Proof of Life for President Mursi

Proof of Life for President Mursi

by Julie Webb-Pullman

Since the kidnapping of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi on 3rd July by members of the Egyptian armed forces, the President has not been seen in public, no foreign dignitaries have been permitted to see or speak with him, the International Committee of the Red Cross has not been permitted to visit him, nor has his family.

This raises the question: is President Mursi still alive? How do we know?

We don’t.

We have only the word of the military that President Mursi is still being held, for his own safety or otherwise – a military who have demonstrated only too well their propensity to say one thing while doing another, most notably demonstrated in their claim that "The Egyptian army kills its enemies, not its children" while massacring 53 Egyptians at a peaceful demonstration outside the Republican Guard on 8 July.

At the time of his kidnapping, President Mursi was the legitimate, democratically-elected President of Egypt. He has not been charged with any offence – his only “crimes” appear to have been that he was elected in free, fair and open elections, and that when his governance came under attack, he appealed to Egyptians to defend by peaceful means the democracy they fought so hard to attain.

Yet the Egyptian military continues to claim he is being held for his own safety.

This is a nonsense in law – the military exists to protect the state, not individuals.

Secondly, it is one thing for a citizen to seek protection from the police, who do have the responsibility to protect individual safety, and quite another – and unlawful at that - for the police to take it upon themselves to detain an individual for their own safety, except under clearly-defined conditions such as those outlined in Mental Health Acts for suicidal persons.

Where were the military and police when the four women were killed at a peaceful demonstration in Mansoura on 19 July? Surely they needed protection? The hundreds killed and thousands injured since June 30 – should they all also have been detained “for their own safety”? Or are those claiming the role of protectors actually the ones pulling the triggers?

The detention of President Mursi was a clear case of kidnapping, albeit state kidnapping.

The ransom is clear – the abdication of Mursi’s legitimacy, and the burial of democracy.

What is not so clear, is whether President Mursi is even still alive.

Unless and until the Egyptian military produce proof of life, permit the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit, permit his family to visit, permit heads of state and international organisations to meet and speak with President Mursi, I for one will not be convinced.

After all, it would not be the first time a member of the Muslin Brotherhood has been illegally detained, tortured, and killed by the Egyptian military apparatus.

ENDS

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