Fresh protests as Egypt to try US Copts over anti-Islam film

Author: Nehal El-Sherif

   Cairo (dpa) - Muslim protesters held fresh rallies in several countries on Tuesday as Egypt sent a case of seven diaspora Coptic Christians to court over the controversial anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims.

   Two lawyers had filed a complaint to the prosecution in Cairo accusing the Copts of blasphemy, attempting to divide Egypt to five states and causing sectarian strife. The attorney-general on Tuesday ruled that complaint should be heard in court.

   The film was reportedly produced by three Egyptian Christians residing in the United States. Although the court does not have the power to force the defendants to travel to Egypt, they could be tried in absentia.

   The case could increase tensions inside Egypt between Muslims and Christians, who make up around 10 per cent of the populations.

   Protests over a trailer of a US-made film, which depicts the prophet Mohammed as a bloodthirsty womanizer and a paedophile, has led to disturbances in many Muslim countries worldwide.

   Protests first began last Tuesday in Egypt and Libya. Violence targeting Western embassies in other Muslim countries left at least 18 dead, most notably four US diplomats in an attack on their consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

   The US embassy in Cairo resumed its visa services on Tuesday, as the embassy was forced to close due to the violent clashes over the past week.

   Meanwhile, in Indian-administered Kashmir, demonstrations burned US flags and effigies of President Barack Obama as troops used batons and tear-gas to disperse the crowd.

   Protests in India's southern city of Chennai forced the US consulate to shut down its visa section until Wednesday.

   In Bangkok, protest spokesman Niyaz said: "We don't want any violence. Islam is the religion of peace, but if someone attacks us we will defend ourselves."

   Pakistan and Bangladesh blocked access to YouTube, saying that access to the website will be suspended until the removal of the video that mocks Prophet Mohammed.

   Google has blocked access to the video in several countries, but refused to remove it completely.

   In Senegal, three Muslim Imams sent a letter to American diplomats in Dakar saying they had been deeply offended by the anti-Islam film, but that they would make sure there would be no demonstrations in Senegal.

  "This letter has reminded us how well Americans and Senegalese can live in harmony together. In both countries, there are people from all religions and all belief systems that are able to co-exist without violence," the diplomats said.

   Georgian actress, Ana Giorbani, who appeared in the film said she was "shocked" by the picture's critical stance towards Islam and claimed producers tricked her and other performers into playing parts in the film, according to comments published by Georgia's Rustaveli-2 television channel.

   "There was no mention ever by anyone of Mohammed and no mention of religion during the entire time I was on the set," said Giorbani. "I am one hundred per cent certain nobody in the cast and nobody in the US artistic side of the crew knew what was really planned for this."

   The movie's alleged producer Nakoula Basseley Nakoula told performers and crew they were participating in a film called Desert Warrior about tribal battles taking place after the impact of a magic meteorite on Earth, Giorbani said.

Politics, religion ignite fury over anti-Islam film

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Cairo (dpa) – When a local radio reporter was transmitting live anti-US chants outside the US embassy in Cairo, one of the protesters came close to the microphone and began shouting  obscenities against former military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

   The reporter freaked out and the station cut transmission immediately.

   The incident left many wondering what Tantawi had to do with the protests that initially began by hardline-Islamists to denounce a US-made film that depicts Prophet Mohammed as a bloodthirsty womanizer and a paedophile.

   Tantawi was the head of the military council, which ruled the country for a year and a half after the ouster of Hosny Mubarak in February 2011. Many people blamed him for “selling” the country to the Muslim Brotherhood after Mohammed Morsi was elected Egypt's first Islamist president in June.

   On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters scaled the walls of the US embassy in Cairo, took down the flag and raised a black, Islamist flag instead. Few hours later, a group of armed Libyans set the US consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi on fire and killed four diplomats, including the ambassador.

   Protesters in several Arab and Muslim countries took to the streets – sometimes attacking US and European embassies – to protest the film.

   “In many countries, the film gave those who seek to destabilize the situation an excuse to mobilize Muslims for irrational confrontations,” Yemeni political analyst Abdul-Bari Taher said.

   “While some protests began as a spontaneous reaction, they were later affected by political incitement, which took advantage of the lack of awareness spread among many Muslim communities,” he added.

