Egypt Democracy: terrorists party governs Luxor

[Syrian Lion]

New Governor Is a Shock to Some Inside Egypt
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CAIRO — Egypt’s Islamist president appointed a new governor of Luxor on Sunday who comes from the political arm of an Islamist group that once carried out terrorist attacks that killed dozens of tourists, soldiers and police officers in the same city.

The group, the Gamaa al-Islamiyya, renounced violence in 2003 and joined the political process after the revolution in 2011.

But its partisans hold ultraconservative views on matters like sunbathing, women wearing shorts, the consumption of alcohol and other things that many tourists consider necessary components of vacations to see the country’s Pharaonic sites. Luxor is a major attraction, and tourism has been vital to the Egyptian economy.

Many people were shocked by the appointment.

“It is amazingly tone-deaf to symbolism,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an analyst at the Century Foundation. “Everybody is interested in the process of normalization of these former militant groups into politics, but I think it is pretty audacious to appoint a Gamaa member to be governor of Luxor, of all places.”

The new governor, Adel Asaad al-Khayyat, is not well known outside upper Egypt, where he was a leader in the engineers’ syndicate and worked for a government office that promotes regional development.

Security officials say he was detained without charge by the Egyptian authorities during the crackdown on Islamist groups after the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat in 1981.

Mr. Khayyat did not immediately comment on what his policies would be as governor. Aides to President Mohamed Morsi could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

But the appointment immediately drew jokes that the end of Egypt’s ancient pre-Islamic heritage was nigh.

“The governor of Luxor from the Gamaa? O.K., get us two idols from there before it’s too late,” the TV comedian Bassem Youssef posted on Twitter.

Mr. Khayyat’s group follows a puritanical form of Islam called Salafism that seeks to closely imitate the lives of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. While less well organized than the Muslim Brotherhood, the group to which Mr. Morsi belonged, Salafists have formed political parties and won seats in Parliament.

Some Salafi leaders have expressed disregard, and even hostility, toward Egypt’s pre-Islamic relics and monuments, which they consider pagan.

They were widely blamed for splashing blue paint on a statue of a mermaid in Alexandria last month. And in 2011, they wrapped cloth around a fountain that depicted mermaids, and hung a sign praising Egyptian women for dedication to their husbands.

Salafi political leaders have not actively moved to eliminate the country’s ancient sites, but their contempt for the ways of non-Muslim tourists is well known. A fatwa, or religious decree, published on the Gamaa al-Islamiyya’s Web site advised members of the group not to build tourist accommodations.

“Because tourist villages have aspects that anger Allah, including alcohol, gambling and other forbidden things, building these hotels and villages is considered aiding their owners in sin and aggression, and is not permitted,” the decision read.

Mr. Khayyat was one of 17 new governors named Sunday, 7 of them from the Muslim Brotherhood. The group now has 13 of Egypt’s 27 governorates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/world/middleeast/new-governor-shock-to-some-inside-egypt.html?_r=0

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

Like always, misleading titles to fool people. I think Syria is a matter of concern to you more than Egypt. At least Morsi didn't butcher the Egyptian people.

The Governor himself wasn't involved in any act of violence but his party was, which means he's no guilty of anything and that yet remain to be investigated ,to be seen.

 

[Syrian Lion]

Like always, misleading titles to fool people. I think Syria is a matter of concern to you more than Egypt. At least Morsi didn't butcher the Egyptian people.

Egypt’s Islamist president appointed a new governor of Luxor on Sunday who comes from the political arm of an Islamist group that once carried out terrorist attacks that killed dozens of tourists, soldiers and police officers in the same city.

Yeah Syria is matter of concern, you just don't see the connection here

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

Egypt’s Islamist president appointed a new governor of Luxor on Sunday who comes from the political arm of an Islamist group that once carried out terrorist attacks that killed dozens of tourists, soldiers and police officers in the same city.

Yeah Syria is matter of concern, you just don't see the connection here

Has the former regime accused him of committing act of violence? No. He could have been associated with these terrorists, and as soon as he found out about their dirty work, he denounced them.

 

[Battle of Kursk]

But its partisans hold ultraconservative views on matters like sunbathing, women wearing shorts, the consumption of alcohol and other things that many tourists consider necessary components of vacations to see the country’s Pharaonic sites. Luxor is a major attraction, and tourism has been vital to the Egyptian economy.

I wonder how will this come into play. Egypt is already in deep economical trouble, moving toward laws that will decrease tourism is an interesting choice...
Anyway, it's their country so their rules.

 

[Syrian Lion]

Has the former regime accused him of committing act of violence? No. He could have been associated with these terrorists, and as soon as he found out about their dirty work, he denounced them.

doesn't matter he came of a group that committed terrorism...

who comes from the political arm of an Islamist group that once carried out terrorist attacks that killed dozens of tourists, soldiers and police officers in the same city.