The Connecticut Council on American-Islamic Relations Friday condemned the bloody massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and called for the Obama administration to cut off aid to Egypt’s military regime.
During a press conference Friday at the New Haven Register, CAIR-CT Executive Director Mongi Dhaouadi said President Barack Obama should end the flow of American taxpayer dollars to Egypt’s military, after more than 600 people were killed Wednesday in a clash between the interim government and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.
""We welcome our own government’s condemnation of the violent suppression of democratic rights, and we urge President Obama to move beyond condemnations to take concrete steps to help restore democracy and the rule of law in Egypt through dialogue,” Dhaouadi said. “We condemn the killing of peaceful protesters and also condemn the reported attacks on Christian properties in Egypt.”
Egypt fell under martial rule last month when Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was deposed by his generals.
Mohamed ElBaradei, one of the coup leaders, has resigned as vice president because of the attacks on the protester.
Muslim American Society Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Director for Connecticut Mohamed Elsamra said at Friday’s press conference that imposing emergency law and banning newspapers and TV channels is wrong.
“It’s has created an outrage among supporters and those who oppose the rule of president Morsi.” he said.
“Instigating a divide among Egyptians by burning churches and other places of worship have not worked before through history and I believe will not work now; we are condemning that behavior” Elsamra said.
Reem Elazazy, 19, an Egyptian-American and University of Connecticut student, said the situation is very serious and citizens are being called terrorists and killed because the truth is not reaching the people.
“Since the media has been cut of over there or spreading lies, it is our job by using social media to stay connected with family and other relatives because most of the people have no idea what’s going on,” said Elazazy, whose father is in Egypt. “The things we are hearing from the Egyptian local media are outrageous and we are doing our part here to inform people through social media about the lies of the military propaganda.”
CAIR-CT joined several other Muslim groups and protestors for a rally in front of the Old State House building in Hartford Friday.
Dhaouadi said the purpose of the rally was not only to condemn the violence abroad, but also to challenge the state congressional delegation to send a message to the White House to cut financial aid to Egypt’s military.
In a statement released Thursday, Obama said : "...while we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back.
“As a result, this morning we notified the Egyptian government that we are canceling our biannual joint military exercise which was scheduled for next month,” he said. “Going forward I’ve asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps that we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S.-Egyptian relationship.”
But Obama did not indicate the U.S. plans to end its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt, The Associated Press reported.