US Congress approves extension of secret surveillance under FISA

 

U.S. Capitol.(AFP Photo / Win McNamee)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/congress-surveillance-act-fisa-980/

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to extend the government’s power to warrantlessly wiretap Americans for another five years by reauthorizing the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Lawmakers in the House agreed from Washington, DC on Wednesday afternoon to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA), a polarizing legislation that has been challenged by privacy advocates and civil liberties organizations alike around the country. The extension was approved by a vote of 301 to 118.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was first signed into law in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter, but amendments added two decades later under the George W Bush administration provide for the government to conduct widespread and blanketing snooping of emails and phone calls of Americans. The FISA Amendments added in 2008, specifically section 702, specify that the government can eavesdrop on emails and phone calls sent from US citizens to persons reasonably suspected to be located abroad without ever requiring intelligence officials to receive a court order.

If the US Senate echoes the House’s extension of the act, the FAA will carry through for another five years until 2017, ensuring the federal intelligence community that they will be able to conduct surveillance on the correspondence of the country’s own citizens well into the future. If no action is taken, the FAA is slated to expire at the end of 2012.

Earlier this year, a plea from two US senators to see how many times the FAA has been used was refused by the National Security Administration. Last month, San Francisco’s Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the US Justice Department for failing to adhere to Freedom of Information Act requests for documents pertaining to the program.

“The FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008 gave the NSA expansive power to spy on Americans' international email and telephone calls,” the EFF explained in an official statement made after the suit was filed. “However, last month, in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, a government official publicly disclosed that the NSA's surveillance had gone even further than what the law permits, with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) issuing at least one ruling calling the NSA's actions unconstitutional.”

Sen. Wyden, a Democratic lawmaker from Oregon who has also sit on the Senate intelligence committee for several years, originally asked for Senate to place a hold on the vote this past June. This week, Sen. Wyden tells Reuters, "My hold is on and it will stay on," although that plea does not apply to the House, however, where lawmakers appeared eager on Wednesday to power through the vote.

So determined were some lawmakers to proceed, in fact, that the rules of the debates preceding Wednesday’s vote called for no more than one hour of discussion before ballots were cast. Several congressmen, including lawmakers that planned to vote yes on the FAA extension regardless, proposed a two year extension as a compromise, but no new amendments were allowed to be tacked on before Wednesday’s vote.

Despite opposition on and off the Hill, the FAA has received praise from some of Washington’s most elite members of the government, including Attorney General Eric Holder and long-standing lawmaker Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the sponsor of the FAA renewal who also infamously urged Congress to approve the since-defeated Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, a broad and dangerous Internet legislation that threatened to reshape the Web as we know it.

In his address at Northwestern University School of Law this past March, Mr. Holder said section 702 of the FAA “ensures that the government has the flexibility and agility it needs to identify and to respond to terrorist and other foreign threats to our security,” but emphasized the fact that only persons thought to be outside the US — not Americans — can be targeted. When Sens. Wyden and Udall asked to know how often that snooping involved Americans at all, however, they were told by the NSA’s Inspector General that a “review of the sort suggested would itself violate the privacy of US persons.”

On his part, Sen. Wyden has written, “that if no one has even estimated how many Americans have had their communications collected under the FISA Amendments Act . . . Then it is possible that this number could be quite large.”

“Since all of the communications collected by the government under section 702 are collected without individual warrants, I believe that there should be clear rules prohibiting the government from searching through these communications in an effort to find the phone calls or emails of a particular American, unless the government has obtained a warrant or emergency authorization permitting surveillance of that American,” the lawmaker wrote in an official press release earlier this year.

Rep. Smith, the sponsor of both this bill and SOPA, has said, “We have a duty to ensure the intelligence community can gather the intelligence they need to protect our country.”

On Thursday, Rep. Smith claimed, “Foreign nations continue to spy on America to plot cyber-attacks and attempt to steal sensitive information from our military and private sector industries,” and that Congress has “a solemn responsibility to ensure that the intelligence community can gather the information” necessary to hinder these attempts.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-California) added on Wednesday from the Hill that reauthorizing the FAA is “critical to the protection of the American people,” claiming that the United States, “as a nation had not done enough to connect the dots to warn us sufficiently to protect” against another terrorist attack on par with the ones that devastated America on September 11, 2001.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, also used the attack on the Twin Towers to justify the necessity of extending the FAA.

