Morsi to ask Obama to free blind Sheikh terrorist

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi says he plans to ask Barack Obama to pardon the blind Egyptian Sheikh who is serving a life sentence in the United States for the 1993 World Trade Centre attack.

Morsi made the announcement in a recent CNN interview where he said he will fulfill his pre-election promise during his upcoming trip to the United States, to secure the release of convicted terrorist Omar Abdul Rahman. The Egyptian-born militant was convicted after the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that killed six people and for his plan to bomb other New York landmarks.

The Blind Sheikh was accused of leading an extremist Salafi group that was classified by the United States and previous Egyptian governments as a terrorist organisation, but since the rise of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Salafi group has managed to enter mainstream politics.

Morsi will likely have an uphill battle to fight if he wants to get the so-called Blind Sheikh out of jail, as State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland has said the US has no plan to release the convicted terrorist. 

Obama’s relationship with Morsi has come under criticism in recent weeks, especially after the US President praised his Egyptian counterpart for being a pragmatic peacemaker; only to have Morsi, days later, issue a decree that gave him near authoritarian powers.

Other critics have slammed Obama for not raising alarm after Morsi’s government rushed through a constitution that is dominated by Islamic Sharia law, making the young democracy look more and more like a burgeoning theocracy.

Former Governor Mitt Romney has also criticised the US President for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood to the tune of USD 1.5 billion after Egyptian lawyers accused the Islamist ruling party of syphoning off US aid money.

Some proponents of Obama relationship with the Islamist leader have said that Morsi’s strong commitment to the 1979 Peace Treaty with Israel remains the cornerstone for good US relations with Egypt. But that commitment has come into question in recent months.

Footage recently surfaced of Morsi in 2010 referring to Jews as the ‘descendants of apes and pigs’ employing an often used anti-Semitic analogy from the Koran that suggests the Jewish people are sub-human. Morsi goes on to say that Zionists are criminals and that Israeli territory should be taken by force and given to the Palestinians.

Since assuming power, Morsi has made passing comments that may hint at what he really thinks about Israel.

Back in October, Morsi attended Friday prayers where the cleric pleaded with Allah to “destroy the Jews” after which it could be seen that the Islamist president mouthed the word ‘Amen.’

In November during a Hamas rocket barrage on Israeli civilians, Morsi threatened Israel, saying the Jewish state would pay a heavy price if it put the Gaza Strip in danger. 

If the cornerstone for good relations between Egypt and the US is Cairo’s respect for Israel’s security, then it appears that in light of recent events, that relationship may need to be reexamined.