MORSI’S SON ACCUSED OF ‘INSULTING THE JUDICIARY’

Gaza, 23 Shawal 1435/19 August 2014 (MINA) – A number of complaints have been lodged with the Egyptian prosecutor general against ousted President Mohamed Morsi’s son Osama Morsi, accusing him of insulting the judiciary, the military and the police.

Egyptian newspapers claimed yesterday that prosecutor general Hisham Barakat had ordered a swift investigation into the allegations. However, informed sources have revealed that Barakat has not yet reviewed the complaints, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The accusations are based on a leaked phone call between Osama Morsi and a presenter at Al-Arabiya news channel, in which Morsi reportedly fiercely criticised the police and the army over the killings in Rabaa Square, according to Middle East Monitor reports quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

Osama said on his Facebook account that he will prosecute those who leaked the phone call. He also launched a social media campaign titled: “Egypt without Privacy”, condemning the repeated leaks to pro-government media of private phone calls of political activists.

In December and early January, television host Abdel-Rehim Ali broadcasted on satellite channel Al-Qahera Wal Nas recorded mobile phone conversations attributed to prominent 25 January revolution Egyptian activists.

Egypt’s Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said that the ministry was not involved in and had no relation to recently leaked phone recordings of activists, Ahram reported.

In a series of episodes in December, Ali aired recordings that included phone conversations for 6 April Youth Movement leaders Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel, former MP Mostafa El-Naggar and poet Abdel-Rahman Youssef.

In early January, Ali also played phone conversations for Wael Ghoneim, the admin of We Are All Khaled Said Facebook page.

Egyptian rights groups have called on Egypt’s prosecutor general to investigate the action of Ali while saying that recording private phone conversations and broadcasting them are illegal, invoking the Egyptian penal code, which clearly prohibits such actions.

Ali said he was in possession of more than 5,000 recordings and promised to release more of them gradually.

El-Naggar filed a lawsuit against Ali for breaching Egyptian laws. (T/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)