“If we could come together to remember 9/11, surely we can come together to prevent another one,”

said Rep. Gowdy.

Opponents of the act, however, say that the attempts to do as such come at a cost too great for civil liberties.

“We’ve been told that we can’t even tell how many people are being subjected to this process located in the United States, and that we don’t know and they can’t tell us,” Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan ) pleaded earlier this year in opposition to the act. “I think we can get a little bit closer. There can be some reasonableness. It’s this kind of vagueness that creates in those of us in the Congress, suspicions that are negative rather than suspicions that are positive.”

“Why can't we know how many people are affected by FISA amendment act in the US?” Rep Conyers asked. “This kind of vagueness creates suspicions.”

Former Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said on his own part that those suspicions are even more validated since the Justice Department has declined to adhere to a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the FAA, explaining on Wednesday, “Everyone becomes suspect when big brother is listening.”

Rep Hank Johnson (D-GA) also threw his weight behind efforts to reject the act on Wednesday, saying it the FISA amendments allow for “illegal surveillance of an untold number of American citizens” with absolutely no oversight.

“Not even the NSA knows the extent to which FISA amendment acts have potentially been approved,” Rep Earl Blumenhauser (D-Oregon) added from the House floor before the vote.

The American Civil Liberties Union reports that, every day, the NSA intercepts and stores around 1.7 billion emails, phone calls, text and other electronic communications thanks to laws like FISA. To put it into perspective, they add, “that’s equivalent to 138 million books, every 24 hours.”

“After four years, you’d hope that some basic information or parameters of such a massive spying program would be divulged to the public, or at least your rank-and-file member of Congress, but they haven’t,” says Michelle Richardson, a counsel at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. “Only a small handful of members have either personally attended classified briefings or have staff with high enough clearances to attend for them.Sen. Ron Wyden — who has been on the Senate Intelligence Committee for years—has even been stonewalled by the Obama administration for a year and a half in his attempts to learn basic information about the program, such as the number of Americans who have had their communications intercepted under the FAA.”

“Can you believe that 435 members of Congress who have sworn to uphold the Constitution are about to vote on a sweeping intelligence gathering law without this basic information?” she asks.

New constitution, same power: Egypt’s military council wants it their way

Egyptian soldiers carry boxes containing ballots a day before the presidential election in Cairo May 22, 2012 (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/egypt-election-army-revolution-901/

Egypt's ruling military council is to set forth an interim constitution ahead of the presidential race. It will charge the newly elected leader and the council itself with powers that many fear could undermine the achievements of last year’s revolution.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is pushing forward an interim constitution ahead of the May 23 presidential election. The measure comes after the country’s Islamist-led parliament failed to form a constituent assembly charged with the creation of a new Constitution of Egypt, Al-Ahram reports.

The interim constitution is expected to endow the new president with the right to dissolve Parliament. In turn, the People's Assembly would be granted the power to form a government. Exceptions to this clause include matters which fall under the defense, interior, military production, foreign affairs, information, finance and justice portfolios affairs. The lower chamber would also have the right to withdraw confidence from the incumbent government.

The document would also grant the SCAF absolute power to review the military’s internal affairs, including the budget, armaments and military law. The budget can also be discussed by Parliament's defense and national security committee, but only in secret, closed-door sessions. The military will serve to protect the national security, safeguard the national unity and protect the constitution and the revolution's legitimacy.

Some observers believe that the proposed constitution would simply maintain Egypt's military as a government in itself. Journalist Bel Trew believes that no matter who wins the presidential race, the military would still insist on staying in power.

“The military is really protecting its interests," Trew told RT "This means that they will protect their budget – which will be secret – and the way that they conduct themselves. Marshal Tantawi is currently the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. I really do not see Tantawi giving power to whoever this civilian president will be, including an Islamist president. That would mean that all of their military law, their budget, everything will be subject to a civilian president who might well be Islamist. This would be a huge coup if it was allowed to happen.”

Lawrence Davidson, Professor of Middle East History at West Chester University, explained to RT that the military in Egypt are trying to create a so-called “Turkish model” where the military stands independent and autonomous outside the government, essentially holding veto power over it.

“At any particular time, if the government does things that the army does not like, they come back and pull off a military coup,” he told RT. “That is what happened for sixty plus years in Turkey and that seems to be the model that the Egyptian military would like to re-create.”

