The Gazette Online: www.egyptiangazette.net.

eg

Established 1880

Issue No. 42,478

Monday, March 21, 2011

Price: LE2.50

Editor-in-Chief: Ramadan A. Kader

Board Chairman: Ali Hashem

Egyptians approve constitution changes

MAJORITY of Egyptians who cast votes in a referendum have backed constitutional changes that will allow Egypt's military rulers to move swiftly to elections, a judicial official announced yesterday. A parliamentary vote may now take place as early as September. Mohammed Ahmed Attiyah, the head of the supreme judicial committee that supervised the vote, told a news conference that 77.2 per cent of the more than 18.5 million people who voted supported the changes. Turnout was 41.2 per cent of the 45 million eligible voters, he was quoted by Reuters as saying. The Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of former President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party called for a 'yes' vote, and analysts said they

would benefit most from an early parliamentary election. Reformers urged a 'no' vote saying they wanted the constitution re-written. Turnout was always very low for elections which were routinely rigged under President Hosni Mubarak, toppled on Feb. 11 by a mass uprising that forced him to step down and hand power to the military. The referendum was a milestone on the course charted by the military towards parliamentary and presidential elections. The military has signaled the parliamentary election could take place in September, with the presidential vote after that. Officials had said the number of voters on Saturday was unprecedented for Egypt, where participation was minuscule during Mubarak's

three-decade rule as voters assumed their ballots would make no difference. Five weeks after the Mubarak quit, Egyptian voters were asked to say "yes" or "no" to a package of constitutional changes intended to guide the country through fresh presidential and parliamentary polls within six months. One argument put forward by advocates of the reforms was that a 'yes' vote would help put Egypt back on a path to political and economic stability. "This was a vote on stability and getting the country back onto a faster transition process: a desire to have a quicker rather than a drawn-out process," said Josh Stacher, a political scientist who observed voting on Saturday. Related stories on Pages 2&3

Released Islamist kidnapped

HE brother of al-Qaeda second man in command has been kidnapped by apparently policemen in plain clothes, his family said yesterday. A large number of men, some of them appearing as civilians and others clad in police uniforms, had broken into our house and detained him while pointing guns at us, said Abdel Rahman, the son of Mohamed el-Zawahiri, the brother of Ayman el-Zawahiri, an aide to Osama bin Laden. Abdel Rahman appealed to the Armed Forces

and the Prime Minister to identify the kidnappers and his fathers whereabouts. Mohamed el-Zawahiri was arrested at his home in a Cairo suburb in the early hours of the morning yesterday said lawyers Mamdouh Ismail and Nizar Ghorab. Zawahiri, a member of the Islamic Jihad group led by his brother, had spent 10 years in prison in Egypt on charges of militancy. He had been released a few days ago. Zawahiri was extradited from the United Arab Emirates in the late 1990s. He was one of a group of Islamists put on trial on suspicion of involvement in attacks on an array of Egyptian targets.

Ghorab told Reuters Zawahiri's treatment raised questions about told Reuters commitment of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to freedom. The military has governed Egypt since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power on Feb. 11. "What happened confirms that oppression still exists," Ghorab said. "There should be transparency and clarity when a citizen is arrested." Other prominent Islamists who have been released in recent weeks include Tarek and Aboud al-Zumar. Both spent 30 years in jail for their involvement in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Photo by Soliman el-Otifi

Welcome home: Egypts Prime Minister Essam Sharaf greeting Pope Shenouda III, the head of
the Coptic Orthodox Church, during his visit to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Abbasiya district of Cairo yesterday. Sharaf congratulated Pope Shenouda on his safe return from the US where he received medical treatment. The meeting came one day after Egyptians voted on constitutional changes that have proved controversial with the electorate. There are reports that Christians rejected the amendments, while the Muslim Brotherhood were pushing people to vote Yes. On Saturday, Sharaf had paid his first visit to Al-Azhars administrative headquarters (el-Masheikha), where he had talks with Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayyeb.

Arabs slams strikes on Libya

UN chief in Cairo talks today

U
AFP

Ready for take-off: Six Danish F-16 fighter ready to take off from southern Italy's Sigonella air base to join the international air campaign against Muammar Gaddafis forces in Libya, ANSA quoted a senior Italian military official as saying.

Compiled by The Gazette staff

HE Arab League yesterday criticised Western military strikes on Libya, a week after the pan-Arab organisation urged the UN slap a no-fly zone on the oil-rich North African state. "What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters. In the West's biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, US warships and a British submarine fired more than 120 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on Saturday, the US military said. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973 on Thursday authorising military action to prevent Gaddafis forces from attacking civilians.

