Egyptian rioters who stormed the Israeli Embassy in Cairo 10 days ago were paid
off by a wealthy tycoon, Egypt’s state-run
Al-Ahram newspaper reported
Sunday.
Quoting a “judicial source,” the daily reported that last
Thursday, a day before the incident, protesters were taken by “luxury tourist
buses” to a lavish dinner where they were encouraged to take revenge against
Israel “for our children killed on the border.”
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Timeline of Israel embassy attack in
CairoEach participant was
reportedly given an envelope with between 5,000-11,000 Egyptian pounds (NIS
3,000-6,500), and instructed to gather at 5 the following afternoon “in various
locations such as the zoo and the field of Cairo University to go to the embassy
and create chaos.”
Hundreds of Egyptians stormed the building housing
Israel’s mission in Cairo on September 9, throwing embassy documents and its
national flag from windows.
The embassy breach came days after Israeli
forces accidentally killed five Egyptian security personnel while pursuing
gunmen who had killed eight Israelis in a terror attack near
Eilat.
Meanwhile, Sunday, Islamists and other political groups sought
changes to election rules to ensure those linked to Hosni Mubarak’s now defunct
party are blocked from Egypt’s first free parliamentary vote in
decades.
The head of the election committee, Abdelmuezz Ibrahim, said the
poll for the lower house would start on November 21 and the vote for the upper
house would begin on January 22, with each vote being held in three stages,
state newspapers reported.
Most parties have welcomed the army’s call for
elections to start in November, although some liberal groups have said they want
more time, fearing wellorganized Islamists are in the best position now to
dominate the vote. But groups across the spectrum worry existing rules may allow
loyalists of Mubarak’s now disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP) to
re-emerge by letting them run under a system that splits voting between party
lists and individuals.
Some also say the broad constituencies outlined
under the new rules may favor those with cash. Many wealthy business executives
in Egypt backed the NDP.
“We reject the suggested election law [as we
want] to block the remnants of the NDP and prevent the use of money or
tribalism,” said Muhammad Saad el-Katatni, secretary-general of the Muslim
Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party.”
We will demand that all
parliament seats shall be elected through closed proportional lists,” he said,
referring to a system where parties or alliances draw up a list and voters
choose between the different lists rather than individuals.
Supporters of
this system say it encourages voters to focus on the political programs on
offer.
On Sunday, former Tourism Minister Zoheir Garranah was given a
three-year jail sentence for unlawfully issuing company licenses, the latest
jail term for ex-officials who served under Mubarak.
Reuters contributed
to this report.