. Experts tied this reluctance to their fears that Abu Ismail's radical outlook and anti-military attitude would provoke a military eradication of Islamists.

Shalata expects some of the disenchanted Salafi Dawah’s youth to vote for Morsy as an act of rebellion against the sheikhs. “There is another segment of [Salafi Dawah’s] youth who reject Abouel Fotouh for his views,” he added.

Yet, the large majority of Salafi Dawah youths will obey their sheikhs’ commandments, Shalata expected. “There is a spiritual and religious tie between the follower and the sheikh,” he said, ruling out a sweeping rebellion in the Salafi Dawah.

Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh took the lead in the presidential race among expatriates in Malaysia, with 100 votes. Out of the 468 Egyptians registered to vote in Malaysia, 270 voted in the presidential election.

Voting in Egypt is slated for 23 and 24 May, but voting for Egyptian expatriates started last Friday and ends Thursday.

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsy, came in second with 85 votes, followed by Hamdeen Sabbahi with 60 votes, according to statistics by the Egyptian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

An Egyptian television correspondent in Sydney said that preliminary results show that Amr Moussa came in first in Australia. The correspondent said 1,589 of 2,890 Egyptian expats voted.

Amr Moussa won 865 votes, followed by Sabbahi with 241 votes, Ahmed Shafiq with 179 votes, Abouel Fotouh with 174, Morsy with 101, Mohamed Selim al-Awa with 15 votes, and Khaled Ali with 5 votes. Hesham al-Bastawisi and Abul Ezz al-Hariry each took one vote. Mahmoud Hossam and Hossam Khairallah did not receive any votes.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has called for lifting the emergency law by no later than the end of May in order to turn a page on arbitrary and exceptional procedures after more than 30 years of restricting the freedoms of the people.

The committee requested the Interior Ministry to provide complete lists of detainees without legal basis under the emergency law and to arrange for their immediate release after the deadline.

A state of emergency was activated following former President Anwar al-Sadat's assassination by Islamist extremists in 1981. President Hosni Mubarak used the emergency law as a means to silence political dissent during his 30-year rule.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, partially lifted the state of emergency in January, except in cases of "thuggery," without defining what the term meant.

The committee called upon the attorney general to report all cases that have been referred to Emergency State Security Courts in the last two years and to determine how to deal with these cases after the law is lifted.

It also requested that the parliament speaker approve the formation of a parliamentary delegation to visit the New Valley prison and determine the status of detainees there.

Police officers along with a team from the Egyptian Radio and Television Union arrested the owner of Al-Tet satellite channel and accused him of broadcasting indecent material.

Al-Tet shows bellydancing videos around the clock.

The vice police have received a number of complaints from citizens who said they were harmed by the outrageous material and the sex-related commercials on the channel.

The police apprehended the suspect in his apartment in Dokki, Cairo, and he was referred to prosecution and accused of instigating profligacy, facilitating prostitution, broadcasting a channel without a license and airing indecent materials.

Vice police confiscated video tapesfrom the suspect’s home after searching it based on a warrant from the prosecution.

The arrest comes during a time when morality is increasingly being legislated. People's Assembly members have been demanding the blockage of internet pornography sites, while famous comedian Adel Imam was fined and sentenced to prison last month on charges of insulting Islam in his movies.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will issue a complementary constitutional declaration on Monday, two days before the presidential election begins, Al-Masry Al-Youm has learned from political sources. The amendments will stipulate the duties and powers of the incoming president after political forces failed to reach a consensus over the Constituent Assembly that was to be entrusted with drafting a new constitution. 

On 10 April, an administrative court ordered the suspension of the 100-member and Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly that was chosen by Parliament to write the new constitution ahead of the presidential election. Political forces and Parliament have since been in negotiations to reach a new formation of the assembly.

Seven political parties met at the Wafd Party headquarters on Wednesday to discuss the complementary declaration. They decided to propose certain amendments to the 1971 Constitution to be included in it.

“We will send our proposals to Parliament within two days for discussion at its Saturday meeting,” said MP Wahid Abdel Meguid.

The parties were split between supporters and those opposing of the new declaration, with the latter saying that Article 56 of the first declaration already determines the constitutional powers of the president. But supporters have prevailed.

Also, some law experts agreed with it, while others feared it would produce another Mubarak if the articles about the powers of the president that are stipulated in the 1971 Constitution are revived.

