A top Egyptian Islamic cleric paid a rare visit to Jerusalem Wednesday, breaking with decades of opposition by Muslim leaders on traveling to areas under Israeli control.

The Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa wrote on his Twitter account that the symbolic visit was in solidarity with the Palestinians' claim to east Jerusalem, under Israel's control since it was captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

He prayed in the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site, during his two-hour visit.

Gomaa called the trip an unofficial visit, clearly an attempt to defuse criticism he is already facing for breaking an unofficial ban by Muslim clerics and most Egyptian professional and private associations on visiting Israel or Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories.

The Egyptian Coptic Church, and most Muslim clerics around the region generally uphold the ban as well.

[Source: AP]

Among the candidates still able to run are former Arab League chief Amr Mussa and Abdelmoneim Abul Fotouh, a one-time member of the powerful Brotherhood.

"It's a very important decision because it eliminates the most controversial candidates," said Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, professor of political science at Cairo University.

It is expected that those who would have voted for Suleiman would support Mussa, and Islamists may back Abul Fotouh.

But with the only Salafist candidate out of the race, "there is fear of reactions from the Abu Ismail supporters, who are not very disciplined," said Sayyed.

Abu Ismail supporters spent the night in protest outside the electoral commission.

-AFP

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Cairo, said: “On examining the appeals of each of these candidates, the commission has announced that there is no reason to alter the initial decision.”

“The situation now is: out of 23 people who had had their application papers accepted to take part in the presidential race, there are only 13 who are standing,” he said.

“No new information has been provided.”

“Presidential election commission is the final arbiter in this particular case. The candidates can’t go to court, it’s over, the Al Jazeera correspondent said.

Hanna said: "As far as Muslims Brotherhood is concerned it actually did preplan. It put in another candidate in the last moment when it thought that al-Shater would be banned from taking part."

"Mohammed Morsi will contest in al-Shater's place and he would now be one of the front runners in the race," he said.

The trial of 75 men accused of involvement in an Egyptian soccer stampede that left more than 70 dead was suspended briefly on Tuesday after dozens of defendants began shouting as the prosecutor read out charges.

Judge Abdel Magid Mahmoud walked out as the defendants jumped on benches in the court cage and waved their fists at the bench.

The proceedings resumed a short time later.

"We either get our rights or we die," the defendants yelled, denying any role in the stadium stampede in Port Said on Feburary 1 that was the deadliest sporting tragedy in Egyptian history.

Many of those killed were crushed when panicked fans tried to escape from the stadium after a post-match pitch invasion.

The stampede deepened the sense of national chaos in Egypt that set in after widespread protests toppled long-serving
President Hosni Mubarak last year.

[Source: Reuters]