Brotherhood members face torture charge in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Two Muslim Brotherhood officials have been sent to trial on charges of kidnapping and torturing three men during protests in November following Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's decrees, since rescinded, that granted him near absolute powers.

The case in the Nile Delta city of Damanhour north of Cairo is the first of its kind against Morsi's Brotherhood and is likely to embarrass the group at a time it is trying to fend off opposition charges of monopolizing power in the deeply polarized country.

Mohammed Bahnasy, a lawyer for the three victims, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the case was referred to trial a day earlier. The two Brotherhood local officials — Mustafa el-Khouli and Mohammed Abdel-Radi — have not been detained.

An arrest warrant has been issued for el-Khouli, who has failed to respond to a summons for questioning, according to Bahnasy. Abdel-Radi was questioned and released pending the start of the trial, according to him and another lawyer involved in the case, Mohammed Abdel-Aziz.

The Brotherhood's chief lawyer, Abdel-Monaim Abdel-Maqsoud, said the decision to refer the two to trial was "hurried" and described the investigation as "flawed."

He told the AP defense witnesses showed up at the prosecutors' office on Saturday to testify that el-Khouli and Abdel-Radi were innocent, only to be told it was too late.

"Everything will now have to wait for the trial," he said. "I am surprised at the speed with which this has been done. We have many cases of Brotherhood victims of violence and we have not seen any of them go to trial yet," said Abdel-Maqsoud.

He confirmed that the case against the two was the first of its kind since the ouster two years ago of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Bahnasy said the three men allegedly kidnapped and tortured were Mahmoud Ali, 17, Mohammed Mansour, 18, and Mustafa Farag, 21. He said the three were detained separately for up to five hours during clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi at Damanhour's main square on Nov. 24.

El-Khouli was identified by Bahnasy and Abdel-Aziz as the administrative head of the Brotherhood's office in Damanhour. They said Abdel-Radi is a senior member of the local branch of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

The two were sent to court following a two-day sit-in by the three victims and their supporters outside Damanhour's prosecution office to protest against what they claimed was stalling on a trial.

The Damanhour case is just one of a series of bouts of political violence in the turmoil roiling Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak's regime in February 2011.

The violence has deepened the political schism tearing Egypt apart since Morsi took office nine months ago as the country's first ever freely elected president.

At least a dozen offices belonging to the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party were ransacked, some torched, by protesters angered by Morsi's decrees.

The decrees gave immunity from the courts to an Islamist-dominated panel that drafted and hurriedly adopted a new constitution. The document was later ratified in a nationwide referendum.

One major bout of violence was on Dec. 5 when Morsi supporters were shown on video posted on social networking sites to be running impromptu detention centers outside the presidential palace in Cairo, where they tortured protesters during daylong clashes in the area.

The Brotherhood says at least 10 of its supporters were killed that day, but the opposition disputes the figure and maintains that Morsi supporters started the violence when they set upon peaceful protesters staging a sit-in outside the palace.

On March 22, the two sides clashed outside the Brotherhood's national headquarters in an eastern Cairo district. Both sides, according to witnesses, detained and beat members of the rival side during daylong clashes with rocks, sticks and firebombs.

The violence that day had its roots in an incident a week earlier when Brotherhood supporters assaulted a small crowd of protesters painting anti-Morsi graffiti on the street outside the Brotherhood's headquarters. One Brotherhood supporter was caught on camera slapping a female protester to the ground.

The Brotherhood maintains that its supporters were provoked and that they had pleaded with the activists not to paint abusive graffiti or plaster flyers on the headquarters' walls.

Morsi blames thugs for the political violence and accuses the opposition of providing political cover for it. The opposition, mostly liberal and secular, maintains that it does not condone violence.

Bahnasy said the referral documents leave no room for doubt that the alleged detention and torture of the three men took place in the Brotherhood's Damanhour offices and quotes witnesses as saying they had seen sticks, tasers and swords inside the group's headquarters.

"I will study every relevant legal book to prepare for this case," said Bahnasy, a native of Damanhour. "I will do nothing but this case and I will pursue it to the very end."

Mahmoud Duweir, a Damanhour activist, said he was at the city's main square when the Nov. 24 incident took place.

