Bradley Manning Post-Sentencing Rally, Aug. 21, 2013
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-------- Original Message --------
-------- Original Message --------
"Four sorrows are certain
to be visited on the United States. Their cumulative effect guarantees that the
U.S. will cease to resemble the country outlined in the Constitution of
1787.
First, there will be a
state of perpetual war, leading to more terrorism against Americans wherever
they may be and a spreading reliance on nuclear weapons among smaller nations as
they try to ward off the imperial juggernaut.
Second is a loss of
democracy and Constitutional rights as the presidency eclipses Congress and is
itself transformed from a co- equal 'executive branch' of government into a
military junta.
Third is the replacement
of truth by propaganda, disinformation, and the glorification of war, power, and
the military legions.
Lastly, there is
bankruptcy, as the United States pours its economic resources into ever more
grandiose military projects and shortchanges the education, health, and safety
of its citizens."
- Chalmers Johnson,
Sorrows of Empire
An Appeal Against Attacking Syria
http://warisacrime.org/content/appeal-against-attacking-syria
www.peacepeople.com
Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, today appealed to the Rt. Hon. William Hague, British Foreign Minister, and M. Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, to stop calling for military action against Syria which, she said, will only lead the Middle East into even more violence and bloodshed for its people.
Maguire said:
Arming rebels and authorizing military action by USA/NATO forces will not solve the problem facing Syria, but indeed could lead to the death of thousands of Syrians, the breaking-up of Syria, and it falling under the control of violent fundamentalist jihadist forces. It will mean the further fleeing of Syrians into surrounding countries which will themselves become destabilised. The entire Middle East will become unstable and violence will spiral out of control.
Contrary to some foreign governments current policies of arming the rebels and pushing for military intervention, the people of Syria are calling out for peace and reconciliation and a political solution to the crisis, which continues to be enflamed by outside forces with thousands of foreign fighters funded and supported by outside countries for their own political ends.
Having visited Syria in May, 2013, after leading a 16 person delegation I returned convinced that the civil community, with groups such as Mussalaha, who are working on the ground building peace and reconciliation, can solve their own problems if their plea for outsiders to remain out of the conflict is honoured by the international community.
During our visit we met with all sections of the community, most of whom are sick of violence and death and want peace and reconciliation and a political solution. We met with the Syrian Prime Minister and 7 other government ministers, and we were assured that the Government did not use sarin gas on its own people, and they invited the UN to send in inspectors to see what was happening.
Currently there is an International Commission of Inquiry on Chemical Weapons in Damascus staying at Four Seasons Hotel, which is less than ten minutes from the areas where the chemical weapons were allegedly used. The western media, particularly vocal being the British and French Foreign Ministers, are accusing President Assad of using chemical weapons on his own people but have no proof of this accusation, rather some things point to rebels as the ones who used such weapons.
The question must be asked, what would it benefit Assad to use sarin gas in the vicinity of visiting international UN inspectors and in his own environment and neighbourhood where it would affect his soldiers, etc., personally, I do not believe the latest accusations against the Assad government using sarin gas, and in order that the world can hear the truth, I would appeal to the International Commission of Inquiry to go into the areas in question immediately and report as quickly as possible. In the meantime I appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France to encourage, as the Syrian people wish, dialogue and negotiation as a way forward. We all remember the fear, panic and lies spun by the British and American governments, and others that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was not true. Let us learn the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya where so many millions have been killed in invasions and war, and many continue to die in violence. Violence is not the answer, let’s end this ‘war on terror’ and give nonviolence and peace a chance.
Report and Appeal to the International community to support a process of dialogue and reconciliation in Syria between its people and Syrian government and reject outside intervention and war.
BY Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate. Spokesperson for Mussalaha International
Peace delegation to Lebanon/Syria l-llth May, 2013,
After a 10 days visit to Lebanon and Syria, leading a 16 person delegation from 8 countries, invited by Mussalaha Reconciliation Movement, I have returned hopeful that peace is possible in Syria, if all outside interference is stopped and the Syrians are allowed to solve their own problems upholding their right to self-determination.
An appeal to end all violence and for Syrians to be left alone from outside interference was made by all those we met during our visit to Syria. We have tried to forward it to the International community in our Concluding Declaration(l).
