Egypt arrests Iran diplomat on spy charges

Qasim al-Hossein’s arrest could harm both countries’ plan to mend ties in wake of Mubarak's regime fall.

Middle East Online

Iran and Egypt have no diplomatic ties CAIRO - Egyptian authorities have arrested an Iranian diplomat on charges of spying on the North African country for Tehran's intelligence services, state media reported on Sunday. A judicial source confirmed his arrest, which was denied however by the Iranian interests section in Cairo. "The state security prosecution today began an inquiry into Iranian diplomat Qasim al-Hosseini, who works at the Iranian interests section in Cairo," the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported. Hosseini, who was arrested a few days ago, had been accused of "spying for a foreign state (Iran) in order to harm Egypt's interests," said MENA. An initial probe found the diplomat gathered "information about Egypt on the latest developments the country has experienced and the conditions through which it is passing, then sent them to Iran's intelligence services," it added. The Iranian interests section in Cairo denied the report. "He is in the embassy as I speak. It did not happen that way, he was not arrested," an official in the section said on condition of anonymity. Earlier in Tehran, the Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam quoted an informed source as saying that Hosseini "is currently in his office and working normally" in Cairo. "We are following the case," he added without elaborating. Iran and Egypt have no diplomatic ties and relations between the two countries were tense under former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Tehran severed diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980 in protest at Cairo's peace treaty with Israel signed a year earlier, and the two states maintain only interests sections in each other's capitals. But the two Muslim countries have signalled they plan to mend ties in the wake of the fall of Mubarak's regime on February 11 this year.

Egypt reopens Rafah border with Gaza

People are allowed to cross Rafah border freely for first time in four years in move slammed by Israel.

Middle East Online

By Adel Zaanoun - RAFAH

Around 200 Gazans had crossed by early afternoon Egypt on Saturday reopened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, allowing people to cross freely for the first time in four years, in a move hailed by Hamas but criticised by Israel. Among the first to cross were two ambulances ferrying patients from the hitherto-blockaded Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt, as well as a minibus carrying a dozen visitors. A total of around 200 Gazans had crossed by early afternoon. "I've been waiting for this for years," said 25-year-old Samah al-Rawagh, one of the first 200 to leave the densely populated Palestinian enclave. "In the past, I tried twice to cross but was turned back both times," he said, adding that his plan was to get to Turkey. The crossing will be open to people for eight hours a day from 9:00 am, apart from holidays and Fridays, giving Gazans a gateway to the world as Rafah is the only crossing which does not pass through Israel. Under the long-awaited change, which excludes the flow of goods, people under the age of 18 or older than 40 require only a visa to pass, but men between 18 and 40 still need security clearance, officials said. Jamal Nijem, 53, whose wife and daughter live in his spouse's native Egypt, was among hundreds who flocked to the border post, but he was unsure whether he would be allowed to cross. "I came here three years ago to rejoin my family but my Egyptian residency permit had run out because of frequent closures of the crossing, and the security services barred me from going back," he said. Commercial traffic will continue to have to pass through border points with Israel to enter the impoverished territory. According to an official in charge of administrative procedures on the Palestinian side of the terminal, "the process is going without a hitch, and we are providing the facilities for travellers to pass quickly and comfortably." On the Egyptian side, an official said: "We are going to do everything possible to ease the passage of our Palestinian brothers, and we hope procedures will be simplified further in due course." Aman Mahdi, 21, said she hopes her husband will be able to accompany her to Malaysia for medical treatment. "I've been trying in vain for four months to travel. I am registered, but there have not been any concrete results due to a lack of coordination with the Egyptian authorities. I hope this time we can finally leave," she said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi announced in April that the crossing would reopen permanently, stressing this would help ease the blockade imposed by Israel. The border has remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after Palestinian militants snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held. The blockade was tightened a year later when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. The United Nations has called the blockade illegal and repeatedly demanded it be lifted. The decision to permanently reopen the Rafah crossing came more than three months after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned under pressure following 18 days of massive street protests against his rule. It was hailed by Hamas and the European Union, but Israel has greeted the news with trepidation. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said on Thursday the move was "a courageous and responsible decision which falls in line with Palestinian and Egyptian public opinion." The European Union said it was in consultations with Egypt, the Palestinians and Israel about returning its team of advisers to monitor activity along the frontier. But Israel expressed concern, with Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai telling public radio it would create "a very problematic situation." The opening follows an April 27 unity accord between rival factions Hamas and the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas that was signed in the Egyptian capital. Israeli NGO Gisha, which campaigns for freedom of movement for Palestinians, said that over the past year an average of 19,000 people a month used the crossing, just 47 percent of the number who used it in the first half of 2006.

