Region | Egypt
Egyptian opposition to attend Obama speech
Egypt's secular and Islamist opposition leaders will attend a speech US President Barack Obama will make Thursday to the Muslim world from Cairo, sources said on Wednesday.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 12:08 June 3, 2009
Cairo: Egypt's secular and Islamist opposition leaders will attend a speech US President Barack Obama will make Thursday to the Muslim world from Cairo, sources said on Wednesday.
They include Ayman Nour, a 44-year-old opposition leader who was released from prison last February on health grounds after spending almost four years in jail on forgery charges. His supporters said the charges were politically motivated.
Nour trailed a far second in Egypts 2005 first competitive presidential election, which President Hosni Mubarak swept.
Ten members of parliament sympathizing with the banned Muslim Brotherhood were also invited to attend the address Obama will make at Cairo University, according to sources inside the group.
The Muslim Brotherhood, whose members are listed as independents in the parliament, is Egypts strongest opposition force. Banned since 1954, the group has recently been the target of constant crackdown from the Egyptian authorities.
Mahmoud Abaza, the chairman of Al Wafd, which is Egypt's oldest liberal party, is among more than 1,000 Egyptian and foreign personalities invited too.
The invitations were jointly made by President of Cairo University Hossam Kamel and Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar (Egypt's top Muslim cleric) Sayyed Tantawi, added the sources.
Mubarak, 81, is unlikely to attend the speech. Earlier in the day, he will meet Obama, 47, at a presidential palace in eastern Cairo. Obama will fly into Egypt from Saudi Arabia. Both countries are Washington's main allies in the region. He is also scheduled to tour the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Islamic Cairo and the famed Giza Pyramids during his eight-hour visit.
Opposition sees Obama's visit as endorsement of the Egyptian regime, whom it accuses of dragging feet on political reform. The opposition group Kefaya (Enough) and other political activists have said they will stage a protest on Thursday demanding Obama not to endorse the Egyptian regimes anti-democracy policy.
We do not want Obama's visit to be a form of reward to the Egyptian regime who serves the American interests in the region, Abdel Halim Qandil, the leader of Kefaya, told Gulf News in a previous interview.
He added that the visit reinforces the belief that the US gives precedence to stability in the Middle East over respect for human rights.
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