Al-Dustour editor sacked over Mohamed ElBaradei article

The editor of Egypt's Al-Dustour newspaper Ibrahim Eissa has been sacked by the paper's publisher after being instructed not to run a feature by the leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei. Eissa's co-workers have staged a sit in protest of the dismissal.

Eissa, known for his satirical articles against the government, said he was not given the exact reason for the dismissal but that it came, "hours after the publishers told me they didn't want me to run an article written by Mohamed ElBaradei."

ElBaradei, the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has emerged as a leading opposition figure since returning to Egypt in February. Al-Dustour was recently purchased by another opposition leader and head of the Al-Wafd Party Elseyed el-Badawi. The Wafd party refused to back ElBaradei's decision to boycott the upcoming elections, which critics say might be rigged.

In 2008, Eissa was sentenced to two months in prison for offending President Hosni Mubarak after he reported about his deteriorating health. It is yet unclear whether Hosni Mubarak will run for a sixth term in 2011 or whether he will be succeeded by his son Gamal.

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

Spontaneous campaign backs Mubarak's son Gamal

Posters backing Gamal Mubarak have been spotted in a number of Egypt's poorer neighbourhoods. News of these posters began circulating shortly after several online campaigners set out to gather millions of signatures calling on Gamal to stand in the next presidential elections.

It is evident within Egypt that there is an ongoing campaign backing the president's son who is also the senior officer of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).Government officials, however, insist that neither the NDP nor Gamal himself have anything to do with the campaign which is said to be spontaneous and one that the government has no intention of silencing.

"These campaigns represent individual initiatives; they are in no way related to the NDP. None of the leadership of the NDP has endorsed them officially or unofficially. So it remains a sporadic voluntary activity in society," said Aley el-Din Hilal, a senior official of the party.

There seem to be some contradictions as far as these campaigns are concerned. Gamal Mubarak is regarded as a man of privilege; therefore it is unexpected to find the headquarters of the People's Coalition in support of Gamal Mubarak in one of the poorest and deprived areas of Cairo, or hear the organiser, Magdi el-Murdy, suggest that Gamal Mubarak, if elected president, will help move the power away from the elite.

It is not surprising that members of the opposition have a different perspective on these developments. Shadi Taha of the opposition al-Ghad party described the campaign as an attempt to show that the Egyptian public was "begging" Gamal Mubarak to stand. He also suggested that if Gamal Mubarak is elected, it would set Egypt back hundreds of years.

It remains unclear whether Gamal Mubarak is behind the supposedly spontaneous presidency campaign, and whether he will ever be openly endorsed by his father who remains reticent about naming a successor and has always maintained that he would serve Egypt to his last breath.

Source: BBC

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.