During our visit we went to refugee camps, affected communities, met religious leaders, combatants, government representatives, opposition delegations and many others, perpetrators and victims, in Lebanon and Syria.
1. Visits to refugee camps: In Lebanon we visited several refugee camps, hosted by Lebanese or Palestinian communities. One Woman said: "before this conflict started we were happy and had a good life (there is free education, free healthcare, subsidies for fuel, in Syria ,) and now we live in poverty". Her daughter and son-in-law (a pharmacist and engineer) standing on a cement floor in a Palestinian refugee camp, with not even a mattress, told us that this violence had erupted to everyone surprise’s and spread so quickly they were all still in shock, but when well armed, foreign fighters came to Homs, they took over their homes, raped their women, and killed young males who refused to join their ranks, so the people fled in terror. They said that these foreign fighters were from many countries like Libyans, Saudis, Tunisians, Chechens, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Emiratis, Lebanese, Jordanians, Turkish, Europeans, Australian, and these gangs are financed and trained by foreign governments. They attach suicide vests around peoples’ bodies and threaten to explode them if they don’t do what they are told. One refugee woman asked me ‘when can we go home’? (To my great delighted a few days later in Damascus I met a woman working on a government programme which is helping refugees to return to Syria and over 200 have returned to date).
Religious and government leaders have called upon people not to flee Syria and it is to be hoped many will heed this call, as after seeing so many Syrian refugees living in tents and being exploited in so many ways, including sexually, I believe the best solution is the stability of Syria so its people feel safe enough to stay in Syria. If refugees continue to flee Syria then surrounding countries could be destabilized, causing the domino effect and destabilizing the entire Middle East.
Many people have fled into camps in surrounding countries like Turkey, Jordan or Lebanon, all of whom are trying to manage the huge influx of Syrian refugees. Although the host countries are doing their best to cope they are overwhelmed by refugee numbers. (UNHCR’s official figure of refugees is one million). Through our meetings we have been informed that Turkey invites Syrian refugees into the country and forbid them to go back home. It is documented that Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan are mistreated. Some young Syrian refugee girls are sold for forced marriage in Jordan. From OHCHR reports we know that more than 4 million Syrians are displaced inside their own country, living in great need.
A representative from Red Cross, told us that there is freedom to do their work throughout Syria for all NGO and the Syrian Red crescent in co-ordination with the Ministry of Social affairs and under such dire circumstances, they are doing their best, providing services to as many people as possible. However there is a great shortage of funds for them to cope with this humanitarian tragedy of refugees and internally displaced population. The economic sanctions, as in Iraq,are causing great hardship to many people and all those whom we met called for them to be lifted. Our delegation called for the lifting of these illegal US-led sanctions that target the Syrian Population for purely political reasons in order to achieve regime change.
2- Hospitals: We visited the hospitals and saw many people injured by shootings, bombings, and armed attacks. A moderate Sunni Imam told me how he was abducted by jihadists, who tortured him, cut off his ear, tried to cut his throat, slicing his legs, and left him for dead. He said when he goes back to his mosque they will slaughter him. He told us "these men are foreign fighters, jihadists from foreign countries, well armed, well trained, with money, they are in our country to destroy it. They are not true Muslims but are religious extremist/fundamentalists terrorizing, abducting, killing our people". The government spokesman also confirmed that they have in detention captured foreign fighters from 29 countries, including Chechens, Iraqis, and many others. The Ministry of Health showed us a documentary on the terrible killings by Jihadists and the terror caused by these foreigners with the killing of medics and destruction of medical infrastructure of the Syrian State which has made it difficult to answer the needs of the population.
3- Meeting with Opposition: Our delegation participated in an open forum with many representatives of internal opposition’s parties. One political opponent who was in prison 24 years under the Assad regime, and has been out for 11 years, wants political change with more than 20 other internal opposition components, but without outside interference and the use of violence. We met with ‘armed’ opposition people in a local community who said they had accepted the governments offer of amnesty and were working for a peaceful way forward. One man told me he had accepted money from Jihadists to fight but had been shocked by their cruelty and the way they treated fellow Syrian muslims considering them as not real Muslims. He said foreign Jihadists wanted to take over Syria, not save it.
