Tony Abbott urged to put pressure on Egypt to free journalist Peter Greste

 Paul Farrell theguardian.com, Thursday 30 January 2014

Christine Milne says Australian journalist who works for al-Jazeera is being held 'for no other reason than doing his job'

Australian journalist Peter Greste, who is being held in Cairo's Tora prison. Photograph: AAP

The Greens leader, Christine Milne, has called on the prime minister to stand up for imprisoned Australian journalist Peter Greste following an announcement that Egyptian authorities will lay charges against him and his colleagues.

Greste, who grew up in Brisbane, has been imprisoned in Cairo since 29 December along with his al-Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. Two other al-Jazeera journalists have been in detention for five months.

“I'm calling on Tony Abbott to make representations immediately on behalf of Australian journalist Peter Greste who is being held in Egypt for no other reason than doing his job as a journalist,” Milne said in a press conference on Thursday.

“It's important that countries stand up and say that freedom of the press is something that is valuable and must be protected.

“Come on, Tony Abbott, stand up for an Australian journalist held overseas. We need to uphold freedom of the press.”

Egyptian prosecutors announced on Thursday they would be charging 20 al-Jazeera journalists, including two Britons, an Australian and a Dutch citizen, with fabricating news and tarnishing Egypt's reputation.

Greste’s parents criticised the charges at a press conference on Thursday.

"This is most undeserved, outrageous and shameful. It's unbecoming of a great nation like Egypt, it's unbecoming of any civil society to behave like this," his father Juris Greste said.

"I don't want to mention the very obvious, but Lois and I have had the most harrowing, the most stressful and difficult four weeks of our lives.

"We've lived through tense moments in Peter’s career but this has been the most wearing. So if it appears we are not as coherent as we might be, please understand."

Lois Greste said they had last spoken to Peter a week ago at his last review, and were unable to speak to him at an appeal that was lodged on Wednesday night.

Al-Jazeera said in a statement: “The world knows these allegations against our journalists are absurd, baseless and false. This is a challenge to free speech, to the right of journalists to report on all aspects of events, and to the right of people to know what is going on.

“We will continue to pursue all avenues to get our journalists back, and are grateful for all the support we have received. It is clear this is not just al-Jazeera’s campaign, but one taken on by all freedom-loving people around the world.”

The statement said al-Jazeera was unaware that Egyptian authorities were pursuing any journalists other than the five already held in detention.

Greste is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and has been a foreign correspondent since 1991, working for the ABC, CNN, BBC and al-Jazeera. He won a Peabody award for a documentary on Somalia.

There has been widespread international condemnation of Egypt’s detention of journalists. Australia’s Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance also called on journalists to sign a petition for the release of the trio. US senator John McCain also called for the release of the journalists.

Tony Abbott urged to put pressure on Egypt to free journalist Peter Greste | World news | theguardian.com

Egypt to charge al-Jazeera journalists with damaging country's reputation

 Patrick Kingsley in Cairo The Guardian, Thursday 30 January 2014

Rights groups says move to indict 20 employees of news channel marks escalation in state's campaign against foreign media

Al-Jazeera's Cario studio after it was set ablaze in November. Sixteen of its journalist are accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Egyptian prosecutors say they will charge 20 al-Jazeera journalists, including two Britons, an Australian and a Dutch citizen, with fabricating news and tarnishing Egypt's reputation abroad. The 16 local defendants are also accused of belonging to former president Mohamed Morsi's now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The journalists include the Australian former BBC correspondent Peter Greste, and the al-Jazeera's Canadian-Egyptian bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who has worked for CNN and the New York Times. The identities of the other defendants, including the two Britons, are not stated, and some of them are understood to have been accused in absentia.

In a statement, prosecutors said the defendants aimed "to weaken the state's status, harming the national interest of the country, disturbing public security, instilling fear among the people, causing damage to the public interest, and possession of communication, filming, broadcast, video transmission without permit from the concerned authorities".