Legal expert Mohamed Nour Farahat considered the complementary declaration important, saying that the powers of the president as of now are not sufficient.

Law Professor Gaber Nassar said the complementary declaration is an interim constitution. “It attempts to circumvent the crafting of a permanent constitution for the country,” he said.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

The liberal Republican People's Party, which includes several former ministers, such as former Housing Minister Hasaballah al-Kafrawi and former Deputy Prime Minister Yehya al-Gamal, has announced its support for Amr Moussa in the presidential election slated for 23 and 24 May.

At a party news conference on Thursday, which was attended by Moussa, Gamal said the party was formed to support pluralism and produce a balance vis-a-vis the majority that won the recent parliamentary elections.

The party was founded in 1992 and frozen in 1999 due to a conflict over its presidency.

Kafrawi said Moussa is the leader of the national dream after the revolution. “He is the only one of the candidates that you could bet on,” he said.

Moussa expressed his appreciation for the party’s support. “The principles and objectives of the party are positively moderate compared to other parties,” he said.

Also attending the conference were Mostafa al-Saeed, the former minister of economy and Fathi al-Shali, assistant foreign minister for European affairs, as well as representatives of Al-Azhar, the Coptic Church and the Nubian community.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Wasat Party MP Essam Sultan submitted an urgent message to People's Assembly speaker Saad al-Katatny requesting that he hold an emergency session on Saturday to discuss “endeavors to rig the presidential election” for former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.

The election is scheduled to take place next week on 23 and 24 May. Parliament has suspended sessions until 27 May due to the election.

On his Facebook page, Sultan accused the Interior Ministry of adding a large number of deceased people and police and army officers to the voter’s list in preparation for rigging on the days of the election. Sultan cited some of the officers’ names.

Sultan claimed that state media outlets show Shafiq as a national hero, overlooking his crimes regarding squandering public money, oversight of the Battle of the Camel and money smuggling by former regime figures during his tenure as prime minister.

Sultan also accused the Cabinet-affiliated Information and Decision Support Center of releasing fake polling results that say Shafiq is the frontrunner. The IDSC’s latest poll has Shafiq leading the field.  

State prosecutors are currently looking into a report Sultan filed that accuses Shafiq of selling land owned by young pilots to former President Mubarak’s sons for below-market prices.

Sultan submitted a bill to Parliament that was passed and approved by the military council that would prevent certain former regime officials from holding public office until the ten year anniversary of Mubarak’s ouster.  

British Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Rosemary Davis said that London is contacting Egyptian authorities regarding the Mubarak family’s frozen assets in England.

Britain supports the choices of the Arab countries, based on principals of democracy and respect for human rights, Davis said on the sidelines of a meeting in Jordan with a number of British diplomats in the Middle East.

Egypt has been trying to repatriate money siphoned overseas by former President Mubarak, his family and former officials in his regime. Egypt has not been able to recover any of the money, but many countries have expressed their willingness to assist with this matter and have frozen the assets of the ousted president and his aides.

Assem al-Gohary, head of Egypt's Illicit Gains Authority who also heads a judicial committee tasked with the retrieval of smuggled money, revealed mid-April that Egypt had filed a lawsuit against the British treasury to obligate it to cooperate with Cairo in recovery of frozen assets in England.

A Swiss court issued an un-appealable verdict Saturday to include Egypt as one of the plaintiffs in a case a Swiss criminal court is pursuing over Mubarak and nine of his aids smuggling money illegally.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Safwat Barakat, a supporter of Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a Salafi preacher who was excluded from the presidential election, said the former candidate will announce his support for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh on Saturday.

He also said Abu Ismail made the decision after meeting with his advisers and others who he declined to name.

The Presidential Elections Commission dropped Abu Ismail from the presidential race when official documents revealed that his mother was registered to vote in the United States.

The elections law stipulates that presidential candidates must be Egyptians born to Egyptian parents who do not carry foreign citizenship.

“Abu Ismail is only attempting to heal the rift among Islamists and unite them,” Barakat said. “He puts the interest of the nation above his own.”

There are two other Islamists running in the election, Mohamed Morsy, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, and Mohamed Selim al-Awa, an Islamist thinker.

