Wealth of former Egyptian interior minister estimated at $3bn

Ahram

Official documents obtained by Al-Ahram daily indicate that imprisoned Habib El-Adly's fortunes are around $3 billion, including a 'fleet' of fancy cars and dozens of villas  

Egypt's former minister of interior Habib El-Adly reportedly owns 42 palaces and villas, 75 feddens and a 'fleet' of luxury cars, state-owned Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported on Saturday.

Al-Ahram has obtained official documents which will be handed to the country's illicit gains authority that include details about El-Adly's wealth, which is estimated at LE18 billion ($3 billion).

El-Adly and ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak are currently serving life sentences for failing to prevent the killing of protesters during last year's uprising.

Most of the former interior minister's properties are located in Sharm El-Sheikh, the North Coast, Mohandiseen and Zamalek, all in wealthy neighbourhoods.

El-Adly owns a villa in satellite 6 October City surrounded by a bulletproof glass façade, according to Al-Ahram.

It is reported that there are other undisclosed properties that have been registered under the names of his relatives.

In July 2011, El-Adly was sentenced to five years in prison for squandering public funds in the infamous number plates case. Earlier that same year the former interior minister was handed a 12-year sentence for corruption charges related to using his senior position to illegally gain profits.

Habib el-Adly Attempts to Blame Deaths of Arab Spring Demonstrators on Hamas

Ahram Online

Ex-Interior Minister Habib el-Adly is currently being tried
for killing demonstrators in Egypt.  He is also implicated
in the Coptic Church Bombing in Alexandria on New Years Eve, 2010.

Ismail Haniya denies claims by Egypt's former interior minister Habib El-Adly that Hamas members killed protesters during January 25 Revolution

The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, has denied allegations by Egypt's former interior minister Habib El-Adly that Hamas members entered Egypt during the January 25 Revolution to sow chaos in the country and killed protesters.

El-Adly made the claims – without providing evidence – on the final day of his trial for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters during Egypt's revolution.

Hosni Mubarak, his two sons Gamal and Alaa, and six of El-Adly's aides are also on trial. The judge is due to deliver his verdict on 2 June.

Haniya spoke to journalists on Thursday after meeting Saad El-Katatni, speaker of the People’s Assembly.

“Hamas has never interfered in Egyptian issues, before or after the revolution,” said Haniya.  "During the revolution the Egyptian people presented a model that should be followed throughout the world."
Haniya congratulated Egypt on the success of the revolution and its new democratic system. He described his visit to Egypt's parliament as "historic."

The People’s Assembly is the "assembly of the Egyptian revolution," he added.
Haniya is visiting Egypt with a Hamas delegation to participate in talks with Fatah as part of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement supported by Egypt.

Read what Tantawi is alleged to have said at Mubarak's trial

Bellingham Herald

Hosni Mubarak on trial.

The following transcript appeared on Egyptian social media sites, which claimed it was testimony by Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, at the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak on charges Mubarak ordered the killing of protesters seeking an end to his rule. The questions were asked by Judge Ahmad Refaat, who had banned coverage of the testimony. There was no official confirmation or denial of the legitimacy of the transcript. McClatchy special correspondent Mohannad Sabry translated.

Q: There was a meeting held on January 22, was the former president informed of what was discussed in the meeting and how it ended?

A: The meeting was headed by the prime minister and I think that he informed the former president.

Q: When the events started on January 25 and until February 11, was there any meeting held between you and the former President Hosni Mubarak?

A: No direct meetings, but on January 28 when we received orders from the president there was communication between us.

Q: What did the president convey during such meetings?

A: Meetings between us were held to know that stance of the armed forces, especially on January 28 when the military was ordered to go down and support the police in fulfilling its duties. There was former planning by the military and this is a drill conducted by the military in case we need to go down with the police. The military goes down to the streets when the police need its help and when they cannot fulfill their duties and when the president orders the head of the military to take such action. The president gave the orders to the head of the military for the forces to go down and protect the important facilities and this is what happened.

Q: Did the former president, defendant Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, give any orders to the Interior Minister Habib el Adly for the police to use force against protesters including the use of birdshot guns and fire arms between January 25 and 28?

A: I have no information about that and I don’t think so.

Q: Did the former president leave the assessment of ways to deal with the situation to the listed defendants?

A: I have no information.

Q: Did you receive reports or know of how the police force operates?

A: This is a police training matter and it concerns them, but I know that dispersing protesters happens without the use of fire.

Q: Did the specialized military department detect the presence of snipers used by the police force during the events?

A: I have no information.

Q: Reports showed several injuries and deaths among protesters who were shot with birdshot bullets that caused injuries and deaths. Did you receive such information and how do you explain it?

A: I don’t have such information. There are several possibilities but I have no information.

Q: Are the police forces solely responsible for the deaths and injuries of protesters?

A: I don’t know what happened.

Q: Can you specify if other elements were involved?

A: It is unconfirmed information but I think that other elements were involved.

Q: What are those elements?

A: It could be criminal elements.

Q: Did you receive any information about the involvement of foreign elements?

A: I don’t have information but it is a possibility.

Q: Generally speaking, does the president take action to keep the safety and security of the nation by issuing orders regarding how to operate?

A: The president could issue orders, of course, it’s his right, but everything is decided in advance and everyone knows their duties.

Q: Who does the president order, in general?

A: The one who executes the orders is known but it is possible that the president gives orders.

