Angry over allegations made by presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, Islamic preacher Safwat Hegazy claims the ruling military council and Shafiq are moving Egypt backward.
Hegazy described Shafiq’s statements accusing the preacher of involvement in the February 2011 Battle of the Camel attack on Tahrir as "lies."
Hegazy said he planned to file a report with the prosecutor Wednesday, "accusing Shafiq of lying, defamation and inciting [people to kill me], because what he said has nothing to do with the truth.”
In a phone call with Dream satellite channel on Tuesday, he said, “We shouldn’t forget that the person who wants to be a president has detained and tortured us before. This is not new for him. We will not use violence but will resort to the judiciary."
Shafiq had accused Hegazy during a Monday interview on CBC satellite channel of involvement in killing protesters.
“A military official told me … that he had asked Brotherhood member Mohamed al-Beltagy and pro-Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazy to order the 'bearded' snipers killing protesters from the roofs of buildings to get down, to which Hegazy agreed,” Shafiq alleged.
The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi-led Nour Party firmly denied on Tuesday any Islamist involvement in protester deaths and called Shafiq's statements dangerous and irresponsible.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