Ayman Elias, a supporter of Abu Ismail, said Abu Ismail believes Abouel Fotouh is most closely aligned with the Islamic project, while Mohamed al-Halabawy, Abu Ismail’s electronic campaign manager, said that his supporters are not obligated to follow his decision.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Social Solidarity and Domestic Trade Minister Gouda Abdel Khaleq held a conference Thursday morning to discuss the fuel crisis.

Abdel Khaleq stressed in a statement issued by his ministry the need to declare a state of emergency to monitor the markets.

Domestic Trade Ministry sources blamed the Petroleum Ministry for the crisis, saying it does not provide the necessary amount of diesel and gasoline.  

The sources said that the Domestic Trade Ministry called on the Petroleum Ministry more than once to increase the quantities of fuel on the market after the former detected a shortage on the market.

The sources said that the Petroleum Ministry could not afford to import raw materials.

Mahmoud Hosny, undersecretary of the Domestic Trade Ministry in Giza said the gasoline and diesel shortage is ongoing in Giza.  

“The governorate [Giza] is suffering from a shortage in diesel fuel by 10 percent, which confirms an improvement in the shortage rate, which was previously 15 percent,” he told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

He added that 6th of October City has been facing increased traffic congestion due to the fuel shortage.

When Al-Masry Al-Youm visited gas stations in Cairo and Giza, taxi drivers said they have been standing in queues for two to three hours waiting for gas, accusing the Cabinet and the military junta of failing to solve the crisis.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Israel has become a punching bag for politicians vying for votes in Egypt's presidential race, playing on popular antipathy in Egypt toward its neighbor, but the realities of office are likely to ensure a 33-year-old peace treaty is not jeopardized.

An ex-air force commander in the race boasts of bringing down Israeli aircraft in 1973, the last of Egypt's four wars with Israel. One Islamist often refers to Israel as the "Zionist entity," rather than by name, and describes it as an "enemy."

A leftist candidate pledges to support the Palestinian resistance against Israel, where officials have watched Egypt's political turmoil with increasing wariness after the downfall of Mubarak who oversaw a cold yet stable peace.

None of the candidates want to tear up the document signed in 1979 but they repeatedly warn in rallies and debates it should be reviewed. Many of them grumble at provisions in the US-brokered deal they say are biased in Israel's favor.

Yet, beyond the bluster of the campaign trail, the next president's inbox will be full of more pressing issues such reviving an economy on the ropes.

He will also preside over a nation where the entrenched establishment of the army and security services who kept the peace secure is still intact, putting a brake on any actions that could put the deal at risk.

"Of course Israel is an enemy. It occupied land, it threatened our security. It is an entity that has 200 nuclear warheads," Islamist Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh said in a TV debate when asked about Israel, referring to a nuclear arsenal Israel is believed to possess but neither confirms nor denies having.

Seeking to trip up his opponent in the novel TV face-off in a nation that has never had an open leadership contest, Abouel Fotouh pressed former Arab League chief Amr Moussa on whether he too classed Israel an enemy. Moussa chose the term "adversary."

Moussa, who like Abouel Fotouh is a front-runner in the race, was Mubarak's foreign minister in the 1990s before moving to the league. In both posts he was a vocal critic of Israel.

An Israeli newspaper commentator wrote last month that Moussa had intense "disdain" for Israel.

"I intend to review the shape of relations," Moussa pledged, describing "very big disagreements." However, he said the next president would need to lead Egypt "with wisdom and not push it along with slogans towards a confrontation we may not be ready for."

‘Strong state’

Others too have reflected a more cautious line when fielding inevitable questions about Israel during campaign rallies.

Abouel Fotouh, who often refers to Israel as the "Zionist entity," said Egypt should review its treaties to ensure they were in the national interest but was not looking to start any war.

Ahmed Shafiq, who like Mubarak was a former air force commander before joining the ex-president's cabinet, told a rally when he was questioned about Israel that "a strong state is not just one with artillery and tanks but has a strong economy, strong science, strong culture."

But tough talk still features on the campaign trail.

Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi pledged in a television interview: "I will support whoever resists Israel, not because of nationalism, Arabism or morality, although this is what it is, but because these are the laws of the United Nations."

Safwat Hegazy, an independent preacher who backs the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohamed Morsy, has used his campaign rallies to call for the establishment of a single Arab mega-state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Morsy criticizes Israel but says he would still respect the treaty, which brings US$1.3 billion a year of US military aid. An aide to Morsy said his candidate would not meet Israeli officials as president, though his foreign minister would.

