Egyptian cleric Safwat Hegazy, who is barred from entering the U.K. and France, has been named by the Egyptian Gama'a Islamiya as presidential candidate. Gama'a Islamiya said that it selected Hegazy as a backup to its candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail,[1] whose eligibility has been in dispute due to allegations that his mother held U.S. citizenship Yesterday's ruling by the Cairo Administrative Court that Egyptian authorities do not have sufficient documentation proving that Abu Ismail's mother was a U.S. citizen[2] does not eliminate the possibility that other authorities besides the Interior Ministry could have such evidence.[3] (See also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 4648, "Egyptian Presidential Candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail – Whose Candidacy Is In Jeopardy Due To Mother's U.S. Citizenship – And Mother Discuss Rise of Islam In U.S., Claim U.S. Authorities Refused to Investigate 9/11, Which Was 'Fabricated' To Defame Islam – In 2004 MEMRI TV Clip Of Interview On Saudi Iqraa TV," April 11, 2012, Egyptian Presidential Candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail - Whose Candidacy Is In Jeopardy Due To Mother's U.S. Citizenship - And Mother Discuss Rise of Islam In U.S., Claim U.S. Authorities Refused to Investigate 9/11, Which Was 'Fabricated' To Defame Islam - In 2004 MEMRI TV Clip Of Interview On Saudi Iqraa TV).
Leading Gama'a Islamiya sheikh Abdel-Akher Hamad said that Hegazy was chosen because he is a well-known Islamist and supports the application of Islamic law.[4]
Hegazy was barred from entering France last month, along with five other prominent Muslim clerics planning to attend the annual conference of the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF) in Paris last week on the grounds that they "call for hatred and violence."[5] (for more, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 4614, "Based on MEMRI TV Clip Exposing Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi's Genocidal Speech, French President Sarkozy Bans Qaradhawi from Entering France," March 29, 2012, Based on MEMRI TV Clip Exposing Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi's Genocidal Speech, French President Sarkozy Bans Qaradhawi from Entering France.)
Hegazy has been banned from the UK since October 2008 for "engaging in unacceptable behavior by glorifying terrorist violence"; the list of banned individuals with his name on it was released by the U.K. Home Office in May 2009.[6]
MEMRI Monitoring Hegazy Since 2006
MEMRI has been monitoring Safwat Hegazy since 2006, releasing nearly 20 translated clips and publishing nearly 20 reports concerning him. During this time, MEMRI has provided the U.S. and European governments with research and translations on him. MEMRI is the only organization monitoring and translating statements by Safwat Hegazy.
The following are MEMRI TV clips and MEMRI reports on Safwat Hegazy, dating back to 2006:
MEMRI TV Clips on Safwat Hegazy
MEMRI TV Clip No. 3045 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy: The "Foreign Riffraff" Who Live in Palestine Are Not Really Jews; They Have Brought Corruption and Evil upon the World Ever Since Trying to Kill Christ, Al-Quds TV (Lebanon) - July 18, 2011, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/3045.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2989 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy: Our Generation Will Be the One to Liberate Jerusalem and "to Be Martyred on the Threshold of Jerusalem," Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas/Gaza) - June 10, 2011, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2989.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2560 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy: Parents Should Choose for Children Sports That Prepare Them for Jihad, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - July 11, 2010, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2560.
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MEMRI TV Clip No. 2356 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy: Killers of Copts Should Be Crucified and Have an Arm and a Leg Chopped Off on Alternate Sides, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - January 18, 2010, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2356.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2171 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy: The Bahais Pose a Danger, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - March 18, 2009, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2171.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2048 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Calls to Shut Down Starbucks in the Arab and Islamic World: Jewish Queen Esther Serves as Their Logo, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - January 25, 2009, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2048.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2043 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Unveils His Vision: The United States of Islam, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - January 18, 2009, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2043.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1984 - Egyptian Clerics Encourage Martyrdom in Gaza: We Must Love Death, Al-Nas TV (Egypt), Al-Rahma TV (Egypt) - January 2-11, 2009, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1984.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1983 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Responds to MEMRI: Yes, I Am an Anti-Semite; If Not for the Arab Rulers, We Would Devour the Jews with Our Teeth, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - January 4, 2009, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1983.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1972 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy on Hamas TV: Dispatch Those Sons of Apes and Pigs to the Hellfire, on the Wings of Qassam Rockets, Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas/Gaza) - December 31, 2008, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1972.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1965 - Egyptian Clerics Intensify Antisemitic Rants against the Backdrop of the Gaza Fighting, Al-Nas TV (Egypt), Al-Rahma TV (Egypt) - December 28-29, 2008, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1965.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1951 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Slams Sheik of Al-Azhar Tantawi for Shaking Hands with Israeli President, and States: Peres Keeps in His Home a Helmet Filled with the Dried Blood of Egyptian POWs He Murdered with His Own Hands in 1967, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - December 14, 2008, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1951
MEMRI TV Clip No. 1276 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Explains His Fatwa Sanctioning the Killing of Israelis Visiting Egypt, Dream 2 TV (Egypt) - August 26, 2006, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1276.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 3344 - Egyptian Clerics Safwat Hegazy and Muhamamd Abd Al-Maqsoud: It Is an Obligation to Kill Bashar Al-Assad, Al-Nahar TV (Egypt) - February 16, 2012, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/3344.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 3072 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Rebukes the People of Damascus for Not Joining the Revolution, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - August 9, 2011, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/3072.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 3050 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Lambastes Coptic Communications Tycoon Naguib Sawiris for Posting Image of Bearded Mickey Mouse and Hijab-Clad Minnie Mouse on Twitter, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - July 4, 2011, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/3050.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 2423 - Egyptian Cleric Safwat Hegazy Rebukes Hamas for Not Avenging the Killings of Its Leaders, Al-Nas TV (Egypt) - March 14, 2010, http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2423.
[1] Washington Post, April 7, 2012
[2] News.Egypt.Com, April 11, 2012
[3] News.Egypt.Com, April 12, 2012
[4] Alarabiya.net, April 8, 2012, Foxnews.com, April 7, 2012, Washington Post, April 7, 2012
[5] The Egyptian Gazette, March 29, 2012. On March 29, 2012, the UOIF website reported that French Interior Minister Claude Guéant and a "UOIF delegation" had met to discuss the ban on "six UOIF guests." During the meeting, the UOIF delegation "explained that the [ban] decision concerned prominent scholars who enjoy worldwide respect, and who are known for their peace-promoting discourse and work [and for their striving for] dialogue between peoples and for respect for universal values" (http://www.uoif-online.com/v3/spip.php?article1257). The same day, Minister Gueant and Foreign Affairs minister Alain Juppé issued a declaration pertaining to the ban of "four" foreign guests invited to the UOIF conference: Ikrima Sabri, Ayed bin Abdallah Al-Qarni, Safwat Al-Hegazy, and Abdallah Basfar. They also noted that Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi and Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Masri had "renounced coming." (http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/le-ministere/le-ministre-d-etat-et-les/alain-juppe/presse-et-media-20656/article/interdiction-d-entree-sur-le).
[6] BBC, May 5, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8033319.stm; Daily News Egypt, May 7, 2009 http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/egyptian-sheikh-safwat-higazi-banned-from-entering-uk.html