"All three came out with their clothes ripped. They had bruises and marks of blows from sticks on their bodies."

A Brotherhood supporter, Islam Massoud, was killed in clashes in the square a day later in a case that has been intensely publicized by the group.

The Brotherhood says he was killed by opposition protesters. But Bahnasy, Abdel-Aziz and Duweir insist he was slain by a single blow to the head by a Brotherhood supporter who mistook him for a protester during pitched street battles.

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Egyptians clash at Muslim Brotherhood offices

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of opponents and supporters of Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood clashed Friday near the Islamist group's Cairo headquarters, where riot police guarded the building.

Young men threw stones and chanted against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters near the office. Some wielded tree branches and broken bottles.

Police did not interfere to break up the two sides fighting a few blocks away from the building.

Both sides sustained injuries. Black plumes of smoke billowed after buses that allegedly ferried Brotherhood members to the clashes were torched.

In another Cairo neighborhood, young protesters broke into the Brotherhood party's office in Manial and stole some items, according to security officials. More than a dozen such attacks on the Islamists' offices took place late last year across the country during violent protests over the drafting of the constitution and temporary power-grabbing decrees by the president.

The opposition charges that the Brotherhood's leadership is influencing Morsi, and that they are trying to monopolize power through the presidency. The Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, denies that.

Friday's protest is also symbolic because it followed a week of demonstrations outside Brotherhood's doorstep en masse.

One sign held aloft by a protester outside the headquarters read: "Who is ruling Egypt?"

The scene was reminiscent of clashes that took place late last year outside the presidential palace in Cairo between Morsi's supporters and opponents. Ten people died in those clashes.

Protesters on Friday were demanding the Brotherhood apologize for an assault on journalists and activists last week outside the group's headquarters. The Brotherhood says its guards were instigated by the protesters.

The anti-Brotherhood protesters are also demanding the resignation of the attorney general and the interior minister, both appointed by Morsi. They accuse the interior minister, who oversees police, of authorizing security forces to use excessive force against protesters. More than 70 people have been killed in protests with police since he was appointed in January.

Fatima Khalifa, 30, said she was demonstrating to send a message to the Brotherhood that they are the aggressors.

"Morsi must be tried for killings of protesters just like Mubarak," she said, referring to Morsi's predecessor Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2011 after nearly 30 years in power.

Clashes also broke out Friday in Egypt's second largest city of Alexandria, when several thousand anti-Brotherhood protesters came under attack by unknown assailants who threw rocks and fired birdshot at them outside a military area in Sidi Gaber where anti-government protests often take place.

In the sprawling Cairo neighborhood of Muqattam, where the Brotherhood's headquarters is based, roads were littered with rocks. There was no traffic and shops had been closed beforehand in preparation for the violent clashes.

An Associated Press correspondent saw members of the anti-Brotherhood camp beating with their fists people in the crowd suspected of being members of the Islamist group.

The Brotherhood's website also reported the incident, saying that "thugs" were attacking anyone heading toward the Brotherhood office.

Ahmed Abdel-Hai rushed one of the injured Brotherhood members to an ambulance.

He said the man was beaten after protesters allegedly saw him firing bird shot.

"Today will be a massacre," he said, as his hands and face were stained with blood from the wounded Brotherhood man, whose face and half naked body were covered with blood and bruises.

Several anti-Brotherhood protesters were also seen bloodied and being rushed to ambulances.

Clashes erupted at a nearby square after a large pro-Brotherhood march approached the headquarters. The protesters moved a few blocks away to Fountain Square after being hit with rocks from rooftops of nearby buildings. The square lies at the entrance of Muqattam, which overlooks the city.

It was not immediately clear how the clashes broke out around Fountain Square, but drops of blood marked the area. Some of the protesters covered their faces with black masks as ambulances evacuated the wounded from the site.

Anti-Brotherhood protester Hussein el-Sayyid said he saw three people with their faces slashed, suggesting some blades or knives were being used in the fighting.

"We are Egyptians eating one another when we should be one hand," he said.

Elsewhere in Egypt, protesters took to the streets to demand the dissolution of the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political group in the country since the 2011 revolt.

The opposition also wants articles in the constitution, which was passed in a contentious referendum last year, to be amended, and the formation of a more representative and inclusive Cabinet.

