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News Coverage Prepared For: the European Union Delegation to Egypt

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News Coverage prepared for: The European Union delegation to Egypt . Disclaimer: “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of authors of articles and under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of IPSOS or the European Union.” 1 . Thematic Headlines Domestic Scene Shafiq and Morsi Trade Barbs Political Parties Still Failing on Constituent Assembly Criteria Egyptian Expatriates Start Voting in Runoff Tahrir Protests Urge Unity against Regime Leftovers 11 Political Powers Call for “Revolutionary Trials” of Regime Remnants Court to Rule in Political Isolation Law within Days Protesters Rescue Girl from Rape in Tahrir Square Beheira March Demands Sacking Prosecutor General Protesters in Port Said Hurl Stones on Security Forces MB Refuses Presidential Council Idea Morsi Campaign Denies American Nationality Claims Shafiq: I Represent the Civil Country Tahrir Square against MB MB Sabotages Shafiq’s Premises during Demonstrations Travel Ban Still Imposed on Adli’s Six Aides Clinton is Ready to “Help” Egypt The Revolution Victims’ Families Consider Resorting to the International Court The Revolution Justice SCAF Discusses the Constituent Assembly with the Advisory Council Shafiq Approves the “Document of the Pledge” In the Aftermath of the Trial Al-Baradei Approves a Presidential Council Day 19 of the Revolution Expatriate Votes The Muslim Brotherhood Rejects the Presidential Council Al-Nour Party’s Approval of a Presidential Council is Conditional Sabahi’s and Abu al-Futouh’s Campaigns Approve a Presidential Council Shafiq Launches a Battle of Broken Bones against the Muslim Brotherhood Meeting between Ex-contenders El-Erian: Presidential Council Proposal is Unconstitutional Schulz: Mubarak’s Sentence Proves No One is Above the Law El-Baradei is Back to Revolt Again SCAF Member: Runoff Will be Held on Time MB and Salafis Impede Agreement on Constituent Assembly Criteria 2 Newspapers (4/06/2012) Pages: 1, 7 Author: Hiba Hassan and Hzim Abu Douma Shafiq Approves the “Document of the Pledge” Presidential Candidate Ahmad Shafiq declared that he generally approved the so-called “Document of the Pledge” declared by the political powers in Egypt last Friday, adding that some of the terms of the document needed to be discussed. Shafiq called on the political players in Egypt to consider the document as a general frame to move within. Shafiq salso declared that a number of his campaign offices were burnt, expressing his forgiveness for the culprits of the arson in his office in Duqqi. Shafiq promised to preserve the civil identity of the state and promised farmers of a lot of privileges. He also launched a barrage of criticism against the Muslim Brotherhood. 3 Pages: 1 Author: Amer Sultan and wires Clinton is ready to “Help” Egypt The United State and the UK refused to comment on the court’s rulings against Mubarak and figures of his regime. American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton commented saying that it was a mere Egyptian affair and expressed Washington’s readiness to offer all possible help to Egypt. 4 Pages: 1 Author: Abeer al-Mursi SCAF Discusses the Constituent Assembly with the Advisory Council SCAF is to hold a meeting this morning with the Advisory Council. Abd Allah al-Maghazi, secretary general of the Advisory Council stated that the meeting would discuss the current developments and the presidential elections. The meeting will also tackle the Constituent Assembly that will draft the constitution and a suggestion to amend article 60 of the constitutional declaration. 5 Pages: 1 Author: Muhammad Fathi The Revolution Justice MP Mustafa al-Najjar, representative of the parliamentary body of al-Adl party presented an unprecedented “Revolution Justice” draft law. The law aims at trying the figures of the former regime for the crimes they committed during the past 30 years. If passed, the law will be applicable on all members of the former regime who had executive or observatory positions, and those who abused the state possessions and income in committing crimes from 1981until a new president is in power. 6 Pages: 1 Author: Ahram reporters In the Aftermath of the Trial The public uproar escalated in Cairo and the different governorates with the increasing protests calling to retry former President Husni Mubarak, his two sons, former minister of interior Habib al-Adili and six leading figures of his ministry. The Revolution Youth Coalitions called for a mass demonstration tomorrow in Tahrir Square. Two demonstrations will head to Tahrir Square; the first from al-Fath Mosque headed by Abd al-Munim Abu al-Futouh and the second will go from public district Imbaba headed by Hamdeen Sabbahi. The discussions that took place in Tahrir resulted in calling for forming a presidential council of Hamdeen Sabbahi, Abd al-Munim Abu al-Futouh and Muhammad Mursi and also for forming a coalition government headed by Muhammad al-Baradei. About three thousand people organized