Al-Jazeera's Mohamed Fahmy, left, Baher Mohamed, centre, and Peter Greste were arrested in Decemver during a raid on a makeshift office suite in Cairo's Marriott hotel.

Officials, who wanted to remain anonymous, also claimed the US news network CNN had broadcast al-Jazeera's reporting in an effort "to distort Egypt's international reputation", though this allegation was not repeated in any official document.

Rights advocates said the charges mark a serious escalation in the Egyptian state's campaign against foreign media. The government's supporters claim international news outlets are biased in their reporting of human rights abuses against Morsi supporters and secular dissenters – and accuse overseas outlets of working in the Brotherhood's interests.

Al-Jazeera has received by far the fiercest criticism because its owner, Qatar, is considered sympathetic to the Brotherhood. The broadcaster's Arabic-language stations are considered particularly biased by the Egyptian government.

Conflicts between al-Jazeera and the Egyptian authorities after the Brotherhood's overthrow in July forced the broadcaster to shut the offices of its Arabic and English divisions, and its employees to operate without accreditation – one of several charges laid against the journalists on Wednesday.

"This case is part of a violent campaign against the freedom of expression and journalism that we have never witnessed before, except during the dying days of the Mubarak regime, from October to December 2010," said Gamal Eid, a leading Egyptian rights lawyer, and head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

"This is taking legitimate journalists' work and calling it terrorism," said Sherif Mansour, Middle East director for the Committee for the Protection of Journalists. "That's the biggest distortion of Egypt's image abroad – not the reporting the journalists were doing."

The charges would have a chilling effect on the work of journalists in Egypt, according to Khaled Mansour, the head of a leading local rights watchdog, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

"I have a very strong concern now for journalists, especially foreign journalists, who are trying very hard to create a balanced picture of what is going on in this country," he said. "The work of a journalist involves going to dangerous places and interviewing outlaws. But if I were a journalist in this country, I would now be very frightened of talking to the Muslim Brotherhood – even though they are an important part of the story.

"This will really have a very chilling effect on the work of journalists – and I would hope this government will make a distinction between a journalist doing their job and meeting people, and the charges that have been filed."

The Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne also condemned the journalists' treatment at an event in London. More than 40 international and Egypt-focused journalists – including CNN's Christine Amanpour and the BBC's Jeremy Bowen – signed a joint letter on the same subject two weeks ago.

Lawyers were unclear about whether charges referred to members of al-Jazeera's Arabic channel who were arrested in August, or just al-Jazeera English journalists seized several months later. Al-Jazeera English's Greste, Fahmy, and local producer Baher Mohamed have been detained since late December after state security officials raided their informal base in the Marriott, a hotel in central Cairo. In local media – whose coverage is highly skewed towards the government – state officials have described the trio as "the Marriott terror cell".

In a recent letter from prison, Greste called their incarceration "an attack not just on me and my two colleagues but on freedom of speech across Egypt".

Greste has been placed in a better-kept cell, but Fahmy has been denied medical treatment for a dislocated shoulder, which was injured shortly before his arrest. Fahmy and Mohamed are in a high-security prison reserved for suspected terrorists. They spend "24 hours a day in their mosquito-infested cells, sleeping on the floor with no books or writing materials to break the soul-destroying tedium", according to Greste.

Egyptian riot police block a photojournalist outside the offices of the Journalists' Syndicate in Cairo. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

Abdullah Elshamy, one of the al-Jazeera Arabic journalists detained without charge since August, has been on hunger-strike for nine days to draw attention to his plight. "I do not belong to any group or ideology, I belong to my conscience and my humanity," he said in a letter from prison on Monday.

"Even though the other journalists have been accused unjustly, at least they are going to be able to defend themselves," his brother Mosa'ab Elshamy, an acclaimed photographer, told the Guardian. "Abdullah hasn't even been given that right – and his case is even more backward than the one referred today."

The fate of their younger brother is indicative of the harsh conditions facing journalists in Egypt. Mohamed Elshamy was arrested at a police checkpoint on Tuesday because his camera contained images of a protest. He was later released.