Opposition groups and leading liberal advocates had warned of a large protest on Friday after Brotherhood members beat protesters spray-painting graffiti outside the group's headquarters last weekend. Journalists also were assaulted in the skirmish, including one woman.

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Egypt's Brotherhood blasts UN women's document

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood sharply criticized an anticipated U.N. document on combatting violence against women, saying on Wednesday that it was "deceitful," clashed with Islamic principles and undermined family values.

The text or details of the document have not been published yet, but it may be issued at the end of a meeting of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women this week in New York. Negotiations have been bogged down in debate.

According to the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political faction in Egypt since the 2011 uprising, the draft under discussion advocates sexual freedoms for women and the right to abortion "under the guise of sexual and reproductive rights."

In its strongly worded statement, the Brotherhood also decried the document's defense of homosexual rights, which are not recognized in Islam, and the equating between children born in and out of wedlock.

It said the title of the document addressing violence is "deceitful."

"It contains articles that clash with Islamic principles and its basics mentioned in the Quran (Islam's holy book) and in Islamic traditions," the Brotherhood statement said. "It eliminates Islamic values, and seeks to destroy the family ... which would lead to social disintegration."

The Brotherhood, which won Egypt's presidency and controls parliament, called on other Muslim nations, women's groups and Islamic organizations to reject the document. It called it an infringement on the thought, culture and uniqueness of Islamic societies.

The Brotherhood urged women's rights groups not to be "lured by phony calls for civilized behavior and by misleading and destructive processes."

Libya's supreme religious cleric also raised similar concerns, rejecting the document for violating Islamic teachings.

In particular, he rejected equality between men and women in matters of inheritance, which Islamic jurisprudence does not accept, and criticized wording on sexual freedoms and rights of children born out of wedlock.

The Commission meeting, which opened on March 4, focused on combatting violence against women. Cabinet ministers and ambassadors as well as representatives of civil society from 193 U.N. member states are attending.

The head of the U.N. women's agency, Michelle Bachelet, said she hoped the meeting would produce a document that becomes a tool to improve the fight against violence against women.

She called for more robust action and commitments to ensure the protection of the rights of women and girls to live in dignity, free of violence and discrimination.

The debate over the document is still ongoing in New York, particularly over reproductive and sexual health and rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual rights.

U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations are private, said Egypt proposed an amendment saying that each country is sovereign and can implement the document in accordance with its own laws and customs, a clause the West strongly opposes.

Such a document was unattainable a decade ago when the commission took up the issue, because governments were unable to reach agreement. Differences over sex education, a woman's right to reproductive health, and demands for an exception for traditional, cultural and religious practices stymied an accord.

The Brotherhood's statement appeared to reflect those persistent differences, saying that religious traditions and values are threatened by such a universal document.

Debates on women's issues in Egypt, and in the Muslim world at large, are traditionally buried in debates over Islamic laws and whether their interpretations are compatible with demands for more personal freedoms.

With the rise of Islamic fundamentalist groups to power in the region following the past two years of protests against autocratic rulers, many women rights groups fear a regression in women's freedoms with a stricter interpretation of Islamic laws.

Already, Egypt's speech at the opening of the commission meeting has set off a storm in the women's rights community.

The speech was delivered on March 4 by Pakinam el-Sharqawi, an aide to President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood. In her speech, el-Sharqawi praised Egypt's new constitution as protective of women's rights, to the dismay of members of the delegation who have been sharply critical of the charter.

Her speech caused some in the delegation to walk out.

Leading women's rights activist Nehad Abu el-Qumsan called it "shocking."

Opposition activists say Egypt's new charter has an Islamist slant, undermines women's rights and denies them equality while ignoring their political rights.

Rights groups also worry that the new charter has granted religious authorities the right to review laws to ensure they are in line with Islamic laws, which they say may further undermine their rights.

Violence against women has also been on the rise in Egypt, particularly during political protests. Some suspect the attacks are an organized campaign to curb women's participation in public life after they played an integral role during the protests against former autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

The issue has been a source of contention between the Islamist-led government and opposition activists, who accuse authorities of not doing enough to address the issue.

In her speech, el-Sharqawi said violence against women should be combatted based on "balance between the values shared by humanity, and the cultural and social particularities of countries and peoples."