The 10th May a part of our delegation headed to Homs, invited by the opposition community of Al Waar city where displaced families from Baba Amro, Khalidiyeh and other rebel’s strongholds seek refuge. The Delegation saw all the conditions of this city and is studying a Pilot Project for Reconciliation and peaceful reintegration between this community and the surrounded non rebel communities (Shia and Alaouites) with whom 15 days ago an agreement of non belligerence has been signed through the auspices of Mussalaha.
4 - Meeting with Officials: Our Delegation met, and spoke, at the Parliament, and also with the Governor, Prime Minister and 7 other Ministries. We were given details of the new Constitution and political reforms being put in place, and plans for elections in 2014. Government Ministers admitted that they had made mistakes in being slow to respond to legitimate demands for change from civil community but these were now being implemented. They told us when the conflict started it was peaceful for change but quickly turned into bloodshed when armed men killed many soldiers.
In the first days soldiers were unarmed but when people started asking for protection the government and military responded to defend the people and in self defence.
When we enquired from the Prime Minister regarding the allegation that the Syrian Government had used Sarin gas, he told us that as soon as news came from Aleppo that allegedly gas had been used, his government invited immediately the UN to come into investigate, but heard nothing from them. Most recently however, a UN investigator, High Commissioner Carla Del Ponte, has confirmed that it was rebels, not Syrian government, who used Sarin gas. During meeting with Justice Minister, we requested that a list of 72 non-violent political dissidents currently detained be released. The justice Minister said after checking those listed were indeed non-violent political dissidents, he would, in principal, agree to the release of these nonviolent detainees. He also informed us they they do not implement the death penalty and it is hoped that when things settle in Syria they will move to have the death penalty abolished. We also asked the Justice Minister (an international lawyer) about Syrian Government’s Human rights abuses, namely the artillery shelling into no-go areas being held by jihadists and armed opposition. The Minister accepted those facts but alleged that the Government had a duty to clear these areas. We suggested there was a better way to deal with the problem than artillery shelling but he insisted that the government had responsibility to clear the areas of rebel forces and this was the way in which they were doing it
The Ministers and Governor said that President Assad was their President and has their support. There were many people we spoke to who expressed such sentiments. However, some young people said they support the opposition but in order to protect the Unity of Syria from outside destruction, they will support the government and President Assad, until the election next year and then they will vote for the opposition. They said the Doha Coalition in Qatar does not represent them and that no one outside Syria has a right to remove President Assad but the Syrian people through the elections next year. The journalists in Syria are in great danger from the religious extremist/fundamentals,and during my visit to a television station a young journalist told me how his mother was killed by jihadists and he showed me his arm where he had been shot and almost killed.
5- Meeting with religious leaders: We attended in the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus a prayer gathering led by the Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic, Dr. Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun and the Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham with the delegate of Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi, and clerics of all traditions. The Assembly prayed for the peace and unity of Syria and the non-interference of outsiders in their country. They stressed the conflict in Syria is not a religious conflict, as Muslims and Christians have always lived together in Syria, and they are,(in spite of living with suffering and violence much of which is not of their own making), unified in their wish to be a light of peace and reconciliation to the world. The Patriarch said that from the Mosque and Christian churches goes out a great movement of peace and reconciliation and asked both those inside and outside Syria, to reject all violence and support the people of Syria in this work of dialogue, reconciliation and peacemaking.
The Muslim and Christian Spiritual Leaders are very conscious if the religious extremist/fundamentalists gain momentum and control Syria, the future of those who are not supportive of fundamentalists like moderate Muslims, Christians, minorities, and other Syrians is in great danger. Indeed the Middle East could loose its precious pluralistic social fabric with the Christians, like in Iraq, being the first to flee the country. This would be a tragedy for all concerned in this multi-religious, multi-cultural secular Syria, once a light of peaceful conviviality in the Arab world.