"It is not only that the violence has made it almost impossible to take close-up pictures at protests," said Mosa'ab Elshamy, "but it has become difficult to even carry a camera in the street."

Being detained by police or threatened by mobs is a common experience for journalists – and especially photographers – when reporting near large crowds. One German crew was reportedly hospitalised last Friday after a particularly vicious attack near the site of a bomb explosion.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented at least 24 abuses against members of the media in Egypt since Saturday. It says the level of attacks on and detentions of journalists in the months after Morsi's overthrow was unprecedented in Egypt's history.

Anger at foreign media is high among certain sections of the population who see Egypt as being on the path to democracy, and who link the Brotherhood to terrorist acts committed by extremist groups.

oOne pro-government supporter, Ali Abdel Samer, a shopkeeper, said: "All the foreign media is just saying things from the Brotherhood's side."

The Guardian has come under express criticism from Egypt's presidency.

Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, a cabinet minister, told correspondents last week: "The international media has not assessed the facts in Egypt as we see it here."

Egypt to charge al-Jazeera journalists with damaging country's reputation | World news | The Guardian

British lawmakers tell Queen Elizabeth's accountants to cut costs and repair crumbling palaces

 

British politicians have taken aim at Queen Elizabeth II's household accountants, saying they must cut their costs and tackle a huge backlog of repairs to the monarch's crumbling palaces.

PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth has been told to cut costs and tackle a huge backlog of repairs to crumbling palaces.(AFP: Iver Heath, file photo)

RELATED STORY: Queen keeps tabs on Aussie horse

Palace officials must also do more to boost the royal family's income as they are dipping into reserve funds alarmingly often, parliament's public accounts committee said in a report.

The Queen's reserves are down to a "historically low" 1 million pounds sterling ($1.89 million), the report revealed.

Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said lawmakers felt the Queen had "not been served well" by her household accountants or by the Treasury, the finance ministry which is supposed to scrutinise royal spending.

"The household needs to get better at planning and managing its budgets for the longer term - and the Treasury should be more actively involved in reviewing what the household is doing," she said.

The report warned that palace officials were failing to invest in repairs, with nearly 40 per cent of the royal estate deemed to be in an unacceptable condition when assessments were made in March 2012.

MP saw rain coming in to Buckingham Palace's picture gallery

One MP on the committee recalled that he had noticed leaks in Buckingham Palace's picture gallery on a recent visit.

"The rain was coming in on the expensive paintings," he told the committee.

Photo: Some of Buckingham Palace's 775 rooms have not been refurbished for 60 years. (AFP: Carl Court)

The Victoria and Albert Mausoleum, where the late Queen Victoria and her husband prince Albert are buried, has been waiting for repairs for 18 years, the report said, while other problems include walls riddled with asbestos.

Some of Buckingham Palace's 775 rooms have not been refurbished for 60 years, a palace official told MPs.

"The household must get a much firmer grip on how it plans to address its maintenance backlog," Ms Hodge said.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said tackling repairs was "a significant financial priority for the royal household".

"Recent examples of work include the renewal of a lead roof over the royal library at Windsor and the removal of asbestos from the basement of Buckingham Palace," she said.

"The need for property maintenance is continually assessed."

Queen told to cut more costs, raise income through tourism

The committee acknowledged that the Queen's household has managed to cut its net costs by 16 per cent since 2007-8, but said most of this was through increasing its income, such as by opening the palace to tourists.

The royal household must do more to make efficiency savings, the report said.

It added that the palace should make sure it has "sufficient commercial expertise in place" in order to maximise the royal family's income, such as through tours, leasing its properties and making its facilities available for commercial events.

Officials have also considered opening the doors of Buckingham Palace more often in order to bring in more money from tourists, but decided there were too many "constraints" including high set-up costs, the report said.

Currently the palace is open to the public during August and September, when the Queen takes her summer holiday in Scotland, and there are private guided tours at other times.

