Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

Muslim Brotherhood names presidential candidate

Egypt’s moderate Islamist Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday named deputy chairman Khairat Al-Shater as its candidate in the country’s presidential elections in late May. The vote will be the first since former leader Hosni Mubarak’s ouster last year.

By News Wires (text)

AFP -

Khairat Al-Shater, who was nominated on Saturday by Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood to stand for president, is the group's key financier and its long-time chief whip.

The 61-year-old professor of engineering will be a candidate in the first presidential election in the country since a popular uprising ousted veteran leader Hosni Mubarak in February last year.

Shater said on Saturday he was resigning as deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood after the group picked him to stand in the presidential election which is scheduled for May 23 and 24.

"After it was decided to field my name in the presidential elections, I can only accept the decision of the Brotherhood. I will therefore resign from my position as deputy chairman," he said in a statement read out by the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohammed Badie.

Reputed to be the organisation's chief whip and known to be one of its key financiers, Shater holds a lot of sway over Egypt's most powerful and most organised political group, its members have said.

He joined the Islamist group in 1981 after years as a student activist, and was promoted to its executive bureau, known as the Guidance Council, in 1995.

Shater has been jailed several times, most recently in 2006 when a military court sentenced him to seven years for terrorism and money laundering, after his assets were frozen.

While in jail, Shater managed Brotherhood affairs and oversaw his business empire from his prison cell, according to press reports.

He was released last March, just a month after Mubarak was toppled.

Shater's business empire is said to be the main source of funding for the Islamist group.

Born in on May 4, 1950 in the Nile Delta province of Daqahliya, Shater earned a degree in engineering from Alexandria University and a master's in engineering from Mansura University.

In a 2005 op-ed in Britain's Guardian newspaper, Shater urged readers "not to be afraid" of the Muslim Brotherhood, after the banned group clinched a fifth of the seats in parliament under Mubarak by fielding candidates as "independents."

"The success of the Muslim Brotherhood should not frighten anybody: we respect the rights of all religious and political groups," he wrote.

Shater has lived in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain. He is married and has 10 children and 10 grandchildren.

Former spy chief announces run for presidency

By Kathryn STAPLEY ,

FRANCE 24 correspondent reporting from Egypt

News Wires (text)

REUTERS -

Aides of ousted Hosni Mubarak’s former intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman (incorrectly spelled sometimes as Suleiman) said on Friday he planned to contest the presidential election, reversing a statement earlier this week that he would not run.

Omar Sulaiman, 74, was Mubarak’s close associate for decades and served as his vice president briefly during the uprising that forced him to step down a year ago.

Hundreds rallied in Cairo on Friday to press Suleiman to join the race, carrying banners reading “Suleiman, save Egypt” and “We need you Suleiman”. Commentators say he would appeal to the country’s military and voters worried about stability.

In a statement attributed to Suleiman circulated by campaign aides, the man who was the director of military intelligence and the General Intelligence Service vowed to run if he could get the necessary registration of 30,000 supporters by Saturday.

“I have been shaken by your strong position,” said the statement, addressed to “citizens of Egypt”. “The call you have directed is an order and I am a soldier who has never disobeyed an order."

“Your call and your faith in my ability is an honour,” it added. “I promise to change my position if I can complete the registrations by Saturday.”

Campaign aides have been pushing Suleiman to run and have leaked similar reports to the media during the last month. Suleiman himself has not spoken to the media directly and it could not be immediately verified whether the statement was written by him.

“Suleiman decided to run because anyone who loves this country has been begging him to do so. He has even had to switch off his phone because of the number of calls he was receiving to convince him to run,” campaign aide Saab Abbasy told Reuters.

Egyptians vote on May 23 and 24 in what is billed as Egypt’s first free and fair presidential race.

 

EGYPT Islamist elected to lead Egypt's constitutional assembly

EGYPT Egypt's liberals, leftists quit constitutional assembly

EGYPT Islamists dominate panel tasked with drafting Egypt's constitution