The Kefaya Movement demanded an apology from Maj. Gen. Hassan al-Ruwaini on Wednesday for comments he made about the group being a foreign entity with branches in other contries.
The movement said that if Ruwaini, who is a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), does not apologize, they would pursue their legal action against him.
Last month, Ruwaini accused the movement of being “a foreign movement with branches in Sudan and Tunisia,” saying that it received international funding to destabilize the country.
The movement's general coordinator Mohamed Ashkar told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he and four other members had been summoned to testify before the military prosecutor in relation to the lawsuit they filed with the attorney general accusing Ruwaini of defaming the movement.
The attorney general referred the lawsuit to the military prosecution as Ruwaini is a member of the SCAF.
Ashkar said the military prosecutor had tried to distance Ruwaini from the libel accusation by saying: "When he said it was a foreign movement, he did not mean to offend the movement, but rather meant it was a semi-global movement."
When asked by the prosecutor why the movement had not been legalized during the six years between 2004 and 2010, Ashkar said, “The movement was opposed to the former regime and therefore it was known they would not allow us.”
Ashkar continued by saying, “The prosecutors asked us why we did not legalize it after the revolution, so we responded by saying the movement members were currently discussing the conversion of the movement into a party.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition
