Headlines:
- Muhammed Morsi Dies in Court
- Islamabad Shares Intelligence with India
- Iran Nuclear Program to Exceed JCPOA
Muhammed Morsi Dies in Court
Muhammed Morsi, the former president of Egypt passed away on Monday 18 June after collapsing in court while attending a session in his trial on espionage charges. Egypt’s public prosecutor said Morsi, 67, was pronounced dead on arrival at a Cairo hospital, after he fainted inside the defendants “cage” in the courtroom. Morsi became president in 2012, following Egypt’s first and only free elections after the dictator Hosni Mubarak was forced from power. He won 51% of the vote and his rule marked the peak of power for Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which had functioned for decades as an underground political organisation. But his time in power was cut short a year later as demonstrators once again took to the streets – this time to protest against Morsi’s rule. Egypt’s military seized power in a coup on 3 July 2013, bringing the then defence minister, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, to power. As president, Sisi has overseen an extensive crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and anyone suspected of supporting the group. Morsi was arrested after the 2013 coup and has faced trial on three separate counts of leaking state secrets to Qatar, killing protesters during a sit-in outside the presidential palace, and spying for Hamas. He received multiple long sentences, including a life sentence for spying for Qatar and a 20-year sentence for killing protesters. A death sentence for charges relating to a mass jailbreak during the revolution was overturned in a retrial in November 2016.
Islamabad Shares Intelligence with India
Pakistan shared intelligence with India and the US the week of June 9 regarding a possible militant attack in the Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir, The Indian Express reported June 16. The attack is allegedly being planned to avenge the death in May of Zakir Musa, leader of the al Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. A high-profile militant attack in the Pulwama district in February sent Indo-Pakistan tensions spiraling, resulting in tit-for-tat cross-border airstrikes. Another high-profile attack in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state would also ratchet up bilateral animosity. Successive Pakistani leaders long ago sold the country to the US, but it looks now even arch enemy India is being treated as a nation who the rulers can be close with.
Iran Nuclear Program to Exceed JCPOA
A spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed June 17 that the country would exceed the limits on low-enriched uranium imposed by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal within 10 days. Rouhani announced last month that Iran would suspend its commitments to possess a stockpile of no more than 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. Rouhani also gave the European Union, which remains in the nuclear deal, a 60-day ultimatum — which expires July 7 — to protect Iran’s interests in the JCPOA or Iran would move onto a second phase of reducing its JCPOA commitments. Iran has learnt the hard way that US deals are temporary, but its interest remain permanent.