Peaceful Opposition?

Tags

assassination, Hisham Barakat, Muslim Brotherhood, Prosecotor General

Hisham Barakat was a courageous patriot, a conscientious prosecutor, a pious man and a gentle, kind human being.
He was a courageous patriot, for during the one year of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood he did not kneel under their pressure and keep a low profile like many of his colleagues. He did not hide behind red tape or by looking the other way. He spoke up and where there was proven culpability, he did his job.
He was a conscientious prosecutor, for to him, prosecuting the guilty was just as important as exonerating the innocent. At a time when every public figure was literally a moving target to the “peaceful opposition” the Muslim Brotherhood, he issued orders to freeze the assets of all the Brotherhood leaders. It was a very effective way to dry up their resources used in their “peaceful opposition” methods of hiring “martyrs” to blow themselves up in crowded areas, to rig car bombs to assassinate civilians, police and army officers, to burn churches and cause civil strife, to target and shoot or blow up any high profile figure, in other words: “peaceful opposition”.
He was a pious man for he deeply believed in facing his Maker, in being accountable for all his actions and in the final judgement. When asked about certain decisions he made, he said “I shall stand alone before God and have to justify every decision. No one will be there to take the blame for me. I alone will be accountable to Him”. So all his decisions were influenced by a live conscience, a very strong sense of justice, and a love for God.
He was a very kind and gentle man. Every morning on his way to work, he paused a few minutes at his door, smiling, greeting his neighbors and the passers by. He was greatly respected by his neighbors for he never changed after he became Prosecutor General. He remained the same affable, likable, modest family man that he always was.
Hisham Barakat, courageous patriot, conscientious prosecutor, pious, gentle, kind human being was yesterday blown up in his car by the “peaceful opposition”.

Morsi’s Trial

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Al Husseini Abu Deif, assassination, demonstrators, District Attorney, inciting to kill, Itehadeya, militias, Morsi, the Brotherhood, torture, trial

One day to go before the trial begins. A couple of days ago was Friday, and as usual this is the day the Brotherhood supporters rampage through town terrorizing people and threatening all sorts of violence. Added to the usual Friday, this was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for Monday November 4, 2013, the day set for the beginning of Morsi’s trial. It was nothing special. The numbers are deteriorating, and although the police ensured that none of the main squares were occupied, none of the Brotherhood even attempted to invade any of those squares.
There are 14 people, besides Morsi, who are supposed to stand trial, but 7 of them are still at large. It seems that according to the law Morsi has the right to refuse to appear before the judge. In such a case the police are forced, by law, to leave him where he is and report to the court the accused’s refusal to attend. The court then would issue a decree requesting the police to bring in the accused, by force if necessary. So the next court session he will have to go. Some people think that he will not avail himself of this right as he might be brought in the next session in handcuffs!
This is the first case against Morsi and he is accused of inciting to kill the demonstrators in front of Al Itihadeya Presidential Palace last December.
What had taken place at the time were very large demonstrations against Morsi, in protest to his Presidential Decree on November 21 where he gave himself absolute power sweeping aside all legislative and judicial checks and balances. These demonstrations marched from all over town and congregated in front of the Presidential Palace. Morsi was in residence at the time. The first line of defense was the plain-clothed militias of the Brotherhood. These were caught on film, through numerous clips taken by mobile phones, showing how these members of the militia would pinpoint some hapless individual then pounce and abduct him from the midst of the other demonstrators and drag him to their lines and their supporters, which happened to be next to gate number 4 of the Place. There, those abducted were lined against the wall of the Palace’s fence and interrogated, beaten and tortured until bloodied, some stripped. There were around 49 individuals who were blindfolded, beaten and tortured. This too is captured on film and the interrogators and torturers were clearly photographed. Of those tortured on film are three people who stand out. The first is an Egyptian Ambassador a retired diplomat, the second was a Christian Engineer, and the third was a house Porter whose place of work was right there next to the Palace. These three people were very badly beaten right there and all this is documented. Besides these there were quite a few who were shot dead, one of them being Al Husseiny Abu Deif, a well know photojournalist who was photographing the Brotherhood members who were shooting at the demonstrators. He was shot at very close range, in the head with an unidentified type of weapon whose ammunition fragmented into several pieces on entering his head. This is premeditated murder. His camera was then stolen. Several young activists were killed that day.
Next came the testimony of the Head of the Presidential Guard who, on being questioned, admitted that Morsi had given him orders to use their armored vehicles in stopping the demonstrators from reaching the Palace fence by either shooting them or running them down. The Head of the Guards refused, stating that it was his job to safeguard the President and he will do his job as he sees fit.
Those who were held by the Brotherhood, and some who were even taken into the Palace, were finally turned over to the police who took them to be interrogated by the District Attorney for that area. The District Attorney started interrogating those brought to him, the next day. On that day Morsi came out with one of his rambling speeches in which he accused all those turned over to the police of being people who were paid by the opposition to escalate unrest against Morsi, and that they had admitted to that. While his speech was going on, the District Attorney had finished with his interrogations and released all those turned over to him by the Brotherhood for lack of any evidence. This caused great embarrassment to Morsi and his Brotherhood. The Brotherhood Attorney General was furious that one of the Attorneys reporting to him should do that and in retaliation issued a decree with immediate effect, to remove that District Attorney from that area and assigned him to Upper Egypt, which is traditional banishment. But the situation was different this time as this was a very high profile case and had great media coverage, so in the face of the storm that broke out, the Attorney General backed down and rescinded his order.
All these facts are publicly known through the media and mainly through Youtube where all those clips were posted and seen worldwide. I am sure there is far more damning evidence to the case which is still not public knowledge. So we are all eager to follow this trial which, as announced, will be covered live by television. Although there are a few voices asking for media blackout, yet the majority are asking for media coverage to show what he is accused of and what the evidence against him is, as well as what sort of defense will be put up.
Meanwhile the Brotherhood are planning to have as many demonstrators on the streets as they could gather to cause as much disruption as possible. If last Friday, was an example, there won’t be much of that. The police are taking all precautions and it is said 14 thousand soldiers have been assigned to ensure the safety of the prisoners and that of the trial. Already the police are now guarding all entrances to Cairo to ensure that the Brotherhood does not import their personnel from the different districts all over Egypt to help those in Cairo. The coming few days will be very interesting.