Khamenei backs president, wants end to crisis: TV

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad withdrew from public life for 10 days in April in protest at the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reinstating the intelligence minister. (File Photo)

By AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday backed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and called for an end to the crisis within the ruling conservative camp, state television said.

"While there are weakness and problems ... the composition of the executive branch is good and appropriate, and the government is working. The government and parliament must help each other," Mr. Khamenei said.

"When a law is passed, the government must implement it with full power and without any excuse," Mr. Khamenei, who has the final say in the Islamic republic, told the Iranian parliament.

"Friendship and tolerance are necessities in the country and in the interaction between the parliament and the government," he told Iran's conservative-dominated legislature.

Mr. Ahmadinejad withdrew from public life for 10 days in late April in protest at Ayatollah Khamenei's veto of his decision to dismiss Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi. The news of Mr. Khamenei reinstating Mr. Moslehi came very shortly after the sacking was announced.

The showdown triggered a political crisis within the conservatives in Iran's political hierarchy, with the ultra-religious conservatives denouncing president Ahmadinejad's decision as a threat to the regime and urging him to toe the line.

Both sides have linked this incident to a battle for control of the intelligence ministry before the parliamentary elections set to take place in March 2012.

The president and his entourage have not concealed their intention to present their own list of candidates to run against the current conservative majority in the parliament.

The ultra-conservatives, among them the clerics and parliamentarians, denounced president Ahmadinejad's boycott of his public duties in response to Mr. Khamenei's intervention to reinstate Mr. Moslehi and urged him to return to the "right path" and obey Khamenei.

They virulently attacked Mr. Ahmadinejad's cabinet, in particular his chief of staff and closest confidant Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie for being too liberal, too nationalistic and for wielding too much influence on the president.

"The current of deviation... seeks to use its money and power to influence the upcoming election," General Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the powerful Guards said on Saturday in reference to the legislative polls.

Over the past month, ultra-conservatives have repeatedly called for Mr. Mashaie's dismissal, blaming him for "a current of deviancy" they say is afflicting the government.

Mr. Ahmadinejad has publicly announced his allegiance to Ayatollah Khamenei but at the same time staunchly backed Mr. Mashaie and others in his employ.

The battle between government and parliament has heightened in recent months, especially during parliament's debate of the government budget, and the scrapping of subsidies on electricity, gas, petrol and bread.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's cabinet reshuffle, aimed at merging the oil and energy portfolios, also caused consternation among conservatives, notably his May 15 decision to assume temporary control of the ministry himself.

Iran derives around 80 percent of its foreign currency earnings by exporting oil and accounts for OPEC's second-largest crude output.

Brotherhood says won't force Islamic law on Egypt

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Mohamed Mursi, the head of the newly-formed Muslim Brotherhood Party named "Freedom and Justice" said party won’t force Sharia law on Egypt. (File Photo)

By Yasmine Saleh
Reuters

The Muslim Brotherhood wants a diverse parliament after elections in September and is not seeking to impose Islamic law on Egypt, the head of the group's newly formed political party said in an interview.

The Brotherhood, which has emerged as a powerful force after years of repression under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, has said it does not want a parliamentary majority, although rivals see it as well placed for a dominant position.

With secular politicians struggling to mount a challenge, Western investors are concerned about what a shift to an Islamic-leaning government would mean for Egypt, which relies on receipts from Western and other tourists and where tension between Muslims and the Christian minority have flared.

"We only use Islam as the basis of our party ... which means that our general framework is Islamic sharia ... We don't issue religious rules in individual cases," said Mohamed Mursi, head of the Brotherhood's newly formed Justice and Freedom Party, which will contest the vote.

Liberal Egyptians in particular worry that the group could use for its own ends the second article of Egypt's constitution, which makes sharia, Islamic law, a main source of legislation.

