Region

WASHINGTON — China and Russia warned Tuesday about escalating Middle East tensions after Washington said it would deploy 1,000 more troops to the region and renewed accusations that Iran was behind a tanker attack.

The US moves came as Iran set a 10-day countdown for world powers to fulfil their commitments under a nuclear deal abandoned by Washington, saying it would otherwise surpass the uranium stockpile limit mandated by the accord.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have escalated ever since the US quit the deal, with Washington bolstering its military presence in the region and blacklisting Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.

On Monday, Washington further upped the ante.

"I have authorised approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East," acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan said in a statement.

"The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behaviour by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region," Shanahan said.

The United States has blamed Iran for last week's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a charge Tehran denies as "baseless".

New tanker attack images 

The Pentagon released new images on Monday that it said showed Iran was behind the attack on one of the ships.

The US argument centres on an unexploded limpet mine on the Kokuka Courageous tanker ship that it says was removed by Iranians on a patrol boat.

“Iran is responsible for the attack based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine,” the Pentagon said in a statement accompanying the imagery.

The US released a grainy black and white video last week it said showed the Iranians removing the mine, but has not provided an explanation for why they allegedly did so while the US military was in the area.

The images released on Monday show the site where the unexploded mine was allegedly attached, the Iranians on a patrol boat who are said to have removed it, and damage from another device that did explode.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged all sides “to show restraint”.

“We would prefer not to see any steps that could introduce additional tensions in the already unstable region,” he told journalists.

And China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned all sides “not to take any actions to provoke the escalation of tension in the region, and not to open a Pandora’s box”.

He urged Washington to “change its practice of extreme pressure” but also called on Tehran not to abandon the nuclear agreement “so easily”.

Iran countdown 

Iran’s atomic energy organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday that the country would soon pass the amount of enriched uranium allowed under the nuclear deal.

“The countdown to pass the 300 kilogrammes reserve of enriched uranium has started and in 10 days’ time... we will pass this limit,” Kamalvandi said.

The move “will be reversed once other parties live up to their commitments”, he added.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus responded that the world “should not yield to nuclear extortion”.

President Hassan Rouhani announced on May 8 that Iran would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the deal, in retaliation for the unilateral US withdrawal.

He said the ultimatum was intended to “save the [deal], not destroy it.”

On Tuesday, he reiterated in a speech that Tehran was committed to the nuclear deal and said there was “no one in the world that does not praise Iran”.

“Iran has been loyal to its signature, Iran has been loyal to international agreements,” he added.

Tehran has warned it will further scaling down nuclear commitments by July 8 unless remaining partners to the deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — help it circumvent US sanctions and sell its oil.

European leaders have urged Iran to stick to the deal, with French President Emmanuel Macron urging it “to behave in a way that is patient and responsible”.

Under the agreement, Iran pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years and allow international inspectors inside the country to monitor its activities in return for relief from international sanctions.

The deal set a limit on the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges, and restricted its right to enrich uranium to no higher than 3.67 per cent, well below weapons-grade levels of around 90 per cent.

It also called on Iran to export enriched uranium and heavy water to ensure the country’s reserves would stay within the production ceiling set by the agreement, yet recent US restrictions have made such exports virtually impossible.

Uranium enriched to much higher levels than Iran’s current stocks can be used as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, while heavy water is a source of plutonium, which can be used as an alternative way to produce a warhead.

CAIRO — Egypt's first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi was buried Tuesday, as the UN backed calls for an independent investigation into the causes of his death after he collapsed in a Cairo courtroom.

The Islamist leader, who was overthrown in 2013 after a year of divisive rule and later charged with espionage, was buried at a cemetery in eastern Cairo's Medinat Nasr, one of his lawyers said.

Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud said family members had washed Morsi's body and prayed the last rites early Tuesday morning at the Leeman Tora Hospital. 

That lies near the prison where Egypt's first civilian president, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member, had been held for six years in solitary confinement and deteriorating health.

The prosecutor general's office said the 67-year-old leader had collapsed and "died as he attended a hearing" Monday over alleged collaboration with foreign powers and militant groups.

Abdel Maksoud told AFP that only around 10 family members and close Morsi confidants were present at the funeral, including himself.

An AFP reporter saw a handful of mourners entering the cemetery complex, accompanied by police officers, but journalists were prevented from entering the site.

The attorney general's office said Morsi, who appeared "animated", had addressed the court Monday for five minutes before falling to the ground inside the defendants' glass cage.

Another of Morsi’s lawyers, Osama El Helw, said other defendants had started banging on the glass, “screaming loudly that Morsi had died”.

The attorney general said Morsi had been “transported immediately to the hospital”, where medics pronounced him dead — a version of events backed up by a judicial source.