Davidson also added that the secularists are now frightened of what the Islamists might do if they gain complete power in the government. The secularists, he says, might very likely move towards an alliance with the military, as a lesser evil.

The president, under the new charter, would be the commander-in-chief of Egypt's armed forces. The president would also be given the authority to declare war – but only with the approval of the SCAF and the People's Assembly.

Under Egypt’s preceding 1971 Constitution, which functioned during President Hosni Mubarak’s thirty-year rule, the president was endowed with vast powers. He could dissolve parliament and appoint or dismiss a government, as well as individual ministers. Although Parliament also had the right to issue a no-confidence vote against the government, the president could send that decision back to the legislature.

Unable to agree

The SCAF has warned Parliament that unless a constituent assembly is formed by May 20, it will unilaterally issue an "interim constitution" as an annex to last year's constitutional declaration.

Parliament remains opposed to the SCAF’s move, but has failed so far to speak in a unified voice. Thus far, the negotiations between opposing parliamentary factions have reached a deadlock over the details of an annex to the Constitutional Declaration that will define the powers of the president until Egypt’s full constitution is drafted.

The Muslim Brotherhood cannot agree with Parliament's secular forces. The latter claim that Islamists will abuse their majority in the People’s Assembly and push their agenda into the country’s constitution

Congress still okay with indefinite detention and torture of Americans

Source: Russia Today
http://rt.com/usa/news/detention-amendment-ndaa-rep-599/

Even after a federal court deemed the NDAA unconstitutional, the US House of Representatives refused to exclude indefinite detention provisions from the infamous defense spending bill during a vote on Friday.

An attempt to strike down any provisions allowing for the US military to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge from next year’s National Defense Authorization Act was shot down Friday morning in the House of Representatives.

Following discussions on an amendment to the 2013 NDAA that was proposed by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan), House lawmakers opted against passing the law by a vote of 182-238. Had the Smish-Amash amendment passed, military detention for terror suspects captured in the US would have been excluded in the annual defense spending bill. Provisions that allows for that power, Sections 1021 and 1022, were inserted into the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012. President Barack Obama signed that legislation on New Year’s Eve, essentially authorizing the US Armed Forces to detain Americans indefinitely at military facilities over only allegation of ties with terrorists and subject them to enhanced interrogation tactics on par with torture.

On Thursday night, Rep. Amash took to his Facebook page to address the amendment with his followers. “No matter how much I am slandered or my positions are demagogued, I will NEVER stop fighting to defend your liberty and the Constitution,” wrote the congressman.

Back on Capitol Hill, Rep. Amash circulated a document to his fellow lawmakers on Thursday outlining his proposed amendment. In urging his colleagues to vote yes on the Smith-Amash amendment, the representative from Michigan explained to Congress that the proposal would offer protection to non-citizens of the United States and is the only amendment up for discussion that would guarantee Americans a charge and trial.

Elsewhere in the paper, Rep. Amash harped on a decision out of a federal court earlier this week that ruled that the NDAA violated the US Constitution.

“Our constituents demand that we protect their right to a charge and a trial — especially after the NDAA was ruled unconstitutional this week,” wrote Rep. Amash.

That decision came Wednesday when United States District Judge Katherine Forrest shunned the NDAA’s indefinite detention provision, saying it had a "chilling impact on First Amendment rights.”

"An individual could run the risk of substantially supporting or directly supporting an associated force without even being aware that he or she was doing so,” wrote Judge Forrest, who then cited complaints for American journalists who were concerned that they’d be imprisoned without charge solely for speaking with alleged terrorists.

Attorney Carl Mayer represented the plaintiffs in this case and spoke with RT after Judge Forrest’s decision. Mr. Mayer revealed that while the Obama administration can — and most likely will — file an appeal, “we are suggesting that it may not be in their best interest because there are so many people from all sides of the political spectrum opposed to this law.”

Weighing in with RT after the defeat of the Smith-Amash amendment on Friday, Mr. Mayer added, “I can’t imagine why the Congress is doing this other than they are scoring cheap political points—they think — with their constituents because they want to be seen as tough on terror, when, in fact, what they are doing is undermining 200 years of American civil liberties law.”

Although that opposition has indeed been widespread since even before this year’s NDAA was signed by President Obama on December 31, it was absent on Capitol Hill this Friday when the Smith-Amash amendment was shot down.