Western diplomats say popular pressure on a newly elected president could encourage more outspoken criticism of Israel. However, they say the top army and security officials who have for years kept close ties with their Israeli counterparts to coordinate across the border were likely to keep ties steady.

"There are red lines and I think everyone is aware of them. Egypt needs its close relationship with the United States, it needs the financial assistance, the investment and the loans to survive," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center.

The peace deal has been a cornerstone of Egypt's foreign policy. While it may not have the prominence Mubarak gave it, the generals, who have overseen Egypt's transition, are unlikely to let that change.

The army is expected to remain influential long after the formal handover to a new president by 1 July.

Nevertheless, Hamid said Egypt's politicians could "test how far they can go ... before arousing the wrath of the international community."

The wife of Ahmed al-Gizawy, a lawyer and activist imprisoned by Saudi Arabian authorities, said she is considering taking his case to an international court if the matter is not soon resolved.

“I’m concerned about my husband’s future,” Shahenda Fathy told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Thursday. “I need him to have a fair trial. But I have not decided yet.”

Gizawy was arrested last month after allegedly bringing into the Gulf kingdom 21,380 Xanax tablets, which are banned there except for use by psychiatric institutions and under close supervision.

Fathy criticized Ahmed Rashed, the Saudi lawyer defending her husband, for spending his time talking to the media rather than working on the case.

Gizawy asked that Rashed step down as his legal counsel, deciding to defend himself before the Saudi judiciary, she said, calling the attorney's statements that Gizawy admitted to the crime “mere lies.”

“He may have been under pressure to implicate my husband in the case,” Fathy said.

The Saudi government-run Al-Madinah newspaper reported Thursday that Rashed had officially withdrawn from the case.

The paper’s website said the Saudi lawyer signed his withdrawal document in the presence of representatives from an Egyptian consulate and Saudi's National Society for Human Rights.

The paper quoted the lawyer as saying Gizawy admitted to his crime before an Islamic court.

Egypt-Saudi relations have been shaken in the wake of Gizawy's detention. The kingdom summoned its ambassador to Egypt last month in response to protests in front of its embassy in Cairo.

The ambassador returned to Cairo on 5 May on the instructions of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz after an Egyptian delegation had visited Saudi Arabia in an attempt to defuse the crisis.

Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said he and other diplomats of the ministry are impartial toward all presidential candidates.

In a press conference on Thursday, Amr was asked about supporting Amr Moussa. Amr said the ministry, all its members and the minister are not biased toward any candidate, adding that policy bans the participation of diplomats and the minister in presidential campaigns and publicity.

“It’s a legal and moral commitment,” he said. “The Foreign Ministry cannot endorse any candidate, especially in this election that is considered a unique democratic experience.”

In response to question about if a diplomat in the Saudi embassy in Egypt is related to presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, Amr said that the diplomat in question went on leave while Egyptian expatriates were voting.

Meanwhile, the minister said more than 224,000 Egyptian expatriates cast their ballots as of Thursday morning.

Although the number of actual voters didn’t equal the amount of registered voters, Amr said it was very successful experience.

The vote took place without problems, he said, but added that 25 voters double voted. He said the barcode system at Egyptian consulates helped uncover the double votes.

“Some voters sent their ballots by mail then went to the consulates and embassies to vote once more,” he said. “We cannot prove malintent. However, there were doubts that 10 or 15 cases were the result of bad intentions. A report was submitted to the Presidential Elections Commission to take the necessary steps.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

The Cairo Criminal Court cleared on Thursday 14 suspects accused of killing protesters outside the Shubra and Marg police stations on 28 January 2011, commonly known as the "Friday of Anger."

The Public Prosecution referred 12 policemen from Marg Police Station to court on charges of killing two protesters and attempting to kill a third. It also charged two other policemen in the deaths of two protesters and attempted murder of a third outside Shubra Police Station.

The defense team argued that the prosecution had no evidence against their clients and also said the suspects were not present at those locations during the incidents in question.

State-run Al-Akhbar newspaper said the victims' families present outside the trial expressed anger upon hearing the verdict, with some of them fainting. Others reportedly tried to enter the court room, but were prevented from doing so amid the tight security.