a demonstration to the High Court of Justice yesterday and tried to break into the building but the security forces prevented them. The demonstrators called for purging the judiciary. MENA reported that Mubarak had received the prison uniform and was treated like any other prisoner. Meanwhile, five leading figures in al-Adili’s ministry were released with a travel ban. The sixth, Gen Hasan Abd al-Rahman, head of the dissolved State Security Apparatus I still in jail. In another context, the People’s Assembly promised to resume the revolution until its aims is fulfilled and the victims’ rights are preserved. Head of the People’s Assembly Saad al-Katatni launched a barrage of criticism against the government and the executive apparatus for their reluctance in presenting the evidences against Mubarak, his sons, al-Adili and the six leading figure of his ministry. Al-Katatni stressed the necessity to bring into account all those who participated in hiding the evidences. 7 Page: 1 and 8 Author: Mahmoud Ramzi, Ghada Mohamed el-Sherif, Sahar el-Meligy, Wael Mohamed and Asmaa Mohamed el-Sayed Shafiq and Morsi Trade Barbs The competition between presidential runoff candidates Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq has escalated into a direct war. Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood group, chose to be present among protesters packing the iconic Tahrir Square, before which he held a press conference urging the people to elect the candidate who represents the revolution. During the press conference, Morsi reiterated that retrials will be held for the former regime figures with new incriminating evidence if he becomes president, asking the people “When the evidence was destroyed during the days of the “Battle of Camel”, who was in charge?” Morsi was explicitly referring to Shafiq, who was the nation’s prime minister during this notorious battle, which according to many revolutionaries was the spark that led the revolution to go on. Shafiq, the last prime minister serving ousted president Hosni Mubarak, held a press conference to counter Morsi’s striking words with statements, accusing, ironically, the Muslim Brotherhood of being remnants of the old regime. Shafiq also launched strongly-worded statements against the Morsi’s group, accusing the MB of being an entity that wishes Egypt no stability. “Who will be the real ruler of Egypt? Morsi or the supreme guide?” Shafiq scolded. 8 Page: 3 Author: Gomaa Hamdallah, Bassant Zeineddin and Ebtesam Talaab Egyptian Expatriates Start Voting in Runoff Egyptian nationals abroad started on Sunday voting in the second round of the presidential elections held between Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. All Egyptian embassies and consulates opened up for the voters to cast their ballots. Calls for boycotting or annulling the ballots have been ringing heavily to express rejection of the runoff candidates, who many revolutionaries deem a “nightmare scenario”, and also to sound objection against the court rulings handed down Saturday to the former president and his acolytes. The UK-based United Egyptians group launched a wide-scale campaign in London to encourage voters to nullify their ballots by writing on ballot forms “No to military rule and no to Muslim Brotherhood rule.” In the US, a number of Egyptians protested outside the Egyptian embassy in Washington to express their outright rejection of the developments in Egypt and to call for boycotting the runoffs. The April 6 Youth Movement called on Egyptian expatriates to stage protests in front of Egyptian diplomatic missions around the word. 9 Page: 3 Author: Adel el-Dargaly, Hamdi Dabash and Ghada Mohamed el-Sherif Political Parties Still Failing on Constituent Assembly Criteria A meeting grouping MPs held to reach a final draft for the criteria on choosing members of the Constituent Assembly has ended to no avail, said MP Wahid Abdel-Meguid. During the three-hour meeting, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Al-Nour Party proposed that political parties make up 40% of the constitution-drafting body, something that was vehemently rejected by other participants, Abdel-Meguid said. The failure to reach an agreement on the criteria was due to the FJP’s insistence to have a huge party representation in the body, said Al-Wafd Party assistant secretary general Hossam el-Kholi. Similar news was reported in Al-Akhbar (page 3) 10 Page: 4 Author: Mohamed Kamel, Wafaa Yehia, Khalaf Ali Hassan, Karima Hassan, Mohamed Rafaat, Ahmed Youssef, Fadi Francais, Wael Mohamed and Amin Ghali Tahrir Protests Urge Unity against Regime Leftovers Thousands of people continued to protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the January Revolution, for the second day running to reject the court rulings issued Saturday against the former regime icons. Hundreds of protesters marched toward the High Court of Justice. Meanwhile, student marches from Cairo and Ain Shams universities flowed into the square and urged people to take to all Egypt’s main squares to continue the 25 January Revolution.
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