Abbas and Netanyahu keep their mouths shut after Mubarak ousted

[P F Tinmore]

GAZA, (PIC)-- De facto Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu are still quiet and refuse to issue any statements about the departure of their Arab ally Hosni Mubarak from power.

Abbas's authority, which had launched a scathing attack on Egyptian protestors in the past few days, preferred to keep silent and not to make remarks on Mubarak's ouster.

The Fatah-controlled Wafa news agency only published a brief report on the resignation of Mubarak without official comments.

Israel officially announced the closure of its embassy in Cairo until further notice. Israel is now deeply worried that Mubarak's ouster could lead to the emergence of an Egyptian government less friendly to it.

Abbas and Netanyahu keep their mouths shut after Mubarak ousted

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - Hosni got some catchin' up to do...

Court Orders Mubarak Freed as Gunmen Kill 26 Police in Sinai
Aug 19, 2013 (Updates with ban in 16th paragraph and U.S. review of aid in 20th.)

A Cairo court ordered ousted President Hosni Mubarak freed from prison, a move that could complicate Egypt’s increasingly violent political transition, while militants in Sinai killed 26 policemen. The Cairo criminal court’s order to free Mubarak threatens to inject new tensions in a nation convulsed by unrest that has killed almost 1,000 in the past six days. His potential release may spur arguments by the Muslim Brotherhood and others locked in a standoff with the government that the military-installed leaders want to restore the kind of police state Mubarak led.

The military removed Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Mursi on July 3 following days of rallies against him, a move that has sparked near-daily protests by his backers that have frequently boiled over into deadly clashes. The tumult has made it even more difficult for Egypt to emerge from the slowdown that has battered the economy since Mubarak was toppled. “No doubt there’s a willingness from some elements of the former regime of Mubarak to come back to the Egyptian political landscape,” said Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession. “This doesn’t mean a return of the police state, those who participated in the Egyptian revolution won’t allow that.”

Military Custody

Mursi has been in military custody since his removal. He was ordered held today for 15 more days pending a probe into new claims he incited violence during deadly unrest in December. Mubarak, ordered freed in connection with a corruption case, could be released within three days, his attorney, Farid ElDib, said by phone today. He has already been ordered released in connection with two other lawsuits for which he has been jailed, including his role in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. Another case involving gifts from the state-run Ahram group must be decided before he can be freed, Mahmoud el-Hefnawy, an official with the prosecutor general’s office, said by phone.

Mubarak is being retried in the protester deaths case after his life sentence was overturned on appeal. Youth activists from the group that drove the campaign to oust Mursi said the autocratic leader who ruled Egypt for 29 years won’t be allowed to govern again.

‘Same Coin’

See also:

Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide
August 19, 2013 – The supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, has been arrested in Cairo, Egyptian officials said on Tuesday.

The arrest came as authorities pursued a crackdown on the Brotherhood, the party of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, which has sparked deadly protests and international condemnation. Badie was arrested in an apartment near Rabaa al-Adawiya square, where more than 200 Morsi supporters were killed on Wednesday as police cleared their protest camp, the interior ministry said, according to state television.

Both public and private television channels showed pictures of Badie, 70, being escorted away by police. Senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, including Badie, are wanted for questioning, accused of inciting the deaths of protesters. Prosecutors have set an August 25 date for the trial of six top Brotherhood leaders for "incitement to murder." The arrest came days after Badie's son was killed in protests against Morsi's ouster.

Egypt's interior ministry has said it has arrested more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood "elements" during the unrest. Morsi was deposed by the military on July 3 in what his supporters call a coup. His opponents say the military had no choice but to intervene after the start of another popular uprising like the one that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. According to an AFP tally, more than 1,000 people have been killed since mass demonstrations against the deposed president at the end of June.

Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide | Fox News