Since Morsi’s overthrow on July 3, 2013,authorities have waged an ongoing crackdown that has seen thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters jailed and hundreds facing death sentences.

The United Nations human rights office called on Tuesday for an independent probe into Morsi’s death while in state custody.

“Any sudden death in custody must be followed by a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death,” said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He said Morsi “also appears to have been held in prolonged solitary confinement”, and that the investigation must “encompass all aspects of the authorities’ treatment of Mr Morsi to examine whether the conditions of his detention had an impact on his death”.

The Brotherhood’s political wing — the Freedom and Justice Party — accused Egyptian authorities of “deliberately killing him slowly” in solitary confinement.

“They withheld medication,” it said in a statement. “They did not grant him the most basic human rights.”

The Egyptian government has not officially commented on his death.

Morsi last saw his family in September 2018. A month later, one of his sons, Abdallah, was arrested.

Abdel Maksoud was the last member of his defence team to see him, in November 2017.

Rights group Amnesty International also urged Egyptian authorities to open “an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation” into his death, while Human Rights Watch said Morsi had suffered years of “insufficient access to medical care”.

Allies such as Qatar and Turkey, widely seen as backing the Muslim Brotherhood, paid tribute to Morsi, as well as the Syrian opposition which he supported against President Bashar Assad.

In Turkey, thousands joined in prayers for him in Istanbul’s Fatih mosque on Tuesday.

But in his homeland, Morsi has a chequered legacy.

He spent a turbulent year in office before being toppled by the military following millions-strong protests demanding his resignation.

He has been in prison since his ouster, facing trial on charges including spying for Iran, Qatar and groups such as Hamas.

Morsi was sentenced to death in May 2015 for his role in jailbreaks during the uprising four years earlier that ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak. He appealed and was being retried.

His death comes days before Egypt hosts the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, starting Friday.

An official from the Confederation of African Football said the security situation had not been affected by Morsi’s death, and that the tournament would go ahead as planned.

CAIRO — Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was buried in Cairo on Tuesday, a day after he died following his collapse in court and nearly six years since his ouster by now President Abdel Fattah Sisi.

Here are key dates in Egypt since the revolt which drove Morsi’s predecessor Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011.

Revolution 

On January 25, 2011, thousands of Egyptians, inspired by the Tunisian revolt that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, protest in Cairo and elsewhere in Egyptdemanding longtime dictator Mubarak’s overthrow.

On February 11, after days of vast protests centred in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Mubarak’s newly appointed vice president Omar Suleiman announces that the president has resigned and the army is in charge. 

A crackdown on the protests has left at least 850 dead.

Islamist victory 

Islamist parties win a majority of seats at parliamentary elections between November 2011 and January 2012. 

On June 30, 2012, Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, wins 51.7 per cent of the vote to become Egypt’s first civilian, democratically elected president. He is also the first Islamist to head the country.

Egypt’s military rulers dissolve parliament in June. In August, Morsi dismisses military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and replaces him with Sisi, in a purge of top brass.

Morsi ousted 

On July 3, 2013, following massive protests against Morsi’s divisive rule, the military led by Sisi overthrows Morsi and detains him. Morsi denounces a coup and calls on his supporters to defend his legitimacy.

On August 14, police disperse two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, killing about 700 people in clashes, according to official figures.

The government names the Muslim Brotherhood a “terrorist organisation” in December.

President Sisi 

Sisi is elected president with 96.9 per cent of the vote in May 2014. His election comes after the approval of a new constitution bolstering the military’s powers.

In late 2015 a new parliament is elected, packed with Sisi supporters.

Repression 

Sisi presides over a fierce clampdown. Hundreds of suspected Islamists are sentenced to death or life in prison in mass trials slammed by rights groups.

Secular opposition activists are also jailed.

Local and international rights groups accuse the regime of torture, forced disappearances, summary executions and repression of dissent.

The authorities deny the accusations, pointing to the need for stability and the fight against terrorism.

Extremist threat 

The country also witnesses deadly attacks, perpetrated mainly by Daesh, which kills hundreds of police officers and soldiers in attacks centred on the Sinai Peninsula.

On October 31, 2015, a Russian airliner carrying tourists from an Egyptian beach resort explodes after taking off, killing all 224 people on board. IS says it had planted a bomb on the plane.

On November 24, 2017, a suspected Daesh attack on a mosque in the Sinai leaves more than 300 dead.

More than 100 die in attacks on Christians, also claimed by the group.

In February 2018, the army launches a vast “anti-terrorist” operation.

Backing for Sisi 

In February 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to Cairo for the first time in a decade and signs a deal to build the first Egyptian nuclear power plant.

In March 2015, the Obama administration lifts a partial freeze on military assistance decided after Morsi’s overthrow.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia visits Egypt in April 2016.

