Parliament Must be Dissolved’ – Egypt’s Highest Court

IntelHub

The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt has announced that Egypt’s lower house of parliament must be dissolved following a court verdict which determined a hastily considered election law was illegal.

The court ruling means new elections will have to be held.

“The ruling regarding parliament includes the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in its entirety because the law upon which the elections were held is contrary to rules of the constitution,” the court’s head Farouk Soltan told Reuters by phone on Thursday following the verdict.

By  moving to dissolve the Islamist-dominated parliament, Thursday’s decision is being seen as a non-violent coup by the ruling military junta.

The verdict sparked minor clashes outside of the court house, which was surrounded by a cordon of police and soldiers backed by armored vehicles.

The country’s Supreme Council of Armed Forces announced Thursday it will hold an emergency meeting to handle Egypt’s deepening political crisis.

Mohammed ElBaradei called for an interim presidential council or an interim president along with a government of salvation to keep the country’s fragile democratic system afloat.

The announcement follows a verdict by the court  which determined the Political Disenfranchisement Law governing elections was unconstitutional. As a result of the ruling, one third of the parliament had been elected illegally.

The law in question concerns some provisions of electoral law governing how political parties can contest some parliamentary seats using independent candidates.

Egypt: First phase of polls for lower House of Parliament concludes

NewsOnAir

In Egypt, the first round of voting for 168 out of 498 member Lower House of Parliament, the People's Assembly, closes today.

The elections for the party list were over last week while the run offs for the 52 out of 56 seats for the Individual List come to close today. The Islamist parties of Muslim Brotherhood and hard-line Salafists have won over 65 per cent votes in this round.

The Election Commission has revised down the turnout from 62 per cent to 52 per cent and said, results from several polling stations would be withheld because of violations.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest winner in the first round of Egypt's elections, has threatened to take to the streets if there is any attempt to manipulate results.

AIR West Asia Correspondent has analyzed the prospects from Round One of elections in Egypt.

The road to seat of power in Cairo is going to be a tough one. The trends from the first round have shown Islamists all set to gain a majority in the new parliament. However the power sharing between the moderate Islamic Brotherhood and hard-line Salafists may not be all that easy.

Islamic Brotherhood has sought to allay the fears among the minorities and liberals that strict Islamic codes will not be enforced and the rule of law will prevail.

The Salafists say the practices prevalent in Islam must be continued and preserved. Skirmishes between their supporters in Southern Assuit province and a few other places reflect the simmering tension.

Liberals and Secular parties along with the young activists at Tahrir Square have yet to come to terms with the outcome of the first round.

The former Arab League Chief Amre Mousa says Egyptians have to accept that democracy is all about numbers.

The another Presidential hopeful and former IAEA Chief Mohammad Elbardeii rues what he calls the decimation of liberal and secular forces so far. Whatever be the outcome, people's power is on full display in these elections in Egypt.

White House lost on Egypt violence

Interview with Mohamed Elbaradei

Real Clear Politics

By Fareed Zakaria GPS

Mohamed ElBaradei speaks in Cairo

ZAKARIA: Mohamed ElBaradei is, perhaps after President Mubarak, the crucial figure in this story. After his leaving his post as head of the world's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, he has devoted himself to agitating for change in Egypt, his home country. And how he is the most high-profile leader of the opposition movement in Egypt.
He was put under house arrest on Friday, but is able to join me now from his home in Cairo. Thank you for joining us, Mohamed ElBaradei.

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, FORMER IAEA DIRECTOR: It's always a pleasure to be with you, Fareed.

ZAKARIA: Mohamed, what do you make of the most recent moves by President Mubarak appointing Omar Suleiman as his vice president, appointing another former army officer as the prime minister, the former aviation minister. What is your reaction?

ELBARADEI: Well, Fareed, I think this is hopeless, desperate attempts by Mubarak to stay in power. I think it is loud and clear from everybody in Egypt that Mubarak has to leave today, and it is non-negotiable for every Egyptian. People have been saying or demonstrating for his -- for him to leave. Today, the demonstrations say that he should be put to trial. If he wants to save his skin, if he has an iota of patriotism, I would advise him to leave today and save the country.

ZAKARIA: And what would you like to see happen after that? Let us say Mubarak resigns. What is the -- what are the next steps that must happen in Egypt?