Q: Should the recipient of such orders execute them no matter what the consequences are?

A: Of course there is a discussion and if the orders are critical they should discuss it.

Q: Is the former president, defendant Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, considered directly or solely responsible with whoever executed the orders by him regarding dealing with protesters?

A: If he gave the orders to use fire then I think that the responsibility is shared, and I don’t know if he gave such orders or not.

Q: Do you know if the former president knew through his sources that protesters were killed?

A: His aides who briefed him should be questioned about whether he knew or not.

Q: Do you know if the former president was involved in any way to stop the bleeding of the injured?

A: I think he did get involved and gave orders to start an investigation of what happened and the killings and he asked for a report.

Q: Can you firmly specify how responsible the former president is for the events that led to the injuring and killing of protesters?

A: This is the responsibility of the investigative departments.
 
Q: According to your experience, could the interior minister solely decide what measures and procedures and plans should be taken to face protests without informing the president?
 
A: Deciding procedures is planned in advance and known to everyone in the interior ministry, but in all cases he should inform the president of everything regarding the protests. dispersing protests is a normal plan and drill in the interior ministry.

Q: According to what you know, did Habib el Adly decide on his own or with the help of other defendants the measures used to confront the protests that led to injuries and deaths?

A: I don’t know about that.

Q: Suggesting that you knew of what happened in the January 28 protests including the use of live ammunition and using vehicles to run over protesters, do you think the orders of such use of force was taken only by Habib el Adly and his aides?

A: I cannot specify what happened but it is possible that he took such decisions and I don’t know who did and who is responsible for it.

Q: Could you confirm, in a way that leaves no chance for doubt, that the former president does not know anything or have information about the way the police dealt with protesters and that he did not give orders to the first defendant (Habib el Adly) regarding the measures of operating and that he is the delegate to keep the safety of Egypt?

A: I don’t know what happened but I think that the interior minister reports and it is possible that he does not know but I don’t know.

Q: Are there any injuries or deaths among army officers?

A: Yes, there are martyrs.

Q: Did the interior minister cooperate with the armed forces to secure the protests?

A: No.

Q: Were you informed of any lost military ammunition?

A: Nothing was lost but there are some losses and damage to equipment and there is no problem.

Q: Were you informed of the entrance of members of Hamas and Hezbollah through tunnels or other ways to cause instability?

A: This has not happened during the protests and we are resisting such things and when we find out something we destroy it, if anyone is referred to court it has not happened during the protests.

Q: Were any foreign elements arrested in Tahrir Square and referred to the military prosecution?
A: No, no one was detained.

Q: During the meeting that took place on January 20, was a decision to cut off communication taken?
A: This did not happen.

Q: Some Generals said we were asked to disperse protests using force. Were the armed forces asked to do that?

A: I said in the graduation ceremony of the police academy that I am telling the history that any member of the armed forces will not use fire against the people.

Israeli spies target Egypt

MEMO
Abdel Bari Atwan

Ilan Grapel, 28, a U.S.  Mossad agent arrested by
Egyptian authorities.

The Egyptian revolution launched from Tahrir Square in Cairo surprised the world not only with its victory and the efforts and patience of the youth, but also in the changes it brought to the political landscape of Egypt. It has altered the balance of power and allies in the Arab world and, more importantly, is starting to reshape the relationship with Israel.

Hence, it would be naive not to expect many parties to conspire against the revolution to take it off track. Top of the list of suspects would be Israel alongside those Arab regimes which oppose democratic change and wish to see Egypt remain subject to US domination.

It was not surprising, therefore, to hear that an Israeli has been arrested and accused of spying by the Egyptian authorities. Ilan Chaim Grapel is, it is claimed, an officer in Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and he has been charged with trying to recruit young Egyptians to carry out sabotage operations and sow the seeds of sectarian strife. Spending time in Tahrir Square under a number of aliases, Grapel is accused of inciting Egyptian Muslims to attack Coptic Churches and escalate clashes between the faith groups. All, it is alleged, with the intention of destabilising Egypt and destroying the nascent national unity of purpose.

Revolutionary Egypt is a target because it is no longer humiliated before the Israeli occupier, doing America's bidding or conspiring to maintain the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nor is it still selling natural gas to Israel at below the price it sells it to Egyptian citizens. It is natural, therefore, for the Israelis to send their spies to support a counter-revolution which wants to turn the clock back to the Egypt of corruption, repression and looting of public money.

It is no coincidence that the churches of Egypt were the target of Israeli schemes shortly before the outbreak of the revolution, when we witnessed the massacre of The Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve, for example. The man accused of ordering that attack, allegedly at Israel's instigation, is now behind bars; Major General Habib al-Adli is the former Interior Minister. Ilan Chaim Grapel frequented places of worship, including those which have seen deadly sectarianism.

Israeli fingers have long been interfering in the internal affairs of Egypt, as they have in Iraq, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, and churches have always been one of their targets in order to incite Christians against their Muslim brothers and "prove" that Muslim-Christian coexistence is impossible. The Israel Lobby plays the same game against Muslim minorities in the West, pinning the charge of terrorism against them and turning Western societies against them as a threat to security. Accusations that Islam and democracy are incompatible have also been made by the Lobby.

Egypt's revolution turned Israel's strategic calculations upside down after forty years of confidence in the subservience of the Arab regimes which abandoned their policies of resistance in exchange for a fake march towards peace. We have heard Israeli strategists talking about changes to doctrine and priorities, with the Israeli military machine again putting Egypt at the top of the list of enemies.

The transformation of Egypt from an Israeli lackey under deposed President Mubarak to an independent state putting its own interests first, has placed Israel in an embarrassing situation. It is interesting to note that this Egyptian transition will cost Israel about $20 billion, at least, to develop new defences on its southern front.

Perhaps the most striking change in Israel's strategy towards Egypt is the intensification of its espionage operations to undermine Egyptian security from inside. Just one year ago, Egyptian counter-espionage officers discovered a spy network led by a young Egyptian who had been recruited by Mossad while studying in China. His confession of spying on Egyptian installations, most notably the communications network, and the telephones of senior officers, led to the dismantling of three Mossad cells in Lebanon and Syria.

The latest discovery of an Israeli spy in Egypt reveals the vigilance of the Egyptian security services at a time when they are busy responding to the counter-revolution and the members of the ousted regime. However, it also raises the question of how many more Israeli spies are in place across Egypt; this should encourage Egyptians of all classes and creeds to be prudent and have caution as their watchword.

Israel has never truly honoured peace treaties or had respect for its allies. Who can forget that the Zionist state sent thirty agents from Mossad to assassinate Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai, with the killers using forged British, French, German, Canadian and Irish passports? If the Israelis do not respect their main allies and supporters, is it possible for them to respect peace treaties with Arab countries?

It is incumbent upon us to alert the world that the Israelis are playing a major role in the counter-revolution in Egypt, focusing on national security and inciting the West against the new regime. This includes trying to cause a rift between the youth of the revolution and the Supreme Council for the armed forces. Efforts in this regard have been intensified after the success of Egypt's role in achieving Palestinian reconciliation and breaking the unjust siege on the people of Gaza by opening the Rafah crossing permanently, as well as opposition to any new Israeli attack on the Strip.

Revolutionary Egypt will resist such conspiracies and we have no doubt that the awareness of its people, especially the youth, represents the insurance policy to maintain the revolution and prevent any diversion or counter-revolution.

What the Israelis, Americans and some Arab countries hostile to democratic change do not understand is that Egypt has returned to its people first and to the Arabs and Muslims second, and that there is no going back. Egypt and its people can only go onwards and upwards. The victory of the revolution in Egypt remains a victory for the Arab spring, even if progress has slowed somewhat.

Former Egyptian Interior Minister Accused of Collusion in Alexandria Church Bombing

Vlad Tepes

The Egyptian attorney general has reopened the investigation into the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve, which killed 24 Copts and injured more than 90. On May 25 Coptic Church attorney Joseph Malak presented a petition to the Attorney General to reopen the investigations into the church bombing. The petition accused former Minister of Interior, Habib el-Adly, of criminal responsibility and collusion.


The Attorney General assigned the case to the Supreme State Security Prosecution to question the former Minister of Interior, who is presently in prison on other charges, including ordering the shooting of more than 900 protesters in Tahrir Square on January 28.

“We expect el-Adly to appear for interrogation before prosecution within the next few days,” said Malak in an interview on Egyptian TV. He said that everyone was surprised when in mid April it was reported that all 20 Muslim suspects in the church attack were released and that they had been held as “political detainees.”
 



The bombing of the church shocked Egypt and the world and brought international condemnation of Egypt, including from Pope Benedict, for not protecting its Christian minority against violence, especially as Egyptian churches had received repeated threats of retaliatory action from al-Qaida militants in Iraq, immediately after the massacre of 58 Assyrians at Our Lady of Deliverance Church in Baghdad.

In both the Iraq and Egypt attacks the reason was allegedly over female Christian-converts to Islam who were held against their will by the Coptic Church. The Coptic church has denied the accusation.
The lack of security forces guarding the threatened Egyptian churches was heavily criticized, especially as the security forces withdrew nearly one hour before the blast, leaving only four policemen and an officer to guard the church and nearly 2000 people attending the midnight mass. Coptic activists had called at the time for the resignation of Habib el-Adly, who was then Interior Minister, and pointed fingers at Muslim Salafists in Egypt (AINA 1-2-2011). Following this announcement and the arrest three weeks later of 20 suspects in the church bombing, a media blackout was imposed by the General Prosecutor’s Office.

The church in Alexandria assigned Malak to pursue the case. “I had an unofficial meeting with the prosecution in Alexandria, requesting information on the decision to release the suspects in the church bombing, the disclosure of the investigations conducted with them, as well as the progress in the case and if it was still open.”

Malak said he was stunned to learn the case had been “frozen” since January 25 and the file was transferred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution. Also, there were no accused, as previously claimed by the Interior Minister, and those who were detained were never investigated. “I was told by prosecution that they do not even have the names of the accused, and the only role they played was investigating the witnesses and the injured.”

Malak said he sent a complaint to the Military Council, but never received a reply, so he approached the Attorney General.

“We believe the Interior Minister had a security breach and there was a certain security policy which was evident in this case.” He added that after the Egyptian church got direct and clear threats from Al-Qaida in November 2010, the security forces should have been fully prepared for this threat.
On January 23, 2011, during Police Day celebrations, Habib el-Adly accused the Palestinian group Army of Islam, which has links to Al-Qaeda, of having masterminded the New Year’s church attack in Alexandria, an accusation denied by the group. But the Interior Minister stood by his accusation and named an Egyptian, Ahmad Lotfi Ibrahim, of being the group’s accomplice and who had admitted in writing to his involvement.

An Al-Qaida affiliated group calling itself the “Salafist Combat Group in Iraq” claimed responsibility for the Alexandria church attack. A statement from the group said that a combat battalion went from Iraq to Egypt to perform the operation in order to launch what they called “the release of Muslim captive women from the prisons of the Coptic Church.” The group noted that one of its agents blew himself up.

“After the attack we got mixed messages,” said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid, “was it a car bomb which detonated in front of the church or was it a suicide bomber? No one knows what happened.”
The current Interior Minister, Mansour al-Issawi, ordered on June 1 the arrest of the main suspect in the church bombing, Ahmad Lotfi Ibrahim.
By Mary Abdelmassih

Israel-US behind Muslim-Coptic riots in Egypt

Uprooted Palestians

Western anti-Muslim extremists never let escape any religious incident in the Muslim world without cashing on their ‘Islamophobic’ nature. The recent clashes between certain Muslim groups and the Coptic Christian minority in Egypt being flashed around the world by the Zionist-controlled media – are used to demonize the country’s Islamic organization, Muslim Brotherhood, for their intolerance toward non-Muslims. Israel and its western-poodles have openly declared their fear of Muslim Brotherhood coming into power in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Tunisia.

The western media, as expected, was mum on the the issue which started the recent religious clash – leaving 13 people dead, over 100 injured and two churches damaged. It was not Muslims’ intolerance but the Christian intolerance which incited the sectarian strife. A young Christian woman Abeer Fakhry ound esape from her abusive Christian husband by marrying a Muslim. While the Coptic Church itself complains of discrimination by the country’s Muslim majority, this case also highlights denial of the freedom practised by the Church itself against its own members. Salwa, another young Christian mother of three who had converted to Islam seven years ago, was killed by members of her Christian family. One of her children was also killed. Her Muslim husband was injured.

Western media have shown clips of how the Coptic minority, like Israel, prefers Hosni Mubarak’s dictorial rule – because Hosni Mubarak looked the other way as the followers of Pope Shenouda chased converts to Islam in a bid to bring them back to Orthodox Christianity.

In November 2010 – Egypt’s parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Dr. Dr Mostafa El Feki had accused the Israeli Mossad of being behind the 2010 clashes between Christian Copts and Muslims – which left one person dead and dozens injured.

In January 2011 – former Foreign Minister Abdallah al-Ashal had blamed Mossad for Alexandria curch bombing, which killed 22 people and wounded another 80.

The Zionist Jews consider both Muslims and Christians as anti-Israel. The Zionist-controlled mainstream media has succeeded in keeping the western-majority ignorant of the fact that Christians in Israel are treated worse than the Jews were treated by the Christians in Europe in the past. The first Palestinian who started resistance against Jewish occupation of Palestine, George Habash, was a Christian – and so were the founder of Ba’ath Party (Michael Aflak), Syrian Social National Party (Antoun Saadi), and Arab nationalism (Costantine Zureik).

Between 250-1945, the Jewish communities were expelled from almost every Christian-majority European country. Tens of thousands of thess Jews took refuge in Muslim lands, such as, Muslim Spain, Palestine, Iraq, Morocco, Albania, etc. Even Arab-hating Jewish Orientalist, Dr. Bernard Lewis, had painfully admitted that Muslim Spain provided the ‘Golden Age’ for its Jewish communities.

The purpose of religious sectarian strife is to create hatred and panic among religious communities to sabotage the coming September election and make the current pro-West military junta’s rule permanent. The Zionist Jews played a similar trick on Iraqi Jewish communities in the past, making the entire Jewish population of 137,000 flee to newly created Zionist entity. American Jewish scholar Noam Chomsky confirmed recently that Washington fears democratic regimes in the Middle East.

In order to fight Israel-US evil agenda, Muslim Brotherhood has launched ‘Freedom and Justice Party’ (pending approval from the ruling military junta) with a Coptic politician Rafiq Habib as its Vice-president with 8821 members, including 978 women and 93 Copts.

Earlier Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani in his meeting with Fahmi Howeidi and Hassan Nafea, two Egyptian political and social scholars – warned them of the Israel-US tactics to hijack Egyptian uprising.

Destroying Evidence in Egypt: Part of Interior Ministry compound torched in Cairo

CNN

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Smoke billowed into the sky over Egypt's capital Wednesday from a fire at the Interior Ministry compound, a blaze witnesses say was set by protesters upset about labor issues.
Part of a building, surrounding buildings such as the criminal records building, and several cars had been torched. Witnesses said the flames could have been ignited by Molotov cocktails.

Soldiers and police rushed to scene and a couple of men were detained, the witnesses reported.
The compound is three blocks away from Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the sometimes violent clashes that eventually brought down the 30-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak February 11. Skirmishes also took place near where the fire burned Wednesday.

The incident comes as Egyptians continue to work to create the new leadership structure of the country after the revolution.

State-run media reported Wednesday that there have been about 1,300 official complaints lodged against former Egyptian ministers and government officials. Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdi said he ordered that all of the complaints, many of them about government waste and corruption, be investigated, the state-run EgyNews website reported.

The investigation comes after Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud requested that the assets of Mubarak and his family be frozen, according to EgyNews website. Along with the former president's assets, those belonging to his wife, Suzanne, were also frozen, along with the assets of the former president's eldest son, Alaa, and younger son, Gamal, and both of the sons' wives, according to the report.

As CNN correspondent Ivan Watson was filming the aftermath of the fire outside the Interior Ministry Wednesday, an Egyptian military officer with two stars on his epaulets grabbed Watson and demanded he turn over his camera.

Watson showed the officer his Egyptian government press accreditation.
Saying, "Be quiet, don't talk!" the officer dragged Watson away from bystanders and demanded Watson delete video of the incident. "If you delete the video, I will let you go free," the officer said, identifying himself only as "Mohammed."

Eventually, another officer intervened, and escorted CNN journalists from the scene.
Journalists, especially photographers, routinely have been harassed by Egyptian authorities since protests erupted last month. Cairo-based photographer Roy Mattieu wrote Wednesday on his Twitter account, "I've been arrested three times by the army for my camera & lens, afraid to take them out of the bag now, thought it was improving, not."

Egypt has faced a wave of labor unrest since Mubarak was ousted. Workers at banks, factories, government ministries and at the strategic Suez Canal have gone on strike, demanding better wages and the resignation of executives accused of corruption. Egypt's new military rulers have repeatedly called for an end to the strikes.

DR. ASHRAF EZZAT: Mubarak Regime Orchestrated the Church Blast to Please USA & Israel

My Catbird Seat
Dr Ashraf Ezzat

This uprising in Egypt has exposed the fallacy of a lot of arguments and political convictions and at the same time revealed new surprising findings. 

Mubarak and Netanyahu

As I was driving my car along the famed corniche of the historic city of Alexandria to join the march calling for Mubarak to step down last week I kept looking- or gazing if you like- at the nearly empty streets except from now and then scattered armed vehicles and tanks squatted beneath the silent buildings on the side of the road and it seemed as if I was driving across a deserted city and not the never go to sleep 5 millions dwellers-city I used to know.

Even when I was engulfed by the enthusiastic thousands in the demonstrations I kept staring at the faces all around me asking myself are those the same apathetic masses of people I almost gave up on years ago.

I looked around me trying to find a clue to who’s leading those people but I couldn’t. I tried to recognize any members of the Muslim Brotherhood group and I even tried to differentiate the Muslim from the Christian but I couldn’t as well. In a rare and brilliant historic moment it seemed that this wonderful congregation of people could only be recognized as Egyptians. 

Citizenry, a value that has long been subdued and underrated is finally awakening in the heart of millions of Egyptians.
After decades of silence and submission the people in the street are shouting for Mubarak to get out not only of the country but also out of their life. After decades of inertia and stagnation the people in Egypt have revolted against a corrupt regime and self-serving policy.

This uprising in Egypt has exposed the fallacy of a lot of arguments and political convictions and at the same time revealed new surprising findings. 

Revelations of the revolution

There were considerable assurances that the Egyptians were not the revolting type and that politics was definitely not their favorite dish, there were beliefs that the Egyptian society was on the brink of a blood bath after a long history of sectarian violence between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority in the country and there were assumptions that the Muslim Brotherhood group enjoyed huge influence and support amongst Egyptians but this uprising proved all those assumptions wrong.

For decades the regime in Egypt has been keen on securing its iron grip on the country by means of deception. In doing so the regime has always resorted to creating a wicked and misleading scenario that was often utilized for domestic and international consumption. The wicked scenario targeted the westerners and also the Egyptians’ worst fears, the Mubarak regime simply convinced the west that if democracy and specifically free elections were to be allowed in Egypt, the Muslim Brothers-Al Ikhwan- would instantly jump to power in a similar way to what Hamas did in Gaza. This scary analogy and being deliberately oversimplified and misleading meant one thing to the US and EU diplomats and that is more probable threats and even more bombs on Israel.

On the domestic front, the Mubarak regime has abhorrently inflamed the sectarian congestion between some Copts- Egyptian orthodox Christians- and Muslims and even tried to politically exploit this sensitive issue to freak out the Christian minority and to guarantee their loyalty and support to the regime.

False flag operation

New insights into the latest bombing attacks on the Alexandria church which took place on the New Year Eve and killed 23 and wounded more than 90 innocent people are suggesting that the police apparatus of Mubarak has been covertly involved in the orchestrating of this hideous terrorist attack which at the time smelled like another Mossad operation carried out to serve Israeli interests which in a way it did.

Habib Al-Adli, former Egyptian ministry of interior

Egypt’s general prosecutor on Monday 7, February opened probe into former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly’s reported role in the New Year’s Eve bombing of al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria based on Leaked information from UK embassy in Cairo & Al Arabyia news channel [i] that suggested the deadly operation was a false flag [ii] intended to escalate the international fears of the activity of some Islamist group- Jundullah- which was blamed for the attack and supposedly related to Hamas in Gaza.  Eventually this whole web of lies and spilled blood would be sold to the world as the doing of another al Qaeda’s affiliate located in the Egyptian-Israeli borderline; the thing that would have tightened the Israeli blockade on Gaza, justified the absurd American war on Bin Laden- style terrorism and certainly enhanced the credibility and reputation of Mubarak as strong ally to the United States and loyal friend to Tel Aviv.

No one could have imagined that this corrupt regime could go this far and steep this low as to kill its own people. The brutal and merciless police regime that has murdered hundreds of young men in the uprising and sent armies of thugs to intimidate the Egyptian citizens and protesters and to create a sense of chaos and instability is the very same regime that has been backed by American and European governments throughout decades to keep the so called stability of the region or in other words keeping the western borders of the Zionist regime of Israel safe and quiet.

The Mubarak regime has been corrupt in regards to his domestic and foreign policy which are hardly representative or reflective of the people’s demands and aspirations.

All the international parties who supported this regime knowing how corrupt it was are to be blamed for decades of political deception in the Middle East.
Truth has been obliterated in the Middle East political arena as corrupt policies were being implemented by corrupt regimes. Middle Easterns are not the pathetic terrorists the main stream media prefer to portray; they are people with rich and ancient culture who are only trying to struggle out of the dark ages of authoritarianism and dictatorship.  

The real terrorists are the dictators who create make-believe terrorism to subjugate the people everywhere.

Was the Mubarak Regime Complicit in Egypt's Sectarian Violence?

Reason
Stephen J. Smith

The last year of the Hosni Mubarak regime was, according to The New York Times, "the bloodiest year in four decades of sectarian tensions in Egypt." Bookended by two attacks on Coptic churches in a country with a sizeable Christian minority, the year of bloodshed reinforced the idea that only a strongman could prevent Islamic fundamentalism from overrunning the Arab world's largest country.

But shortly before the Egyptian military moved against the Mubarak regime, Al Arabiya television reported allegations that the Egyptian government, not content with fighting actual Islamists, may have invented some of its own enemies. An official government probe is looking into reports that the New Year's Eve church bombing in Alexandria, initially blamed on Al-Qaeda, might actually have been perpetrated by the Egyptian government, with the intention of gaining sympathy and support from the West. The Saudi-backed TV station—founded as a moderate alternative to Al Jazeera, and host to Barack Obama's first formal interview as president in January 2009—also reported that British diplomats believe Egyptian Interior Minister Habib el-Adly had a whole department dedicated to these sorts of operations:

Habib el-Adly

Egypt's general prosecutor on Monday opened probe [sic] on former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly's reported role in the New Year's Eve bombing of al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria in which 24 people were killed, an Egyptian lawyer told Al Arabiya.


Laywer Ramzi Mamdouh said he had presented a proclamation to Egyptian prosecutor Abd al-Majid Mahmud to investigate news media reports suggesting that the former interior ministry had masterminded the deadly church attack with the intent to blame it on Islamists, escalate government crackdown on them, and gain increased western support for the regime.

Mahmud said the information contained in some reports were "serious."
The proclamation, numbered 1450, pointed to the news reports sourcing a UK diplomat who explained the reasons why Britain has insisted on the immediate departure of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, especially his interior ministry's security apparatus previously directed by el-Adly.

According the UK diplomatic sources quoted in the reports, the former interior minister had built up in over six years a special security system that was managed by 22 officers and that employed a number of former radical Islamists, drug dealers and some security firms to carry out acts of sabotage around the country in case the regime was under threat to collapse.

If true, this would explain the claim made by members of an Assyrian nationalist NGO that Egyptian security officials abandoned their posts at the church in Alexandria just an hour before the attack:

Eyewitnesses confirmed that security forces guarding the church withdrew nearly one hour before the blast, leaving only four policemen and an officer to guard such a big church and nearly 2000 people attending the midnight mass. "Normally they would have waited until the mass was over," said [Copts4Egypt's Hany] el-Gezeiry....

On January 6, 2010, just before the [Coptic] Christmas Eve Massacre in Nag Hammadi, security withdrew its forces from guarding the church a couple of hours before the shooting of the Coptic congregation took place.

This would not be the first time the regime (and even el-Adly himself) has been accused of sabotaging public order in order to bolster its own image. As Jesse Walker noted earlier, there were many reports that government security forces were behind some of the looting in the early days of the recent crisis, ostensibly in an effort to discredit the protests as chaotic and destabilizing.

Hamas: British intelligence prove our credibility.

AllVoices

Hamas said that the British intelligence's report about the involvement of Egyptian

interior ministry and its former minister in the bombing of an Alexandria church proved the movement's credibility.

The movement said in a press release on Saturday that the charge against a Gaza faction in the explosion was meant to mix up cards, to tighten the siege on Gaza, and weaken the Egyptian popular support for Hamas.

Hamas had denied Egyptian ministry accusations that the Gaza-based Army of Islam was behind the blast and offered to cooperate with Cairo in a joint investigation into the "serious incident" that threatened the internal Egyptian front.

The Army of Islam in Gaza categorically denied involvement in the bombing as claimed by former Egyptian interior minister Habib Al-Adly.

Egypt Investigates and Bans Former Ministers

CRI English

Journalist Abeer el-Askary protesting
Egyptian police torture

Egyptian authorities said Saturday they are investigating accusations against former Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, former Minister of Interior Affairs Habib El Adly and Information Minister Anas El Fekky, the state TV reported.


The military announced that 43 members of the current and ex- government are banned from travel without permission, according to Al Arabia TV.

Anas El Fekky, who retained his position in the new cabinet, is under house arrest and did not show up for a flight to London early Saturday.

Mubarak Resigns - Al Jazeera

Did the Egyptian army weigh in? Does Omar Suleiman remain? What will happen with the investigation of Habib El-Adly?

Prosecution investigates Interior Minister's alleged involvement in church attack

Daily News Egypt
By Essam Fadl

The High State Security Prosecution office will investigate on Tuesday the alleged involvement of former Minister of Interior in the Alexandria Church attack on New Year’s, a source at the General Prosecutor’s office said.

The source didn’t want to be named because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

Coptic lawyer Mamdouh Ramzy had filed on Monday a complaint to General Prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud accusing former minister Habib El-Adly of organizing “militias of security personnel, former inmates and members of extremists organizations” that were responsible for bombing of the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria.

The attack that took place in the first hours of the new year killed 24 and left over 90 injured.  Ramzy told Daily News Egypt that he was summoned for questioning on Tuesday at the High State Security Prosecution after the General Prosecutor referred his complaint for investigation.

Ramzy said he based his complaint on press reports that quoted leaked British intelligence documents allegedly describing Al-Adly “militias”. According to Ramzy, the documents said these militias would wreack havoc in the country if the regime is threatened.

New Year's Eve Church Bombing in Egypt a False Flag?

Had it not been for the remarkable uprising in Egypt this last week and a half, the church bombing that killed 24 in Alexandria last New Year's Eve would easily serve as justification to fear Muslim extremists in the region.  Instead, we have learned now that Habib el-Adly, former interior minister of Egypt, is a suspected mastermind in the deadly church attack with the intent to blame it on Islamists, escalate the Egyptian government's crackdown on them, and gain increased western support for the Egyptian regime.

The two patsies, Jundullah leader Mohammed Abdelhadi, and frequent prisoner and Muslim Brotherhood supporter Mohamed Khaled, were apparently set up to meet after the explosion by interior ministry officer Major Fathi Abdelwahid to evaluate the success of the attack.  During their meeting, Major Fathi Abdelwahid and his security forces promptly arrested the patsies.   This neat operation with the "suspects" in custody was suddenly upended when mass uprisings lead to the prison break. The two patsies fled to the British embassy in Cairo and reported that the plot was developed by Interior Minister Habib el-Adly.

Apparently, under el-Adly's orders, Major Fathi Abdelwahid recruited the Jundullah leader and the Muslim Brotherhood supporter to wire a car with explosives, hire a driver (Abdelrahman Ahmed Ali) to bring the explosives to the church, then detonate the bomb.  The two escapees claim Major Fathi Abdelwahid detonated the bomb before driver Ahmed Ali could escape.

After this information hit the English embassy and various news outlets, Egypt's general prosecutor  opened a probe on former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly's role in the bombing via proclamation 1450, which refers to British intelligence documents and points to the news reports sourcing a UK diplomat. This diplomat explained the reasons why Britain has insisted on the immediate departure of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, especially his interior ministry's security apparatus previously directed by el-Adly.

If the accusations are true, what do these developments mean?

1.  Hosni Mubarak is a likely accomplice to this activity, because Habib el-Adly worked directly under Mubarak up until he was replaced on January 31, 2011 (the night of the explosion), as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at appeasing the 2011 Egyptian protests.

2.  The U.S. must be aware of this development and were likely informed by English authorities once the patsies reached the embassy.  England's strong stance against Mubarak must have weighed heavily with the U.S. leaders and this false flag attack had to be part of the conversation.

3.  It is highly probable that Omar Suleiman was aware of these operations.  Egypt's exterior security apparatus, the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, was run by Omar Suleiman since 1993 until his appointment as Vice President of Egypt two days before the explosion.

4.  The operation suggests an ongoing campaign designed to foster fear of the Muslim Brotherhood within Egypt and throughout the world.  If the government of Egypt has to kill its own citizens to convince the rest of the world to fear Muslims, that fear is likely exaggerated.  This is consistent with reactions from Coptes in the area who do not seem to have bought the idea that the Muslim community has suddenly become hostile and dangerous. Apparently, the attack in Alexandria was not successful in achieving it's goal of creating fear of Islam extremists within Egypt.

5.  This attack on a Christian church was described by Hosni Mubarak as an attack by unnamed foreign elements.  It was meant as a suggestion that Al Qaeda or Hamas was somehow involved.  Despite the absence of any cell affiliated to the label of Bin Laden, the minister presented the Gaza Strip as a true seedbed of terrorists more or less dependent on Hamas and Al-Qaida.  This attack had the requisite ancillary elements meant to justify the siege against Gaza.

So far, U.S. news has remained silent over this story, but the official site for the Muslim Brotherhood has printed the story, Hamas has issued a press release in response to this story, various Arabic papers have printed their versions of the story and Ramzi Mamdouh, the prosecutor who issued proclamation 1450, has spoken with Al Jazeera. 

Should the allegations be true, it would mean that the U.S. is throwing its endorsement behind a government that kills its own citizens in order to justify hatred of Islamists and escalate the Egyptian government's crackdown on its citizens.

J.T. Waldron

Hamas: investigation linking Al Adly with church bombing exposes involvement in incitement against the resistance

Middle East Monitor
Hamas

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has said that the submission of a subpoena against former Egyptian interior minister, Habib Al-Adly, linking him to the bombing of the Coptic church in Alexandria reveals the extent of his, and other officials' involvement in numerous unfair political accusations against the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip.
 

In a statement issued today, the movement added that accusations of its responsibility for the criminal bombings which targeted its neighbour, Egypt, were intended to incite world opinion against the Palestinian nation and distort its brave struggle and resistance. It was an attempt to justify and maintain the criminal blockade as a form of collective punishment against one and a half million of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and instigate additional Zionist attacks against the Palestinian people.

The movement added that the Egyptian interior ministry led by former Minister Al-Adly, is itself accused of betraying its trust; of plotting and perpetrating premeditated atrocities and crimes against the Egyptian people and violating the blood of both its Muslim and Christian sons to achieve dubious objectives. 

Hamas announced in its statement that the policy of media manipulation, distortion and incitement against the Palestinian people was not limited to this minister. On the contrary, it was the policy and system of operation for a number of state run Egyptian organisations, which still continue and currently exploit the youth and people's revolution to broadcast lies in the official Egyptian media about Hamas.

Hamas demanded that all those involved in incitement against the Palestinian people be exposed and held to account. It confirmed its commitment to the security of Arab and Islamic countries in order that they serve as the strategic depth for the Palestinian cause in confronting the tyrannical Zionist occupation.

Explosive Revelations FROM EGYPT: Copts setup by Former Interior Minister Habib El-Adly

EIP News

Minister Habib El-Adly

By Assad Elepty
Right and Freedom for the Copts
 February 08, 2011

Johnny Cash in his popular song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, says

“Well you may throw your rock, and hide your hand,

Working in the dark against your fellow man.

But as sure as God made black and white,

What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.

You can run on for a long time, (rpt)

Sooner or later GOD’S gotta cut you down.”

How true those words are for Egypt’s former interior Minister Habib El-Adly, as he has just been cut down and his evil deviousness brought to light. The shocking news from Egypt is this evil man was the master mind behind the New Year Attack on the all saints Coptic Church in Alexandria.  Yes, the former interior Minister used the Copts as pawns as part of his
 wider political agenda to protect the NDP (Mubarak's ruling political party, the National Democratic Party) .

Egypt’s general prosecutor on Monday opened probe on former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly’s reported role in the New Year’s Eve bombing of al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria in which 24 people were killed, an Egyptian lawyer told Al Arabiya.

The report is so damaging to Mubarak’s NDP, personal life long friend and confidant, that for some reason ”SBS did NOT show the daily Arabic news at 11.30am today”.

Laywer Ramzi Mamdouh said he had presented a proclamation to Egyptian prosecutor Abd al-Majid Mahmud to investigate news media reports suggesting that the former interior ministry had masterminded the deadly church attack with the intent to blame it on Islamists, escalate government crackdown on them, and gain increased western support for the regime.  Mahmud said the information contained in some reports were “serious.”

The proclamation, numbered 1450, pointed to the news reports sourcing a UK diplomat who explained the reasons why Britain has insisted on the immediate departure of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, especially his interior ministry’s security apparatus previously directed by el-Adly. This is the same man that deployed 5000 security officers to attack 300 – 400 parishioners in a church on 24 November 2010.

According to UK diplomatic sources quoted in the reports, the former interior minister had built up in over six years a special security system that was managed by 22 officers and that employed a number of former radical Islamists, drug dealers and some security firms to carry out acts of sabotage around the country in case the regime was under threat to collapse.


The proclamation also pointed, sourcing reports on UK intelligence services,
that interior ministry officer Maj Fathi Abdelwahid of “preparing Ahmed 
Mohamed Khaled, who had spent 11 years in Egyptian prisons, to contact an
 extremist group named Jundullah and coordinate with it the attack on the
Alexandria church”.

Khaled (a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamists
 groups) told the group he could assist with providing weapons he had
 allegedly obtained from Gaza and that the act was meant to ”discipline the 
Copts.”

After contact was made, a Jundullah leader named “Mohammed Abdelhadi”
 agreed to cooperate in the plot and recruited a man named “Abdelrahman Ahmed Ali” to drive a car wired with explosives, park it in front of the church and then leave it to be detonated by remote control, according to the report.
But Maj. Abdelwahid, who worked for the interior ministry, reportedly
 detonated the car before the Jundullah recruit got out, therefore killing 
him and 24 worshipers in the church. Killing him was imperative to 
protecting all those involved.

After the attack, the interior ministry officer asked Khaled to go meet the 
Jundullah leader in an Alexandria apartment and evaluate the success of the 
attack.

A few days later the two men met in an apartment in Alexandrian’s 
Abdel-Moneim Riad street. During their meeting Maj. Abdelwahid and his
 security forces raided the apartment and arrested them. They were then
 driven immediately by ambulance to an interior ministry building in Cairo.

They stayed in detention until Jan. 28 when the ministry of interior and its 
security system broke down allowing them to escape as did thousands of
 prisoners around the country.

When they fled, both the men went straight to the UK embassy in Cairo and
 told the story of how they were set up by the government to carry out 
terrorist attacks, according to the reports.

In light of these developments, one question is “will Mubarak stay true to
 his nation wide televised pledge to bring all those involved to Justice?”

The development comes a week after the US senate resolution demanding the Egyptian government hunt down and bring all those responsible to Justice.

There is no escaping the Mighty Hand of God, and those that attacked his 
Holy Church are been exposed by the same people they orchestrated this evil act with.

No doubt this will send shock waves around the world and place further
 pressure on the Mubarak Regime, “One of his own was the mastermind and
 schemer of the evil act”.

Let us not forget that Mubarak was quick to say “the attack was perpetrated
 by elements outside Egypt”.

The most important questions to be asked are, “was Mubarak privy to this evil plan, or was he sidelined and left out of the loop”?

“Was the newly appointed Vice president and ex chief of intelligence Omar Suleiman aware of this Plot”?