The palace told lawmakers it had already made significant efficiency savings and had been forced to dip into reserves because of the huge cost of the diamond jubilee celebrations marking the Queen's 60th year on the throne in 2012.

Last year the Queen received 31 million pounds ($58 million) from the taxpayer to cover her staffing costs, travel and the maintenance of her palaces.

The so-called Sovereign Grant is set to rise to 36.1 million pounds ($68 million) in 2013-14 and to 37.9 million ($71 million) in 2014-15.

AFP

British lawmakers tell Queen Elizabeth's accountants to cut costs and repair crumbling palaces - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The Holocaust is not your metaphor to use in modern political debates

 

Hila Shachar theguardian.com, Monday 27 January 20

Using images of those killed by the Nazis to make a point about our own government's refugee policies is demeaning to victims. They should be remembered for their individual humanity

Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan visits the Auschwitz monument in the Wertheimpark in Amsterdam. Photograph: Remko De Waal/EPA

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorated annually on 27 January on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Designated by the UN General Assembly, the day honours the victims of the Nazi era.

In thinking about what it actually means to honour the victims, I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the best ways to do this is to continue reminding ourselves that those victims were individual human beings. This should seem obvious, right? And yet, the victims of the Holocaust continue to be appropriated as political metaphors and dehumanised in the process.

Specific examples can be both well-meaning or purposefully disrespectful. Take the animal rights group PETA, which is known for its insensitive shock tactics when it comes to its marketing. In 2004, the group created the Holocaust on your plate campaign, using images of emaciated victims of Nazi concentration camps and comparing meat-eaters and those working in the meat-production industry to Nazis. I hope I don’t need to explain why this is wrong. But as I’ve been watching Facebook and Twitter conversations about the Tony Abbott government’s treatment of refugees degenerate into comparisons with the Nazis, I have to wonder if perhaps I do. 

Recently, I came across this Facebook post that uses an image of a child who was killed in Auschwitz next to an image of a baby who was born in Christmas Island detention centre. It’s highly emotive and also, in my view, highly unethical. Using images of those who were killed by the Nazis to make a point about the Australian government’s policies is demeaning to those who died. It is essentially saying that their deaths are not to be remembered for their own sake, but rather because they are useful tools as points of reference and comparison in contemporary political debate. It turns Holocaust victims and survivors into concepts, decontexualised imagery and generalisations, and erases their individuality as human beings – even when the intentions behind it are sincere and well-meaning.

This approach defeats the purpose of fighting for the sanctity of human life in current ethical debates about detention centres, because it appropriates the sanctity of the lives of those who are not here to speak for themselves. Enough dehumanising violence was done to second world war victims during their own time; we have no right to add to that violence by further reducing them to nameless images in our current advertising and social media campaigns. Their bodies and lives are not our public property.

Czesława Kwoka. Photograph: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

The child that you see in the Facebook picture referred to above wasn’t born so she could be conveniently used as imagery that simplistically compares her suffering with someone else’s. She had a name – Czesława Kwoka – and she died in Auschwitz at the age of 14 in fear and terror. This photo of her speaks of her own lost life, one that was brutally cut short in a specific context. When we remove it from this historical frame, we are appropriating her death. As Catherine Bouris points out, the government’s “treatment of refugees is visibly awful already. Comparing it to the Holocaust is unnecessarily inflammatory.” It also generalises trauma that should not be generalised.

Perhaps because half my family was wiped by the Holocaust, I’m unable to sit back in silence and watch people casually drop it into sentences as if it is meaningless. Perhaps it’s also because I’ve interviewed Holocaust survivors and touched their trembling hands as they showed me photographs of family members and friends they had lost. You can’t see and experience that and assume that it’s okay to opportunistically use the Holocaust as an metaphorical concept.

It takes a certain lack of perspective to assume that the images, bodies and murdered silence of victims of historical war and genocide exist for our own consumption and use in contemporary ethical dilemmas. We should remember the victims for themselves – it’s the least we can do for them.

