Thu July 4, 2013

In Post-Coup Egypt, Morsi Allies Feel Effects

Originally published on Tue July 9, 2013 12:38 pm




Egypt has a new interim president.

ADLY MANSOUR: (Foreign language spoken)

CORNISH: That is Adly Mansour, vowing to safeguard the republican system and to respect the law and constitution. Mansour was previously a constitutional judge. His swearing in follows the arrest of the elected president, Mohammed Morsi, a move backed by millions of Egyptians who celebrated in the streets across the country. But Morsi still has many supporters, and both sides are calling for mass rallies tomorrow.

NPR's Leila Fadel joins us from Cairo now. And, Leila, describe the scene in Cairo today and give us a sense of what's going on in other parts of the country.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Well, the jubilation and celebrations that we were seeing yesterday have petered out a little bit, but mass rallies are being called for renewed celebrations tomorrow as supporters of the president continue to be extremely somber as I went to see them today, sad, saying they will continue in the streets until the elected president is put back into power, calling this a military coup, an affront to democracy, and in some cases some worrying language about dying for the legitimacy of this office.

CORNISH: Tell us more about how the new Egyptian government is now dealing with the deposed president, Mohammed Morsi, and other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

FADEL: Well, basically, we're not really hearing from leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood because many of them are under arrest, including the head of the religious organization. The president himself, his top aides, Islamist channels that were connected to the brotherhood in any way have been shut down. Human rights groups are very concerned about this action, concerned about the rights of this organization that went from the leaders of this country and now, in many ways, fugitive.

CORNISH: What's the concern about more violence?

FADEL: I think that's a very big concern. We saw less violence today, although clashes did continue at a pro-Morsi rally here in Cairo, as well as other parts of the country. But there is a big concern that supporters of the Morsi government and Morsi himself and the Muslim Brotherhood are many. And many of them feel now that they have been marginalized and excluded from the process, and there are some people saying that this military coup will bring about religious war.

CORNISH: Now, Leila, we're also hearing both sides be critical of the United States in this. Why is that?

FADEL: Well, both sides blame the United States for their foreign policy, ironically. On the pro-Morsi side, the pro-president side, they say a military coup could not have taken place without tacit backing of the American. They're asking why the president hasn't condemned the arrest of the elected president of Egypt.

And on the other side, the anti-Morsi crowd, they say the Americans weren't hard enough on this administration, on their repressive policies, on their human rights record.

CORNISH: Meantime, how are these events being seen in the rest of the region?

FADEL: Well, many of the very powerful and wealthy Gulf Arab states have congratulated the new interim president, including the ally, former ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, who backed the president with billions of dollars in aid. And ironically, the enemy of these Gulf states, the president of Syria, has seen this as vindication that political Islam is not the way to go and that he is - he feels vindicated against his opponents, who he calls terrorists.

CORNISH: That was NPR's Leila Fadel in Cairo. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.