Bill would re-establish aid to Egypt
A Senate panel approved a bill Wednesday that would allow the United States to resume its full $1.6 billion aid relationship with Egypt by granting President Barack Obama the power to waive a federal law based on national security. Wider congressional support for the measure is unclear. The legislation passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee seeks to address one of the most pressing challenges for policymakers in Washington to arise out of the Egyptian Army’s July overthrow of the country’s Islamist president. The bill offers the president greater flexibility in the event of a similar situation in future. It allows the president to waive the restriction that bans all non-humanitarian and non-democracy support to governments that suffer coup d’etats for up to a year if the aid is deemed essential for national security. For Egypt specifically, the bill gives Obama the authority to waive the coup provision through September 2015.
Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday announced a new trial of ousted President Mohammed Morsi and the top leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, accusing them of conspiring with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and militant groups to carry out a wave of terrorism to destabilize the country.
The charges, which carry a potential death penalty, are the most sweeping and heaviest accusations yet in a series of trials against the Brotherhood. The new trial of Morsi, the three top Brotherhood leaders and 32 other defendants appeared aimed at decisively crippling the top echelons of the group that dominated Egypt’s political scene during Morsi’s one-year presidency.
The timing appeared aimed at further tarnishing the Brotherhood among the public ahead of a key January referendum on a new constitution, a substantial rewrite of the charter largely drafted by Islamists under Morsi. The new military-backed government is seeking a strong “yes” vote for the constitution to show the legitimacy of the political transition process put in place after Morsi was removed on July 3. Brotherhood supporters oppose the new document and have vowed protests.
Since the coup, prompted by massive protests calling for Morsi’s removal, Egypt has been in continual unrest. Morsi supporters have been holding near daily protests demanding his reinstatement, met by a fierce security crackdown that has killed hundreds of people and arrested thousands of Brotherhood members. Meanwhile, a wave of retaliatory attacks by suspected Islamic militants have targeted Christians and security forces, and the Sinai Peninsula has been the center of a mounting militant insurgency.
Throughout, the new government has depicted the Brotherhood as a violent movement that threatened the nation and forced the military to remove it power. Previous, ongoing trials of Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have focused on accusations the group is implicated in violence.
But the new charges take that claim to a new level, accusing the group of being enmeshed with terrorists since 2005 in deals aimed attaining and holding onto power, of plotting the collapse of police and prison breaks during the 2011 uprising that forced autocrat Hosni Mubarak out of power and of organizing the Sinai militant backlash.
“The biggest case of conspiracy in Egypt’s history goes to the criminal court,” proclaimed the title of the prosecution announcement.
Morsi is already on trial on charges of inciting the murder of protesters against him while in office. After his ouster, Morsi spent four months in a secret military detention before he appeared in court to face the incitement charges in November. That trial resumes in January. Morsi’s predecessor, Mubarak, is being tried over charges of failing to stop killings of protesters during 2011 uprising.
The prosecutor’s office did not announce a date for the new trial’s start — but officials suggested it would come after the Jan. 14-15 referendum, fearing an earlier start would fuel turmoil. The official main charge is “takhabur” to commit terrorism, an Arabic term meaning to be in communication with and reveal state secrets to foreign powers as part of a conspiracy.
In the new case, Morsi will be tried with 35 other co-defendants, including the top leader of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, and Badie’s two powerful deputies, Khairat el-Shater and Mahmoud Ezzat. Ezzat and around 17 of the defendants in the case are on the run, so will be tried in absentia. The defendants also include a number of members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
About the Author