One Year Under Morsi’s Rule – Part 2

Tags

assassination, Internet activists, Itehadeya, police brutality

The unpopularity of the Brotherhood receded slightly when a few weeks after his inauguration Morsi relieved the extremely unpopular leaders of SCAF of their positions, retired them with honor and decorations and appointed them as advisors to the President. But this slight surge in popularity did not last long.
Slowly the general trend within the Government started solidifying in a very clear bias to the Brotherhood at the expense of everybody else, but in particular the youth who were beginning to be vociferous in their criticism of the Brotherhood. A young 18 year old called Gaber Salah aka Jica, started a new Facebook page called “Against the Brotherhood”. The first demonstration he went out for was the anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud street massacre of the previous year. Eye witnesses testified that he was pointed out by some informants,then he was shot in the head and killed. His was the first of many such deaths of young internet activists against the Brotherhood. It was the beginning of the reign of terror while the Brotherhood was in charge. Evidence was found, advertised, then the official authorities buried it, of several abductions, torture and killing of young internet activists. The more that happened the angrier the people became, till on November 22, 2012, Morsi issued a Presidential Decree which gave total immunity to all previous and future decrees by him from any judicial objections. The fascist state was in place. It was no longer the youth who objected, it was everybody who was not a Brotherhood member or affiliate. A full upheaval took place, not only did Tahrir fill up again, but also a very large demonstration went on a march to the Itehadeya Palace, where Morsi resided. Some youth pitched tents and began a sit in there in protest.
It was during one of the worst periods in these demonstrations where the Brotherhood members arrested several people randomly, cornered them outside the gates of the palace and systematically beat and tortured them trying to elicit confessions that they were being paid by the opposition to demonstrate against Morsi. These were just ordinary citizens, one an ex Egyptian Ambassador, another a Christian businessman who was brutally beaten and the clip of his torture and bloodied bare torso went viral over the Internet. Some were even taken inside the palace and tortured in there. All this was recorded by individuals through their mobile telephones. Another clip that went viral worldwide was that of the poor carpenter who was beaten and stripped in the street, then bundled into one of the police cars there. At that time many strange looking bearded men were in uniform with the police and were armed. Their behavior differed from the run of the mill police, they were far more vicious and quite often used excessive force. It was strongly suspected that these were the militia set up by the Deputy of the Morshid, Khairat el Shater, to be the iron fist by which to implement their plans when the police balked at the use of force or at killing anybody.
It was at Itehadeya palace that one of the most active journalists was cold bloodedly assassinated by a bullet to the head. El Hoseiny Abu Deif was taking pictures of those who were shooting the people when he was shot at close range in the back of the head. His camera disappeared. So the Brotherhood started on its path of violence and murder. And the people started rising against them in earnest.
Parallel to these assassinations were the threats to both the Judiciary and the Media. The General Prosecutor was offered the position of Ambassador to the Vatican which he turned down, but was replaced anyway by one hand picked by the President. Another MB sleeper.
Continued … One Year Under Morsi’s Rule – Part 3