Egypt calls for the arrest of Sisi’s outspoken critic Mohamed Ali

[ad_1]

CAIRO An Egyptian court dealing with threats to national security has instructed the government to approach the International Criminal Police Organization Interpol to arrest three Egyptians, including a construction contractor in self-exile, for public incitement against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

On July 25, the State Security Court called on the government to take action, including addressing Interpol, to arrest construction contractor Mohamed Ali and Egyptian nationals Tamer Galal and Abdullah Salem for joining an illegal organization, namely the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of the late Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The court also accused the three of campaigning to obstruct the application of the Egyptian Constitution and undermine Egyptian institutions and publish false information about the political and economic conditions in Egypt.

Ali, Galal and Salemare are among a group of 15 people involved in what is widely known as the “Joker” affair.

The State Security Prosecutor’s Office had questioned the other 12 people previously and ordered their detention for 15 days, accusing them of communicating with a TV station affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood that broadcasts from another country and is pushing to bring them back. the Morsi movement in power in Egypt.

The case is a further step in Egypt’s crackdown on political dissent outside its borders.

Dozens of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, senior officials and secular opposition figures have fled to other countries since the military-backed uprising against Morsi in 2013.

Most of them settled in Turkey and Qatar, turned to airwaves and cyberspace, and became a headache for the Sisi administration.

“These people are involved in inciting the public against the government,” Jihad Auda, professor of political science at Helwan University, told Al-Monitor. “Almost all of their campaigns are based on lies and fabrications.”

Ali, an unfinished player, owned a subcontracting company that has implemented a number of construction projects for the Egyptian military in the past.

In 2019, he left for Spain and shortly after he accused Sisi of corruption and the generals of the Egyptian army of enriching themselves at the expense of the Egyptians.

He has repeatedly called for demonstrations against Sisi since then. However, most of those calls for protest fell flat, with a small number showing up on the streets.

Sisi countered Ali’s accusations during one of his public appearances by denying them. He also warned of the effects the street protests could have on the security of his country.

Nonetheless, the same accusations sparked calls from Sisi’s supporters to arrest Ali and bring him home to stand trial.

The Joker case dates back to September 2019.

The State Security Court accuses Ali and the 14 others implicated in the case of incitement to protest in the port city of Suez, in the northeast of the country.

He says the 15 encouraged members of the public to stage attacks on state institutions and government officials in the city.

The case, analysts say, proves Egypt’s determination to move forward with its crackdown on opposition abroad.

“These opposition figures are working tooth and nail to sow tension here,” Auda said. “That’s why the government is working hard to bring them home and try them on.”

Most of the Brotherhood’s leaders and senior members outside of Egypt are wanted by Egyptian courts after being charged with breaking the law.

Some leaders and senior members of the Islamist movement living in Turkey and Qatar have been sentenced to death in the past for participating in the killing of police officers, including through incitement in the media and cyberspace.

Egypt has reportedly asked some foreign governments to repatriate its nationals wanted by local courts.

The surrender of these citizens, according to analysts, is becoming a parameter of relations between Egypt and certain other countries.

“The handing over of these wanted personalities will be a gesture of goodwill on the part of foreign governments towards Egypt,” Mohamed al-Rashidi, member of the Egyptian Senate’s foreign relations committee, told Al-Monitor. “Egypt wants to bring these people home because the courts have already handed down sentences against them.”

This issue figures prominently in the ongoing talks between Egypt on the one hand, and Qatar and Turkey on the other.

Relations with the two countries deteriorated in 2013, following the ouster of Morsi, on Egyptian accusations of sponsoring the Muslim Brotherhood and offering its escaped members a safe haven.

Cairo has also accused Doha and Ankara of hosting or funding pro-Brotherhood TV channels that work to destabilize it and promote the Muslim Brotherhood agenda.

In June 2017, Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, sent a list of 13 demands that Qatar must meet, including the surrender of some Muslim Brotherhood figures, for relations with the Gulf States are back to normal after severing their diplomatic and trade relations. links with Doha.

Egypt is said to demand the same as it prepares to mend barriers with Qatar, following a first reconciliation in Saudi Arabia in January.

Cairo calls on Turkey to meet as the two countries strive to overcome their differences.

Ankara has already bowed to Egyptian pressure by asking pro-Brotherhood media to tone down their criticism of Sisi.

This is viewed with triumph here. Nonetheless, some people continue to doubt Egypt’s ability to fully suppress opposition abroad.

One of the problems Cairo will face as it tries to contact Interpol for cooperation on the case of political opponents in other countries is that most of these opponents have acquired the nationality of the countries in which they live, including in Turkey where most of the rulers have become Turkish citizens, legal experts said.

Some governments will continue to offer protection to Egyptian opposition figures so that they can use these figures as a pressure card against Cairo, they added.

“The problem is that most of the personalities wanted outside Egypt say that the charges against them in their country are politically motivated,” international law expert Salah al-Tahawi told Al-Monitor. “It can make foreign governments think twice about handing over these people.”

[ad_2]