Islamists filed 40 complaints to the public prosecutor Sunday against Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Constitution Party, accusing him of slandering the pro-Sharia protests held over the past two Fridays.
Forty lawyers from the Egyptian Islamist Lawyers Association had filed the reports as part of one petition to the top prosecutor, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, London-based paper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday. The petition included accusations that ElBaradei, a longtime reform advocate, insulted and humiliated Islamists.
Thousands of ultraconservative Salafis protested Friday in Tahrir Square, calling for strict implementation of Sharia into the constitution, which is currently being drafted.
The lawyers’ reports allege that ElBaradei, during a conference held by his party in Aswan last week, used anti-Islamist words, and that he described them as “puppets who trade in religion.”
The reports consider those words “libel and slander,” and the lawyers called on the prosecutor to interrogate him.
Local media outlets reported that ElBaradei had criticized Salafi sheikhs who attack liberals and secularists, saying they were not less religious than the Salafis but more so, and that they included both Muslims and Copts.
“We should reach people in villages. We have a project. We will not distribute oil and sugar [among voters],” he said, referring to Islamists, who are often accused of buying votes by distributing food.