ELBARADEI: Well, the next step, Fareed, as everybody now agrees on, is a transitional period, a government of national salvation, of national unity, and that will prepare the ground for a new constitution, free and fair election. These are the three basic demands, what every Egyptian is agreeing upon. And of course, you know, hoping that the army will be able to control the situation.
Right now, Fareed, the country is ablaze. Looting is everywhere. Disbanded police forces that were disbanded for -- nobody knows how they were disbanded -- are looting around the country. The army is not able to control things. Millions are in the streets. This is a country that's falling apart, and the -- he needs to leave today. That will hope help (ph), at least 70 percent, to be followed by a smooth transition of a national unity government, to be followed by all the measures set in place for a free and fair election and democratic constitution.
Egypt needs to catch up with the rest of the world. We need to be free, democratic, and -- society where people have the right to live in freedom and dignity. That's what you get after 30 years, Fareed, of utter brutal dictatorship supported by everybody in the name of pseudo-stability.

ZAKARIA: You mention the army, Mohamed. Talk about that, because Omar Suleiman is himself a former -- a member of the armed forces. The new prime minister is. There is speculation that the army is backing these moves by Mubarak and has in effect taken control of the country.

ELBARADEI: Well, I don't think that the army has taken control of the country, Fareed. If you -- if you look around, there's half million people everywhere, in the middle of Cairo, in the middle of Alexandria.

Omar Suleiman is a person I know. I have respect for him. But the army is (inaudible) not change of personalities. We need a change of system. We need to have substantive, drastic shifts from a dictatorship into a democracy, like the rest of the world. What I have been authorized, mandated by the people who organized these demonstrations and by many other parts of the Egyptians, to agree on a national unity government. And I hope that I would -- I should be in touch soon with the army, and we need to work together. The army is part of Egypt, and we have the highest respect for them as civilians, and we need to work together to get Egypt (inaudible).

What do we have today? A country that's falling apart.

ZAKARIA: You say you are -- you hope to be in contact with the army. Have they reached out to you? Do you intend to reach out to them?

ELBARADEI: Not yet, Fareed. I haven't. I mean, the whole situation has been moving very, very fast, and -- but today there has been a number of declarations by different parts of the Egyptian society, from right, left and center, mandating me to work in -- with them, with the army, with everybody in Egypt, with outside world, to ensure smooth transition.

ZAKARIA: You've heard President Obama's statements in which he says he has asked President Mubarak to act on his promise to change, to bring democracy to Egypt. Do you think -- do you want him to do more than that?

ELBARADEI: Of course I do. I have, as you know, the utmost respect for President Obama as a person. I worked with him during my time at the IAEA. I have a lot of admiration for him. But I can tell you, honestly, as a friend of the U.S., that your policy right now is a failed policy, is a policy that is lagging behind, is a policy that is -- is -- having the effect here in Egypt that you are losing whatever left of credibility.

And -- however, this is -- this has been -- will be overtaken by events, and I want you to be on top of things. Your policy right now -- and this is an honest advice, Fareed -- is absolutely has no credibility here in Egypt. That is -- that is coming from a friend of the U.S., somebody who lived in 15 years in the U.S. and worked for throughout my life in the U.S. I would like to see a democratic Egypt, continued -- a democratic Egypt that is able to have a friendly relationship with the U.S. We have always had a lot of common interests, and there is nothing to believe that a democracy here will not lead to a better relationship with the U.S., based on respect and on equity.

ZAKARIA: Do you want President Obama to come out and publicly ask President Mubarak to resign?

ELBARADEI: I -- I mean, obviously, that is going to happen, I think, Fareed, if not today, tomorrow, you know. It will happen that he has to leave the country within the next three days. That is -- there is no way out, as I see it. It's better for President Obama not to appear that he is -- he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it's time for you to go, leave in dignity before things are going out of hand. We have seen the fate of many dictators. I do not want to see that happening in Egypt.

ZAKARIA: Mohamed, one of the visions that haunts Americans is of the Iranian revolution, where a dictator, pro-American dictator, was replaced by an even worse regime that was even more anti-American and more threatening to the region. People worry about the Muslim Brotherhood. Are you confident that a post-Mubarak Egypt will not give rise to some kind of Islamic fundamentalist force that will undermine the democracy of Egypt?

ELBARADEI: I'm quite confident of that, Fareed. This is a myth that was sold by the Mubarak regime, that it's either us, the ruthless dictators, or above (ph) them the al Qaida types.

You know, the Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with the Iranian model, has nothing to do with extremism, as we have seen it in Afghanistan and other places. The Muslim Brotherhood is a religiously conservative group. They are a minority in Egypt. They are not a majority of the Egyptian people, but they have a lot of credibility because all the other liberal parties have been smothered for 30 years. They are in favor of a federalist (ph) state. They are in favor of a wording on the base of constitution that has red lines (ph) that every Egyptian has the same rights, same obligation, that the state in no way will be a state based on religion.
And I have been reaching out to them. We need to include them. They are part of the Egyptian society, as much as the Marxist party here. I think this myth that has been perpetuated and sold by the regime has no -- has no iota of reality.
As you know, Fareed, I've worked with Iranians, I've worked here. There is 100 percent difference between the two societies.