More than 800 people were killed during the uprising that led to ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, many outside police stations. Various criminal courts have acquitted police officers from the Hadayek al-Kobba, Sayeda Zeinab and Salam police departments on similar charges.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Bishop Morcos, the church leader of Shubra al-Kheima district and head of the registration committee for the papal election, said that 700 Copts are enrolled to vote on a replacemet for Pope Shenouda III, who died in March.

The selection process could take months and involve up to 1,500 people. Under the bylaws issued in 1957, the pope is elected by Coptic bishops, politicians, notable citizens and newspaper owners and editors.

Once the vote is completed, a blindfolded child will choose a name from a hat containing the names of the three candidates with the highest number of votes. Candidates must be at least 40 years old and have spent at least 15 years in monastic life.

He pointed out that the committee would continue receiving voter applications until the end of May, including from Coptic expatriates.

Morcos said the voters must fill out registration papers and provide a copy of their IDs, as well as the signature of the bishop they are affiliated with.

As for the ministers, journalists and MPs, they must receive the signature of the acting pope and submit a certificate from a Coptic Orthodox priest that they have made confession, Morcos added.

The Holy Synod discussed in its meeting Wednesday giving the Eritrean Church the right to vote in the papal elections and formed a committee including Bishop Bishoy, Bishop Antonios, Georgette Qelliny, and chancellor Monsef Suleiman to decide on the issue.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

The Cairo Criminal Court adjourned the so-called "Battle of the Camel" case on Thursday until 9 June to give the prosecution time to present its argument.

The trial involves 24 former National Democratic Party leaders and businessmen accused of inciting the killing of protesters in Tahrir Square on 2 and 3 February 2011.

During the trial session Thursday in New Cairo's Fifth Settlement, the judges reviewed 11 videos and audio recordings submitted by defense lawyers.

In one recording, defendants and former Parliament speakers Safwat al-Sherif and Ahmed Fathi Sorour stressed the need for calm and to deal with protests to maintain national security following an NDP meeting on 27 January 2011.

Sherif commented on the recordings, saying, “The testimony of the prosecution’s eyewitnesses has no proof. I am not an evil man, but a politician.”

Sorour appeared to become agitated after he listened to the evidence against him and the court ordered him to be taken out of the holding dock. He responded by reciting verses of the Quran and submitted a portfolio of documents that included a copy of the International Declaration on Democracy that he issued under Mubarak's tenure. He also said he participated in drafting the fourth and the fifth sections of the 1971 Constitution on civil liberties and rights.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the court had listened to eyewitness testimony for defendant police officer Hossam Eddin Mostafa, who said he was at home at the time of the incident.

The Battle of the Camel took place at the height of the protests that led to the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. Pro-Mubarak forces stormed Tahrir Square on camel and horseback last year, killing nearly 14 protesters and injuring more than 2,000.

Among the other defendants are former Manpower and Immigration Minister Aisha Abdel Hady and former Egyptian Trade Union Federation President Hussein Megawer.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Islamist lawmakers clashed Wednesday over a procedural delay to a draft law on pardons for political prisoners.

Jama'a al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party MP Amer Abdel Rahim proposed a draft law last month on issuing a comprehensive pardon for those convicted of political crimes from 1967 until 11 February 2011.

Party MPs were angry when a vote on the bill was delayed, prompting them to leave a People's Assembly Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee meeting at which it was being discussed.

FJP lawmakers with reservations about the legislation quarreled with Construction and Development Party MPs following the committee meeting. The latter withdrew before the meeting ended after independent committee head Mahmoud al-Khodairy announced that voting could not take place due to the lack of a quorum.

MPs Amer Abdel Rahim and Ashraf Agour objected to the delay and Agour accused FJP lawmakers of attempting to hold up the proposal.

“The majority withdrew before the vote could be taken in order to hinder voting on the bill. We are here to apply God’s Sharia, where is God’s Sharia, Freedom and Justice Party?" Agour asked.

Tearing up, Abdel Rahim said, “Whoever stands in the way of this bill, I will be at odds with him. I will resign from the [People’s Assembly] if the demands of the revolution are not met. Where is the guilt for those in prisons?”

During the meeting, FJP lawmaker Saad Aboud called for another deliberation of the bill before the committee votes on it.

