Al-Wafd Party head Al-Sayed Badawi
Egypt’s Al-Wafd Party announces its refusal to take part in the ongoing National Dialogue until all of Egypt's toppled regime figures, and those who masterminded the counter-revolution are brought to justice.
The National Dialogue was designed to give an opportunity for each political movement to express their ideas, offer direction and solutions to the current government, but Al Wafd party demands that the original revolution’s demands of holding corrupt officials accountable to first be met before they take any further steps.
After ex-president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown a number of ministers and senior governmental officials were indicted on numerous charges, with some of them referred to criminal courts.
However, several disciples of the old administration remain unpunished, including ex-parliament chief Fathi Sorour, former Parliament head Safwat El-Sherif and chief of the presidential administration, Zakaria Azmi.
Eighty two year-old Mubarak and his family members, who are also accused of abusing their political power to accumulate vast illegal profits, among other crimes, are yet to be prosecuted.
In the wake of the attacks by Zamalek fans in the last moments of the Champions League game against Tunisian Club Africain on Saturday, Al-Wafd pointed the finger at the former oligarchy and held them culpable for the current security worries and “recurring sabotage attempts.”
“The slow prosecution procedures assure them,” a statement released by Al-Wafd read. “Their lawyers excel in extending trials to wear people down and make them forget what those criminals have done against the nation.”
The assistant to Egypt's justice minister Asem El-Gohari has already prepared a ministerial decree prohibiting Sorour, El-Sherif and Azmi, as well as their wives, from leaving the country.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also said Mubarak and his family are under house-arrest in Sharm El Sheikh, pending an investigation.
The National Dialogue was planned to resume today but was postponed indefinitely after Prime Minister Essam Sharaf appointed former PM Abdel Aziz Hegazy to head the initiative in place of his deputy, Yehia El-Gamal.
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