National and International Initiatives to End Egypt Crisis

Anti-Coup, Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance Statement On National and International Initiatives to End Egypt Crisis

Cairo: August 6, 2013

The Anti-Coup Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance expresses deep appreciation for the various national and international calls urging for dialogue and efforts made to calm the tensions in Egypt.

We confirm the following:

• The first steps out of the crisis must address the core of the problem. The Egyptian people massing in sit-ins and demonstrations all over Egypt did not come out because a number of leaders were arrested and others are being hunted.

The Egyptian people poured out into the streets and public squares to protest the military coup that overthrew constitutional legitimacy, kidnapped the first elected civilian president in Egypt, suspended the Constitution approved by public referendum only months ago, disbanded the elected parliament, blocked the democratic path on which Egypt already took great strides (with positive participation of millions of Egyptians who cast their votes time and time again in the most credible elections and referendums), established a military dictatorship aided by police repression apparatus, restored the Mubarak regime with all its corruption and tyranny, and killed and injured thousands in several horrendous massacres in the first weeks of the putschists’ rule.

• Truce endeavors must first restore constitutional legitimacy, starting with reinstatement of the elected president to his rightful office (a demand made by the vast majority of Egyptians), activate the Constitution, and restore the parliament. This is the core issue which is bound to calm tensions completely. Then, we can have a national dialogue on all issues without any preconditions.

• The right of peaceful assembly, demonstrations and sit-ins is a constitutional and legal right approved by human rights declarations, so long as they remain peaceful. Indeed, all our activities are peaceful. The proof is that the demonstrators and protesters are the only victims of whom thousands fall dead and injured in vicious attacks by the putschists and their hired thugs, all the time.

• Political prisoners must be released and all trumped-up charges brought against them dropped immediately in order to lift the injustice, and must not be used in any way for bargaining.

• Freedom of opinion and expression is guaranteed in all international conventions and constitutions. The democratic process necessitates that shuttered satellite TV channels are allowed to broadcast again, journalists banned from writing are allowed to do their job, and restrictions on the media must be lifted.

Furthermore, putschists must put an end to the ferocious campaigns of misinformation, lies, slander and incitement to hatred and sedition by their media henchmen who persistently call for the exclusion and extermination of opponents of the coup – i.e. the majority of the Egyptian people.

• The Alliance rejects equalizing between the victims and the violent terrorists, between those who practice persecution, terrorism and violence in its worst forms, grabbing power by force, kidnapping the legitimate President and detaining him in an undisclosed location without due process, killing peaceful protesters – including women and children – as they go down in prayer in repeated inhuman massacres, violating the sanctity of places of worship, laying siege to worshipers in mosques, arbitrarily arresting politicians and fabricating false accusations against them, freezing opposition leaders’ funds, and constantly threatening to attack peaceful sit-ins to break them up by force… and between those who are killed, arrested, attacked and persecuted, despite our emphasis on the peacefulness of our approach and our condemnation of all forms of violence, including those events that occur in the Sinai, and which everyone is now certain are the handiwork of security forces and Fatah-affiliated Mohamed Dahlan’s men.

• The Alliance further calls for a fair, prompt and impartial investigation into all the massacres that have been executed against pro-democracy peaceful protesters, and that those responsible are held accountable according to the law.

Anti-Coup, Pro-Legitimacy National Alliance

Cairo: August 6, 2013

ENDS

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