CAIRO: Egypt presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq has accused Muslim Brotherhood opponent Mohamed Morsi's campaign of hiring thugs and attacking his headquarters last month, in a sign the final week of campaigning is to be heated. Shafiq, the last prime minister of the Mubarak era, said on Sunday that Morsi and the Brotherhood were responsible for the attack on his offices last month that saw attackers set ablaze storage rooms and smash computers. The Brotherhood responded by calling the accusations “ge lies” and said Shafiq did nothing in the final days of the Mubarak era to curtail violence against protesters, which left at least 850 people dead. The run-off between Shafiq and Morsi is scheduled for June 16 and 17, although a court ruling expected two days before the final voting begins could see Shafiq forced out of the race. As a former top official in the Mubarak regime, he should have been barred from running in the race to begin with, with Parliament passing the “Azl” law, which banned the former regime's officials from participating in politics for a decade. But an electoral committee assigned to police the election, and established by the ruling military junta, failed to remove him from a list of candidates. He went on to win second place behind Morsi in last month's first round of voting, much to the anger of activists, who have taken to the streets in the country demanding the legal system follow through with his banning. If barred from running, a new election would then take place.