ZAKARIA: And finally, would you be willing to serve as a president, as an interim president, if Mubarak were to step down?

ELBARADEI: I'm willing to do whatever I can do to save this country, Fareed. You know, this is not my priority. I have a lot of interests in global issues, as you know, humanity, inequity, arms control, and I continue to be active on all these issues. But if my people here, the Egyptian people want me to serve as a bridge from authoritarian system into a democracy, I will not let them down. That is -- I owe it to them here.

ZAKARIA: Mohamed ElBaradei, pleasure to have you on, and I hope we'll have you on again soon.

ELBARADEI: Pleasure to talk to you, Fareed.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood eyes unity gov't without Mubarak

Haaretz

Mohammed ElBaradei

Gamal Nasser, a spokesman for the Brotherhood, told DPA that his group was in talks with Mohammed ElBaradei - the former UN nuclear watchdog chief - to form a national unity government without the National Democratic Party of Mubarak.

The group is also demanding an end to the draconian Emergency Laws, which grant police wide-ranging powers The laws have been used often to arrest and harass the Islamist group.
Nasser said his group would not accept any new government with Mubarak. On Saturday the Brotherhood called on President Mubarak to relinquish power in a peaceful manner following the resignation of the Egyptian cabinet.

Speaking to CNN later Sunday, ElBaradei said he had a popular and political mandate to negotiate the creation of a national unity government.

"I have been authorized -- mandated -- by the people who organized these demonstrations and many other parties to agree on a national unity government," he told CNN.

"I hope that I should be in touch soon with the army and we need to work together. The army is part of Egypt," the opposition leader added.

Mustafa el-Naggar

Opposition figure Mustafa el-Naggar stated that ElBaradei "will be joining protesters in Tahrir," adding he would come to the square later on Sunday, his first visit to the hub of the protest since returning to Egypt on Thursday.

The Egyptian cabinet formally resigned Saturday at the command of Mubarak, following violent anti-government protests that have now reached their sixth day unabated.

Mubarak has yet to comment on the cabinet's resignation. The embattled president addressed the country on Saturday for the fist time since the riots began, saying that he had no intention to resign.
The protests are the most serious challenge to Mubarak's 30-year authoritarian rule. The embattled president defended the security forces' crackdown on protesters, but said that he will press ahead with social, economic and political reforms in the country.


Mubarak has not said yet whether he will stand for another six-year term as president in elections this year. He has never appointed a deputy and is thought to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him despite popular opposition.

Former IAEA Chief: Iraq War Killed “A Million Innocent Civilians” [Updated]

The following is a more accurate account reposted by request of the author.

InformationClearingHouse.com

By Patrick Martin

April 03, 2010 "WSWS" -- The former head of the UN’s chief nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian Wednesday that those who launched the war in Iraq were responsible for killing a million innocent people and could be held accountable under international law. He was clearly referring to US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and their top military and security aides.

It was his first interview with an international publication since ElBaradei returned to his native Egypt, after a decade heading the International Atomic Energy Agency, where he won the Nobel Peace Prize, in large measure because of his opposition to the efforts by the Bush administration to use concocted charges about “weapons of mass destruction” as an all-purpose pretext for military intervention throughout the Middle East.

“I would hope that the lessons of Iraq, both in London and in the US have started to sink in,” he told the Guardian. “Sure, there are dictators, but are you ready every time you want to get rid of a dictator to sacrifice a million innocent civilians? All the indications coming out of [the Chilcot inquiry in Britain] are that Iraq was not really about weapons of mass destruction but rather about regime change, and I keep asking the same question―where do you find this regime change in international law? And if it is a violation of international law, who is accountable for that?”

This suggestion that Bush and Blair were guilty of war crimes, coming from a high-ranking former UN official, would ordinarily be considered major news. The Guardian interview was reported by the main British and French news agencies, Reuters and AFP, but the entire American corporate media gave it zero coverage. Not a single major American newspaper or television network mentioned it.

The discussion of the violation of international law in launching the Iraq war came in the course of a longer discussion of the bankruptcy of US-British foreign policy in the Muslim world. ElBaradei criticized the longstanding support of Washington for dictators like Mubarak. “The idea that the only alternative to authoritarian regimes is Bin Laden and Co. is a fake one, yet continuation of current policies will make that prophecy come true.”

He warned of “increasing radicalization” in the Arab world: “People feel repressed by their own governments, they feel unfairly treated by the outside world, they wake up in the morning and who do they see―they see people being shot and killed, all Muslims from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Darfur.”

