EGYPT: ElBaradei shows solidarity with tortured supporter
March 11, 2010 | 9:14 am
Former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and potential presidentialcandidate Mohamed ElBaradei has strongly condemned the torture of one of his supporters by security forces in the city of Fayoum in the Egyptian Nile delta.
After a conference in Fayoum was held to support ElBaradei’s bid to amend [...]
AP – A stela at the Egyptian museum in Cairo is seen Thursday, March 11, 2010 , Egypt, showing Pharaoh Akhenaten, …
By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 11, 6:25 pm ET
CAIRO – The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt’s enduring mysteries [...]
من هو محمد البرادعي؟
بقلم: السفير نبيل العربي
ترددت كثيرا فى كتابة هذه السطور لأنه لم يسبق لى أن كتبت فى أمور تدخل فى إطار الشئون الداخلية، فقد شرفت بتمثيل مصر فى الخارج لأكثر من أربعة عقود، وجل اهتمامى كان دائما الشئون الدولية. ولكن التطاول الذى نال الدكتور محمد البرادعى قبل أن تطأ قدميه أرض الوطن دفعنى إلى [...]
Egypt’s top cleric dies aged 81
Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi
Sheikh Tantawi has died suddenly of a suspected heart attack
Egypt’s foremost Muslim cleric, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, has died, aged 81, while on a trip to Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Tantawi was the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar mosque and head of the al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam’s centre of learning and scholarship.
He died of a heart attack in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where he was attending a prize-giving ceremony.
Sheikh Tantawi had infuriated radical Islamists with his moderate views on women wearing the veil.
His body will be taken to the Saudi city of Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad, for burial, Egyptian authorities said.
An adviser to the Sheikh told Egyptian television Sheikh Tantawi’s death was a shock, as before leaving for Saudi Arabia he had seemed in “excellent shape and health”.
FROM GLOBAL VOICES
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He leaves behind an unreformed al-Azhar – an institution that includes a university and a school system as well as a theological center – whose credibility has hit rock-bottom. This may be because Tantawi was too pliant towards the regime, or because of the growth of various trends in contemporary Islam that reject al-Azhar’s centrality.
Issandr El Amrani, blogging at The Arabist
Read more reactions from Middle East blogs and twitter on Global Voices.
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A member of Sheikh Tantawi’s office, Ashraf Hassan, told news agency Reuters that Mohamed Wasel, Sheikh Tantawi’s deputy, was expected to temporarily take over leading the institution until the Egyptian president appointed a new head for the body.
Sheikh Tantawi was appointed to his position by Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in 1996.
But as a government appointee, he was always forced to negotiate a careful path between his religious imperatives and his government position, the BBC’s Christian Fraser in Cairo says.
He was vocal in his opposition to female circumcision, which is common in Egypt, calling it “un-Islamic”.
Last year, Sheikh Tantawi barred female students at the university from wearing the full-face covering niqab veil.
He also caused upset other Muslim scholars by saying that French Muslims should obey any law that France might enact banning the veil.
His views on the veil prompted Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to accuse him of “harming the interests of Islam”.
He has also condemned suicide attacks, saying extremists had hijacked Islamic principles fo
March 6, 2010 | 8:28 am (LA Times. March 6, 2010)
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s first public reaction to the political reaction that surrounded Mohamed ElBaradei’s return to Egypt seems to have been a very spontaneous attempt to remind everyone that dramatic political changes in the country are likely to take [...]
إجتمع لفيف من رجال الأعمال والمتخصصين من المصريين المقيمين بولاية كاليفورنيا اليوم الموافق السابع من شهر مارس لسنة ٢٠١٠ لبحث السبل والوسائل اللازمة لتفعيل حقهم في ممارسة الانتخابات القادمة. ويتساءل المجتمعون عن هذه الوسائل التي تتخذها الحكومة المصرية حالياً لتمكين المصريين بالخارج من ممارسة حقوقهم التي ينص عليها الدستور المصري
By David Schenker
Forbes.com
March 2, 2010
In the most interesting development in Egyptian politics in years, former International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei is eyeing an improbable challenge to six-term incumbent president Hosni Mubarak — or his son Gamal — in September 2011. While Egyptian law and Mubarak’s authoritarian regime [...]
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Feb 28, 2010 The New York Times
CAIRO — Since arriving to a hero’s welcome just days ago, the former chief international nuclear watchdog and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei has taken on the country’s leadership in the way you might expect of a career diplomat: using delicate language and a nonconfrontational approach
But [...]
The former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says the new group will push ‘for constitutional reforms and social justice.’ What many want to know is: Will he run for president?
February 24, 2010|By Amro Hassan and Jeffrey Fleishman (LA TIMES)
Reporting from Cairo — After a meeting this week with opposition groups, [...]
أكد محمد البرادعي الرئيس السابق للوكالة الدولية للطاقة النووية يوم السبت أن “التغيير قادم” في مصر محذراً من أنه لا سبيل ـأمام البلاد لتجنب وقوع أي “تصادم” إلا التغيير السلمي. وأشار البرادعي في تصريحات صحفية أن “التغيير قادم بالتأكيد”، مضيفا أن “التغيير بالطريق السلمي سيكون الوسيلة لمنع احتمال قيام أي تصادم”.
واعتبر البرادعي، الذي سبق أن [...]
