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| Sons of Egypt's Mubarak nearly came to blows - paper Posted: 14 Feb 2011 06:22 AM PST CAIRO (Reuters) - The two sons of Hosni Mubarak almost came to blows last Thursday when the former Egyptian president gave his final speech in an effort to stay in power, a state-owned newspaper said on Sunday. Al-Akhbar said Alaa Mubarak accused his younger brother Gamal, who had held a senior position in the ruling party, of having ruined the 82-year-old leader's final days in office through promoting his business friends in political life.
Alaa reportedly said this had turned Egyptians against their father, who had been in power since 1981. "You ruined the country when you opened the way to your friends and this is the result. Instead of your father being honoured at the end of his life you helped to spoil his image in this manner," the daily quoted him as saying. The newspaper did not give its sources, simply saying it "learned" of the details. There was no way to immediately confirm the report. It said the argument took place in the presidential palace in Cairo while Mubarak was recording his final speech, which he hoped would persuade protesters to stand down and give promised reforms a chance during Mubarak's last months in office. It said senior officials had to intervene to separate them. Gamal Mubarak, 47, who spent 11 years working at Bank of America in Cairo and London, gained considerable influence in government after Mubarak appointed him head of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) policy committee in 2002. Analysts say he eased the way of business friends to senior positions in the NDP and into the cabinet of Ahmed Nazif, the prime minister sacked by Mubarak several days after massive protests broke out in Egypt on Jan. 25. Corruption among the ruling elite is seen as one of the reasons for popular anger at Mubarak, though political repression and police brutality were also major factors. Many Egyptians felt Mubarak was grooming Gamal as his successor. Before Gamal rose to prominence, speculation was rife in the 1990s that Mubarak wanted Alaa, a businessman, to succeed him. The al-Akhbar report said Alaa was also angry because the original draft of Mubarak's speech was scrapped. That would have seen him hand his civilian powers to his deputy Omar Suleiman and military powers to the armed forces. Mubarak's speech on Thursday evening delegated presidential powers to Suleiman, who was seen by the protest movement as Mubarak's man and unacceptable. After protesters came out in their hundreds of thousands all over Egypt on Friday, Suleiman appeared on television to say in a brief speech that Mubarak had resigned and handed his powers over to the army's Higher Military Council. (Reporting by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton) Copyright © 2011 Reuters | ||
| Hundreds march in Iranian opposition rally Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:51 AM PST TEHRAN (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranians marched toward a Tehran square on Monday in a banned rally supporting popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, but their way was blocked by police and security forces, witnesses said. The march was a test of strength for the reformist opposition, which has not taken to the streets since Dec. 2009, when eight people were killed. But Iranian security forces were still unlikely to hesitate to use all means to stop any protest. Opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi took advantage of official Iranian backing for the huge Arab street protests to call their own demonstrations in support, but authorities refused their request. The opposition nevertheless renewed the call for the rally. Iranian authorities have warned the opposition to avoid creating a "security crisis" by reviving protests that erupted after the vote, the biggest unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution. Hundreds of demonstrators marched down Azadi (Freedom) Street, a wide boulevard, towards Azadi Square, a traditional rallying point for protests dominated by a huge white marble arch, in central Tehran. "Hundreds of people are marching towards Azadi and Enghelab streets," one witness said. "Hundreds of riot police are in the area as well but there are no clashes." Hundreds of marchers also gathered in the central city of Isfahan, witnesses said. Police and state security men were prepared in Tehran. "There are dozens of police and security forces in Vali-ye Asr Avenue ... They have blocked entrances of metro stations in the area," a witness told Reuters earlier, referring to a large thoroughfare that cuts through the Iranian capital. Another witness said police cars with windows covered by black curtains were parked near Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Mousavi's website, Kaleme, said security forces had set up a roadblock, refusing access to the opposition leader's residence in southern Tehran. It said both mobile and landline telephone communications with Mousavi's house were cut. "It seems these newly-set restrictions are aimed at preventing Mousavi and his wife (Zahra Rahnavard) from attending the rally," Kaleme said. Plainclothes police stopped Rahnavard leaving the house, Karroubi's Sahamnews website reported. "THE NATION'S DEMANDS" Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia an "Islamic awakening", akin to the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah. But the opposition see the unrest as being more similar to their own protests following the June 2009 election which they say was rigged in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Revolutionary Guards, fiercely loyal to Khamenei, put down the 2009 protests. Two people were hanged and scores of opposition supporters jailed. Turkish President Abdullah Gul, on a visit to Tehran, called on Middle Eastern governments to listen to the demands of their people, although he did not refer to Iran directly. "We see that sometimes when the leaders and heads of countries do not pay attention to the nations' demands, the people themselves take action to achieve their demands," Gul told a news conference alongside Ahmadinejad. Any use of heavy force to stop the marches in Iran during Gul's visit could be an embarrassment for Turkey. However, Ankara, officially an ally of the West, was one of the first governments to congratulate Ahmadinejad on his 2009 re-election and wants to triple the volume of trade with its neighbour despite U.N., U.S. and EU sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear activity. Iranian authorities deny doctoring the 2009 election results and accuse opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system. "They are incapable of doing a damn thing," the hardline Kayhan newspaper quoted Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi as saying, echoing words used by the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to refer to the United States. The opposition is "guided by Iran's enemies abroad", Moslehi said. (Editing by Jon Hemming and Mark Heinrich) Copyright © 2011 Reuters |
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