The accusations directed against engineer Mamdouh Hamza and a number of revolutionaries of incitement and working on bringing down the state are nothing but a smear campaign against revolutionary and patriotic icons, movements and coalitions aiming to demonize the revolution, said the National Association for Change (NAC) and the National Council (NC) on Wednesday. In a joint statement read against a background of recordings of Hamza calling for people to participate in civil disobedience, the NAC and NC said the accusations were alarming and that those being targeted are only ‘guilty' of calling for the continuation of the revolution and the completion of its goals. The statement described the accusations as a “deliberate political and social assassination, aimed at quashing people's rights to express their opinion and protest against the ongoing security vacuum and the delay in bringing corrupt individuals and killers of protesters to justice.” The statement continued: “These suspicious campaigns are similar to the tactics of the former regime, as lies are mobilized in the media and through public campaigns in order to turn public opinion against those who called for the revolution and who supported and continue to support revolutionaries.” The statement noted that this systematic and recurring strategy of “demonizing the revolution and criminalizing the revolutionaries is being used to defame these citizens and paralyze their ability to impact change.” The revolution has not yet exhausted all of its options, but there will come a time when civil disobedience is inevitable, as long as there is national support for it, the statement said, adding that the effects of civil disobedience are limited without national consensus. The NAC and NC accused Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, of “ pitting the people against each other with his statements following the Port Said football massacre.” The April 6 Youth Movement, Democratic Front, Revolution Youth Coalition, Free Front for Peaceful Change, Youth for Justice and Freedom, Free Egyptians, the Second Revolution of Anger and a number of other movements announced their support and solidarity with Hamza and Kamal Fayoumi, a leading labor activist in Mahalla. They say these figures are being targeted by a smear campaign and fabricated charges as part of a plot to tarnish the reputations of all of those who supported the revolution and continue to fight for its continuation. The movements accused the SCAF of attempting to abort the revolution, eliminate the revolutionaries and punish the Egyptian people for revolting. The movements released a joint statement saying: “The security and media services currently controlled by the SCAF are more oppressive and deceptive than those of the former regime.” Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
