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
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.
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.
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.
![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)
Egypt announced on Wednesday that a ceasefire had been reached to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, starting later in the day.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr made the announcement in a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceasefire would come into effect at 15:00 EDT, said Amr, whose country has been at the heart of efforts to broker an end to the conflict.
…
Here are the details of the agreement. This is a big development not only for Israel and Gaza, but post-revolutionary Egypt as well. If the ceasefire holds, it will be a huge win for President Mohammed Morsi, and he’ll reap lots of credit for helping broker the agreement.
I have nothing to fear, I only fear God, I am here among you.Egyptian President Elect Mohammed Morsi • Opening his jacket to reveal he was not wearing a bulletproof vest while taking a symbolic oath of office in Tahrir Square in front of throngs of cheering suppoters. A bold move by the first Islamist president-elect, who was defying orders from military generals who were to hold Morsi’s official swearing-in ceremony in front of a high court on Saturday. source (via • follow)
Over the last 90 days, the Digg...
#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
1. I think...
Two Months Ago I set out to interview the principal cast...
This guy’s name is Gen. Keith...
“I love the one non-NSA story that made it on the...
Egypt reacts to elections: Supporters of Mohammed Morsi celebrated in Tahrir Square as election results were read over loudspeakers. “We’re finally going to be respected, we’ve been oppressed for too long,” said, Adham Lotfy, a 28-year-old owner of a parking garage. However, not everyone is as ecstatic as members of the Muslim Brotherhood. ”I’m very sceptical, and I fear what is still to be done,” said an anonymous woman to Al Jazeera reporter, Evan Hill. source
President Morsi will struggle to control the levers of state. He will likely face foot-dragging and perhaps outright attempts to undermine his initiatives from key institutions. Faced with such resistance, frustration may tempt him fall into the trap of attempting to throw his new weight around. This would be a mistake. His challenge is to lead a bitterly divided, fearful, and angry population toward a peaceful democratic outcome, without becoming a reviled scapegoat for continued military rule.European Council on Foreign Relations Senior Policy Fellow Elijah Zarwan • Analyzing the challenges Mohamed Morsi will face in leading Egypt in the coming months and years. Morsi won the election on Sunday, with 52 percent of the vote.
Mohammed Morsi - President Of Egypt.
He received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1982. He was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge from 1982 to 1985. In 1985, he returned to Egypt to teach at Zagazig University. His children were born in California and are U.S. citizens.
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
