Abdel-Maksoud: No Legal Hurdles for Al-Shater Presidential Candidacy

Abdul-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, Muslim Brotherhood lawyer, said that paradoxically, those who are now instigating major, pointless arguments about the legality of Khairat Al-Shater’s nomination for the presidency – vengefully reported in certain media outlets – were, only a short while ago, the corrupt now-defunct regime’s “tailors” of made-to-order laws to restrict and confiscate rights and public freedoms of the Egyptian people, to distort and subvert the Constitution, and pass legislation to legalize tyranny, despotism and bequeathing of power “from sire to son”.

In a statement, Abdel-Maksoud said that ferociously circulated rumors about legal ‘issues’ in Khairat Al-Shater’s presidential candidacy deliberately aim to undermine public confidence and cause confusion in the minds of the masses with regard to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice party’s nominee, in spite of the Brotherhood’s reiteration in several official statements that the legal procedures for the nomination of Al-Shater for the presidency were perfectly legal in full compliance with relevant provisions of both the law and the Constitution".

The Brotherhood’s lawyer added, "Those imaginary allegations are being made by people who are fully aware that Al-Shater suffered tremendous injustice in ‘special’ courts, more than once, at the hands of the defunct dictatorship, under false pretexts for the primary objectives of muzzling the opposition, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, derailing the process of democratization in the country, and spreading corruption, despotism and injustice throughout the homeland, using all illegal mechanisms and means.

Of course, the notorious special courts were like a sword at the throats of honorable citizens, who had to pay the price of resisting the regime’s prevailing corruption. Indeed, they paid the price dearly for the sake of their country ".

Further, Al-Shater explained that he spent in the former regime’s jails and detention camps, through these exceptional unjust trials, many years in the last century and the beginning of the new millennium, for crimes which everyone knows to be fabricated and baseless.

Abdel-Maksoud assured the Egyptian public of the integrity of Al-Shater’s legal position, and the accuracy of all procedures and documents, as well as full compliance with the law. He pointed that Al-Shater was fully exonerated by a Supreme Military Court order, not to mention granting him amnesty which freed him and more than 200 other people from different Egyptian political orientations. He stressed that this amnesty was entirely based on the provisions of Articles 74 and 75 (Criminal), which includes cancellation of the original sentence as well as all sanctions, penalties, effects and other criminal implications of the original grossly unfair verdict.

Moreover, Abdel-Maksoud said, "We committed ourselves to the letter, purposes and principles of the law, taking all necessary measures in compliance with relevant laws. We will not get into pointless arguments and debates when ultimately the issue will end up in the hands of the judicial committee supervising the presidential elections (the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission), despite the controversy surrounding it and its powers and its decisions which cannot be appealed, to the contrary of constitutional texts which state that administrative decisions are not privileged.

"We assure all our conscientious, noble people, the great revolutionaries who overthrew the tyrannical regime, broke the barrier of fear, grabbed the reins of their own destiny and recovered their sovereignty, determined never again to give up any of their rights, determined not to soften or mellow with anyone who is tempted to encroach upon or violate their rights of sovereignty or subvert or circumvent their will".

Furthermore, the Brotherhood’s lawyer stressed that the decision to nominate Al-Shater for the presidency was taken in a careful institutional manner that reflects the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party’s faith in the values of freedom, democracy and respect for the law. The decision, he added, was primarily meant to serve the best interests of the homeland, and to spoil plots of former regime leftovers who have contributed to corruption of political life and remain a stumbling block to the democratization process, and to the hoped-for renaissance and progress of Egypt.

With his statement above, Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud attached Al-Shater’s criminal status certificate, which evidently shows a clean record, free of any criminal convictions.