Moments before the amendment went up for vote, Rep. Amash wrote on Facebook, “We know the NDAA's detention provision is unconstitutional. The House will vote on one substantive solution.”

“Will we fix it? And if we don't, how will we explain that to our constituents?”

Turkey under Erdogan leadership a semi-dictatorship: Lawmaker

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/240450.html

A Turkish lawmaker has censured a recent announcement by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to redraft the constitution, likening the current government to a ‘semi-dictatorship.’

“We already live in a semi-dictatorship, so now are we going for a constitutional dictatorship?” said Riza Turmen, the deputy leader of the Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

Turmen made the comments on Wednesday in response to a May 7 announcement by Erdogan that a Turkish parliamentary commission started redrafting the 30-year-old constitution, which was passed two years after the military coup of 1980.

Erdogan said in his announcement on May 7, “We can discuss everything about it -- whether it will be a presidential system or a co-presidency.”

The Turkish premier also said the new constitution would “highlight the citizen, not the state.”

However, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), also criticized the latest decision on redrafting the constitution.

“We are not in favor of a presidential system,” Bahceli said on Wednesday.

The new Turkish constitution is expected to be produced before the end of 2012 and civil society organizations, religious groups and citizens have also been asked to contribute to the redrafting process. The new text would then be put to a referendum.

Meanwhile, the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has called for more rights in the new constitution for the 12 to 15 million Kurds living in the country.

The new constitution would be the fourth in Turkey since the establishment of the Turkish republic in 1923.

Egyptians hold anti-junta demos

Egyptian protesters wave national flags and shout slogans against the military rulers of the country during a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square on February 10, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226055.html

Tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets to protest against the military rulers who took power after former dictator Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February 2011.

On Friday, demonstrators in the capital Cairo, the coastal city of Alexandria, the northeastern seaport city of Suez, and many other towns called for the ruling junta to hand over power to civilian leaders.

“The people want the overthrow of the marshal,” activists chanted during the protest march towards the Defense Ministry in Cairo, referring to Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Army units obstructed demonstrators marching to the Defense Ministry.

Demonstrators in Alexandria chanted slogans against the generals.

In Suez, protesters burned a US flag.

The demonstrations were staged a day before a strike called by activists to commemorate the first anniversary of Mubarak's downfall. The ruling council has deployed extra troops and tanks to guard state buildings and public property ahead of the strike.

On Thursday, the Muslim Brotherhood called on the junta to dismiss the military-appointed government for failing to deal with the worsening security and economic situation in the country.

Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said the military council should provide an opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood to put forward a nominee for prime minister who could form a new government.

The demand for dismissal of Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri and his cabinet came after deadly clashes in the northern city of Port Said between opposing football fans on February 1 that left 74 people dead. In the following days, 15 more people died in the ensuing mayhem.

Egypt parliament gets legislative powers

Mohamed Saad al-Katatni of the Muslim Brotherhood speaks to other members of the Egyptian parliament during the first session after the revolution that ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak, Cairo, January 23, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222766.html

Egypt's military rulers, who took over the reins after a revolution ousted former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, have handed legislative powers to the country's parliament.

“Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, has announced in a letter to the people's assembly the transfer of legislative power to the assembly," the cabinet said in statement on Monday.

The lower house of parliament convened for the first time on Monday, two days before the first anniversary of the start of the revolution, which began on January 25 and culminated on February 11 with Mubarak's ouster.

During the marathon parliamentary elections, which ended just days ago, Egypt's two main Islamic parties secured over three quarters of the 498 seats.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) secured the biggest share of seats (47.18) in the parliament while the Islamic al-Nour party finished second with 29 percent of the seats.

During the Monday session, the parliament also elected the FJP's nominee, Mohamed Saad al-Katatni, as speaker of the house.

Egyptian parliament speaker elected

Saad al-Katatni has been elected as speaker of the Egyptian parliament.(File Photo

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222670.html

The Muslim Brotherhood's Saad al-Katatni has been elected as speaker of the first post-revolution parliament in Egypt.

On Monday, Katatni won 399 votes out of 496 in the first session of the lower assembly, held two days before the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution.

With 47.18 percent, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest political party in the country, secured the biggest share of seats in the recently-concluded general elections.

The country's new parliament will also elect a 100-strong body with the task of drafting a new constitution.