   Taher believes that in Yemen, extremists exploited people's anger to spread violence at a time of instability.

   In Egypt, protesters were first identified as Salafists, but as clashes intensified with police and security vehicles were burnt, reports said these were loyalists of ousted president Hosny Mubarak.

   The riots in Egypt showed that the film could provide an outlet for anger that had a very different origin. But analysts see it as a golden opportunity for extremists to spread their ideas or attack the West.

   Gamal Nkrumah, an editor at Egypt's Al Ahram Weekly newspaper, believes that those who reap the benefits are those who embody conservative Islamist views, now trending in Muslim countries.

   “The West is still trying to court the militant Islamists, but Western governments are beginning to realize that the malaise lies deeper than any foreign policy can immediately address.

   “Militant Islamists and Western secularist governments are at ideological loggerheads...The Islamists are especially concerned about the West’s cultural influence and the secularizing impact of Western art,” he wrote.

   His theory could be applied on the situation in Afghanistan, where hundreds gathered in Kabul, shouting anti-US slogans in protest at the film.

   Frictions have been rising in recent days between the United States and President Hamid Karzai, who did not issue a public call for calm, despite calls by President Barack Obama urging him to do what he could to stave off violence.

   The violence is also a test for Obama who is seeking a second term in November.

   The Republicans and Mitt Romney accused him of weakness in handling the situation.

   "I believe that the first beneficiary ... will be the American extreme right, which wants to re-ignite the clash of religions and civilizations ... Raising al-Qaeda flags in the streets is enough to grant the Tea Party group and the extreme right the most needed electoral support,” Iyad Abu Shaqra wrote in the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Al-Qaeda calls for attacks on US diplomats, embassies

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Cairo (dpa) - Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch urged Muslims around the world to attack US diplomats and missions in response to an anti-Islam video.

   Protests against the independent film made in the United States had spread since Tuesday, with hundreds of demonstrators attacking Western embassies in several Muslim countries.

   An attack on Tuesday - the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington - against the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, left US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other officials dead.

   "Whoever comes across US ambassadors or envoys should follow the example of Omar al-Mokhtar's descendants in Libya, who killed the American ambassador," al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said in a statement posted Saturday on Islamist websites.

   The group is regarded as the most active branch of the global  al-Qaeda network, comprised mostly of Yemeni and Saudi militants.

   The ambassador's death came one day after al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri posted a video on jihadist forums urging Libyans to avenge the killing of the network's second in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, in a US drone strike this year in Pakistan.

   "Efforts should lead to one goal, which is to expel the embassies of America from Muslim countries. Let the demonstrations continue to set fire in these embassies as our jealous brothers did in Egypt and Yemen," the AQAP statement said.

   Al-Qaeda called on Muslims living in the West to attack key targets, and described the internet film as "another chapter in the crusader wars" against Islam.

   The amateurish film, titled Innocence of Muslims, portrays the prophet Mohammed as a womanizer and paedophile.

   US officials questioned the suspected producer of the film Nakoula Basseley Nakoula early Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

   Officers arrived at Nakoula's home and took him to a police station for voluntary questioning. The newspaper said he was not arrested or detained.

   Violence around US embassies in Muslim countries left at least eight people dead.

   Four people were killed in rioting at the US embassy in the Tunisian capital, while two were killed in Cairo before security forces cleared the streets of demonstrators Saturday around the US embassy.

   Attacks on Western embassies in the Sudanese capital Khartoum killed at least two people and injured 50 police officers, security officials said.

   The US State Department announced Saturday that it was ordering the departure of all non-emergency government personnel from Tunisia and Sudan.

   It warned US citizens "against all travel to Tunisia at this time," and warned of the risks of travel to Sudan, where the terrorist threat level "remains critical."

   The Bangladeshi government condemned the film Saturday, following demonstrations by several thousand people in the capital of the South Asian Muslim country.

   Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al al-Sheikh, denounced attacks on diplomats. He described the film as a "miserable criminal try that will not harm Islam."

   "It is forbidden to punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, or to attack those granted protection of their lives and property, or to destroy or set fire to public property," he said.

   Attacks on the innocent and diplomats "are also a distortion of the Islamic religion and are not accepted by God," he said.

   In Iraq, hundreds protested in the southern city of Najaf and burned the US flag.

