Lawsuit filed against ElBaradei, Sabahy and Al-Badawy

Liliana Mihaila
3 Min Read
Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdin Sabahi (left) and Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, are leaders of the largest secular opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front. (AFP Photo / Ahmed Mahmoud)
Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdin Sabahi (left) and Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, both named in a lawsuit accusing them of attempting to overthrow the regime. (AFP Photo / Ahmed Mahmoud)

A lawsuit was filed against the head of Al-Dostour party, Mohamed ElBaradei, former presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahy, and the head of Al-Wafd Party, Sayed Al-Badawi, accusing them of attempting to overthrow the regime.

The lawsuit was filed by Hamed Sediq, a lawyer with the prosecutor general.

Sediq accused the three leaders of conspiring with foreign powers to overthrow President Mohamed Morsy, fuel domestic crises, and sabotage the 25 January revolution.

He demanded investigations, preventing the three of them from travelling and banning them from meeting at the Al-Wafd party headquarters, where they hold their meetings. Sediq said the headquarters was a “den for the implementation of the Zionist plans to spread chaos.”

Ahmed Atallah, a member of the parliamentary committee of Al-Wafd party, said overthrowing the regime is legal as long as it is not by force. “If I established a party and chanted ‘down with the regime’ that’s democracy, it’s not illegal,” he said.

Atallah added that this was an attempt to defame political leaders in the eyes of the public, especially the uneducated.

“Whoever filed that lawsuit is crazy… this is silly” Atallah said.

The spokesperson of the Freedom and Justice party said he had no information about the lawsuit.

“The president has nothing to do with this lawsuit” said Amr Farouq, spokesman for Al-Wasat party.

Heba Yassin, spokesperson of the Popular Current said that this was an attempt to get rid of the opposition by distorting leader’s image, “attempting to overthrow the regime is punished by death… we didn’t remove a pharaoh to be ruled by another one.”

She added that such lawsuit only strengthens their demand to abolish the president’s declaration.

President Morsy had issued a constitutional declaration on Thursday in which, among other things, he immunised his decisions from judicial review.

The declaration was refused by political powers, who organised protests to overthrow it.

ElBaradei, Sabahy and Al-Badawy are part of a newly formed National Rescue Front that unites several parties against the declaration.

Hamed Sediq has previously claimed that Mubarak died in 2004 and Egypt has been governed by a replacement since then.

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