Dr. Bassem Youssef, the heart-surgeon turned satirist who hosts popular Egyptian TV show “ElBernameg” (“The Program”) has been issued an arrest warrant by Egypt’s state prosecutor, for insulting both President Mohammed Morsi and Islam. Youssef, often referred to as Egypt’s Jon Stewart (he visited The Daily Show last year, about which he is clearly proud — the above photo is his Twitter avatar), has been the target of numerous legal challenges to his public mockeries and criticisms of Egypt’s ruling powers, specifically Morsi and his party, the Muslim Brotherhood. Challenges to free speech and dissent which, frankly, validate his criticisms. Youssef tweeted that he’d be turning himself in on Sunday, “unless they kindly send a police van today and save me the transportation hassle.” source
Egypt soccer tragedy ruling prompts unrest on both sides
Al Jazeera: An Egyptian court has upheld death sentences handed to 21 soccer fans for their role in a stadium riot in which more than 70 people were killed last year.
The judge also acquitted seven of the nine police officers previously convicted over the disaster, which happened in the Suez city of Port Said at the end of a match between Cairo team Al-Ahly and local side Al-Masry.
The verdict has prompted anger on both sides. Al-Ahly fans, whose number made up most of the dead, were angered at the the decision to acquit the police officers. They stormed the HQ of the Egypt soccer federation in Cairo, setting it alight. In Port Said, several hundred people, many of them relatives of the defendants, gathered outside the local government offices to vent their anger over the verdicts.
Photo: A scene at the Port Said stadium disaster in February 2012. (Reuters)
The original verdict led to a series of violent riots in the country in January and February.
Week In Review: Upheaval in Egypt
By Ariel Zirulnick, Staff writerUnrest spread to provinces along the Suez Canal, Egypt’s economically and strategically critical waterway, prompted by locals’ anger over a court verdict passed down on Jan. 25. Residents poured into the streets in protest and clashed with police after 21 localmen were sentenced to death for their role in last year’s deadly soccer riots.
Police were completely overwhelmed by the angry crowds, and President Mohamed Morsi had to call the Egyptian Army out on the streets and declare a state of emergency.As Kristen Chick reported, the protests themselves were prompted by the court verdict, but long-simmering anger about their alienation from Cairo was just waiting to be touched off.But in the city, where initial wire reports indicated that as many as 47 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured since Jan. 26, the anger and sense of alienation from the rest of Egypt is ferocious. As anger at Mr. Morsi burns hotter with each death, Port Said exemplifies the lack of trust in state institutions that is present not just here but in much of Egypt, and the challenge Morsi faces in reasserting authority and establishing security in that environment.
More reading on Egypt:
Egyptians work to reclaim a Tahrir tainted by sexual assault
Egypt shudders, with leadership nowhere in sight
As Egyptians flout curfew, Army warns of ‘collapse’
Photo: Egyptians flee tear gas fired by security forces during an anti-President Mohammed Morsi protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Friday. Photo by: Amr Nabil/AP
The court verdict that set off the deadly fracas last week was a series of 21 death sentences handed down for people involved in the deadly Port Said soccer riot of last year.
Political struggles could cause collapse of Egypt
Reuters: The struggle between political forces in Egypt could ‘lead to the collapse of the state,’ the country’s army chief says.
In a posting to the army’s Facebook page, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said political and economic issues now represented a ‘real threat’ to security.
Photo: Protesters gather near a tank as they defy a curfew in the city of Port Said on Monday (Reuters)
That’s very problematic to hear. The country is particularly susceptible to such difficulties at the moment.
At least 30 dead in clashes over verdict in Egypt soccer riots
Reuters: Clashes in Egypt’s Port Said killed at least 30 people Saturday, including two soccer players. The riots erupted after a judge sentenced 21 people to death for a February 2012 soccer fight which killed 74 fans cheering for Cairo’s Al-Ahly team.
After the ruling, residents in Port Said tried to storm the city’s prison and free the defendants in the case.
The clashes follow violence brought on by anger at Egyptian President Morsi on Friday, the two-year anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Nine people died in those clashes, bringing the total from both outbursts to 39.
