Morsi accused of conspiring with Hamas; rival rallies held
By Ramadan Al-Fatash and Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
26.07.2013
Cairo (dpa) - Egypt's former president Mohammed Morsi was accused Friday of conspiring with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as his supporters and those of the army chief who engineered his ouster held massive rallies.
General Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi had warned of a crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and called on the public to signal their opposition to the deposed president and the group.
Morsi is facing charges of conspiring to help Hamas carry out "hostile acts" during the uprising that led to the ousting in 2011 of his predecessor Hosny Mubarak.
A judge on Friday ordered Morsi be detained for 15 days, pending further investigation. He is in army custody at an undisclosed location.
Morsi was overthrown by the army after millions called for his resignation. The Brotherhood is accused of inciting violence in the country.
While expressing concern over Morsi's detention, the United States also said Friday it had determined that it isn't required to say whether his removal was a coup.
"The law does not require us to make a formal determination ... as to whether a coup took place, and it is not in our national interest to make such a determination," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
The decision means US aid will continue to flow to Egypt, although the Pentagon said earlier this week it had decided not to go ahead with the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets because of the unrest in the country.
On the former leader's detention, Psaki said: "We do believe that it is important that there be a process to work towards his release. Clearly this process should respect [his] personal security ... and take into account the volatile political situation in Egypt.
She added: "We have conveyed publicly and privately that his personal security and treatment is of utmost importance."
Tens of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where army tanks and armoured vehicles were deployed under pro-al-Sissi banners. Thousands more gathered near the presidential palace in the eastern Cairo neighbourhood of Heliopolis.
"The army and police are our defenders against terrorism. In one year, Islamists, Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group ruined our country," Saeed Fawali, who travelled to Tahrir Square from Gharbiya in the Nile Delta, said.
"I came here to mandate the army and its commander to fight terrorism in Sinai and other places in Egypt. We want to secure our children's future," Mahmoud Mohamed, a teacher from the northern province of Beheira, told dpa.
Supporters of Morsi and the Brotherhood, meanwhile, congregated in the Rabaa al-Adawiya area of north-eastern Cairo. Army helicopters flew over the rival protest camps, throwing Egyptian flags to the demonstrators.
Supporters of Egypt's first democratically elected president described his ousting as a coup. They have denounced al-Sissi's ultimatum as a "declaration of civil war" and vowed to continue protests until Morsi is reinstated.
Three people were killed in fighting between Morsi's supporters and opponents in the northern city of Alexandria, and dozens were injured, a police official told dpa.
He said 15 people had been arrested.
In al-Arish city in Sinai, thousands rallying against Morsi carried posters of al-Sissi.
Militants and security forces exchanged fire after armed men attacked a police station and four checkpoints with rocket-propelled grenades in Sheikh Zuwaid city, in northern Sinai.
The army blames Hamas for near daily attacks on security forces in al-Arish over the past three weeks, attacks on security buildings, jailbreaks, the premeditated murder of police officers and abduction of others.
Security officials could not confirm any casualties.
Dozens of people have been killed in clashes between Morsi backers and opponents around the country since his ouster. Ten people were injured in the Cairo district of Shubra on Friday, while six were injured in the northern city of Damietta.
"Al-Sissi is a traitor. He is like Bashar al-Assad and Moamer Gaddafi. He will fight against his own people. We are not terrorists," shouted Hala, who was wearing the full-face veil.
At the peak of the uprising against Mubarak, Morsi and more than 30 other leaders of the then banned Brotherhood were detained in prison. They were freed along with other inmates in a raid by gunmen.
In June a court found that the Brotherhood leaders had been freed "thanks to an international plot" involving Hamas, the Lebanese movement Hezbollah and local militants.