US, British and French forces hammered Libya from the air and sea, prompting leader Gaddafi to warn yesterday of a long war in the Mediterranean "battlefield" as Tripoli reported dozens of deaths. French warplanes also continued sorties over Libya early yestyerday as part the West's biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 USled invasion of Iraq. On Saturday, French jets spearheaded the West's assault with four airstrikes in Libya, destroying several armoured vehicles of forces loyal to the embattled Libyan strongman. Top US military commander Michael Mullen said the initial part of the coalition's campaign "has been successful", and that Gaddafis forces "are no longer marching on Benghazi". And Admiral William Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon that the cruise missiles "struck more than 20 integrated air defence systems and other air

defence facilities ashore". Nineteen US planes, including three B2 stealth bombers, took part in early morning raids yesterday, the Germany-based US Africa Command said. On the ground, AFP correspondents and rebels said dozens of Libyan government military vehicles, including tanks, were destroyed yesterday morning in air strikes west of Benghazi. A lull was reported in the airstrikes on Tripoli yesterday and that residents who had fled Benghazi were seen returning to the rebels' capital in eastern Libya. A furious Gaddafi said yesterday that all Libyans were armed and ready to fight until victory against what Tripoli has branded a "barbaric aggression" denouncing the attacks as "barbaric, unjustified Crusaders' aggression". "We promise you a long, drawn-out war with no limits," said the Libyan leader, who was speaking

on state television for a second straight day without appearing in front of camera. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani defended Doha's declared participation in the strikes on a fellow Arab state, saying the sole aim was to "stop the bloodbath". Britain said it was taking "every precaution" to UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Gaddafi was now feeling the "unified will" of the international community through the military campaign. "He has been killing his own people. He declared that he would search house to house and kill all the people. That is unacceptable," the UN Secretary-General told AFP in Paris. An AFP correspondent said bombs were dropped early yesterday in the greater Tripoli area, prompting barrages of anti-aircraft fire from Libyan forces in Bab al-Aziziyah, Gaddafis headquarters in the capital.

N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will have talks in Cairo today with Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council in charge of Egypts affairs, a UN media official said yesterday. Ban will also confer with Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, his deputy Yehia el-Gamal and Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi on the UN potential aid to Egypt over the coming period, Khawla Mattar, Director of the UN Information Centre in Cairo, told the official news agency (MENA). The UN chief was due to arrive in Cairo last night. Mattar stressed the significance of the visit, the first to the Arab region following the unprecedented changes it has been going through over the past months, that saw the ouster of Tunisias Zein El Abiden Ben Ali, and Egypts Hosni Mubarak. In the coming days, I will visit Egypt and Tunisia. The peoples of both countries have shown immense courage in their efforts to bring about a new democratic order, the UN Secretary-General told a press encounter with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero Rodriguez during a visit to Madrid on Friday. Ban will have talks with the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, most likely to focus on the developments in Libya and Yemen.

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Sadats daughter seeks Mubaraks trial

Western strikes against Libya are set to:

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HE eldest daughter of Egypts late President Anwar Sadat has accused ex-President Hosni Mubarak of involvement in her fathers assassination almost 30 years ago. Roqaya el-Sadats lawyer, Samri Sabri lodged a report with Egypts Chief Prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud, seeking interrogation of Mubarak, former Minister of Housing Hasballah el-Kafrawi, and former leftist MP, Abul-Ezz elHariri on Sadats killing. Sabri referred to reports published at the weekend quoting el-Kafrawi as saying that Mubarak had been involved in the slaying of his predecessor. El-Hariri supported what the former Minister said, according to the lawyer. El-Kafrawi was quoted as telling a Delta rally that over the past years he had collected information about the assassination of Sadat during a military parade, on October 6, 1981, adding that the late President had not killed by the bullets fired by Islamist Army officer Khalid Islambouli, the chief convict in the murder. He said other bullets came from inside the stand

where Sadat and other military commanders, senior officials and high-profile dignitaries were sitting. The former Housing Minister concluded that days would reveal that Mubarak had a hand in the assassination, as he and Israels Moussad allegedly stood to benefit from the murder. Lawyer Sabri urged quick investigations to refer Mubarak to a criminal trial for the predetermined killing. Last year, Roqaya filed complaint to the Chief Prosecutor against a former aide of her father over claims Sadat had poisoned his predecessor Gamal Abdel Nasser. She accused Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, a prominent journalist who was Sadat's aide and adviser for some years, of libel. In a programme on the pan-Arab satellite TV Al-Jazeera, Heikal said Nasser had died three days after Sadat personally prepared a cup of coffee for him, implying the beverage was poisoned. Nationalist leader Nasser suffered a heart attack and died in office on September 28, 1970, according to his doctors. Sadat, who was Nassers deputy at the time, then took over as president. He was gunned down in 1981 by Islamist militants opposed to a peace deal he agreed with Israel.