is referred to the Criminal Court less than 48 hours after his first TV appearance since the presidential elections, Dina Ezzat reports "The man knew it was going to happen anyway. They [the Muslim Brotherhood] are trying to eliminate all the strong men of Egypt as they complete their control of the country, but he will not give up. We will not let Egypt be taken by them," said an aide to , the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak who lost the presidential elections to President Mohamed Mursi earlier this summer. Since the announcement of the results, which gave Mursi a very narrow victory after a wave of speculation and leaks over the victory, the runner-up in the presidential race left Egypt. Shafik first went to Saudi Arabia for a two-day minor pilgrimage which was announced after he had departed. Then he took off for the United Arab Emirates where he has been residing ever since along with a group of Mubarak's leading aides who fled the country in short intervals after he stepped down in February 2011 for fear of legal persecution over abuse of power, the fate that has sent some of Mubarak's closest men to jail. "I have been summoned for questioning over allegations [of abuse of power] but there is no arrest warrant that has been issued in my name," Shafik said on Saturday evening during a TV appearance, the first since the announcement of the results of the presidential elections which he gracefully accepted despite the many doubts that were raised by his supporters and his campaign aides who suggested that the results were rigged in favour of Mursi under US pressure. Shafik, who had limited himself over the past eight weeks to brief and rare telephone interviews with Egyptian private media, appeared with the flagship programme in Dream, a private channel, called "10pm". The interview that was broadcast over two episodes, Saturday and Sunday, was angled essentially by anchor-journalist Wael El-Ibrashi over charges that Shafik sold the two sons of Mubarak land next to the Suez Canal for much cheaper prices. Speaking to El-Ibrashi, Shafik denied allegations of any wrong-doing, deliberate or otherwise, in the deal. The two sons of Mubarak, who have been in jail for a series of financial corruption and power abuse for over a year, were ineligible to buy the land which was allocated by the government for sale for the benefit of Air Force members and their families. Alaa and Gamal Mubarak obtained the land in this capacity and they paid the regular price like everybody else, Shafik argued in the first episode of his TV appearance. Mubarak's last prime minister, an Air Force officer himself, was the secretary-general of the Air Force Association. "It is in this capacity that I signed -- but I did not actually sell -- the paperwork for the selling of the land to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak," Shafik told El-Ibrashi. According to the very detailed account that Shafik provided, the two sons followed the procedures and "actually the part of the land that was allocated to them was not the best part of the land available for sale but it so happened that they applied to buy after all the good parts were already sold off." This narrative runs counter to the complaints that were levelled against Shafik, among other members of the Air Force Association, along with Alaa and Gamal. The complaints were first raised ahead of the beginning of the presidential race by MP Alaa Sultan who had asked for the matter to be investigated ahead of allowing Shafik to run in the presidential race. The prosecutor-general had, however, chosen not to investigate until the end of the presidential race -- and after Shafik had left the country. Some observers say at the time the complaints against Shafik were deliberately overlooked under the pretext of lack of substantial evidence to pursue legal prosecution to allow who they say was the man who was (then) certainly supported by the army to run in the race. This account was categorically denied by Shafik in his TV appearance. Shafik insisted that he was "not at all supported by the army or by anyone". In fact, Shafik suggested, without saying it in so many words, that the then ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, whose top officers were removed by President Mursi mid-August, was rather unsupportive and maybe worse. "I was told by very good sources from within the influential state quarters that I had won the elections but then it was President Mursi who was announced the winner," Shafik said after having recalled the account of a conversation between him and the US ambassador in Cairo whereby the US diplomat had expressed concern over the process of the announcement of the results in a way that indicated an implicit rigging accusation in favour of Shafik. Since the announcement of the results, American diplomats in Cairo have categorically denied that they had any role to play in the victory of Mursi over Shafik. "This is nonsense. Why would we do such a thing," said one. She added that the embassy was receiving accounts and alerts from independent Egyptian sources suggesting that the results were in favour of Mursi but that there was pressure put on the Presidential Elections Committee to discard some ballots and announce Shafik the winner. Less than 48 hours ahead