REPORT: U.S. joins German call for Egypt's Morsi to be released

 The U.S. State Department said on Friday that it agreed with a German call for deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to be released after avoiding answering the question since his ouster by the military last week.
 
Asked if the United States agreed with the German Foreign Ministry's call for Morsi to be released, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters "We do agree."
   
Morsi has been detained at an undisclosed location since he was toppled.
   
Speaking at her daily briefing, Psaki also said she could confirm that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson has met

Egypt's interim president, who was appointed by the military.
 
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood massed in main squares in several cities, waving pictures of Mohammed Morsi and chanting that the head of the military is a "traitor," stepping up denunciations of the army over its removal of the country's first freely elected president.
 
Islamists are trying to escalate their campaign of street rallies aimed at forcing the reinstitution of Morsi. At the same time, the new military-backed administration has intensified its crackdown on the leadership of Morsi's Brotherhood, starting criminal investigations against Morsi and issuing arrest warrants on a host of others.
 
At the main Islamist rally in Cairo, the crowd poured into a large boulevard in front of a main mosque where Morsi supporters have been camped out for two weeks.

During the day, the crowd appeared smaller than in previous days, though it was expected to pick up after sunset and the end of the daily fast of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

On another note, an Egyptian military helicopter briefly crossed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Gaza Strip, in a possible sign of increased security jitters a week after Egypt's army toppled President Mohamed Morsi.

Security sources in Egypt and Israel both described the flyover as a navigational error, but it came shortly after armed men killed an Egyptian policeman and wounded a second in an attack on a checkpoint in the lawless Sinai peninsula across the border from the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Separately, Egyptian authorities arrested three Palestinian gunmen on Friday during "an attempt to attack vital sites in Sinai", Egyptian state media reported.
   
"The helicopter mistakenly crossed into Gazan airspace and immediately returned to Egypt," the Israeli security source said. Witnesses in Gaza said it stayed on their side of the border for about 10 minutes before returning.

The  Palestinian group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, declined comment on the helicopter incident. Hamas denies Egyptian accusations that it has an armed presence in Sinai.

 This as Egypt's interim authorities have nominated lawyer Ziad Bahaa El-Din, who is a member of the leftist Egyptian Social Democratic Party, as deputy prime minister, Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said.
   
"I have chosen Dr. Bahaa El-Din as deputy prime minister and sent the nomination to the president," Beblawi said, adding he was holding talks with other candidates for his new cabinet that he expects to be formed within a few days.
  
Economist Beblawi was named prime minister to lead an army-backed government following the military's overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on July 3.

Meanwhile, Egypt's interim prime minister will start contacting candidates for cabinet ministries on Sunday and Monday with a view to having the cabinet sworn in by the end of next week, he told Reuters.

Hazem el-Beblawi, a liberal economist and former finance minister, was named to head the cabinet after the army removed elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last week. He is trying to assemble an interim government to lead the country under an army "road map" to restore civilian rule.

This comes as supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi called for protests and Egyptians prayed there would be no repeat of clashes that killed more than 90 people in the last week and left the Arab world's biggest nation bitterly divided.        

More than a week after the army toppled Egypt's first elected leader on a wave of demonstrations, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement wants people to join it on the streets to push for him to be reinstated, an aim that now seems in vain.            

The streets of Cairo were quiet on Friday morning, with separate demonstrations by Morsi supporters and opponents expected later in the day, the weekly Muslim prayer day.           

Officials say Morsi is still being held at the Republican Guard compound in Cairo, where troops killed 53 Islamist protesters on Monday in a clash that intensified anger his allies already felt at the military's decision to oust him.             

Four members of the security forces were also killed in a battle the military says was started by terrorists. Morsi's supporters call the incident a "massacre" and say those who died were praying peacefully when troops opened fire.             

The Brotherhood believes it is the victim of a brutal military crackdown, evoking memories of when it was suppressed under longtime autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in a popular uprising in 2011.         

But many of its opponents blame Islamists for the violence, and some have little sympathy for demonstrators who died, underlining how deep the fissures in Egyptian society are.            

The unrest has also raised fear over security in the lawless Sinai peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.        

One Egyptian policeman was killed and another wounded early on Friday when militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at checkpoints in the Sinai town of El Arish.               

Egyptian state media said police arrested three Palestinian militants conducting attacks in Sinai.            

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Germany's Foreign Ministry on Friday urged all political parties in Egypt to refrain from violence or threats of violence, and called on Egyptian authorities to allow an international organization access to ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.         

"All forms of political persecution would be extremely damaging for the future of Egypt. We call for an end to the restrictions on Mr Morsi, and we also urge all political powers, in particular the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, to refrain from all forms of violence or threat of violence," a ministry spokesman said.            

He said Germany wanted a trustworthy, neutral international organisation to be allowed access to Morsi, who officials say is being held at a Republican Guard compound in Cairo.


REUTERS


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