January 24, 2003
Inter Press Service

Egypt: 88,000 Mosques, One Sermon

by Emad Mekay

CAIRO, Jul 24 (IPS) - The same official sermon will be delivered in 88,000 mosques across Egypt from this week. The government move is a part of extensive new censorship, and penalization for mosques and preachers that do not toe the official line. . . .

The sermon will now be written and distributed by officials from the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. . . .

Abdel Monem Abul Fotouh, a member of the guidance council of the Muslim Brotherhood says the move means that the security apparatus, and not a religious institution will run the mosques.

The campaign is "a part and parcel of the pressure the United States places on our regimes to try and limit the Islamic movement," he told IPS. . . .

Mubarak has ruled Egypt with an iron fist under an emergency law since the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat at the hands of Islamic groups in October 1981. Mubarak's officials claim he has won his three seven-year election terms by 95 percent or more -- much like Saddam Hussein.

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"Egypt, Israel Continue To Receive Most US Aid," MENews, July 15, 2003