CAIRO // Barely six months after his downfall, Egypt’s former president Mohammed Morsi is facing three trials on a wide range of charges, many of which carry the death penalty.
The Islamist leader, who was removed from power by the military after vast protests against his rule, went on trial in November for inciting murder. His next hearing will take place in January.
Since November he has been referred to two separate trials for conspiring with and passing sensitive information to two militant groups — the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hizbollah — and for his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak.
No date has been set for the other two trials and more legal proceedings against Mr Mr Morsi are expected as prosecutors continue to examine his conduct during 12 months in office.
The trials, which also involve dozens of Brotherhood leaders as co-defendants, are being prepared as the crackdown by the military-backed government against the Islamist group continues, with thousands already detained and more than a 1,000 killed in security operations since July.
The multitude of trials reflects the resolve of Egypt’s rulers to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood so thoroughly that it will not rise again, at least not in the near future, as a potent political force.
The charges facing Mr Morsi and the Brotherhood leaders in the three trials combine to paint a picture of a leadership that was only interested in promoting the cause of their own movement and cementing their hold on power, even at the expense of innocent lives or the nation’s security.
While sending Mr Morsi or Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie and his deputy Khairat El Shater to the gallows may be a bold and somewhat risky move, sentencing them to long jail terms could deal the entire organisation a devastating blow that would cripple it for years to come.
Most of the group’s top leaders are already in jail along with its midlevel officials and thousands of local and regional operatives from across Egypt.
However, the prediction that the Brotherhood can be eradicated has its fair share of sceptics.
The Brotherhood has spent most of the 85 years since its creation as an underground organisation. It has spend decades honing its survival tactics and became skilled at collecting membership fees and donations. Its hard-core members are disciplined, follow orders without question and turn out for elections in droves.
With the backing of Turkey and the financial muscle of Qatar, the Brotherhood can afford to remain in the fight for years.
As an outlawed group during Mubarak’s 29 years in office it had fielded candidates in elections for parliament and in labour unions as “independents”, thus ensuring representation while not breaking the law. Already, its members conceal their links to the group, disguising themselves as “defenders of legitimacy” — a reference to Mr Morsi’s election victory and the referendum that adopted an Islamist-tilted constitution in 2012 — to avoid the continuing crackdown.
University protesters calling for the return of “legitimacy” avoid mention of the Brotherhood in their slogans in a bid to give the impression of a nationwide movement.
However, despite the Brotherhood’s discipline and its well-oiled money machine, the group has steadily lost much of the support it once had outside its ranks of hard-core members since Mr Morsi was removed from power.
Near daily protests by Mr Morsi’s supporters have often ended in clashes with security forces and just as frequently with ordinary Egyptians fed up with the demonstrations or opposed to the Brotherhood.
A series of well publicised assaults, deadly in some cases, by Brotherhood members against supporters of the military and its chief, General Abdel Fattah El Sisi, has also turned the tide against the group. With a media loyal to the military and steadfastly opposed to the Brotherhood, the group has been cast as a foreign-backed terrorist organisation determined to undermine security, charges that have cost the movement the sympathy it once enjoyed from the public.
With most Egyptians craving for stability and economic recovery after three years of turmoil, the Brotherhood’s campaign to prevent the country from returning to normality is costing it even more from non-Islamists.
Furthermore, the Brotherhood-inspired criticism of the military and Gen El Sisi on social networks and on TV networks loyal to the group are widely taken as an unforgivable insult to what most Egyptians see as their strongest and most reliable institution, the army.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
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Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 remaining schedule:
Wednesday April 24: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-6pm
Thursday April 25: Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship, 11am-5pm
Friday April 26: Finals, 3-6pm
Saturday April 27: Awards ceremony, 4pm and 8pm
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
