Pregnant Wife Dies After Husband Beats Her For Not Voting For Egypt's Mursi

Because Muslim men are allowed to beat their wives.
No wonder he wanted Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi.

Why are Arab men so angry?!  I think they should all be forced to take some anger managment classes.

Al Arabiya

An Egyptian plumber in Alexandria beat his pregnant wife to death upon learning that she had not voted for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohammed Mursi, reported the Egyptian daily al-Wafd on Sunday.

According to police reports, the initial argument between the couple who was not named escalated into violence, despite her pleas. Battered and bruised, she was reported to have died at the hospital from injuries sustained.

Domestic fights have dominated Egyptian news headlines when the bid fell on the two most feared and most controversial candidates, Mursi and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Voters, along with Egyptian media personalities, heatedly defended their chosen candidates and eagerly await the result which will be announced Sunday.

Secular Parties In Egypt Claim U.S. Endorsed Muslim Brotherhood Candidate

Egypt's liberal and secular political parties claim the U.S. administration endorsed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood in the recent Egyptian presidential election.

Is that at all surprising?

No.

Egyptian secular and liberal parties sounded dissatisfaction over the reported support of the US for Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Mohamed Mursi, but affirmed they would accept the results of the elections due to be announced Sunday.

During a press conference Saturday, representatives of the Free Egyptians Party, the Democratic Front Party, the Revolution Continues Coalition, the Tagammu Party and the Kifaya Movement opened fire on the Brotherhood, voicing suspicion over the group's sudden change of stance towards the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).

The conference came after the Brotherhood announced Friday its concessions to revolutionary movements, guaranteeing their representation in both the government-to-be and the Constituent Assembly, in order to form a unified front against SCAF's alleged attempt to hold onto power.

The speakers, mostly parliamentarians, condemned the current scene in Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of Islamists together with other revolutionary movements are staging a sit-in against SCAF's addendum to the March 2011 Constitutional Declaration, which gives the military council unprecedented authorities, and against the dissolution of parliament's lower house, the People's Assembly, describing the scene as "the monopolisation of the revolution."

"Those who are now attacking SCAF were the first to embrace an alliance with them," said Ahmed Said, a member and co-founder of the Free Egyptians Party, confirming that liberal parties have refused military rule since day one.

Said further blamed the current "dilemma" on the Brotherhood approved Constitutional Declaration announced by SCAF on 30 March 2011, that put elections before the drafting of a new constitution.

Speaking also at the press conference was politician and co-founder of the Democratic Front Party Osama Ghazali Harb who attacked the Muslim Brotherhood's attempt to gather people in Tahrir Square, describing it as "a behaviour that only reflects their fear and an attempt to manipulate the election result by force."

Ghazali Harb recently announced his support for Ahmed Shafiq in the elections second round run-off.

Several speakers at the press conference further condemned what they believe to be US intervention in Egypt's domestic affairs. Harb claimed the US was pressuring SCAF to hand over power to the Muslim Brotherhood.

"We refuse that the reason someone wins is because he is backed by the Americans," said Harb demanding that the Brotherhood should refuse US intervention.

"The revolution will continue until we break free of military rule," added parliamentarian Mustafa El-Gendy.

Founder of the Kifaya Movement, George Ishak, however, expressed his optimism over the coming period, adding that "a third political current, neither affiliated with religious groups nor the military, will pave its way."

Ishak claimed that an appeal against the Constituent Assembly will be looked at Tuesday, underlining the need to form a "real" constituent assembly that will replace the current "disappointing" Constitutional Declaration and write a constitution that "truly represents Egypt's identity."

If Egypt's Islamist Mursi Wins, Jerusalem Will Become Capital of Egypt

Egypt has a choice between two presidential candidates: the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Mursi and status quo Ahmed Shafiq (or Shafik), the former Prime Minister and one-time air force general during Hosni Mubarak's reign. Neither is liked, but the Egyptian people have no other choice. They either pick a hardline Islamist who will more than likely turn their country into a religious hell, or someone they see as an extension of the much reviled Mubarak. It's not my country, but for the sake of the Middle East and especially Israel, I hope they choose the lesser of the two evils, Shafiq. I fear for Israel if Mursi gets elected.

And if anyone has any doubts about the route Egypt will take with a majority Islamist parliament and an Islamist president watch this video that Memri uploaded to Youtube back in May.

It's of Muslim Cleric Safwat Hijazi (or Hegazi) at a Mursi campaign where he promises the thousands of supporters there that if Mursi is elected president, Jerusalem will become the new capital of Egypt.

“Our capital shall not be Cairo, Mecca or Medina. It shall be Jerusalem with God’s will. Our chants shall be: ‘millions of martyrs will march towards Jerusalem’.”