The Holocaust is not your metaphor to use in modern political debates | Hila Shachar | Comment is free | theguardian.com

Extremist religion is at root of 21st-century wars, says Tony Blair | Politics | The Observer

 Toby Helm, political editor The Observer, Sunday 26 January 2014

Former prime minister will reignite debate on Iraq as he calls on governments to switch tactics

Tony Blair says that religious extremism has become the biggest source of conflict around the world. Photograph: Blair Gable/Reuters

Tony Blair has reignited debate about the west's response to terrorism with a call on governments to recognise that religious extremism has become the biggest source of conflict around the world.

Referring to wars and violent confrontations from Syria to Nigeria and the Philippines, Blair, writing in the Observer, argues that "there is one thing self-evidently in common: the acts of terrorism are perpetrated by people motivated by an abuse of religion. It is a perversion of faith."

Identifying religious extremism as an ever more dangerous phenomenon, the spread of which is easier in an online age, he says: "The battles of this century are less likely to be the product of extreme political ideology, like those of the 20th century – but they could easily be fought around the questions of cultural or religious difference."

The former prime minister, who led the country into the Iraq conflict in 2003, appears to acknowledge that previous aspirations to export liberal democracy focused too much on political objectives.

But sources close to Blair insist that he is not in any way indulging in a mea culpa over past interventions by the west, including in Iraq. In the future, he writes, "the purpose should be to change the policy of governments; to start to treat this issue of religious extremism as an issue that is about religion as well as politics, to go to the roots of where a false view of religion is being promulgated and to make it a major item on the agenda of world leaders to combine effectively to combat it. This is a struggle that is only just beginning."

The promotion of religious tolerance, both within and between countries, states Blair, will be key to fostering peaceful outcomes around the world in the 21st century.

He uses his article to announce the creation a new online forum and database run by his Faith Foundation in collaboration with the Harvard Divinity School, which he hopes will become the world's leading source of information and debate about religion and conflict.

Blair argues that while the west needs to be ready to take security measures for its protection, such action alone, even military action, "will not deal with the root cause of extremism".

Debate over Blair's role in the invasion of Iraq will return to centre stage this summer when the long-awaited Chilcot report into the period running up to the war is published. It is expected to contain damning evidence of how President Bush and Blair jointly engaged in a rush to war to topple Saddam Hussein in the face of warnings of the risks of triggering sectarian divisions across the region.

In the article, Blair directly addresses the chaos left in the wake of the invasion when he argues: "All over the region and including in Iraq, where exactly the same sectarianism threatens the right of the people to a democratic future, such a campaign [for tolerance of other religious views] has to be actively engaged. It is one reason why the Middle East matters so much and why any attempt to disengage is so wrong and short-sighted."

Critics of the neoliberal interventions of the last decade – including those in Iraq and Afghanistan – have argued that they rely too much on a political "freedom" agenda, focusing on the toppling of tyrants in the belief that the introduction of democracy would be a panacea.

But some fear that to focus too much on deep-seated religious schisms is to ignore the local complexities of such regional conflicts.

On Saturday, Jonathan Eyal, the international director of the Royal United Services Institute, took issue with Blair's analysis and any implication that western governments were not informed before invading Iraq of the sectarian violence that was likely to be stirred up.

"Predicting when religious differences may descend into outright violence is never easy," he said. "But it's just fallacious to claim that those who ordered and led the 2003 Iraq war lacked access to the necessary information about the complexities of that country's ethnic and religious divisions, or could have ever assumed that they could complete their intervention without rekindling religious bloodshed."

He added: "It was not the lack of sufficient knowledge about history and religion which led to the Iraqi debacle, but the lack of restraint among politicians who had all the relevant information at their fingertips."

Extremist religion is at root of 21st-century wars, says Tony Blair | Politics | The Observer

Clashes break out after bomb blasts kill six people and injure 76 in Cairo

By Middle East correspondent Hayden Cooper, wires

Photo: Deadly clashes broke out in the capital and several other cities between pro-Morsi supporters and security forces. (REUTERS: Al Youm Al Saabi Newspaper)

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Map: Egypt

Clashes have broken out in the Egyptian capital Cairo involving supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood after a wave of bomb attacks targeting police.

