Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Sami Anan denied claims that he had said the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) rejected presidential orders “to crush protesters and destroy Tahrir Square.”
In a phone interview with the privately owned al-Hayat satellite channel on Friday, Anan said such claims were entirely false.
He said that no orders were given to the SCAF to shoot protesters.
Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anabaa claimed in its 15 March that Anan gave such statements at a meeting with revolution youth.
On 24 September, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi testified in the trial of the former president under a complete media blackout.
Despite the gag order, reporters and activists exchanged what they said was the text of Tantawi’s testimony in which he denied receiving orders from Mubarak to kill protestors.
Such testimony sparked controversy because it contradicts with earlier statements from the SCAF that they protected the revolution and refused to adhere to orders directing them to kill protesters.
In its 52 message on Facebook, the SCAF said, “The Armed Forces took the side of the revolution since its beginning and all the members of SCAF refused to open fire on the sons of the great (Egyptian) people.”
