Ghada Aboud Saudi Gazette CAIRO — Interviews conducted just hours of the 48-hour military deadline to Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Saudi Gazette spoke to a cross -section of the people who were watching the unfolding drama in Egypt with bated breath, Among the millions glued to the TV watching unfolding events, there were thousands of Saudis who were as anxious as the Egyptians themselves to know the fate of the country's nascent revolution. There are more than 500,000 Saudis living in Egypt. Some of them are on scholarship funded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, and others are retired Saudis who chose to move to the once so-called the “land of security.” Little did they know that in a couple of years it would be ranked second in sexual harassment, and no police member could be seen anywhere. Amongst all analysis and expectations, I decided to get an insider view of the recent event by an oldest member of the Muslim Brotherhood who joined the group in 1979. Mohamed Abdel Qoddous is the son of influential author and thinker Ihsan Abdel Qoddous. Unlike his father's liberal views and despite his father's advice not to be part of Muslim Brotherhood he joined the group at an early age. He was detained a dozen times by the Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak regimes. He spoke to Saudi Gazette while Muslim Brotherhood members were holding an emergency meeting. I asked him: “Who takes responsibility for massive protests against the regime?” Qoddous: “President (Mohamed) Morsi takes full responsibility for these massive protests. He is the one who had pushed Egypt to this situation. However, protesting is unfair and illegitimate way to remove the regime” Q: Then what is the legitimate method to remove a regime that has failed? A. The MB came to power through fair elections. The only legitimate method to bring a substitute legally would be through the parliament and constitution which are the only authority that can question the president. Q: As a member of MB, what do you think the biggest mistakes made by President Morsi? A. Well, he failed to show Egyptians the good and real face of Islam, the real image of Islam that joins all Egyptians with all intellectual and religious diversity, instead of trying to separate them. Q. Then what is the difference between Mubarak and Morsi? A: The difference is that Morsi has a big popularity, unlike Mubarak who was hated by everyone. Most of the protesters at Tahrir Square and other places are not protesting against Morsi, they are protesting against deterioration of the economic situation, gasoline crisis, electricity cut offs, but not against Morsi because he is loved by the people.
Saudi Gazette also spoke to Khaled Salah, Editor-in- Chief of Al Youm Al Sabe'e newspaper. Under his stewardship, the paper won several prizes from Forbes Magazine as the most visited Arabic website. I asked him about what he thinks of the protesters supporting President Morsi and the Musim Brotherhood. In a strong rebellious voice he replied: "These protests are meaningless and worthless. They do not even represent the real Egyptians opinion! It is only one political party gathering. The real protests representing the country are all over Egypt in different provinces and the millions at Tahrir Square!! These are the real protests supported by the Egyptian army and the Egyptian police. "Real legitimacy comes from the streets, from the people of the country, all protesting against this regime,” he continued.