The party, which was officially banned under Mubarak's authoritarian rule, has pledged to guide Egypt on the path towards the transition of power to a civilian government.

Over the past months protesters have been staging mass demonstrations, calling on the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces to hand over power to a civilian authority, accusing it of moving against the country's revolution by using violence against civilians.

SCAF took over after the ouster of the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolution in January 2011.

Egypt's new parliament to hold first session

An Egyptian man takes pictures inside the parliament's meeting hall in the country's capital Cairo on January 22, 2012.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222560.html

Egypt's new parliament is preparing to meet for its first session since the country's popular revolution ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak in February.

The opening session will be held on Monday, two days before the first anniversary of the start of the revolution that began on January 25, 2011 and culminated on February 11 with Mubarak's resignation.

Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest political party in the country, has secured the biggest share of seats, 47.18, in the recently-concluded general elections. The party, which was officially banned under Mubarak's authoritarian rule, has pledged to guide Egypt in the path towards transition of power to a civilian government.

"It will be a historical session in Egypt's transition to democracy and civilian rule," Mohamed Beltagy, a leading member of the FJP, said before the session, due to begin at 11:00 a.m. local time (0900 GMT).

In Monday's session, the parliament is likely to elect the FJP's nominee, Mohamed el-Katatni, as speaker of the legislature.

The Islamic al-Nour party finished second in the polls with 29 percent of the seats.

The country's new parliament will also elect a 100-strong body with the task of drafting a new constitution.

Egypt's MB wins majority of parliament seats

Egyptians voting in the country's elections which began in November. (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222331.html

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has won 47.18 percent of seats in the country's parliamentary elections, officials say.

According to the chairman of election's judicial commission, the Muslim Brotherhood won 235 seats in the new People's Assembly.

The Islamic al-Nour party came in second with 29 percent of the seats.

The country's new parliament is to select a 100-strong body with the task of drafting a new constitution.

Tension heightens between Marshal Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and revolutionary forces ahead of 25 January revolution's anniversary as many Egyptians are calling for the downfall of the junta.

Egyptians have in recent weeks staged mass demonstrations against the military rulers.

Protesters have been calling on the SCAF to hand over power to a civilian authority, accusing it of moving against the country's revolution by using violence against civilians.

The ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces took over after the ouster of the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolution in February.

Egyptian protesters slam US meddling

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219908.html

Egyptian protesters have condemned the United States' interference in their country's internal affairs, demanding the closure of US embassy in Cairo.

Chanting anti-US slogans, the demonstrators gathered outside the US embassy in the capital Cairo on Saturday to protest what they described as Washington's meddling in their country's internal affairs.

The demonstrators accused the US of meddling in Egypt's recent general elections and called for the expulsion of US ambassador to Cairo.

The protests came a week after Egyptian military forces raided offices of several NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) in Egypt, accusing them of receiving financial support from the US.

The military rulers have said repeatedly they will not tolerate foreign interference in the country's affairs.

Egypt embarked on a three-stage parliamentary election in late November 2011.

The Freedom and Justice Party of the Muslim Brotherhood said on Saturday that it had garnered 35.2 percent of the party list vote in the final stage of the election. Another Islamic party al-Nur said it received 27 percent in the poll held on January 4.

The ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces took over after the ouster of the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolution in February.

Islamic parties win Egypt third vote

Egyptian women enter a polling center during the third round of the elections for Egypt's parliament, Jan. 4, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219804.html

Two main Islamic parties in Egypt have announced wining over 60 percent of the vote in the final stage of the parliamentary elections.

The Freedom and Justice Party of the Muslim Brotherhood said on Saturday that it had garnered 35.2 percent of the party list vote. The al-Nur party also said it received 27 percent.

The two Islamic parties took 65 percent of the vote in the first two phases of Egypt's first general election since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Egyptians went to the polls in three stages to choose a new parliament tasked with drafting a new constitution.

Once the new parliament has been sworn in, a commission will be appointed to draft a new constitution before presidential election is held by the end of June.

The elections came in response to increasing public demand for a shift from military rule to a civilian government.

Prosecution seeks death for Mubarak

Former Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak arrives by gurney to court in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219537.html

Prosecutors have called on the court hearing the case of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to hang him for the murder of protesters during the revolution that deposed him nearly a year ago.

Winding up their final arguments on Thursday, prosecutors said the 83-year-old, lying on a stretcher in the defendants' iron cage, bore full responsibility for the killings and should be executed for giving shoot-to-kill orders during anti-government protests.

Prosecutor Mustafa Khater made a passionate plea to the court demanding the death penalty for Mubarak, former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and four of the police commanders.

They are charged with complicity in the killings of over 800 pro-democracy protesters during the 18-day anti-regime protests that forced Egypt's strongman to quit on February 11, 2011.

“The law punishes premeditated murder with execution. The prosecution demands the maximum punishment," Khater, one of five prosecutors in the case, told the court.

"Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants," he pleaded.

He said the nation expects the truth, which all people are equal before the law, and that Egyptian blood is no longer cheap.

Khater's appeal came on the final day of court sessions--which began on Tuesday--in which the prosecution presented its case, following months of testimony by witnesses.

Earlier in Thursday's session, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman argued that Mubarak was "politically and legally" responsible for the killing of the protesters.

He stated that Mubarak was aware from meetings with members of his inner circle, regional TV channels and reports by his security agencies that the killing of protesters was taking place but did not order to stop it.

Mubarak is the first Arab leader to stand trial in person since popular uprisings began in the Middle East and North Africa over a year ago.

Egypt officers join anti-junta protesters

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212139.html

A number of Egyptian army officials join the chorus of calls for change amid mass demos in Cairo and other major cities demanding the downfall of the ruling junta, Press TV reports.

In Cairo, up to a million people gathered on Friday in and around Liberation Square, the focal point of a popular revolution which toppled the four-decade regime of former dictator Hosni Mubarak in February.

The protesters called for an end to the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces which took over after Mubarak's ouster, and voiced their opposition to SCAF's nomination of Mubarak-era official Kamal el-Ganzouri as prime minister.

The calls were soon joined by Egyptians army officers, who supported popular demands for a civilian government and opposed the junta choice to head the transitional government.

“The Supreme Council of Armed Forces does not reflect the whole Egyptian army,” said Egyptian Army Captain Ahmed Shouman. “We must be in cohesion with the Egyptian people once again. This is the best way. We must resort to the essence of the revolution,” he stressed.

Shouman expressed regret about the crackdown on anti-junta protesters over the past days and described it as a sign of the despair of the remnants of the Mubarak regime, who want to stay in power.

The captain recalled that the people's demand since the start of the uprising in Egypt has been the establishment of a civilian government. He then called for the formation of a “real parliament” representing the Egyptian people and their demands.

The SCAF has a six-month mandate to help set up a transitional government and hold elections, but the junta is receiving dictations from outside Egypt, Shouman stated, without explaining where the junta receives commands from. "We must represent our people not the outside world," he urged, addressing the military.

On the nomination of Ganzouri, he expressed doubts about whether the former prime minister was the appropriate choice given the current situation in Egypt.

Another Egyptian army official also expressed regret over the killing of more than 41 protesters in the past week, and called for the junta to meet popular demands.

“I have been a military man for a long time,” said Army Major Amr Metwaly, producing his ID card. “It does not matter if we represent the Egyptian civilians or the armed personnel. But most important of all is that we are all from Egypt; we stand side by side with the revolutionaries and we stand in support of the revolution,” he said.

He condemned the killing of protesters as being part of a Western plot to derail the revolution in Egypt. He denounced the junta's stance against the revolutionaries and the use of excessive force against protesters.

Metwaly also echoed his comrade's remark on the presence of Mubarak-era elements in the defense ministry and the ruling military council.

He said Egyptians are against outside intervention from the West and above all the United States, which has made numerous attempts to hijack the Egyptian revolution.

The major called on Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to respect popular demand, step down and stand trial in a civilian court. He also urged the junta to hold national referendum for the people to decide on the future of their country.

Metwaly vowed the army personnel would not back off on their pledge to support the Egyptian people and would live up to their duty of maintaining security for the Egyptian public. He expressed hope that the ruling junta would step down in a week's time at longest and people's demands would then be met.

Fresh violence erupts in Egypt's capital

Egyptian protesters gather after clashes with Egyptian riot police at Liberation Square in Cairo November 19, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211108.html

Fresh violence has erupted in Egypt's capital Cairo a day after deadly clashes between police and protesters left at least three people dead and hundreds wounded, Press TV reports.

Egyptian riot police on Sunday clashed for a second day with protesters demanding a speedy transition of power from the ruling military council to a civilian government.

The police used tear gas against thousands of protesters in and around central Cairo's Liberation Square.

At least one protester was injured in the violence.

Similar clashes on Saturday left three people dead and hundreds more injured in Cairo and Alexandria.

The latest clashes come just over a week before parliamentary elections.

Earlier this month, Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Silmi showed a draft copy of a revised constitution to political groups in the North African country. The draft would give the Army exclusive authority over its internal affairs and budget and would also shield the forces from legal scrutiny.

The opposition and democracy campaigners protested at the proposal.

Activists and political groups are increasingly critical of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)'s failure to live up to its promise of handing over power to a civilian ruling structure within six months of the February revolution.

Protesters have also criticized the head of the council, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, for his reluctance to implement sweeping changes and dismantle elements of the former regime.

The military rulers have promised to hold presidential elections by late next year.

Egyptians urge freeze of Israel ties

Egyptian protesters gather in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Egypt, August 20, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195470.html

Egyptian protesters continue demonstrating in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital Cairo, calling for an end to Egypt's diplomatic ties with Israel.

The demonstrators insisted that they would press ahead with the protests outside the embassy until Tel Aviv's envoy to Cairo, Yitzhak Levanon, is expelled from the country, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday.

The protesters also demanded efforts by Egyptian authorities to halt natural gas exports from Egypt to Israel and revoke the Camp David Accords -- a US-sponsored treaty that was signed in 1978 to establish 'peace' between Cairo and Tel Aviv.

Tensions between Egypt and Israel has climbed since Israeli forces killed five Egyptian border guards on Thursday at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Minister for military Affairs Ehud Barak on Saturday said “Israel deeply regrets the deaths of the Egyptian officers” after Egypt announced that it would withdraw its ambassador the Tel Aviv if no official apology was made.

Egyptian demonstrators, however, played down Barak's expression of “regret” over the death of Egyptian officers.

The US government earlier dispatched an envoy to Cairo to try to defuse the surging tensions in Egyptian-Israeli relations, which have further deteriorated in the wake of the killings.

Meanwhile, activists across Egypt have called for a huge protest rally on Friday to press the country's ruling military council into meeting their demands.

US threatens to cut Egypt aid over Israel

US Congresswoman Kay Granger

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195408.html

US Congresswoman Kay Granger has threatened that if Egypt withdraws from its peace treaty with Israel, Washington would cut its USD 2-billion annual aid to Cairo.

“The United States aid to Egypt is predicated on the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and so the relationship between Egypt and Israel is extremely important,” Granger said in an interview with Jerusalem Post on Monday.

The remark came as tension between Cairo and Tel Aviv increased after Israeli forces killed five Egyptian border guards on Thursday at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Minister for military Affairs Ehud Barak on Saturday said “Israel deeply regrets the deaths of the Egyptian officers” after Egypt announced it would withdraw its ambassador the Tel Aviv if no official apology was made.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has changed drastically since the overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in February; and a number of Egyptian political parties have been calling for changes in the peace treaty.

The United States' annual aid has been provided to Egypt since the Cairo-Tel Aviv peace treaty was signed.

Granger also warned that the US would cut the USD 500-million aid it provides to the Palestinian Authority if it would seek to win a UN recognition for a statehood at the UN General Assembly meeting in September.

Granger is the chairwoman of the US House appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, which is the institution in charge if setting the US foreign aid bill.

Anti-Israel rallies continue in Egypt

Photo of anti-Israeli protests in Egypt

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195084.html

Egyptians carry on their protests against Israel, following Tel Aviv's killing of several Egyptian border guards on the country's soil.

Over 100 anti-Israeli protesters rallied in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital on Sunday, repeating the outraged populace's demand for termination of the country's ties with Israel and expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Cairo, a Press TV correspondent reported.

On Thursday, the Israeli Air Force killed five Egyptian border guards, attacking the vicinity of the country's border crossing with the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.

The demonstrators have downplayed the Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak's expression of 'regret' over the deaths.

Earlier, a young protester climbed the Israeli embassy's building and pulled down the Israeli flag.

Cairo has also demanded that Israel halt its deadly airstrikes against the Tel Aviv-besieged Gaza.

Also on Thursday, the Israeli military killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured more than 45 others during offensives against the coastal sliver.

The Egyptian protests mark the public's venting their anger over Cairo's 30 years of amity and cooperation with Tel Aviv under Hosni Mubarak -- Egypt's former dictator, who was deposed by a popular revolution earlier in the year.

US-Egypt military exercises cancelled

US Marines participate in Operation Bright Star exercises October 23, 2001 on Egypt's north coast.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194421.html

The United States and Egypt have decided to cancel this year's planned military exercises dubbed Bright Star, as pressure builds up on the US-backed military rulers of the North African nation.

"The Bright Star military practice was called off exceptionally this year given the political situation in Egypt," an Egyptian army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Wednesday.

The biannual military drills, the largest of their type in the region, date back to 1981 and are an outgrowth of the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel.

The next Bright Star drill will be held in 2013 and formal planning meetings are due in June, 2012, a US military source said.

The US has spent tens of billions of dollars on Egypt's army by providing technology and training. The US military aid to Egypt totaled $1.3 billion in 2010.

However, the historic revolution that led to the downfall of Egypt's former dictator Hosni Mubarak, a staunch ally of the US, has cast doubts on ties between the two countries.

Following the overthrow of Mubarak, Egyptian people have repeatedly condemned the country's military rulers for cracking down on protesters demanding a democratic transition to a civilian government and this will add fuel to fire on the relations between the old allies.

US officials have conveyed their concerns to Egypt's military about growing anti-Americanism in the country.

Mubarak trial begins in Egyptian capital

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192124.html

At a historic trial in the Arab world, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is standing in the dock after the former ruler and his sons entered the purposely-built cage in a Cairo court.

The trial of the overthrown dictator started on Wednesday, months after a revolution in Egypt, which ended Mubarak's decades-long rule, AFP reported.

Shortly after being flown to the Almaza military airport in Cairo, Mubarak arrived at the Police Academy in a Cairo suburb where he and his two sons will stand trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of anti-government protesters in Egypt.

Mubarak was brought into the Cairo courtroom on a stretcher for the opening of his murder trial in the capital as his two sons stood by his side.

It was Mubarak's first public appearance since he was ousted by a revolution on February 11.

Mubarak's trial is taking place under tight security as nearly 3,000 riot police and security forces are ringing the courthouse.

Mubarak arrives in Cairo to stand trial

Security stand by as a van believed to be carrying the defendants arrives outside the court room set-up in the police academy on the outskirt of the capital Cairo, waiting for the start of the trial of ousted Egyptian president where he is to face murder

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192114.html

The deposed Egyptian president has arrived in the capital Cairo where he and his two sons will stand trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of anti-government protesters in Egypt.

The state television said that Hosni Mubarak's air ambulance landed in Cairo on Wednesday as tension between protesters and riot police is intensified outside his courthouse in the capital.

Shortly after he landed in Cairo, Mubarak was en route to court where is to face murder charges on Wednesday, a security official says.

"Mubarak has landed at Almaza military airport," the official said.

"He is now on his way to the Police Academy" where is due to appear in court along with his two sons Alaa and Gamal, the former interior minister and six security chiefs, the official went on to say.

Mubarak left the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital earlier in the day under tight security measures, including ambulances and security vehicles, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Police patrolled the street near Mubarak's hospital and barred the way to protesters who were chanting, "The people want the execution of the killer."

Large numbers of people also gathered outside a court in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday, awaiting the trial of the ousted ruler.

The ousted Egyptian president is due to appear in court along with several of his former associates on the outskirts of the capital city of Cairo on Wednesday.

He is reportedly receiving treatment for a heart condition.

Egypt's ruling military council has refrained from handing in Mubarak for imprisonment under the pretext that the ousted dictator is ill.

Mubarak's transfer to Cairo has been a key demand of people still protesting at the landmark Liberation Square.

Mubarak, his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and six senior policemen are to face charges of ordering the killing of anti-government protesters in Egypt.

The Mubarak family is also facing allegations of corruption as well as the use of violence against protesters.

Mubarak was ousted in February following weeks of anti-government protests in Egypt that put an end to his three-decade rule.

The commission investigating the violence against the protesters in Egypt says more than 800 demonstrators were killed in the demonstrations.

Egypt's judicial officials say the former dictator could be executed if found guilty of ordering to shoot anti-government protesters.