At least six people died in the explosions and 76 more were wounded, officials said.

In the largest attack, a car bomb exploded at a security compound in the city's centre early in the morning and killed at least four people, including three policemen, security sources said.

Officials said the blast was the work of a suicide bomber, but local television footage showed a man getting out of a van minutes before it exploded.

State television quoted witnesses as saying gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on buildings after the explosion.

Three smaller bombs were also detonated, including one in the Dokki district that killed one person and another near a cinema on the outskirts of Cairo, which also led to one fatality.

A militant group called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, or the Champions of Jerusalem, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Deadly clashes and condemnation

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters clashed with security forces in Cairo following the bomb attacks, with police using tear gas to quell the unrest.

The violence comes on the eve of the third anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak and raises fears that an Islamist insurgency is gaining pace in Egypt.

The 2011 revolt raised hopes of a stable democracy in the Arab world's biggest nation.

Instead, relentless political turmoil has hit investment and tourism hard in Egypt.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood are today planning more protests and some government ministers have called for regime supporters to take to the streets as well.

The army-backed government has condemned the bloodshed.

Since coming into power, it has effectively removed the Brotherhood from politics and many Egyptians turned against it after Morsi's troubled one-year rule.

In a statement, prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi said it was an attempt by "terrorist forces" to derail the army-backed government's political road map, which is meant to lead to free and fair elections.

The office of president Adly Mansour also released a statement, saying it would "avenge the deaths of the martyrs" who died at the Security Directorate and severely punish the perpetrators.

Later in the day, a military helicopter flew back and forth over central Cairo, underscoring concerns that another attack could happen at any time.

In Washington, the White House condemned the bombings and urged all sides to avoid violence.

"These crimes should be investigated fully and the perpetrators should be brought to justice," spokesman Jay Carney said.

Photo: Supporters of Egypt's military government wave flags in downtown Cairo. Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters also took to the streets. (Reuters: Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

'Traitors and dogs'

The police headquarters assault will likely encourage the state to crack down harder on the Brotherhood, which it accuses of terrorist acts.

The group says it is a peaceful movement.

Human rights groups accuse security forces of widespread human rights abuses in their crackdown on the Brotherhood, but the group has little sympathy on the street.

The mood was tense at the Cairo Security Directorate.

"Traitors and dogs!" yelled onlookers, an apparent reference to the assailants.

People also chanted anti-Brotherhood slogans.

"The people want the execution of the Brotherhood. Execution for Morsi," they yelled.

One woman, Wafaa Ahmed, was crying outside the Cairo Security Directorate.

"These people have no sense of loyalty to the nation," she said.

"This is terrorism, they want to get back at us because we finished them off."

ABC/wires

Clashes break out after bomb blasts kill six people and injure 76 in Cairo - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Egypt constitution approved by 98 per cent of voters, according to official results

 

More than 98 per cent of voters have supported a new Egyptian constitution in a referendum, though voter turnout was lower than predicted, electoral officials say.

The overwhelming 'yes' vote advances a transition plan that the military-backed government unveiled after deposing Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last July following mass unrest over his rule.

"Now that God has supported us in legalising our constitution, we ask for his aid in achieving the remaining two stages of the road map: the presidential and parliamentary elections," said Nabil Salib, head of the Supreme Election Committee.

Officials say that 38.6 per cent of eligible voters took part in the ballot, well below the 55 per cent that an interior ministry official had earlier estimated.

However, it is still more than the 32.9 per cent turnout in a referendum in 2012 that backed the previous constitution under Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by the government and faces a wide crackdown from security forces, boycotted the vote.

The new constitution could lead to an outright ban on Islamist parties and strengthens the political grip of the already powerful military establishment.

It also allows a presidential election to be held before parliamentary polls and interim president Adly Mansour, is expected to announce within days which election will come first.

Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the overthrow of Mr Morsi, is widely seen as the front-runner for the presidency.

