Al-Tahrir newspaper leads with “SCAF is bargaining.” Instead of heeding demands to hold presidential elections on 25 January and ultimately relinquish power in February, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) “circumvents” them by announcing that Shura Council elections will be concluded on 22 February instead of in mid-March, says the paper.
“The SCAF is still dealing with the revolutionaries’ demands like a merchant,” reads the report.
The privately-owned paper dedicates almost a full page to review a recent European Commission report that says the military used prohibited chemical weapons against protesters during clashes that took place on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in Cairo, Somouha in Alexandria, and Mamar Square in Ismailia between 19 and 24 November. By analyzing the victims' autopsies, the commission concluded that white phosphorus was used against protestors, says the paper. This chemical substance can damage human bones and inhaling it can be fatal, according to the report. It is worth noting that it was the police’s Central Security Forces, not the military, that spearheaded the clashes with protesters in November.
On Al-Tahrir’s last page, Gamal Fahmy has a satirical piece that mocks the ongoing paranoia about mysterious forces seeking to “destroy the state.” After every incident of violence, SCAF members try to convince the public that unknown forces are seeking to drive wedges between the military and the people in order to “destroy the state." Fahmy challenges these claims with his well-known scathingly sarcastic tone. “You must be following the chapters of the comic, ridiculous and mean novel that is being played in the national cabaret these days under the title ‘A plot to destroy the state’,” says Fahmy, going on to narrate a conversation, possibly virtual, that he had with someone he dismisses as “coward” about this plot. He asks the latter to explain what he means by destroying the state. “Destroying the state means destroying the state,” answers Fahmy’s virtual interlocutor.
Fahmy replies, “It seems to me, and God knows better, that the meaning you have in your head draws analogies between the state and a pregnant woman. If you hit her in the back, she will have a miscarriage.” The ruthless columnist goes on to mock the Muslim Brotherhood members who filed a complaint earlier this week against three socialist revolutionaries, accusing them of being this mysterious force. Ironically enough, one of the plaintiffs is a lawyer and a member of the Bar Association’s Freedom Committee and the other is a journalist. Fahmy highlights this paradox, saying, “You would wonder about the relationship between lofty meanings such as freedom, law, journalism and Islam on one hand, and actions that are denounced and condemned in all religions on the other, namely informing against someone and turning the rulers against political groups that do not agree with [the Muslim Brotherhood].”
Al-Shorouk newspaper says that the military-appointed civilian Advisory Council is expected to discuss in its next meetings the eligibility conditions for members of the constituent assembly that will write the constitution, and the possibility of holding presidential elections earlier than scheduled.
The paper adds that the council’s intention to interfere with the make-up of the constituent assembly has been met again with Islamist opposition. Al-Shorouk quotes Yosry Hammad, spokesperson of the Salafi-led Nour Party, expressing vehement opposition to any attempt to tread on the turf of the new parliament, which is set to elect the constituent assembly. The paper says that some non-Islamist parliamentarians are taking the same stance, referring to Amr Hamzawy from the liberal Egypt Freedom would-be party, and Saad Aboud from the Nasserist Karama Party. Al-Shorouk quotes Aboud as saying: “It [the Advisory Council] has no authority to draft a bill on how to select the members of the constituent assembly, because this falls only in the elected parliament’s jurisdiction.” Al-Dostour says Mohamed Kamal Abouel Magd, a member of the Advisory Council, has already presented to fellow members 14 examples from other countries that elected constituent assemblies to write their constitutions. Abouel Magd also said that the Advisory Council is waiting for the right moment to discuss the final version of the presidential elections’ law, according to Al-Dostour.
Al-Wafd newspaper runs a report on Tahrir Square, saying that life has gone back to normal there with cars driving through and people flooding into the Mugamma. In the meantime, Sheikh Rihan and Qasr al-Aini streets have turned into tourist sites as visitors stop to take pictures of the cement wall that the military built after last week’s bloody clashes. Meanwhile, dozens of protesters are convening in the middle of the square to discuss politics, adds the paper.
Al-Ahram newspaper reports that activist Ahmed Harara returned yesterday from France, where he went in the hopes of saving his eye. Many activists rallied at the airport yesterday to receive the 31-year-old dentist who lost one eye on 28 January and the other on 19 November on Mohamed Mahmoud Street. Unfortunately, French doctors could not save the second eye, which means he will be blind for life, according to Al-Ahram. To boost Harara’s morale, last week activists called on people to rally at the airport on his arrival.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