Independent MP Amr Hamzawy said Parliament should wait until a new president is elected and can issue a comprehensive pardon for the detainees.

Omar Sharif, assistant justice minister for legislative affairs, rejected the proposal, saying the detainees it refers to were accused of murder and arson, which are criminal and not political charges.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

A member of the Freedom and Justice Party’s supreme body in Beheira resigned from the party in rejection of its nomination of Mohamed Morsy for president and announced his support for Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh.

FJP sources in Beheira told Al-Masry Al-Youm Thursday that the former Beheira party head, Mostafa Raslan, believes Abouel Fotouh, who was banned from the group when he declared his candidacy last year, has characteristics that “qualify him to be a masterful statesman.”

The sources said the party’s legal committee has referred Raslan to investigation for supporting Abouel Fotouh and thus violating the Brotherhood Shura Council’s decision to support Morsy.

Raslan joins Mostafa Kamshish, a member of the Brotherhood’s Shura Council in Giza, in supporting Abouel Fotouh in the election set to take place next week. On Monday, Kamshish called on the Brotherhood to withdraw Morsy and support Abouel Fotouh, saying the latter has the ability to lead Egypt through the coming months.

The sources claimed that after Raslan insisted on supporting Abouel Fotouh, he was appointed to the FJP’s supreme body in Beheira in an attempt to sway him.

His daughter, Rofayda Mostafa Raslan, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that her father left Beheira immediately following his resignation, and refused to comment further on the issue.

Mohamed Gamal Heshmat, an FJP lawmaker from Beheira, said: “Everybody has the right to adopt whatever he or she believes is right and is compatible with his or her political and personal beliefs."

Heshmat stressed that resigning is within Raslan's right, and that the two will review the decision together to discuss the reasons behind it.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Islam prohibits presidential candidates from securing votes through handouts of money, food, or anything else, according to a statement from Egypt’s official authority for issuing fatwas, or religious opinions.

Dar al-Ifta also called on all presidential candidates to be honest and fulfill the pledges they have made to the Egyptian people.

The statement said Islam demands honesty and respect for free will, and therefore forbids corruption, lying, bribery and poor ethics that exploit people’s needs.

The fatwa went on to say that voting in the election is considered a form of testimony, and that God prohibits the silencing of testimony.

According to the fatwa, endorsing falsehoods is also a form of concealing testimony, which is forbidden in the Quran and Sunnah. It said one of the signs indicating the approach of Judgment Day is the loss of honesty and that important matters are placed in the hands of the wrong people.

Edited translation from MENA

Nasserist presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi countered Wednesday accusations that he defended the former regimes of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.

Sabbahi said on a talk show on private Al-Nahar satellite channel Wednesday that he has not received a penny from any Arab or foreign regime. He has constantly denied allegations he had a relationship with the two deposed despots.

Earlier in the week, well-known journalist Belal Fadl, who writes for Al-Masry Al-Youm and independent paper Al-Tahrir and supports Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh for president, fiercely criticized Sabbahi on Twitter.

"I still hold my opinion that Sabbahi never criticized Qadhafi or Saddam in the times of their glory," he tweeted, adding, "I challenge anyone to bring me an article of Hamdeen attacking Qadhafi or Saddam." He promised to officially apologize if proven wrong.

Rumors have long circulated about Sabbahi’s ties to Qadhafi and Hussein. Some said Qadhafi gave Sabbahi funds to launch his weekly newspaper, Al-Karama, which means “dignity.” The paper ran a supplement in 2006 on the achievements of Qadhafi’s 1969 Libyan revolution.

Sabbahi also defended his efforts to provide medicine and rice to the Iraqi people during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

“I [represented] the Egyptian people, not the Egyptian regime. My relationship was with the Iraqi people, not the Iraqi regime," he said.

"Saddam, who some disagreed with, was not the symbol of democracy, but he allowed 4 million Egyptians to enter Iraq and he treated them well," he added.

Sabbahi stressed that he would not allow former Prime Minister and current presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq to return to government, saying the PM was never part of the 25 January revolution.

“Egypt would not settle down if one of the representatives of the old [Mubarak] regime wins, and those who want stability for this country should continue the revolution,” he continued. “The nominations of [former Foreign Minister] Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq showed disrespect to the Egyptian people, because [Moussa and Shafiq] did not value the revolution, and they will lose the election.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm