AL-SISI CRITICIZES EGYPT’S ISLAMISTS
Cairo, 4 Dhul Hijja 1434/9 October 2013 (MINA) – Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has criticized Egypt’s Islamist current, accusing it of “religious vanity.” Sisi ruled out the possibility of holding a popular referendum on the army-imposed roadmap under which Morsi was ousted, the constitution suspended and an unelected president appointed.
“I say to the Islamist current: be careful when dealing with the Egyptian people,” al-Sisi told independent daily Al-Masry al-Youm on Tuesday, in his first interview with a local newspaper since ousting elected President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
“You [Islamists] act as if you are right and they [the Egyptian people] are wrong; that you are believers and they are non-believers; that you will be saved and they will be doomed,” he said. “This is religious vanity.”
Al-Sisi ruled out the possibility of holding a popular referendum on the army-imposed roadmap under which Morsi was ousted, the constitution suspended and an unelected president appointed.
“I say to those who talk of a referendum: we are way past this,” he declared. “We are implementing the will of the Egyptian people.”
The Egyptian government on Tuesday decided to revoke the Muslim Brotherhood Society’s status as a registered NGO.
In a statement, the cabinet said the decision was meant to implement a September 23 court ruling calling for the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood Society and the seizure of all its assets.
The Muslim Brotherhood Society was registered as an NGO in March, with former Brotherhood supreme leader Mahdi Akef as chairman. Akef is currently in jail on charges of “inciting violence.”
The society’s administration does not include all the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood or its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).
Tuesday’s government decision came one day after Egypt’s State Commissioners Authority recommended the dissolution of the FJP, which had been chaired by ousted President Mohamed Morsi before his 2012 presidential election victory.
An Egyptian court is now scheduled to look into two appeals against the ruling on October 21 and 22. The same court will also examine a request to uphold the verdict against the group on October 23.
The September 23 ruling dissolving the Brotherhood society came amid an ongoing crackdown on the group by Egypt’s new army-backed rulers since Morsi’s July 3 ouster by the military. (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