He is expected to announce his candidacy within a few days.

Reuters

Egypt constitution approved by 98 per cent of voters, according to official results - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Egyptians defy violence to vote on constitution

 Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Wednesday 15 January 2014

Referendum marred by fatal clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces in Beni Suef hours after Cairo bomb blast

Link to video: Cairo shaken by bomb blast as Egyptians vote on new constitution

Pro-government Egyptians have ignored a string of fatal clashes to vote for the first time in the post-Morsi era, in a referendum opposed by secular activists and loyalists to the ousted president.

Most polling stations were calm, with up to 160,000 soldiers policing voting queues across the country. But at least 11 people were killed, including three in the southern city of Sohag and one in Beni Suef, the first large city south of Cairo, in clashes between security forces and supporters of Mohamed Morsi.

Other clashes were reported in the Cairo suburb of Helwan, while a bomb exploded outside a courthouse in the north-west of the city.

A police official blamed the explosion, which damaged the front of the court, but injured no one, on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. But local shopkeepers said they had not seen who planted it.

Others said the blast would not deter them from taking part in the vote. The referendum has been portrayed by the government and almost every local media outlet as not just a poll on the constitution's contents, but as both a ratification of Morsi's overthrow and a make-or-break moment in Egyptian history.

"Of course I'm still going [to vote], and for sure I will say yes," said Ahmed Rashid, a 26-year-old baker selling bread directly opposite the damaged courthouse. "After all we've been through in the last two years, what else do you expect me to say? We need stability, and the constitution will give us that."

General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief who deposed Morsi in July, was cheered by crowds as he toured a polling station in north-eastern Cairo. Over the weekend, Sisi hinted that he would regard a strong turn-out and a high yes vote as a mandate to run for office.

In Kerdasa, a town just west of Cairo, where pro-Morsi extremists allegedly killed a dozen policemen in August, and where fatal clashes broke out at lunchtime, some voters happily responded to Sisi's call.

"Yes to Sisi," said Khadr Abdel Salem, 50, when asked how she had voted. "But this is for the constitution," Salem's friend reminded her. "Yes," Salem replied, "but it's the same thing."

A nearby newsstand highlighted the prism through which many Egyptians have been encouraged to view the referendum. "Today is judgment day," said the front page of Dostour, a pro-government broadsheet. "Today is the difference between freedom and slavery," said another paper, al-Shaab.

Amid such fervour, few have been willing, or have been given the space, to express an alternative view; few no voters could be found. The main party driving the no campaign, Strong Egypt, said 35 of its activists had been arrested while on the campaign trail, and opted on Monday to boycott the election entirely.

But, here and there, some people gave hints of dissent. The newspaper vendor in Kerdasa handed over a rare pro-Morsi broadsheet. "Just in case you thought everyone felt like that," he said with a wink, before admitting he was boycotting the poll.

Someone had stamped sectarian graffiti against the referendum on walls in Kerdasa. "Boycott the pope's constitution," read one slogan, appearing to incite hatred of Christians by claiming that the Coptic pope was behind the referendum.

Amid the focus on the symbolism of its enactment, the contents of the constitution have been largely ignored. Supporters praise it for largely removing pro-Islamist sections from Morsi's version and for potentially paving the way to better education, healthcare and women's rights.

Opponents, however, say it is less than the revolutionary document they expected after the removal of two presidents. In particular, they are critical of clauses that variously allow for civilians to be tried in certain contexts in army courts, curb workers' rights, and limit religious freedoms to members of the three Abrahamic religions.

The referendum will be monitored by hundreds of local observers and 83 overseas delegates from Democracy International (DI), paid for by the US government. "But just by being here, we're not making a statement that the process is legitimate or illegitimate," DI's head of mission, Dan Murphy, said.

Another US-based group, the Carter Centre, will send only a small delegation after being deeply concerned by the "narrowed political space surrounding the upcoming referendum".

Egyptians defy violence to vote on constitution | World news | theguardian.com