Okasha Denies Incitement of Morsi’s Murder

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mohammed Assad

Egyptian TV presenter and network chief Tawfiq Okasha appeared in court in Cairo Saturday to faces charges of inciting violence against President Mohammed Morsi, where he denied allegations that he called for the leader’s death. “I merely criticised President Morsi,” he said adding, “This is a political trial. The Muslim Brotherhood wants to silence all dissent and reproduce the system from before the revolution.” The rest of the trial has been postponed until October 3, and if convicted Okasha could face three years in prison.

Meanwhile in Tehran, presidential spokesman Yasser Ali announced that the one-on-one talks between President Morsi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not deal with issues of improving bilateral relations between the two countries. The focus instead was on regional issues, namely the conflict in Syria as well as Palestinian issues. Ali added that Morsi told the Iranian president, “The public opinion in the Arab region believes that Iran’s support of the Syrian regime distances it from the Arab world.” The account counters reports by the Iranian deputy foreign minister who said the two had discussed embassy issues.

Additionally in Cairo, major demonstrations against the Muslim Brotherhood took place, in what some have called a major return of leftist groups to the streets in Egypt. Others, however, objected to the media’s classification of the protests as leftist, such as Socialist figure Kamal Khalil who argued that the labeling was an attempt to marginalize the demonstrators. Demands of the protesters also included the release of political prisoners, the rejection of the IMF loan, and implementing a minimum wage.