   "We believe that sowing hatred among peoples in this way by the film directors and intelligence bodies standing behind them will ignite sedition that major powers will bear the responsibility to put out," Shiite cleric Sadr al-Din al-Qabbanji said at the protest.

Security clears protesters near US embassy after Cairo clashes

Author: Nehal El-Sherif

   Cairo (dpa) - Egyptian security forces Saturday cleared central Cairo's Tahrir Square and the roads leading to the US embassy, after clashes with protesters claimed the lives of two demonstrators.

   Protesters were rallying against a US-made film that mocks Islam's prophet Mohammed.

   The move came after several days of fighting between police and protesters using stones and tear gas, witnesses said.

   "Security forces cleared the area after several initiatives to end the clashes have failed, and since all political and revolutionary groups have condemned the violence," Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said while visited the area on Saturday after calm was restored.

   More than 250 people were injured and two people died in hospital from injuries sustained during the clashes, the fiercest since the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi became Egypt's first Islamist president in June.

   Prosecutors ordered the detention of 54 people for four days pending investigation. They face charges of intimidating people, resisting authorities, destruction of public and private property as well as possession of tools used to attack people.

   On Tuesday, protesters scaled the walls of the US embassy, taking down the US flag and replacing it briefly with a black Islamist one. Since then, hundreds of protesters gathered in the area have clashed with police.

   Meanwhile, a rights group said that the family of a Christian man - detained on charges of disseminating the anti-Islam video, which created massive unrest among Muslims worldwide - were being threatened.

   The family of Alber Saber were forced to leave their home after they received threats saying their house would be burnt down, the Cairo-based Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression said.

   An angry crowd surrounded Saber's house of Thursday after he posted a video of the film on his Facebook page. When his family called police for protection, security arrested Saber on charges of blasphemy.

   The film, Innocence of Muslims, which portrays the prophet as a womanizer and a paedophile, has sparked angry protests in several  Muslim countries.

   Insurgents killed Tuesday the US ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. Protesters also attacked the US embassies in Yemen, Tunisia and Sudan.

   Tahrir was the rallying point of massive protests that eventually forced Hosny Mubarak to step down in February last year.

New Syria envoy Brahimi arrives for first visit to the region

By Ramadan Al-Fatash and Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Cairo (dpa) - Lakhdar Brahimi, the second special envoy to be appointed by the United Nations and Arab League to mediate in the Syria conflict, arrived for his first visit to the region on Sunday.

   The Algerian diplomat touched down in Cairo, where he was due to hold talks with Arab League chief Nabil Al-Araby and members of the Syrian opposition on ending the 18-month conflict.

   He is also scheduled to meet Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi, a critic of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

   Brahimi has indicated that he plans to visit Damascus this month.

   An Iranian official was Sunday quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying Brahimi and Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi had agreed in a telephone conversation on a visit to Tehran by the Syria envoy. Deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi did not however give an exact date.

   Brahimi last week took over from Kofi Annan, the former UN chief who resigned as Syria envoy in early August, complaining of "continuous finger-pointing and name-calling" at the UN Security Council.

   Annan had wanted to involve Iran, a fierce supporter of al-Assad in his six-point peace plan for Syria. The plan failed and the  fighting between troops loyal to al-Assad and rebel forces escalated.

   Syrian opposition groups estimated that more than 26,000 people have been killed in the 18-month conflict. 

   Earlier Sunday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed scepticism that Washington and Moscow could reach agreement on a common position on Syria.

   "We have to be realistic. We haven't seen eye-to-eye," Clinton told reporters at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Russian city of Vladivostock.

   "I will continue to work with (Russian) Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to see if we can revisit the idea of putting the Syrian transition plan that we agreed to in Geneva earlier this summer into a Security Council resolution,” said Clinton.

   She was referring to a peace plan agreed in June, calling for a truce and political transition to end the conflict in Syria.

   Russia, a key ally of al-Assad, wants to take the plan to the UN Security Council for an endorsement, a step about which the US is lukewarm.

   “That will only be effective if it includes consequences for non-compliance ... We have to bring more pressure to bear on the al-Assad regime to end the bloodshed and begin a political, democratic transition," she added.

   Clinton said her talks with Lavrov had only achieved “limited progress.