of the announcement of the final results of the presidential run-offs, PEC sources suggested that Shafik would be announced the winner, with a very narrow margin. Speaking to the TV talk show "10pm", Shafik even said that he was offered written proof of his electoral victory "but then again I believed that it is in the interest of the country to acknowledge the results and to have one leader so that the nation could move towards stability." Since Mubarak was forced to step down on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of forceful demonstrations, the nation's economy and security have suffered dramatically. With Mursi sworn into office elements of stability were regained, especially on the economic front with the stock market making unprecedented gains. These signs of stability have not satisfied the anti-Mursi camp that has been expressing concern over the Islamisation of Egypt at the hands of the first ever non-military president who came straight from the ranks of the long-persecuted but widely popular Muslim Brotherhood. The clear Islamist affiliation of Mursi's hand-picked aides and ministers, especially the prime minister and minister of defence, has agitated these concerns and prompted some to call for demonstrations against the so-called rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. On 24 August scores of protesters took to the Heliopolis-based presidential palace and shouted against Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood. At the time, Shafik was accused of prompting and financially supporting these demonstrations which were easily dispersed due to an obvious lack of momentum and supporters. In his TV appearance this week, Shafik made light of the accusations and suggested that they amounted to a deliberate attempt to undermine his image by associating him with a failed call for a political demonstration. This attempt, Shafik told El-Ibrashi, was part of a wider scheme to get at the man who qualifies himself as the one most capable of defying the Islamist trend, led by the Brotherhood. This said, ahead of the Tuesday issuance of the warrant arrest, Shafik had declined to offer a date for his return to Egypt. He would only return, he said, when he knows it is safe for him to be back and not to be prosecuted on the basis of faulty allegations. Shafik argued that there is someone who wants to get him but argued that it is unlikely that it was Mursi himself. He, however, did not rule out a possible link, one way or the other, with some in the Mursi circle. Shafik told El-Ibrashi that he knew when he left Egypt last June that he was not sure when he would be back. This much, he said, he had shared with Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF at the time who was later removed by Mursi. "I am not running away from anything because this would be against my character but sometimes people have to distance themselves so that they can pursue reform or act upon a solution for a particular crisis," Shafik told El-Ibrashi. Shafik affirmed that the earlier plan to start a political civil party built on the mass support he had enjoyed during the presidential campaign is on but declined to offer a date for the initiation of this "party or movement". In his interview with El-Ibrashi, Shafik kept away from harshly attacking the Islamists or President Mursi. He duly referred to Mursi as "Mr President" and acknowledged the popular power base of the Muslim Brotherhood. Shafik said that the Islamist nature of the newly assigned minister of defence had always been known "but this does not amount to a possible association with the Muslim Brotherhood. There are many observing soldiers and officers in the armed forces in general," Shafik further acknowledged. "But it is one thing for an army officer to be observing and another for this particular officer to be working in favour of the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood," he added. This said, Shafik, whose presidential hallmark was one of clear and outright defiance of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists in general, suggested that if further attacked he could "hit back. I certainly know how and when to hit back and I can tell you that I don't need to be in Egypt to do so," he told El-Ibrashi in the interview that was aired less than three days before the arrest warrant was issued. "I cannot say what he would do but he is certainly not planning to come back and give a chance for those who wish to arrest him for no reason," the Shafik associate said. Speaking by phone, the same source added that Shafik might stay on in Dubai where he has been offered generous hospitality for the past eight weeks or he might consider another venue. "It is up to what he thinks is safe for him and his family." The warrant for Shafik's arrest prompted a wide range of reaction from people, especially on Facebook and Twitter. Shafik supporters argued that he was paying the price for a brave statement that he made during the El-Ibrashi interview when he openly said that he would not give up. Shafik critics said that the move was overdue and necessary to eliminate the power of the remnants of the old regime. Those who stand in between argued that what Egypt needs now is an end to polarisation and a firm march towards national reconciliation.