Egypt's military rulers suspended the old constitution and introduced an interim one, but that article was unchanged.

Mr. Mursi, speaking in the group's new five-storey headquarters in Mokattem on the outskirts of Cairo, dismissed such worries.

"We want to engage in a dialogue not a monologue," he said. "The Brotherhood does not seek to control the parliament ... We want a strong parliament ... with different political forces."

But he said Islamic law could have a place in a civil state in Egypt, where about 10 percent of the 80 million population are Christians. "Islamic sharia guarantees the rights of all people, Muslims and non-Muslims," he said.

Mr. Mursi said he would stick by the Brotherhood's pledge not to field a presidential candidate or support any Brotherhood member running, as one has already said he will do.

"The group said it will not field a candidate for the presidency or support one if decides to do so independently," he said.

The Brotherhood's new offices are emblazoned with its emblem of crossed swords, a scene unimaginable in the Mubarak era when its members were rounded up in regular sweeps and it worked from two cramped apartments in Cairo.

Mr. Mursi, head of the engineering department in Egypt's Zaqaziq University, led the Brotherhood's parliament bloc in the 2000-2005 parliamentary session. The Brotherhood used to field its candidates as independents to skirt a ban on its activities.

The Brotherhood, which has spread deep roots in Egypt's conservative Muslim society partly through a broad social program, held 20 percent of seats in the 2005-2010 parliament.

It boycotted last year's vote because of accusations of rigging, which rights groups said had been a feature of all votes under Mubarak.

Mr. Mursi said an economic platform had not yet been drawn up as the party, formed in April, was still organizing itself.

But some secular politicians and other Egyptians are concerned that women and Christians could be sidelined and that alcohol could be banned, which analysts say is a concern as many tourists to Egypt are non-Muslims wanting a beach holiday and who might be deterred if alcohol is not served.

One in eight Egyptian jobs depend on tourism.

On Christians, he said: "We want everyone to be reassured ... that we want to see our Christian brothers elected in parliament ... We don't want one group to control the parliament, neither the Brotherhood nor anyone else."

Of the party's 9,000 registered members, he said 100 were Christian and 1,000 were women, adding that the party's deputy head, Rafik Habib, was a Christian.

When asked if the party could propose a law to prohibit alcohol, Mr. Mursi said such changes would be up to parliament to decide, not a single group, such as the Brotherhood.

"The Egyptian constitution is not the constitution of the Brotherhood but ... of the Egyptian people," said Mr. Mursi, adding that the constitution "says Egypt's legislation is based on the principles of sharia, and not its details."

FIFA's Blatter cleared in corruption probe

Footballing ethics committee suspends two officials but says organisation's president has no case to answer. Last Modified: 29 May 2011 22:37

The suspensions were announced by Petrus Damaseb, the ethics committee's deputy-chairman[Reuters] A footballing ethics committee has cleared Sepp Blatter, the president of world footballing body FIFA, of turning a blind eye to the alleged bribing of football officials. Two other officials, Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner, have been temporarily suspended pending a further investigation. The decisions were announced following a hearing of the FIFA ethics committee in Zurich on Sunday. "A full inquiry is going to be held in due course," Petrus Damaseb, the Namibian judge who is deputy-chairman of the ethics committee looking into the accusations, said. Bin Hammam, the Qatari head of the Asian Football Confederation, had challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency and is accused of paying officials $40,000 during a campaign visit to Port of Spain earlier this month. The payments were allegedly made to secure votes in his campaign to unseat Blatter as the head of football's governing body. Warner, FIFA's vice-president, was also implicated in the scandal which arose from allegations made by Chuck Blazer, an American FIFA executive committee. Both men have denied any wrongdoing. Blatter was drawn into the investigation to answer allegations that he had turned a blind eye to the payment of bribes. Bribery scandal Before of the ethics committee hearing, Bin Hammam pulled out of the race, leaving it likely that Blatter would be re-elected as FIFA president for a fourth term. Blatter will now stand unopposed for the FIFA presidency at a meeting of the footballing body on Wednesday. John Cross, a football writer for the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper, called the decision "a bit of a whitewash". "It's been a wonderful day for Sepp Blatter because he has now an open road on Wednesday for four more years of presidency," Cross told Al Jazeera. "Really I find it farcical that an investigation isn't to be conducted beyond today's evidence because Sepp Blatter has confirmed [in his evidence to the committee] that as far as he saw it bribes were put forward ... but he chose not to report that." The ethics committee found Blatter was under no obligation to report an intention to bribe officials. Damaseb said at the news conference: "The committee was satisfied that even assuming he [Blatter] had been told, there was no duty on his part to report because there was no breach at that stage." 'Disappointed' In a statement following the news conference, Bin Hammam acknowledged the committee's decision but said he failed to understand why he had been suspended without being found guilty. "I have been referred to the ethics committee based on evidence which was strong enough in the views of the FIFA general secretary for such [a] procedure," he said. "However, the ethics committee in its meeting today did not find this evidence sufficient to convict me. Consequently, I should have been given the benefit of doubt but, instead, I have been banned from all football activities." Bin Hammam said that he was "disappointed" at how the proceedings were presented at the news conference. "This is not how I understand fair play," he said. The bribery scandal is the gravest corruption crisis of Blatter's 13-year reign, which has seen FIFA's reputation tarnished by repeated allegations of vote-buying and financial wrongdoing. Last November, Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu, two other FIFA executive committee members, were banned over cash-for-votes allegations concerning the hosting of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Yemen soldiers killed in 'al-Qaeda-held town'