“Western policy towards this part of the world has been a total failure, in my view,” he said. “It has not been based on dialogue, understanding, supporting civil society and empowering people, but rather it’s been based on supporting authoritarian systems as long as the oil keeps pumping.”

ElBaradei warned of the hypocrisy and double standard of Western policy. “The West talks a lot about elections in Iran, for example, but at least there were elections,” he said. “Yet where are the elections in the Arab world? If the West doesn’t talk about that, then how can it have any credibility?”

ElBaradei is now reportedly considering a presidential bid against 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak, whose fifth six-year term expires next year. He clearly hopes that Western pressure will compel Mubarak to permit a more robust opposition campaign than during the last presidential election, when the largest opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, was barred from standing a candidate, and Ayman Nour, the bourgeois liberal candidate who finished second, was jailed for alleged petition fraud.

Speaking to a British newspaper, ElBaradei was in essence warning his old patrons, the major European powers, of the counterproductive character of Western policy, particularly that of the United States. “When you see that the most popular people in the Middle East are Ahmadinejad and Hassan Nasrallah [leader of Hezbollah], that should send you a message: that your policy is not reaching out to the people,” he said.

He also took note of the extreme social tension in Egypt, where the vast majority of the population lives in crushing poverty.

Former IAEA Chief: Iraq War Killed “A Million Innocent Civilians”

InformationClearingHouse.com

By Patrick Martin

April 03, 2010 "WSWS" -- The former head of the UN’s chief nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian Wednesday that those who launched the war in Iraq were responsible for killing a million innocent people and could be held accountable under international law. He was clearly referring to US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and their top military and security aides.

It was his first interview with an international publication since ElBaradei returned to his native Egypt, after a decade heading the International Atomic Energy Agency, where he won the Nobel Peace Prize, in large measure because of his opposition to the efforts by the Bush administration to use concocted charges about “weapons of mass destruction” as an all-purpose pretext for military intervention throughout the Middle East.

“I would hope that the lessons of Iraq, both in London and in the US have started to sink in,” he told the Guardian. “Sure, there are dictators, but are you ready every time you want to get rid of a dictator to sacrifice a million innocent civilians? All the indications coming out of [the Chilcot inquiry in Britain] are that Iraq was not really about weapons of mass destruction but rather about regime change, and I keep asking the same question―where do you find this regime change in international law? And if it is a violation of international law, who is accountable for that?”

This suggestion that Bush and Blair were guilty of war crimes, coming from a high-ranking former UN official, would ordinarily be considered major news. The Guardian interview was reported by the main British and French news agencies, Reuters and AFP, but the entire American corporate media gave it zero coverage. Not a single major American newspaper or television network mentioned it.

The discussion of the violation of international law in launching the Iraq war came in the course of a longer discussion of the bankruptcy of US-British foreign policy in the Muslim world. ElBaradei criticized the longstanding support of Washington for dictators like Mubarak. “The idea that the only alternative to authoritarian regimes is Bin Laden and Co. is a fake one, yet continuation of current policies will make that prophecy come true.”

He warned of “increasing radicalization” in the Arab world: “People feel repressed by their own governments, they feel unfairly treated by the outside world, they wake up in the morning and who do they see―they see people being shot and killed, all Muslims from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Darfur.”

“Western policy towards this part of the world has been a total failure, in my view,” he said. “It has not been based on dialogue, understanding, supporting civil society and empowering people, but rather it’s been based on supporting authoritarian systems as long as the oil keeps pumping.”

ElBaradei warned of the hypocrisy and double standard of Western policy. “The West talks a lot about elections in Iran, for example, but at least there were elections,” he said. “Yet where are the elections in the Arab world? If the West doesn’t talk about that, then how can it have any credibility?”

ElBaradei is now reportedly considering a presidential bid against 81-year-old President Hosni Mubarak, whose fifth six-year term expires next year. He clearly hopes that Western pressure will compel Mubarak to permit a more robust opposition campaign than during the last presidential election, when the largest opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, was barred from standing a candidate, and Ayman Nour, the bourgeois liberal candidate who finished second, was jailed for alleged petition fraud.

Speaking to a British newspaper, ElBaradei was in essence warning his old patrons, the major European powers, of the counterproductive character of Western policy, particularly that of the United States. “When you see that the most popular people in the Middle East are Ahmadinejad and Hassan Nasrallah [leader of Hezbollah], that should send you a message: that your policy is not reaching out to the people,” he said.

He also took note of the extreme social tension in Egypt, where the vast majority of the population lives in crushing poverty.