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Complaint against ElBaradei tossed

Resignation as vice president not breach of trust, judge says

The Columbian
Published: October 26, 2013, 5:00pm

CAIRO — An Egyptian judge threw out a legal complaint Saturday against Nobel laureate and prominent former diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei, who had been accused of breaching the public trust for quitting as vice president to protest a violent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

The case had illustrated the extreme sensitivities surrounding any criticism of the army and the country’s military-backed government in the wake of the July overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and a subsequent bloody dispersal of his followers. Up to 1,000 demonstrators were killed by Egyptian security forces who charged into Brotherhood-backed protest camps.

ElBaradei had publicly supported deposing Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, but balked at the crackdown, which human rights groups call the biggest unlawful mass killing in modern Egyptian history. ElBaradei resigned Aug. 14, triggering a concerted campaign to vilify him in official media.

In Saturday’s ruling, the judge cited insufficient grounds for accusing ElBaradei, who was said to be out of the country.

The case had been initiated by a law professor, Sayyid Ateeq. In Egypt, individuals are allowed to ask the prosecutor to investigate another individual, with the aim of bringing a case against them.

Comedian attacked

Another high-profile figure to run afoul of the law is comedian Bassem Youssef, whose popular political satire show returned to the air Friday for the first time since Morsi was ousted. Youssef mocked the cult of personality over army chief Abdel Fattah Sisi. In one skit, he pretended to be terrified by a chocolatier’s bellicose response when he declined a sweet with the general’s face — Sisi-themed desserts are in fact sold in Cairo.

Youssef said beforehand that he expected to face legal action for the jest, and he was right. The public prosecutor received a complaint Saturday accusing him of defamation and harming national security.

Some irate viewers took to social media to chastise Youssef and lionize Sisi, whose backers are urging him to run for president. Most political observers think he would win.

Previously, Youssef was best known for scathing satire targeting Morsi, which resulted in his arrest this year for insulting the presidency. Admirers, including American satirist Jon Stewart, rallied to the comic’s defense, and the charges were eventually dropped.

Meanwhile, the al-Qaida-linked militant group Ansar Jerusalem made a claim Saturday that could roil the ranks of Egypt’s powerful army. The group said on its website that it recruited a former military man to carry out an attempted assassination of the country’s interior minister last month.

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