AN OVERVIEW:
Following many authorized reports in the mainstream Medias and our own evidences I can stress that the Syrian State and its population are under a proxy war led by foreign countries and directly financed and backed mainly by Qatar who has imposed its views on the Arab League. Turkey, a part of the Lebanese opposition and some of the Jordan authorities offer a safe haven to a diversity of jihadist groups, each with its own agenda, recruited from many countries. Bands of jihadists armed and financed from foreign countries invade Syria through Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon porous frontiers in an effort to destabilize Syria. There are an estimated 50,000 foreign jihadist fighters terrorizing Syria. Those death squads are destroying systematically the Syrian State infrastructures (Electricity, Oil, Gas and water plants, High Tension Pylons, hospitals, schools, public buildings, cultural heritage sites and even religious sanctuaries). Moreover the country is submerged by snipers, bombers, agitators, bandits. They use aggression and Sharia rules and hijack the freedom and dignity of the Syrian population. They torture and kill those who refuse to join them. They have strange religious beliefs which make them feel comfortable even perpetrating the cruelest acts like killing and torture of their opponents. It is well documented that many of those terrorists are permanently under stimulant like Captagon. The general lack of security unlashes the terrible phenomenon of abduction for ransoms or for political pressure. Thousands of innocents are missing, among them the two Bishops, Youhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, many priests and Imams.
UN and EU economic sanctions as well as a severe embargo are pushing Syria to the edge of social collapse. Unfortunately the international media network is ignoring those realities and is bent on demonizing, lying, destabilizing the country and fuelling more violence and contradiction.
In summary: the war in Syria is not as depicted a civil war but a proxy war with serious breaches of International laws and the Humanitarian International laws.. The protection of the foreign fighters by some foreign countries among the most powerful gives them a kind of an unaccountability that pushes them with impunity to all kind of cruel deeds against innocent civilians. Even war conventions are not respected incurring in many war crimes and, even, crimes against Humanity.
CONCLUSION:
During our visit to Syria, our delegation was met with great kindness by everyone and I offer to each one who facilitated or hosted our Delegation my most sincere feelings of gratitude. We witnessed that the Syrian people have suffered very deeply and continue to do so. The entire population of 23 million people are under tremendous threat of continued infiltration by foreign terrorists. Many are still stunned by the horrors and suddenness of all this violence and worried their country will be attacked and divided by outside forces, and are all too aware that geopolitical forces are at work to destabilize Syria for political control, oil and resources. One Druze leader said ‘if westerns want our Oil – both Lebanon and Syria have oil reserves – let us negotiate for it, but do not destroy our country to take it’. In Syria memories of next door Iraq’s destruction by US/UK/NATO forces are fresh in people's minds, including in the minds of the one and a half million Iraqis who fled Iraqi’s conflict, including many Christians, and were given refuge in Syria by the Syrian Government.
The greatest hope we took was from Mussalaha, a non political movement from all sections of Syrian society, who have working teams throughout Syria and is proceeding through dialogue to building peace and reconciliation. Mussalaha mediates between armed gunmen and security forces, help get release of many people who have been abducted, and bring together all parties to the conflict for dialogue and practical solutions. It was this movement who hosted us, under the leadership of Mother Agnes-Mariam, Superior of Saint James’ Monastery, supported by the Patriarch Gregory III Laham, head of the Catholic Hierarchy of Syria.
This great civil community movement building a peace process and National Reconciliation from the ground up, will, if given space, time, and non-interference from outside, help bring Peace to Syria. They recognize that there must be an unconditional, all inclusive political solution, with compromises and they are confident this is happening at many levels of society and is the only way forward for Syrian peace.
I support this National Reconciliation process which, many Syrian believe, is the only way to bring Peace to SYRIA and the entire Middle East. I am myself committed to this peaceful process and hope that the International Community, the Religious and Political Leaders as well as any person of good will will help Syria to bypass violence and prejudice and anchor in a new era of Social peace and prosperity. This cradle of civilizations where Syria occupies the heart is an enormous spiritual heritage for humanity, let us strive to establish a non war zone and proclaim it an OASIS of Peace for the Human Family.
Audio:
https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson/talk-nation-radio-nobel-peace
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 The sentence given in the Manning case is by far the longest given by the US government for anyone convicted of leaking information. Supporters in at least 17 cities were out Wednesday to protest quickly. There are demands for clemency, reduction of the sentence, and for a presidential pardon. Protest Photos Video from San Francisco Video from NYC Free Speech Radio News CHEERS! Pro-Manning Disruption of Obama speech in Syracuse On August 22, David Coombs, Bradley Mannings's lawyer, read a statement on theToday show which said, “I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition.” So, we will do so. Follow bradleymanning.org while supporters transition to the use of Chelsea Manning. Write to Chelsea at this new address (use Bradley on the envelope, Chelsea on the letter): Bradley E. Manning 89289 1300 N. Warehouse Road Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-2304 Must-see new video:  Sign the White House petition to pardon Pvt. Chelsea Manning.  |
Egypt Widens
Crackdown and Meaning of ‘Islamist’
Bryan Denton for
The New York Times
A demonstrator
at a march against Egypt’s military-backed government in Cairo on Friday.
