This can be the most interesting news of last week by all measures. It passed so quietly to the level that no paid notice to despite its significance.
The head of Cairo Criminal court , Judge Hassan Farid stated that late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat did not order the dispersal of Pro-Morsi Rabaa sit-in.
The head Judge said that during the trial known in the media "Rabaa dispersal" where more than 600 people are facing jail time including Photo Journalist Mohamed Abou Zeid "Shawkan".
Judge Hassan said that statement when he rejected to include late Barakat who was killed in a huge bombing in June 2015 to the case by the request of the defense team.
It is quite interesting because I remember that Egyptian security forces dispersed the Pro-Morsi sits-in at Rabaa and Al-Nahda according to the order of Prosecutor general and general prosecution.
I remember that the Egyptian State TV used to air during its coverage for the dispersal that the General Prosecution ordered the dispersal.
The general prosecution is headed by Egypt's Prosecutor General and during then it was headed by late Hisham Barakat.
So who really ordered that dispersal !?
I am searching online to find if East Cairo prosecution was the one that issued the decision that officially changed Egypt for real but I have not found anything so far.
Instead , I found interestingly a news dated to 30 July 2013 in El-Badil newspaper quoting a source in the General Prosecution that Barakat as Prosecutor general was searching with his aides the possibility to disperse Pro-Morsi sits-in whether in Rabaa square or Nahda square.
Journalist Nariman Nagy also hinted more interestingly that late Barakat had told El-Shorouk newspaper on 31 July 2013 that Egypt's General prosecutions could not order the dispersal of Pro-Morsi's sits-in because it is outside its jurisdiction !!
The late prosecutor general repeated to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper the same thing on 15 August 2013 , yes after 24 hours of the forcible dispersal where not less 600 people were killed in Rabaa sit-in alone according to Egypt's National Council for Human rights.
Speaking about the National Council for Human rights , according to its official report about Rabaa dispersal in page 14 that the General Prosecution ordered in early August to disperse the sit-in assigning the ministry of interior to immediately work on dispersing both Nahda and Rabaa sits-in.
It is worth to mention that in July 2015 the Egyptian cabinet decided to change the name of Rabaa square , where the sit-in was held.
in to Hisham Barakat officially to honor the late prosecutor general.
You may think that thing in the criminal court is trivial but I am quite amazed that the truth began to be lost already and we do not know who ordered the dispersal of Rabaa sit-in.
Still, it is not something strange in Egypt.
In another important matter, I have lost counting how many days Shawkan have spent pending investigation and then pending trial only for being an Egyptian freelance journalist covering the dispersal of Rabaa.
The head of Cairo Criminal court , Judge Hassan Farid stated that late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat did not order the dispersal of Pro-Morsi Rabaa sit-in.
The head Judge said that during the trial known in the media "Rabaa dispersal" where more than 600 people are facing jail time including Photo Journalist Mohamed Abou Zeid "Shawkan".
Judge Hassan said that statement when he rejected to include late Barakat who was killed in a huge bombing in June 2015 to the case by the request of the defense team.
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| Late prosecutor general Hisham Barakat "Al-Ahram" |
I remember that the Egyptian State TV used to air during its coverage for the dispersal that the General Prosecution ordered the dispersal.
The general prosecution is headed by Egypt's Prosecutor General and during then it was headed by late Hisham Barakat.
So who really ordered that dispersal !?
I am searching online to find if East Cairo prosecution was the one that issued the decision that officially changed Egypt for real but I have not found anything so far.
Instead , I found interestingly a news dated to 30 July 2013 in El-Badil newspaper quoting a source in the General Prosecution that Barakat as Prosecutor general was searching with his aides the possibility to disperse Pro-Morsi sits-in whether in Rabaa square or Nahda square.
Journalist Nariman Nagy also hinted more interestingly that late Barakat had told El-Shorouk newspaper on 31 July 2013 that Egypt's General prosecutions could not order the dispersal of Pro-Morsi's sits-in because it is outside its jurisdiction !!
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| A scan for the report by Nariman Nagy |
Speaking about the National Council for Human rights , according to its official report about Rabaa dispersal in page 14 that the General Prosecution ordered in early August to disperse the sit-in assigning the ministry of interior to immediately work on dispersing both Nahda and Rabaa sits-in.
It is worth to mention that in July 2015 the Egyptian cabinet decided to change the name of Rabaa square , where the sit-in was held.
in to Hisham Barakat officially to honor the late prosecutor general.
You may think that thing in the criminal court is trivial but I am quite amazed that the truth began to be lost already and we do not know who ordered the dispersal of Rabaa sit-in.
Still, it is not something strange in Egypt.
In another important matter, I have lost counting how many days Shawkan have spent pending investigation and then pending trial only for being an Egyptian freelance journalist covering the dispersal of Rabaa.
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| Shawkan in the cage by Ahmed Atef |
We know that the cabinet held a meeting at which the dispersal of the protests at Rabaa Square and elsewhere were discussed. Mohamed ElBaradei opposed it then, which is why he resigned, and he may have been supported by some others that were urging caution (but did not subsequently resign - indeed some complained ElBaradei unilaterally resigned, without consulting them.) The Minister of Interior at the time was the implementor, but according to former cabinet members I spoke to, mostly insisted that if it acted, it would do so on its own terms, without being told how to do it (some wanted a light approach.) It is likely the pressure in the cabinet came from the Minister of Defense (Sisi) as well as intelligence chiefs, but it also came quite vehemently from civilian ministers, perhaps including the Prime Minister at the time, who wanted to dislodge the protests for ideological reasons essentially.
ReplyDeleteI remain convinced it was a joint decision by security types and civilians who wanted to escalate against the MB, knowing full well the consequences, in part to prevent an outcome where a negotiated solution might be found (remember only a few days before the decision was made,m on 12-13 August, there were still - unfruitful - attempts at negotiation with imprisoned MB leaders by several people, including the "Quartet" of US, EU, Qatar and UAE envoys.
Hundreds were killed in clashes with security forces before Rabaa, but ElBaradea didn't resign. He publicly advocated forced dispersal. Some argue he resigned because his role was over. Perhaps to keep a veneer of credibility to a willing foolish public for a future recall.
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