In April 2017, US President Donald Trump praises Sisi as the Egyptian leader visits Washington. Sisi is hosted at the White House for a second time in April 2019.

In October 2018, Sisi visits Paris, where he receives strong support from President Emmanuel Macron, who in turn visits Egypt the following January.

Sisi boosted 

In March 2018, Sisi is re-elected with 97.08 per cent of the vote. His only opponent is one of his supporters.

KHARTOUM — It was the crack of dawn when armed men in pick-up trucks stormed into a Khartoum protest camp, shooting and beating hundreds of Sudanese demonstrators on June 3.

“Everyone started running for their lives,” said protester Akram, who gave only his first name fearing reprisals by authorities.

‘It was very brutal’

Crowds of protesters camped outside the Khartoum army headquarters were violently dispersed that day by armed men in military fatigues, leaving dozens dead and hundreds wounded, according to doctors and witnesses.

They had been gathered at the complex since April, initially seeking the army’s help to oust longtime ruler Omar Al Bashir, and later to demand the generals hand power to a civilian administration.

Akram said some of the armed men wore police uniforms, while others were in military fatigues generally worn by the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

He said it was difficult to count how many they were, but the gunmen arrived in trucks and raided the sit-in from all sides.

“They first attacked us with batons and sticks,” Akram, dressed in the same blue shirt he wore the day of the crackdown, told AFP at the home of a fellow protester in Khartoum.

“At first the protesters were able to push back,” he said, describing the early morning raid.

“But then a bigger force wearing the uniform of the Rapid Support Forces stormed in and started shooting protesters who were standing at the barricades.”

‘Beaten and dragged’ 

During the weeks-long sit-in, protesters had put up barricades at all entry points to the camp to prevent security forces from entering and attempting to clear them.

But on June 3 the demonstrators were no match for the armed men.

“Blood for blood, we will not accept compensation,” demonstrators chant, using a catchcry of the protest movement as they come under attack in footage Akram took on his phone during the assault.

The footage shows protesters, both women and men, running through the wide-open area, many of them bleeding as gunfire cracks the early morning calm.

Akram said protesters hurled rocks at the armed men but failed to stop the assault. 

“I saw two female doctors beaten, dragged and stripped of their headscarves,” he said, still shocked from the violence he witnessed. 

Other protesters with him at the Khartoum house left the room as he recalled the violence, unable to listen to the testimony.

Akram believes he is simply lucky to be alive.

“Four times I was standing in a spot and someone behind me was shot,” he said, adding that those trying to film the violence on their phones were primary targets.

He recalled watching people rushed into a makeshift field clinic at the protest camp.

“There was blood gushing out from legs, stomachs and arms.”

With armed men in full control, Akram had no choice but to escape.

“I was so exhausted and frustrated as I was running from the site. Our sit-in was over,” he said.

At least 128 people have been killed in the crackdown, the majority of them the day the sit-in was cleared, according to doctors linked to the protest movement.

The health ministry put the June 3 death toll nationwide at 61.

‘Killing and torturing’ 

Sudan’s ruling military council insists it did not order the dispersal, saying it had actually planned to purge an area near the protest camp where people allegedly sell drugs.

Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy chief of the military council, on Sunday vowed to hand harsh punishments to those who carried out the raid.

“We are working hard to take those who did this to the gallows,” said Dagalo, who also heads the RSF, the group protesters and rights groups accuse of carrying out the crackdown.

Brig. Abderrahim Badreddine, spokesman for the committee set up by the council to probe the violence, said Saturday that initial findings showed “officers and soldiers of different ranks from regular forces entered the sit-in without any orders from their superiors”.

These men were not part of the troops ordered to purge the nearby area, he said.

Like Akram, protester Mustafa managed to flee the sit-in unharmed as men armed with batons chased him.

But the memories of what he saw that morning continue to haunt him.

Thick smoke billowed over the complex as the attackers tore down make-shift tents set up by the protesters and set them on fire, Mustafa said, recalling the scene he saw over his shoulder as he fled.

“There was killing and torturing everywhere,” he said.

“Any attempt to return to the sit-in would have been not only illogical but suicidal,” he said, adding that seven of his friends were wounded in the violence, including from gunshots.

Two weeks after the crackdown, protesters like Mustafa and Akram have lost trust in the country’s security forces, including the generals they at first hailed for ousting Bashir on April 11.

“The military council could never be trusted,” said protester Mosaab, who said a friend of his was killed during the sit-in raid.

Demonstrators are still determined to carry on with their movement, and the Alliance for Freedom and Change umbrella protest group has called for more nighttime rallies starting on Tuesday.

“We thought the time of making sacrifices was over,” said Mustafa, recalling the prevailing sentiment among the protesters after Bashir’s ouster.

“But it seems we have more to do, and we are ready.”