“The United States of the Arabs will be restored on the hands of that man [Mursi] and his supporters. The capital of the [Muslim] Caliphate will be Jerusalem with God’s will,” Hegazy said, as the crowds cheered, waving the Egyptian flags along with the flags of the Islamist Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip.

“Tomorrow Mursi will liberate Gaza,” the crowds chanted.

“Yes, we will either pray in Jerusalem or we will be martyred there,” Hegazy said.

I wonder how the Palestinians feel about that?

A run-off is planned for June 16th and 17th between Mursi and Shafiq, that is if Shafiq makes it that far. There are still people trying to pull him out of the race because of his past affiliation with Mubarak.

Coptic Bishop Tells Christians To Dress Like Their Muslim Sisters

As if women in Egypt don't have enough to worry about with an Islamist led government (and possibly president) dictating how they dress, a Christian Coptic Bishop is now jumping into the modesty bandwagon, simply as a measure of appeasement and for his own political gain. At a recent event, Bishop Bishoy (who is vying for a papal position with the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church) suggested that Christian women should dress like their Muslim sisters, which- needless to say- has them outraged.

“I call on Christian girls to learn from veiled Muslim women their modesty. Some Christian women might be displeased with me, but the Virgin Mary, St. Demiana and the nuns wore modest clothes.”

Yes, but 21st century Christian Egyptian women are not the Virgin Mary, Saints or nuns, so why should they dress like them?

Mariz Tadros, writing for the Guardian UK, says that in recent years Muslim women in Egypt have become progressively more conservative, and a large majority wear the hijab (veil). This makes it even more difficult for the minority who don't, and harassment (though problematic in the past) has become even more unbearable.

In the streets of Egypt, many Coptic women have been told "Our Lady Mariam [referring to St Mary] used to wear a tarha [long scarf covering the hear], why can't you follow her example and cover up?".

While all eyes are focused on the presidential race, on the streets of Egypt, inch by inch, bit by bit, women's rights are shrinking. Women, Muslim and Christian, who do not cover their hair or who wear mid-sleeved clothing are met with insults, spitting and in some cases physical abuse. In the urban squatter settlement of Mouasset el Zakat, in Al Marg, Greater Cairo, women told me that they hated walking in the streets now. Thanks to the lax security situation, they have restricted their mobility to all but the most essential of errands. Whereas a couple of years ago they could just inform their husbands where they were going (visiting parents, friends or going to the hairdresser for example), now they have to get their husbands or older sons to accompany them if they go out after sunset.

And the Islamists have made it worse. A Coptic Christian woman said to me "we and our Muslim friends who do not cover our hair get yelled at by men passing by telling us 'just you wait, those who will cover you up and make you stay at home are coming, and then there will no more of this lewdness'". It was, she id, as if they were gloating over the fact that we were being pushed off the streets. Another woman told me that girls and women wearing mid-sleeved clothing had been slapped on their bare arms by men on bicycles shouting slurs. Another told me she had been spat on by men telling her to cover up. Another told me that she had her hair up in a pony tail and a young man pulled it so hard that she thought her head was going to fall off. Another recounts how she was pushed and elbowed by a passerby telling her to cover her nakedness (she was wearing a mid-sleeved blouse and trousers).

Tadros is convinced that Bishoy's statement has mostly to do with wanting to "win over" the Islamists "by showing he is willing to comply with their dress code for women", and winning that papal seat, of course.

Some 50 Coptic men and women demonstrated at the papal residence in Abbasiya demanding an apology, but Tadros says many were actually in disagreement with the protest.

This was the first time in the modern history of Egypt that Coptic Christian women had risen against a member of the clergy in protest. It is the first time they had collectively raised their voice to demand their rights as Coptic Christian women. The protests did not go well with all Christians: what's wrong with modesty many said, why attack the church now? Others said that while they completely sympathised with the cause of the protesters, this was not the time.

As one of the organisers of this protest, I tried to explain why we couldn't wait. I explained that if there is talk of women's modesty today, tomorrow there is more pressure on veiling, the day after it is going to be a socially imposed ban on trousers, after that a ban on women's freedom of mobility, until bit by bit, inch by inch we are driven back home.

Mohammed Mursi, the Islamist presidential wannabe, announced this week that if he is elected president he will not enforce an Islamic dress code on either Christian or Muslim women. But promises are cheap, and politicians will blatantly lie to achieve their goals. And with a majority Islamist parliament, even if Mursi did truly intend to not force women to wear the veil, he would soon cave to the demands of the majority.

I feel very sorry for the women of Egypt. At least those who relish freedom.