Egypt Live Blog

Al Jazeera staff and correspondents update you on important developments in Egypt.

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Tens of thousands of Egyptians have gathered in central Cairo for one of the largest demonstrations since the ousting of Hosni Mubarak.

AFP reports that a a senior IMF official on Friday said the timing of a possible $3.2 billion loan to Egypt was unclear as the crisis lender awaits broad support for the program from the Egyptian people

Thousands have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square in protest against the ruling military council's handling of the transition period following the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak last spring.

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna live in the famous square, says a wide "cross-section" of the Egyptian political scene, representing more than 20 political parties and political groups, have gathered in Cairo.

Though the protesters have separated into distinct groups, "there is a group for the Salafi movement - the ultraconservatives - an area for the Muslim Brotherhood, and an area for those who see themselves as liberals" our correspondent said "the one point of unity" among the thousands gathered in the Egyptian capital today is that those affiliated with Mubarak and his regime not be allowed to participate in the nation's political future.

Retuers reports that a group of Egyptian activists are marching 125 km to Tahrir Square in Cairo in order to particiapte in a demonstration tomorrow:

Fifteen activists decided to walk from their hometown of Suez across the desert to Cairo to show commitment to their
cause: political reform and an end to the rule of army generals who have been running Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was removed from power by a mass uprising last year.

'We are showing the military council that if someone would walk this distance for a cause, he could do anything else for
the same cause,' said Mohamed Ghareeb, a 20-year old student who was 45 km from Cairo.

Tags protest

Reuters reports that SCAF has requested that the consitutional court rule on whether top figures in Hosni Mubarak's government can run in the upcoming presidential elections after the parliament passed a law banning them:

Last week's new law must be passed by the ruling military council to take effect.  MPs drafted the legislation in response Mubarak spy chief Omar Suleiman's decision to run for the presidency.

Suleiman has since been disqualified on the grounds that he failed to secure enough voter endorsements to run.

The legislation, if approved, could disqualify former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq - in power during Mubarak's last days. The Supreme Constitutional Court is expected to issue its ruling within 15 days. A minister in the army-appointed government last week described the law as 'a deviation' that targeted one or two people.

The presidential election starts on May 23 with two days of voting and is expected to go to a June run-off between the top two candidates. Front-runners include the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi, former member of the Islamist group Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh and former Arab League chief and Egypt's foreign minister for a decade, Amr Moussa.

The legislation, an amendment to the law governing political rights, covers anyone who served in a list of top positions in government and the ruling party during Mubarak's last decade in power. The list does not include the position of minister, meaning it does not threaten Moussa's bid. 

Activists have called for mass protests on Friday against senior officials and politicians who served under Mubarak and the military council's handling of the 14 months since he was removed from power by an uprising.

The generals are due to hand power to the new president by July 1 and have been governing with Mubarak's presidential powers, giving parliament limited authority, though the chamber was elected in Egypt's most democratic election in six decades.

The AFP reports that a visit from Egypt's Grant Mufti Ali Gomaa to Jerusalem has upset the Muslim Brotherhood.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood called the trip a 'catastrophe' that undermined Palestinian aspiration.

This is a big deal, because maintaining the peace treaty with Israel has become a very touchy subject in post-revolution Egypt.

Amr Moussa, candidate for Egypt’s presidential elections, has called on the military council to be committed to the timetable for handing over power by the end of June. 

Moussa has warned in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera that the prolongation of the transitional period will shake the image of Egypt in front of the the world and will lead to many disasters and problems the transitional period is full of.

 

 

As ten candidates are barred from the presidential race, the remaining contenders start their campaign.

Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports from Cairo.

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]

Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater, who has been barred from Egypt's first post-Arab Spring presidential election, on Wednesday accused the country's military rulers of seeking to stay in power.

"The way the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) runs Egypt... shows manipulation in the democratisation process and a desire to prevent people from democratically electing their president," Shater told journalists.

He accused Egypt's military rulers of seeking "to extend the transitional period," which is scheduled to end in June after a president is elected.

"The SCAF wants to pull the strings of power from behind the scenes," said Shater, a wealthy businessman and influential member of Egypt's powerful Brotherhood.

Shater said the Islamists would join a demonstration on Friday organised by the same movements that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak.


[Source: AFP]

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