CAIRO: Leading presidential hopeful Mohammed ElBaradei issued a statement condemning the intention of former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who also served as minister of aviation during ousted president Hosni Mubarak`s era, to run for president, saying it was “as an indication that Mubarak`s regime is still ruling.” Baradei has been outspoken more recently over the role of former Mubarak officials and has called for an end to their political careers. “When Shafiq, the former Prime Minister, who was appointed by Mubarak, before his ousting, announces his intention to run for presidency, this definitely means that Mubarak`s regime didn't completely fall,” Baradei stated on his Twitter account Wednesday. He stressed that the Egyptian revolution will ultimately “become victorious, in spite of all the current challenges.” In a different context, Baradei denied issuing a very critical statement to an Iranian news agency, where he was said to be describing the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) as “fascist,” saying “these statements stirred up controversy in Egypt and abroad.” The controversy over the so–called statements by Baradei during a phone interview with the Iranian News Agency Fars is still ongoing, despite the immediate response by the information bureau of Baradei's campaign, which issued a statement denying giving any statements to the agency of suck kind. The Baradei press office said in a statement that the statements mentioned by the Iranian news agency and attributed to Baradei, and published by a number of local newspapers, “are totally false.” It added that Baradei did not speak to Fars. However, the news agency said that Baradei said the United States are “making every effort to protect Israel from Islamists and that he dubbed the ruling SCAF ‘fascist'.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/yjfvK Tags: Fascist, featured, Mohamed Elbaradei, Mubarak, SCAF Section: Egypt, Latest News