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

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Egypt's police protest against Muslim Brotherhood

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of low-ranking policemen on strike across Egypt on Thursday refused orders to work and protested what they claim is the politicization of the force in favor of the president's Muslim Brotherhood party.

The strike, in its fourth day, is a rare show of defiance by policemen against their superiors. It threatens to unravel a security force already weakened by two years of unrest following the ouster of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

For decades, Egypt's police aggressively targeted the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups that were once outlawed. Policemen say they are now being forced to confront protesters angry with Mubarak's successor, President Mohammed Morsi, and his Brotherhood supporters. They also are angry that they can be tried in military courts and complain that current laws do not protect them when they carry out their duties.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it stands at equal distance from all parties, and that the ministry is being objective in its duties.

The ministry, which oversees police in Egypt, relies on low-ranking policemen to protect government buildings, particularly in the face of angry protests in Suez Canal cities and in areas north of Cairo in the Nile Delta region. Hundreds of policemen have been wounded in the past six weeks of unrest in those areas, and several have been killed in the anti-government protests.

In Cairo, dozens of policemen blocked the entrance to one of the city's main police stations and expressed anger at Morsi's policies. Others held a sit-in outside Morsi's house in his hometown of Zagazig, northeast of the capital.

South of the capital, in Assiut and Luxor, policemen protested what they say is new Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim's attempts to use the force to protect the Brotherhood.

Security officials in the Interior Ministry said that the former interior minister refused orders to direct police against anti-Morsi protesters outside the presidential palace in Cairo in December. They say that the Brotherhood was also enraged that police did not protect the group's offices that month from being torched by Egyptians angry with Morsi's handling of the drafting of the constitution.

The strike comes just two days before a court is expected to hand down verdicts to defendants standing trial for a deadly soccer riot that killed 74 people in the canal city of Port Said. Nine security officials are among the 73 people on trial. Earlier, 21 people in the case were handed death sentences, which can be appealed, sparking a wave of violent protests in the city that led to 40 deaths in late January and accusations that police used excessive violence to clamp down on rioters.

Anger is also boiling in the Nile Delta province of Dakahliya, where protesters and policemen accuse the new security director there of ordering heavy-handed tactics to suppress anti-Brotherhood protests. Sami al-Meehy was appointed the province's security chief in recent days, just as anger there was mounting against the Brotherhood and a civil disobedience campaign began. Police there are accused of intentionally running over and killing a protester last weekend.

A similar strike last month by thousands of low-ranking policemen led to work stoppages for five days. They were demanding better firepower, wages and working conditions. The ministry said it agreed to purchase 100,000 new 9mm pistols and improve health care facilities for policemen, ending February's strike.

The police force, once a frightening and powerful underpinning of Mubarak's rule, has been accused by rights activists of carrying out the same brutal tactics under Morsi.

Egypt's uprising, which began two years ago on a day meant to commemorate police, was largely rooted in widespread hatred of security forces under Mubarak. More than 100 policemen have been put on trial for the killings of protesters, and all but two were acquitted.

Allegations of torture at the hands of police persist, and more than 70 people have been killed in nationwide protests since late January. Rights groups allege that police are still operating with impunity.

The latest allegation took place late Wednesday in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla. Hundreds of residents took to the streets to protest the killing of Ibrahim el-Kady, his wife, their daughter and their daughter's fiancé. According to Mahalla activist Samuel Adly, police were chasing a suspect when they fired at the wrong car, killing the four.

Security officials say they are investigating the incident.

The family's son told the satellite channel Al-Jazeera Mubashir Misr alleges that policemen were behind the killing. He said he saw men dressed in police uniform firing on his father's car, which was parked outside the family's house.

Lawlessness also has plagued parts of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where two British tourists were freed just hours after their kidnapping on Thursday.

A military intelligence official said the couple was released unharmed after police promised the Bedouin kidnappers that they would release a detained relative who had been arrested and accused of smuggling weapons from Libya to Egypt. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Tourists have been targeted in the past by Bedouin in Sinai wanting to pressure police to free detained relatives. Tourists are typically not held long and released unharmed.

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Associated Press writer Mariam Rizk in Cairo contributed to this report.

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