LATEST: Bahrain — Teenager Given Year in Prison for Insulting King on Twitter
Friday’s plans by Government supporters to claim headlines with large rallies, pre-empting the opposition’s show of strength on Sunday through mass demonstrations, were overtaken by news of serious clashes outside Muslim Brotherhood offices.
The most intense confrontation claim in Alexandria, where two people — including a US citizen — were killed and scores wounded. The Brotherhood’s headquarters were one of several raided and burned across the country.
The slain American was identified as Andrew Pochter, a student at Kenyon College in Ohio and an intern at AMIDEAST, a nonprofit group pursuing international education, training, and development.
Across Egypt, 139 people were hurt in violence. A journalist was killed and 12 injured during an accidental explosion at an anti-Government protest in Port Said.
Police involved in the skirmishes in Alexandria:
In Cairo, hundreds of thousands attended the main rally for President Morsi, although reports were mixed on whether the gathering reached the intensity of the gathering a week earlier.
The political temperature has been raised in the last two weeks by the opposition’s declaration of mass protest on 30 June, the first anniversary of Morsi’s inauguration, with millions of signature on a petition challenging the Government. The President responded with a speech on Wednesday night, admitting mistakes but standing firm.
An image from the pro-Morsi rally:
(Photo: Bel Trew/Ahram Online)
Latest Updates, From Top to Bottom
Bahrain: Teenager Given Year in Prison for Insulting King on Twitter
A Bahraini court, headed by a member of the ruling family, has sentenced 17-year-old Ali Al Shofa to a year in prsion for insulting King Hamad on Twitter.
Shofa was arrested in a house raid at dawn on 12 March and spent two months in prison while under investigation. He
was accused of posting insulting comments about the King through the account @alkawarahnews, an allegation he denied, claiming the account was being run by other people.
Last month a court sentenced five Twitter users to a year each in prison for insulting the King.
Turkey: 1000s March at Funeral of Slain Protester in Southeast
Thousands of people have marched in Diyarbakır, in southeast Turkey, at the funeral of a demonstrator killed by security forces in clashes in nearby Lice on Saturday.
Medeni Yıldırım, 18, was slain and ten people were wounded during a demonstration against the construction of a new gendarmerie outpost.
People also marched in Istanbul in sympathy.
Taksim, Istanbul: Thousands have gathered for Lice & for those who died during #occupygezi protests #occupyturkey pic.twitter.com/DoydmSimUf
— RedHack_EN (@RedHack_EN) June 29, 2013
Bahrain: 1st-Hand Accounts from Relatives of Leading Political Prisoners
Bahraini activists post an address by Khadija AlMousawi, the wife and mother of imprisoned human rights activists Abdulhadi AlKhawja and Zainab AlKhawaja.
Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, the founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was given a life sentence by a military court in 2011. Zainab Alkhawaja has been held since December 2012 on a series of rolling three-month sentences.
An interview with Maryam Abudeeb, the daughter of Mahdi Abudeeb, the imprisoned head of the Bahrain Teachers Association:
Mahdi Abudeeb is serving a five-year sentence. His final appeal is heard on Monday.
Egypt: Quiet in Cairo Today
The Egyptian capital is relatively quiet today after Friday’s protests, with a few hundred supporters and opponents of the Government in sit-ins in different parts of the city.
Backers of President Morsi are outside the mosque in Nasr City which hosted Friday’s rally, while those challenging the Government have set up tents in Tahrir Square, the focal point of the 2011 protests that overthrew the Mubarak regime.
#Tahrir Sq this morning. Demos in Cairo remain calm ahead of large protests tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/UQcP9KW1qa
— Derek Stoffel (@DerekStoffelCBC) June 29, 2013
