CAIRO, 18 October 2006 — Slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s nephew started a sit-in yesterday to protest against his trial by a military court for implicating the army in his uncle’s assassination 25 years ago. Talat Sadat, a 52-year-old lawmaker from the small opposition party Al-Ahrar, also told reporters he would refuse to appear in court today. “My right to a defense team has been violated and I refuse to be tried by a military court,” said Sadat, who was stripped of his parliamentary immunity last week.
The controversial politician, who has launched a number of stinging attacks against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak in recent months, kicked off a protest sit-in in front of parliament on Tuesday. “I am sure of my innocence and I respect the army,” he said. Sadat alleged last week that his uncle’s bodyguards and senior army officials were involved in the assassination. Anwar Sadat was shot dead during a military parade on Oct. 6, 1981.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood sees little likelihood of a popular backlash if Gamal Mubarak succeeds his father as president, the Islamist group’s deputy leader said yesterday. Mohammed Habib, whose group is Egypt’s strongest opposition force, said plans seemed to be moving ahead for Gamal to succeed his father Mubarak, 78, who has ruled for 25 years.
Mubarak has denied any such plan and Gamal has repeatedly said he does not want to be president. But his influence in the ruling party and the absence of obvious alternatives have fed speculation of a plan to make him Egypt’s next president.
“No force can block inheritance (of power) as long as there is no popular movement. I think this does not exist, or the chances of it existing are weak,” Habib said. “Without this, I think that we cannot block inheritance,” he told Reuters at the movement’s headquarters in Cairo.
The Brotherhood holds nearly a fifth of seats in Parliament, making it the only effective opposition organization in a country where analysts say decades of authoritarian rule have squeezed most political life from society.
