Jim Kouri
Muslim Brotherhood, other Islamists win big in Egypt's elections
By Jim Kouri
The Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, won 235 or 47.2 percent of the seats in the People's Assembly (lower house of parliament), a senior party official said in a press statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the even more radical Salafists' Nour Party got 125 seats or 25.1 percent, chairman of the party Emad Abdel Ghafour stated.
Salafist jihadists are extremist Sunnis who believe they are the only true interpreters of the Koran. They are beginning to concern counterterrorism experts since Salafists are gaining more and more power in Egypt following the ouster of President Mubarak.
In Gaza, Salafist jihadists consider Hamas too moderate in spite of Hamas' terrorist tactics.
But even with these victories, both parties' leaders instigated a demonstration in which hundreds of Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square in central Cairo Friday to participate in a protest calling on the military authorities to grant their demands.
After the midnoon prayer, hundreds of people gathered at different districts of the capital, and then headed to Tahrir Square, causing traffic paralysis in the downtown area.
The demonstrators called on the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Hussein Tantawi to hand over power to civilians, with some of them demanding that former President Hosni Mubarak be executed.
The protestors demanded that the ruling military council shift power to a civilian government comprised of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists.
"Salafism jihadism combines a deep respect for the sacred texts with a devotion to a literal interpretation. Salifists have an absolute commitment to jihad, and their number-one target is America, perceived as the greatest enemy of their faith," according to counterterrorism expert Neal Ahearn, a former police commander of an anti-terrorism unit.
The protesters also called for stopping military trials against civilians and forming a 50-member advisory council chaired by political activist Ahmed Harara, the medical doctor who was blinded during the civil unrest in 2011.
The leaders of the protest announced that they would stage a sit-in and stage a one-million-man protest next Wednesday in front of the hospital in which former President Mubarak is receiving treatment.
© Jim Kouri
January 24, 2012
The Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, won 235 or 47.2 percent of the seats in the People's Assembly (lower house of parliament), a senior party official said in a press statement on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the even more radical Salafists' Nour Party got 125 seats or 25.1 percent, chairman of the party Emad Abdel Ghafour stated.
Salafist jihadists are extremist Sunnis who believe they are the only true interpreters of the Koran. They are beginning to concern counterterrorism experts since Salafists are gaining more and more power in Egypt following the ouster of President Mubarak.
In Gaza, Salafist jihadists consider Hamas too moderate in spite of Hamas' terrorist tactics.
But even with these victories, both parties' leaders instigated a demonstration in which hundreds of Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square in central Cairo Friday to participate in a protest calling on the military authorities to grant their demands.
After the midnoon prayer, hundreds of people gathered at different districts of the capital, and then headed to Tahrir Square, causing traffic paralysis in the downtown area.
The demonstrators called on the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Hussein Tantawi to hand over power to civilians, with some of them demanding that former President Hosni Mubarak be executed.
The protestors demanded that the ruling military council shift power to a civilian government comprised of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists.
"Salafism jihadism combines a deep respect for the sacred texts with a devotion to a literal interpretation. Salifists have an absolute commitment to jihad, and their number-one target is America, perceived as the greatest enemy of their faith," according to counterterrorism expert Neal Ahearn, a former police commander of an anti-terrorism unit.
The protesters also called for stopping military trials against civilians and forming a 50-member advisory council chaired by political activist Ahmed Harara, the medical doctor who was blinded during the civil unrest in 2011.
The leaders of the protest announced that they would stage a sit-in and stage a one-million-man protest next Wednesday in front of the hospital in which former President Mubarak is receiving treatment.
© Jim Kouri
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