CAIRO: Members of the Kefaya Movement for Change along with members of Parliament filed a request to Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to arrive in Egypt on Monday.
They have also proposed that he be taken to court in Egypt on charges of committing war crimes.
General Coordinator of Kefaya Abdel Halim Qandil, and MPs including Hamdeen Sabbahi, head of the yet unlicensed Karama Party, Mohamed Al Beltagi, of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc, as well as independent MP Gamal Zahran and a number of public figures and political activists including, leftist activist Shahinda Maqlad, former ambassador Ibrahim Yousry, journalist Abdel-Aal Bakouri, and university professor Yehia El-Qazzaz, all signed the document.
The document, a copy of which was obtained by Daily News Egypt, demanded the arrest of Netanyahu as the head of the Israeli government and the man responsible for what the activists described as "war crimes and crimes against humanity" committed against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The request made reference to international reports, especially the Goldstone Report that was discussed at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Qandil told Daily News Egypt: "We attached a legal memo along with the complaint, demonstrating Netanyahu’s war crimes in Gaza according to international law."
Beltagi considered this complaint "a political message that aims to stress that receiving Netanyahu in Sharm El-Sheikh is against the will of the Egyptian people."
He added that the objectives of this complaint include “confronting the government with its responsibilities and stressing the rejection of all political powers of this visit."
Maqlad told Daily News Egypt, "I have a personal and direct reason for this complaint, as my brother was a pilot who was martyred during the War of Attrition and my uncle was martyred in the October war.
"I have the right to file a separate complaint because this issue is of personal interest to me," she added.