Photo: Al Ahly fans, also known as ‘Ultras,’ celebrate and shout slogans in front of the Al Ahly club after hearing the final verdict of the 2012 Port Said massacre in Cairo Saturday. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters)
While apparently our death toll figures culled from initial reports of this terrible riot last year ran a bit high, it still turned out as be over seventy fans left dead in a brutal melee. Now, the aftermath of that grisly scene has spawned its own fatal encounter.
Screenshots of the Reuters livestream currently showing the pro-Morsi protests at Cairo University.
Top: the streets were already full by 11:30 am.
Bottom: pro-Islamist protesters (mostly male), wave banners and signs with pictures of current President Morsi at 3:00 pm.
We’ve mentioned this before, but by all means keep some globally relevant livestreams bookmarked. They’re a phenomenal resource in our modern media world, and you never know when you’ll be glad you had them on hand.
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This is Tahrir Square in Cairo right now: occupied, lively & packed with protesters.
Anti-Morsi demonstrators filled the Square last night after a decree issued on Thursday expanded his powers and shielded his decisions from any sort of judicial review until the election of a new parliament expected in the first half of 2013.
“We don’t want a dictatorship again. The Mubarak regime was a dictatorship. We had a revolution to have justice and freedom,” 32-year-old Ahmed Husseini said in Cairo.
Definitely a live-stream to keep bookmarked in the days and weeks to come. It seems a safe bet these protests will continue, until such a time as Morsi clarifies his intentions, or cedes back the extralegal authority he’s claimed for himself.
The presidency reiterates the temporary nature of those measures, which are not intended to concentrate power. The presidency stresses its firm commitment to engage all political forces in the inclusive democratic dialogue to reach a common ground.A statement from Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi • Responding to the avalanche of protest set off by a recent decree, which granted him extralegal, unilateral authority, and halted all legal challenges against members of the upper house of parliament, and the committee constructing the state’s new constitution. Until the constitution is drafted, there is in fact no lower house of parliament, meaning Morsi has effectively barred legal action from being taken against the government. Protests have exploded back into Tharir Square over the past few days in response, leading to Morsi’s attempts to soothe the growing public perception that he harbors dictatorial designs of his own. source
Egyptians take to the streets to protest against President Mohammed Morsi
The protest spirit is alive and pulsing as ever in Egypt, where President Morsi’s recent decree granting himself inordinate power above and beyond the limits of the judiciary has sparked ferocious discontent.
![A year after Hosni Mubarak’s fall, new round of protests in Egypt: Tear gas filled the streets and 15 were injured in protests after President Mohammed Morsi issued a decree yesterday greatly expanding his own power. The decree shields any of the president’s decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament is elected; protects the Islamist-dominated assembly, which is in the process of crafting a new constitution for the country, from being dissolved; and calls for retrials of Hosni Mubarak and other members of the old guard. 18 liberal and Christain members of the aforementioned assembly recently withdrew from the process, claiming that their input wasn’t being addressed; Morsi’s claims that his decree will only be in effect until the new constitution is drafted. Both pro- and anti-Morsi protesters clashed in Egyptian streets today, numbering in the thousands. source [1] [2] [3] (Photo credit: Reuters)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdyj3dfO9p1qas8z9o1_500.jpg)
A year after Hosni Mubarak’s fall, new round of protests in Egypt: Tear gas filled the streets and 15 were injured in protests after President Mohammed Morsi issued a decree yesterday greatly expanding his own power. The decree shields any of the president’s decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament is elected; protects the Islamist-dominated assembly, which is in the process of crafting a new constitution for the country, from being dissolved; and calls for retrials of Hosni Mubarak and other members of the old guard. 18 liberal and Christain members of the aforementioned assembly recently withdrew from the process, claiming that their input wasn’t being addressed; Morsi’s claims that his decree will only be in effect until the new constitution is drafted. Both pro- and anti-Morsi protesters clashed in Egyptian streets today, numbering in the thousands. source [1] [2] [3] (Photo credit: Reuters)
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