Opponents take legal action to stop Mubarak spy chief’s presidency bid
Omar Suleiman, 74, who served for years as Mubarak’s head of military intelligence and General Intelligence Service, and who was vice president in the dying days of his rule, joined the race on Sunday, fuelling anger among activists and rival Islamists and liberals contesting the post.
A lawyer filed the case to have Suleiman barred from running because he served under the ousted leader. Two similar cases were filed to the public prosecutor, a judicial source said. A court in Cairo will hold its first hearing today.
Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister and a former air force commander, is also running in the country’s first free presidential vote, scheduled to take place over two rounds in May and June.
The case targets both Suleiman and Shafiq.
Suleiman’s 11th-hour decision to run for president showed he still wields political clout by collecting 49,000 signatures of eligible voters, exceeding the 30,000 required.
His opponents see him as a symbol of a harsh security regime and a threat to Islamists, who were routinely harassed and arrested during Mubarak’s era, and to the liberals who spearheaded Mubarak’s fall.
His decision to join the race came shortly after the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement long suppressed by Mubarak and now in control of a parliament majority, broke a pledge not to field a candidate, and nominated its deputy leader.
In an interview with Reuters on Sunday, the Brotherhood’s candidate, Khairat al-Shater, denounced Suleiman’s bid and called it “an insult” to the revolution.
Suleiman said yesterday that he would not attempt to “reinvent” the regime of his longtime mentor if he is elected president of Egypt.
He told state-owned Al-Akhbar daily that restoring security would be his top priority as president.
He also said he will not free Mubarak or any of his aides if he became president.
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