Published:
August 24, 2013
CAIRO — Having
crushed the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian authorities have begun cracking
down on other dissenters, sometimes labeling even liberal activists or labor
organizers as dangerous Islamists.
Ten days ago, the police arrested two left-leaning Canadians — one of them a
filmmaker specializing in highly un-Islamic movies about sexual politics — and
implausibly announced that they were members of the Brotherhood, the
conservative Islamist group backing the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi. In
Suez this month, police and military forces breaking up a steelworkers strike
charged that its organizers were part of a Brotherhood plot to destabilize
Egypt.
On Saturday, the
chief prosecutor ordered an investigation into charges of spying against two
prominent activists associated with the progressive April 6 group.
When a
journalist with a state newspaper spoke publicly about watching a colleague’s
wrongful killing by a soldier, prosecutors appeared to fabricate a crime to
punish the journalist. And the police arrested five employees of the religious
Web site Islam Today for the crime of describing the military takeover as a
coup, security officials said.
Police abuses
and politicized prosecutions are hardly new in Egypt, and they did not stop
under Mr. Morsi. But since the military takeover last month, some rights
activists say, the authorities are acting with a sense of impunity exceeding
even the period before the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak.
The government
installed by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi has renewed the Mubarak-era state of
emergency removing all rights to due process or protections against police
abuse. And police officials have pronounced themselves “vindicated.” They say
the new government’s claim that it is battling Islamist violence corroborates
what they have been saying all along: that it was Islamists, not the police, who
killed protesters before Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.
“What is
different is that the police feel for the first time in two and a half years,
for the first time since January 2011, that they have the upper hand, and they
do not need to fear public accountability or questioning,” said Heba Morayef, a
researcher for Human Rights Watch.
In the more than
seven weeks since Mr. Morsi’s ouster, security forces have carried out at least
three mass shootings at pro-Morsi street protests, killed more than a thousand
Morsi supporters and arrested at least as many, actions Ms. Morayef
characterized as “massive police abuse on an unprecedented scale.” But even
beyond the Islamists, she said, “anyone who questions the police right now is a
traitor, and that is a protection that they did not have even in 2010,” when
public criticism was tolerated and at least a few complaints were investigated.
Prosecutors had
already begun investigating Mohamed ElBaradei, the liberal former United Nations
diplomat, for “betraying the public trust.”
President Obama
has said the new government is on a “dangerous path” marked by “arbitrary arrests, a broad
crackdown on Mr. Morsi’s associations and supporters” and “violence that’s taken
the lives of hundreds of people and wounded thousands more.”
Warning that
“our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being
killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back,” the president canceled
a planned joint military exercise. He pledged a review of the $1.3 billion a
year in military aid to Egypt, and the State Department took steps to hold back
some of the roughly $200 million in nonmilitary aid. But mindful of Egypt’s
importance in the region, he stopped short of declaring the takeover an illegal
“coup” or cutting off the aid, instead urging an early return to democracy.
Officials of the
new government insist they are committed to establishing the rule of law, as
soon as they overcome what they describe as the mortal threat to Egypt of
violence by the Brotherhood and other Islamist supporters of Mr. Morsi.
The police
appear to be rounding up Brotherhood members on the basis of their affiliation,
without other publicly known evidence of crimes. Mr. Morsi is being held
incommunicado at an undisclosed location. But government spokesmen insist that
every individual, including Mr. Morsi, will be tried by a court and released if
acquitted.
“It is up to the
courts,” Nabil Fahmy, the interim foreign minister, said in a recent interview.
All will be handled “in accordance with the rule of law,” he said.
