Mohamed Omar
The public prosecutor, Counselor Mahmoud Abdel Meguid, referred the report filed by Mahmoud Abdel Rahman against Mohamed Abu Hamed to the Supreme State Security prosecution on Sunday, reported the Masrawy portal.
Abdel Rahman filed a report against Mohamed Abu Hamed on 13 August, accusing him of attempting to overthrow the current regime through his calls for the 24 August protests. The report furthermore added that Abu Hamed had received foreign funding from Lebanese politician Samir Ga’ga’ during Abu Hamed’s visit to Lebanon. Ga’ga’ is an extremist Lebanese politician and ex-militant who had taken part in the Lebanese Civil War.
Amid calls from the participants during the 24 August protest to continue demonstrating every Friday, the Egyptian Front for Protecting the Armed Forces (EFPAF) and the Sufi Nasr party released a joint statement on the EFPAF’s Facebook page, announcing their expulsion of Mohamed Abu Hamed from the sit-in’s headquarters outside the Al-Orouba Presidential Palace.
The head of the Sufi Nasr party, Mohamed Salah, alleged in the statement that Abu Hamed struck a secret deal to dissolve the sit-in and falsely claimed to have been attacked by Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
The statement said Abu Hamed reached an agreement with a presidential security official and an official from the Ministry of Interior to dissolve the sit-in “in exchange to a number of perks he is to receive from the president’s office.”
Salah alleged that Abu Hamed left the sit-in after only 30 minutes on Saturday on the pretext of having to lead a march elsewhere. After his departure, workers started dismantling a stage used for speeches at the sit-in. When pressed, the workers admitted receiving their orders from Abu Hamed to do so.
“They said Abu Hamed told them the sit-in was dissolved,” Eissa Seddoud, the EFPAF’s official spokesperson said.
The statement further alleged that Abu Hamed returned to the sit-in early on Sunday morning around 2:30 am with his arm bandaged. He claimed to have been attacked by Muslim Brotherhood members.
“When we asked around, we realised that he was hit by a motorcycle in an accident and not attacked,” Seddoud said. Following this, the protestors told Abu Hamed to leave the sit-in, according to the statement.
Earlier conflicts between Abu Hamed and the EFPAF occurred before Saturday’s incident. According to Seddoud, Abu Hamed had released a statement several days before the 24 August protests where he attacked both the EFPAF and Sufi Nasr party, describing them as “phantoms.”
The sit-in remains ongoing at Al-Orouba at the time of print.
Abu Hamed could not be reached for comment.
