Tantawi, His Deputy Face Legal Action
Thirty complaints have been filed against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, former head of Egypt’s army, and his deputy General Sami Anan, for suppressing last year’s popular uprising, a judicial source said Sunday.
Anan is also the subject of an additional complaint accusing him of illegally acquiring building plots near Cairo, the source said.
The complaints were forwarded by Attorney General Abdel Meguid Mahmud to the military prosecutor’s office, which will decide whether action should be taken.
If the complaints are recognized as valid, they could lead to the first trial of members of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which ruled Egypt after the fall of president Hosni Mubarak until President Mohamed Morsi’s inauguration.
Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for two decades, ruled Egypt as head of state after the former president’s fall.
Anan, the former chief of staff of the armed forces, was number two at the SCAF, a group of 20 generals.
On August 12, the newly elected Morsi boosted his authority by retiring both Tantawi and Anan and scrapping a constitutional document that gave the military legislative and other powers.
Both men were given Egypt’s most prestigious award, the Greatest Nile Collar, and retained as presidential advisers.
However, there have been calls for Tantawi and Anan to face trial, particularly from among the ranks of leftist movements and from movements involved in the revolt against Mubarak.
Mubarak, himself a former general, is now serving a life sentence handed down in June for his involvement in the deaths of protesters during the uprising against his regime in early 2011.
Egypt’s Islamist leaders received a boost Saturday after a court postponed a hearing that could disband the Islamist-dominated body drafting the country’s new constitution, giving it more time to complete its work.
State news agency MENA said the hearing had been postponed until October 2 pending administrative procedures, delaying a decision that has threatened to overshadow Egypt’s transition to democracy. MENA said at least 23 lawsuits had been filed against the 100-person constitutional assembly which has been tasked with writing the country’s new constitution.
Saudigazette