But some of the
recent charges, like those against the two Canadians, strain credibility. Tarek
Loubani, a Canadian physician with Palestinian roots and a history as a liberal
and pro-Palestinian activist, was in Egypt on his way to the Gaza Strip to
provide training to Palestinian doctors. John Greyson, a liberal Toronto
filmmaker whose work often focuses on cosmopolitan sexual themes, was with him,
documenting the trip for a possible movie. A lawyer for the two said they were
stopped at a checkpoint near a street battle, trying to walk back to their hotel
after the 7 p.m. curfew.
“They were just
in the wrong place at very much the wrong time,” the lawyer, Khaled
El-Shalakany, said Saturday.
The exact
circumstances of their arrest were unclear. In a public statement, Egyptian
prosecutors accused them of “participating with members of the Muslim
Brotherhood” in an armed assault on a police station and “taking part in bloody
crimes of violence.” Prosecutors told reporters at the time that the police had
detained 240 Brotherhood “members,” including two Canadians. (Mr. Shalakany said
they remained in jail as “overwhelmed” prosecutors tried to deal with a backlog
of hundreds of arrests in the crackdown.)
At the Suez
steel plant, workers started a sit-in several weeks ago over compensation,
health care and the firing of about a dozen employees. On Aug. 12, state news
media reported that the Egyptian military had tried to force an end to the
strike, arresting two of its leaders. “They picked the ones with beards!” a
bystander shouts in a video of the arrests.
An army
statement at the time used unmistakable coded language to blame the Islamists,
charging that “infiltrating elements” who were “exploiters of religion” were
trying to poison the workers’ meetings “in the name of religion.”
A state-run
newspaper quoted the interim labor minister, Kamal Abu Eita, saying that
security forces had found Brotherhood members from another factory involved in
the strike. A privately owned newspaper supporting the military takeover, Youm
El Saba, quoted Mr. Eita blaming the Brotherhood for inciting strikes in several
cities.
Among some
supporters of the new government, “Islamist” has become a popular indictment.
After Mr. Obama criticized Egypt’s crackdown on the Islamists, Tahani el-Gebali,
a former judge close to the military, publicly accused him of having ties to the
Brotherhood, claiming his Kenyan half brother directed investments for the
group.
The activists
with the April 6 group being investigated for spying, Asmaa Mahfouz and Esraa
Abdel Fattah, were associated with the group when it was working in opposition
to Mr. Mubarak. State news media reports on Saturday indicated the charges were
a revival of old allegations that the group had worked on behalf of Western
powers to stir unrest in Egypt. The notion was first floated by Mubarak
intelligence agencies and the generals who succeeded him, no evidence has
emerged to support the claims, and the group has denied the charges.
The journalist
who spoke out about his colleague’s killing had been driving with the colleague,
Tamer Abdel Raouf, the head of the local office of the official newspaper, Al
Ahram, in the delta province of Beheira. When their car was at a checkpoint,
soldiers enforcing the 7 p.m. curfew shot and killed Mr. Abdel Raouf.
The authorities
have granted journalists a curfew exemption, and Mr. Abdel Raouf was driving a
car bearing an official press badge from a meeting with the governor. A military
spokesman offered no apology, only condolences, and warned others not to try to
speed through checkpoints.
The next day,
the journalist who had been in the passenger seat, Hamed al-Barbari, began
giving television interviews contradicting the spokesman. Rather than speeding,
Mr. Barbari said, his colleague was shot in the head while slowly turning his
car in response to a soldier’s instructions. “A foolish act” by one soldier,
said Mr. Barbari, who was injured when the car crashed.
About two hours
after he spoke, a prosecutor arrested Mr. Barbari in the hospital and placed him
in custody for four days, for allegedly possessing an illegal shotgun in the car
at the time of the episode.
Prosecutors set
a court date to begin investigating a citizen complaint against Mr. ElBaradei
after he quit as vice president to protest the police violence against the
Islamists. (A conviction could carry only a fine, and he had already left the
country.)
Last week, a
prosecutor even opened an investigation into some of the young organizers behind
the protests calling for the military to remove Mr. Morsi. The prosecutor was
weighing a complaint of “disturbing the public order” because they criticized the release from prison of Mr. Mubarak.
Such a case
would be an attack on the new government’s first supporters. Prosecutors have
not yet begun a full investigation of the complaint and could still set it
aside.
“It is
ridiculous,” said Mai Wahba, a leader of the group.
Mayy El Sheikh
contributed reporting.
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