At least six soldiers ambushed in Zinjibar hours after security forces opened fire on protesters in Taiz, killing 20. Last Modified: 29 May 2011 22:30

Anti-government demonstrators have been holding protests for weeks in several cities across Yemen [AFP] At least six Yemeni soldiers have been killed and dozens injured in an apparent ambush as they travelled to Zinjibar, a southern city reportedly under the control of al-Qaeda fighters, a security official has said. According to residents, Yemeni warplanes later targeted positions held by the fighters. Earlier on Sunday, residents spoke of up to 300 fighters entering Zinjibar and taking over "everything". The fighters were alleged to be al-Qaeda members. Opposition leaders accuse Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's embattled president under pressure to quit and end his 33-year rule, of allowing Zinjibar on the Gulf of Aden, to fall to al-Qaeda and allied fighters in order to raise alarm in the region that would in turn win him support. The security official who spoke about the attack in Zinjibar said he not did not know who was responsible and gave no figures of the injured soldiers. Elsewhere in the troubled country swept by anti-government protests, at least 20 people were killed in the southern city of Taiz after soldiers opened fire indscriminately on a protest camp, a source said. They did not give further details on the violence in Taiz, but said the death toll was likely to rise. Ashraf Khandari, a journalist based in Aden, said protesters were sprayed with live bullets and hot water, adding that "a lot of people" had been killed. The latest unrest came days after troops loyal to Saleh clashed with Hashed tribesmen who support the opposition. Tents burnt down A tenuous truce was reported on Sunday, but unrest erupted when security forces tried to storm Taiz's Liberty Square, where hundreds of anti-government demonstrators have been camped for days. The security forces set fire to some tents of the protesters and fired water cannons and tear gas at the crowd, Al Jazeera correspondents said early on Monday. The violence in Taiz came as seven explosions were heard north of the capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, according to local residents. "There are a number of explosions, heavy explosions, that have shaken the area," Mohamed al-Qadhi, a Yemeni journalist, told Al Jazeera by phone from Sanaa. "We have also heard heavy gunfire exchanged between the two sides. We cannot exactly figure out where the explosions have taken place." Separately, rocket attacks by government forces were reported in the tribal area of Arhab in south Yemen where fighting has taken place in the past, Al Jazeera's correspondents said. People were fleeing the area, but there were no reports of casualties as yet. Deal rejected Saleh has refused to sign a deal, mediated by Gulf Arab states, to start a transition of power aimed at averting civil war in Yemen. A breakaway military group called for other army units to join them in the fight to bring down Saleh, piling pressure on him to end his rule over the destitute country. Generals and government officials began to abandon Saleh after deadly crackdowns on protesters started in force in March. There have been no major clashes yet between the breakaway military units and troops loyal to Saleh. Yemen borders Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and sits along a shipping lane through which about three million barrels of oil pass daily.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies