Dozens of Egyptians protested Sunday at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, DC, against the ruling issued in the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak, his sons, the former interior minister and six top security officials.
Protesters also expressed their rejection of voting in the runoff election, as well as of presidential candidates Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq, and the ruling military council, members of the Mubarak regime and the Muslim Brotherhood. They called for forming a presidential council and re-conducting the election.
The demonstrators held Egyptian flags and chanted. Fighting broke out when one protester tried to encourage others to sing for Morsy, the Brotherhood’s candidate, and another one refused, saying the protest wasn’t to support a particular candidate.
Ahmed Salah, a member of the Kefaya movement’s coordination committee and a coordinator of the Youth for Change movement, said he came to support the formation of a presidential council.
“We have approval from Mohamed ElBaradei and the revolutionary presidential candidates to form this council,” Salah said. “There is no solution for this problem other than forming a civil presidential council.”
Salah, who is currently in the US to teach Arabic and promote the revolution, said the military council has lost its legitimacy.
“It defamed the revolution and the revolutionaries. It killed and detained them. It brought Mubarak and his aides for a mock trial,” he said.
Mohamed Hussein, another protester, also called the affair “mock trial.” A court Saturday sentenced Mubarak and ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly to 25 years in prison for failing to stop the killing of protesters, but acquitted the security officials and Mubarak's sons of their charges.
“We are against this mockery,” Hussein said. “Our target is the downfall of the military council, which worked on legitimizing corruption.”
Another protester said she hoped that a presidential council would be formed that would include ElBaradei, a longtime reform advocate, and former presidential hopefuls.
“We are waiting for the national forces to agree on forming a presidential council that includes Hamdeen Sabbahi, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh and Mohamed ElBaradei,” Amal al-Bahy said, also expressing rejection toward the results of the election’s first round.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
