WHITE HOUSE URGES EGYPT'S MILITARY TO YIELD POWER

[The White House released the statement as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Tahrir Square for what is expected to be the biggest display of anger in a week of protests against the military’s intention to retain power even after parliamentary elections that are scheduled to begin on Monday.]

By David Kirkpatrick 

CAIRO — The White House on Friday threw its weight behind Egypt’s resurgent protest movement, urging for the first time the handover of power by the interim military rulers in the Obama administration’s most public effort yet to steer the course of the Egyptian democracy.

“The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately,” the White House said in a statement.

“Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible.”

The White House released the statement as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Tahrir Square for what is expected to be the biggest display of anger in a week of protests against the military’s intention to retain power even after parliamentary elections that are scheduled to begin on Monday.

The statement is a significant escalation of the international pressure on the generals because the United States is among the Egyptian military’s closest allies and biggest benefactors, contributing more than $1.3 billion a year in aid.

But speaking out against the military could be a risky bet for White House if the transition to democracy moves out of the hands of the military to less predictable civilian control.

The military is the most powerful institution in Egypt and a key supporter of the United States in a country where anti-American sentiment and Islamist political movements are surging.

Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has held itself up as the sole guardian of Egypt’s stability against chaos and radicalism.

Until recently the United States had publicly endorsed its plans to guide a slow transition to civilian democracy in 2013 or later.

But the military council began spelling out plans to carve out permanent political powers and protection from civilian oversight under the next constitution. Those efforts exploded after the government used force to clear a small protest camp from Tahrir Square last Saturday, amid mounting unrest across the country.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first referred obliquely to United States’ displeasure with the military’s power grab about two weeks ago.

Since then, the military escalated its tactics in confrontations that killed at least 38 civilians and injured more than 2,000.

As huge crowds of demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday, state television reported that the generals had appointed a politician from the Mubarak era head a new cabinet, potentially hardening the lines between the interim military rulers and protesters demanding their exit.

At the same time, the Obama administration urged the generals to transfer power immediately to a civilian government “empowered with real authority.”

The developments reinforced fears of a prolonged standoff after the generals vowed on Thursday to forge ahead with parliamentary elections despite a week of violence that is certain to tarnish the vote.

With a broad spectrum of civilian leaders — excluding the Muslim Brotherhood — joining calls for a “million man march,” large crowds of protesters began to assemble in Tahrir Square as Friday prayer began across the capital, responding to protesters’ appeals for a substantial display of support.

Late Thursday, the generals announced over the state news media that they planned to name a 77-year-old former Mubarak lieutenant, Kamel el-Ganzoury, as the new prime minister, though many Egyptians mocked him as “a dinosaur.”

The appointment of Mr. Ganzoury follows the resignation this week of the previous cabinet in capitulation to protesters’ demands. The last prime minister was a bureaucrat seen as serving the military council. Demonstrators, as well as most civilian parties, are now calling for the council to hand over real authority to a legitimate successor.

Despite those calls, state television reported Friday that Mr. Ganzoury had been appointed.

The political shifts have heightened the sense of turmoil in advance of Monday’s planned parliamentary vote.

Government news organizations reported on Thursday that at least one political party — the Social Democrats, perhaps the best established of the liberal parties founded in the burst of hope after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago — would boycott the elections as a sham intended to prop up military rule.

By day’s end on Thursday, the Muslim Brotherhood also appeared to distance itself from the military council. The powerful Islamist group stands to gain the most from early elections and for the moment had stepped to the sidelines of the protests.

As clashes with the security police stopped for the first time this week, the crowd in Tahrir Square grew larger on Thursday than the day before, reaching tens of thousands.

The generals were unmoved. “Egypt is not Tahrir Square,” Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Mallah, a member of the military council, declared early Thursday at a news conference. The generals claimed an open-ended mandate to hold power long after Monday’s parliamentary vote. “We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd.”

The declaration, after six days of violent confrontation in the capital and around the country, shifted the political struggle to a new and murkier phase.

Fulfilling a promise made in negotiations with political parties earlier in the week, the military pulled back the security forces who had battled protesters and constructed a concrete wall bisecting the street where most of the clashes had taken place.

The generals, meanwhile, issued an unusual apology for the deaths of at least 38 people during the week of unrest and the injuries of more than 2,000. But even as they hailed the dead as “martyrs,” the generals also appeared to justify killing them as criminals who had attacked the Interior Ministry. And they denied — despite the statements of many witnesses, doctors and even the health ministry — that security forces had fired live ammunition or birdshot in their clashes with protesters, further inflaming anger.

“The police are very committed to self-control, but I can’t give orders to anyone not to defend themselves,” General Mallah said.

But the council made clear in its news conference on Thursday that it was not ready to surrender any power, and the choice of Mr. Ganzoury appeared to show the generals’ preference for a prime minister who would serve in a subordinate role, as Mr. Ganzoury did under Mr. Mubarak.

Mayy el Sheikh and Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris.

@ The New York Times

EGYPT ORDERS 3 AMERICAN STUDENTS RELEASED, AND JOURNALIST IS ASSAULTED IN DETENTION

[Interior Ministry officials said the three American students — Derrik Sweeney, Gregory Porter and Luke Gates — were ordered released on Thursday. They had been attending the American University in Cairo on a semester-long study abroad program.]

By Anthony Shadid

CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release of three American students who had been arrested during protests in Cairo’s landmark Tahrir Square, and an Egyptian-American journalist said that she had been beaten and sexually assaulted while in detention.

In addition, a prominent documentary filmmaker, Jehane Noujaim, was arrested at the scene of the worst clashes in downtown Cairo, near the Interior Ministry and not far from Tahrir Square. She was freed late on Thursday after an appeal from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Interior Ministry officials said the three American students — Derrik Sweeney, Gregory Porter and Luke Gates — were ordered released on Thursday. They had been attending the American University in Cairo on a semester-long study abroad program.

Reuters reported late Thursday that the students had been freed, but there was no immediate confirmation, and it remained unclear whether the order had been carried out. Interior Ministry officials said the students needed only to be processed through Egypt’s labyrinthine court system.

The students appeared on Egyptian television on Tuesday, and the broadcast cited an Interior Ministry official who said they had been detained for throwing gasoline bombs at police officers guarding the Interior Ministry. Some of the worst clashes since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February erupted this week around that building.

The Egyptian-American journalist, Mona Eltahawy, who was detained on Wednesday in the same area, was freed on Thursday. She said that during her 12 hours of detention, she was sexually assaulted and beaten so badly that her left arm and right hand were broken.

On her Twitter account, she wrote, “5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.” She said the beating and assault stopped once she was transferred from the police to the military, though military interrogators kept her blindfolded for hours.

“I can barely imagine what my family and loved ones were going through those 12 hours — I know they were worried about me to begin with,” she added.

A military official in Cairo, Col. Islam Jaffar, who came into contact with Ms. Eltahawy while she was in detention, acknowledged her accusation.

“She complained to me that she was beaten and sexually assaulted by Central Security Forces,” Mr. Jaffar said. “But what did she expect would happen? She was in the middle of the streets, in the midst of clashes, with no press card or form of ID. The press center had not given her permission to be in the streets as a journalist. The country is in a sensitive situation. We are under threat. She could be a spy for all we know.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is based in New York, called on the authorities to investigate Ms. Eltahawy’s assertions.

“Filming is not a crime, and authorities must release Noujaim immediately,” Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the group’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said in a statement before her release. “The military and the police must stop using physical violence and detention to silence or intimidate journalists.” Ms. Noujaim won acclaim in 2004 for “Control Room,” a documentary about the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera.

The group said it had documented 17 assaults on journalists on Sunday and Monday.

Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting.

@ The New York Times