   Russia has with China vetoed three United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning the Syrian government's crackdown on the opposition.

   Around 90 people, including 21 soldiers, were killed in clashes between the military and rebels on Sunday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.

   The opposition said government troops had stepped up attacks on pro-rebel areas in the northern city of Aleppo and the province of Daraa in the south, where the first anti-government protests took place in March 2011. 

Iraq's vice president sentenced to death for terrorism

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

   Baghdad (dpa) - A court sentenced Iraq's vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi to death for terrorism on Sunday, in a ruling in absentia that could raise sectarian tensions in the country.

   Al-Hashemi, the country's most senior Sunni Muslim official, left the country before the trial opened in Baghdad on May 3 and questioned whether he would be given a fair trial.

   He was convicted of the assassination of security officials and a lawyer.

   Al-Hashemi denied the charges, calling it a political ploy on the part of the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

   The court also sentenced al-Hashemi's son-in-law and office manager, Ahmed Qahtan, to death for the same charges.

   Both men have the right to appeal within 30 days, judges said.

   The secular-backed Iraqiya bloc have backed al-Hashemi and  accused al-Maliki of trying to minimize the role of Iraq's minority Sunni community in order to rule with an iron fist.

   Al-Hashemi had first sought refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq in December, after an arrest warrant was issued against him. Later, reports said he was in Turkey.

   Since the US troops left Iraq in December, al-Maliki's government has been in political deadlock and deadly attacks increased across the country, raising fears of a return to the sectarian tensions that drove Iraq close to civil war in 2006-2007.

   "If al-Hashemi is really involved in these crimes, then terrorism cells will react to this verdict," said Aziz Jabur Shial, a professor of Political Science at at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

   The verdict came shortly after a series of bombings across Iraq on Sunday, mainly targeting government security forces and Shiite-majority areas, killed 53 people.

   "On the other hand, if al-Hashemi is not involved in terrorism cases, then al-Iraqiya bloc will react, though it will be hard for them to make a strong reaction since the bloc is crumbling now," Shial told dpa.

   The Iraqiya bloc has weakened since the charges were announced against al-Hashemi, with a short-lived boycott of parliament.

   Meanwhile, Habib al-Tarfi, a lawmaker from al-Maliki's National Alliance bloc in parliament, said there should be no objections to the verdict as the judiciary was independent.

   "Judiciary in Iraq is an independent body ... and al-Hashemi had the chance to appear in court and defend himself during the trial," al-Tarfi said.

Bahrain court upholds jail for 13 opposition activists

Author: Nehal El-Sherif

   Cairo (dpa) – A civil court in Bahrain on Tuesday upheld jail sentences ranging from five years to life for 13 opposition activists convicted of attempting to overthrow the government.

   The ruling came in a retrial that was granted in April after the 13 were sentenced by a special military court for their involvement in Shiite protests against the ruling Sunni royal family.

   The London-based Amnesty International rights group called for the defendants to be quickly released and said the verdicts were "outrageous."

   “Today’s court decision is another blow to justice and it shows once more that the Bahraini authorities are not on the path of reform but seem rather driven by vindictiveness," Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said.

   “Bahrain cannot get a free pass at the UN Human Rights Council and we urge states to tell the Bahraini authorities that today’s verdict crosses a red line and that they can no longer be considered credible partners," Sahraoui added.

   The head of the main opposition group, Al Wefaq group, said the verdicts represent "political persecution, fake justice and a black day for Bahrain."

   "Unjust rulings increase people's persistence to continue their revolution till the end," Sheikh Ali Salman said.

   The United States also said it was "deeply troubled" by the move.

   "We urge the government of Bahrain to abide by its commitment to respect detainees’ right to due process and to transparent judicial proceedings, including fair trials and access to attorneys," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. "It is important that verdicts are based on credible evidence and that judicial proceedings are conducted in full accordance with Bahraini law and Bahrain’s international legal obligations."

   Seven of the defendants were sentenced to life in prison. Among them was Abdulhadi al-Khawaja who holds Bahraini and Danish citizenship. In May he ended a 110-day prison hunger strike.

   Denmark's foreign minister said Tuesday it was "disappointed" with the ruling, and said authorities plan to contact al-Khawaja and his family and offer consular assistance.
  
   Denmark will "discuss further reactions with the very broad range of countries that in the spring supported Denmark in the demand for the release of al-Khawaja and the other human rights and democracy fighters in Bahrain," Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal said.

   Al-Khawaja and his family had spent 12 years in exile before returning to the Gulf island in 1999 as Bahrain’s then new ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, vowed reforms as he rose to power and sought to quell the unrest of that began in the mid 1990s.

   This is the second time Al-Khawaja is accused of attempting to overthrow the regime. He was detained in February 2007 but was released within hours after clashes broke out between his supporters and police.

   Over the past nine months, his daughter Zainab has been arrested and released several times as she joined protests calling for reforms as well as the release of her father. She has been put on trial several times for "illegal gathering" and "insulting officials."

   On Tuesday, her case was adjourned until September 10.

   A commission appointed by the government had recommended a retrial in a civil court, saying it had found evidence of confessions obtained through torture and that the activists had not been allowed adequate access to their lawyers.

   The activists however rejected the retrial and on Tuesday none were present in court.

   The trial and verdict drew a wave of international criticism and raised tensions on the small strategic Gulf island that serves as home to a US naval command.

   Human rights groups and Bahrain's Western allies have repeatedly called for the activists' release.

   Protests in which Bahrain's Shiite majority have demanded political reform and greater freedoms began on February 14, 2011.

   Opposition and human rights groups say at least 90 people have been killed and 2,000 arrested in a government crackdown on protesters.

Egyptian state TV ends 52-year ban on veiled anchorwomen

By Nehal El-Sherif and Salamah Abdul-Hamid, dpa =

   Cairo (dpa) – Wearing a cream-coloured scarf covering her hair, and a long-sleeved black jacket, Fatma Nabil this weekend became the first veiled anchorwoman to deliver the news bulletin on Egypt's state television.

   Nabil is one of four veiled female broadcasters who are now able to present the news.

   Ibrahim al-Sayyad, head of news in the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, said  “A presenter's charisma, culture and proper pronunciation are the most important thing for her job. Her appearance is important too, but it should be appropriate for her job, especially for anchorwomen.”

   State television in a statement said merely that all female presenters will need to coordinate their “style and look,” without elaborating.

   Al-Sayyad said that all four presenters already worked in state television, but were behind the cameras until Sunday.

   Nabil, who read the 12 pm (1100 GMT) news bulletin, had been working as a news editor, and was given the slot after a screening test.

   Since the establishment of Egyptian television in 1960, housed in a huge building located on the Nile river in central Cairo, known locally as Maspero, no female presenters have worn headscarves.

   The only exception was Kariman Hamza, who specialized in religious programming in the early 1990s.

   Former president Hosny Mubarak, who was forced from power in February 2011, banned veiled presenters from appearing on screen.

   Religious conservatives attacked Mubarak for this and said it a sign of the dictatorial nature of the regime - especially as the number of veiled women across Egypt was increasing quickly.

   In March 2011, veiled TV hosts were allowed on screen, but were confined to presenting chatshows, mostly about family and social issues.

   In January, an administrative court overruled the decision by Mubarak's final Information Minister, Anas al-Fiqi, to ban a veiled TV host from appearing on screen. The case was filed in 2008 by Channel 5 presenter Lamiyaa al-Amir, against al-Fiqi.

   The court said al-Fiqi's decision violated personal freedoms, and the verdict was hailed by many as one of the achievements of the January 25 revolution.

   However, others have been alarmed by the rise of Islamists in Egypt, especially after a Salafist leader insisted that a female presenter cover her hair in order to interview him last year.

   Islamists won two-thirds of the now-dissolved parliament, before Mohammed Morsi was elected in June as the first Islamist - and the first civilian - president.

   "I think state television should give equal weight to the presenters' appearance and to their level of culture," said Jihan Mansour, a talk show host at a private television station in Cairo.

   However, Mansour - who began her career as a presenter in state television - warns that all presenters should be qualified, and hopes that the end of the ban is not related to the election of an Islamist president.

   Some are wary, given that the move came shortly after Salah Abdul-Maqsud, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was appointed as Information Minister in August.

   "I just fear that things will turn around and we will find that non-veiled woman are banned from appearing on screen," said Mona Salman, a broadcaster with a regional channel.