CAIRO: Politicians say that Egypt’s ruling military council has failed to improve its image in the aftermath of the bloody Maspero clashes of Oct. 9 that left 27 mostly Coptic protesters dead and over 300 injured.
Two members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Generals Mohamed Al-Assar and Mahmoud Hegazy, appeared Wednesday in a popular talk show on Tahrir TV and Dream TV.
The show, co-hosted by Mona Al-Shazly and head of Tahrir TV journalist Ibrahim Eissa, lasted almost three hours and tackled controversial issues that have clouded over SCAF’s rule in the past few months.
Topics included the Maspero crackdown, the timeline for handing power to an elected civilian authority, securing the elections, the political exclusion law, cabinet’s performance and the prevailing sentiment that the military police is no different in its treatment of civilians than the dissolved state security investigations.
Politicians said, however, that the interview failed to rebuild the rapport between SCAF and political powers.
“They didn’t add anything new. They repeated the same words and didn’t give adequate explanations of any of the topics discussed,” said Yasser Al-Hawary from the Youth for Justice and Freedom movement.
Al-Assar repeated SCAF’s initial version that both the protesters and the armed forces were targeted by infiltrators during the Maspero events.
“The attack aimed to drive a wedge between the people and the army and to ignite sectarian strife. The attacks were perpetrated by a violent group which security authorities are working day and night to catch,” he said.
The General added that the Coptic protesters did not attack the army but failed to explain why 28 of the them are still detained, according to the Coptic Maspero Youth Union.
"They didn’t convince me. Why didn’t they announce the identity of the attackers and why did they leave an impression in their latest press conference that Copts are responsible for the clashes?" said Hussein Abdel Razeq, a leading figure in Al-Tagammu Party.
Al-Assar said that if the investigations committee proves that the army was wrong they will admit it and apologize.
The criminal investigation is being conducted by the military prosecutor, who took over the case last week, effectively barring the civilian prosecutor from continuing his own inquiry, drawing criticism from activists and rights groups.
"It is not enough to apologize. They should be held to account," Al-Hawary said.
Essam Sheha, member of the high committee of Al-Wafd party, said that the law does not recognize apologies.
"Apologies are only a symbol that the families of the martyrs can accept or refuse. Any crime should be punished so no one would get away with a crime," he said.
Hamada Al-Kashef, member of the Revolution Youth Union, agreed.
"Those proven guilty must be punished, whether they belong to the military or are thugs," he said, stressing this was a massacre and an attack on peaceful protest that cannot be resolved with an apology.
Mamdouh Hamza, architect and political activist, said on his twitter account, "If the council cannot deal with thugs, it should hand over power to someone who can".
On another note, the Generals said that based on the new timeline for handing over power to a civilian authority, the presidential elections will be held in mid-2013.
Al-Kashef said that this timeline is unacceptable as it was issued without consulting political powers.
“If they want to delay the presidential elections, they should hand over power to a civilian presidential council,” he said.
Hegazy assured that the police will secure the electoral process and will be supported by army personnel.
To encourage youth to participate in the elections, Al-Assar said that SCAF will cover the cost of election campaigns for candidates under 40.
But Al-Kashef was skeptical about SCAF’s intentions.
"This is only to draw the youth to support them. They should have issued a law that would better organize the process instead," Al-Kashef said, denying that such a move would encourage youth to contest the elections.
"The law only helps the remnants of the former regime,” he added.
Al-Kashef said that SCAF should stop the press statements and the promises regarding the political exclusion law and simply issue it.
The law would ban the remnants of the dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP), who corrupted political life for decades, from practicing their political rights for a number of years.
"They should stop promising and issue the law before elections," he said.
The Generals said that the political exclusion law would take its normal course and that its main features are very similar to the treachery law.
Sheha, however, believes that there is no political will to issue the law at the moment, adding that the draft law does not achieve its purpose.
"It discourages people from filing complaints against ex-NDP members without accurate evidence, otherwise ex-NDP member can the take legal action that may lead to the imprisonment of the person who filed the complaint," he said.
Sheha added that the general prosecution will investigate these complaints which will spend years in court before a final ruling is reached.
Regarding the performance of Cabinet, criticized lately by both politicians and citizens, Al-Assar simply reiterated that SCAF was aware that there are significant challenges facing the government and that they “do not expect sound achievements".
He added that protests and strikes harm the country, and that it is impossible to acquiesce to their sector-specific demands because of the lack of resources.
To this, Al-Kashef responded that employees demands are basic and legitimate. “What can be done is at least reduce the salaries of those who continue to earn millions a month even after a revolution that called for social justice.”
Eissa observed that people started to feel that the military police is the other face of the coin of the dissolved state security forces that used to suppress demonstrators.
Al-Kashef agreed. "That’s true. There are rumors that they are even members of state security in military police uniform.”
