President Obama, Hillary Clinton Charged With Conspiring with Muslim Brotherhood-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Egyptian lawmakers have charged President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with aiding terrorists for allegedly conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Truth:
It’s not true that Egyptian officials charged President Obama and Hillary Clinton with aiding terrorists, or of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood.
A number of private citizens in Egypt filed a flurry of lawsuits with the International Criminal Court (ICC) that named world leaders, including President Obama and Hillary Clinton, in 2013. But those lawsuits were dismissed in 2014 because the citizens who filed them were not authorized to do so.
The situation began to unfold in July of 2013 when former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and the country’s first Democratically elected president, was thrown from power and taken into military custody. Military officers suspended the country’s constitution and installed an interim government, the New York Times reports:
“For Mr. Morsi, it was a bitter and ignominious end to a tumultuous year of bruising political battles that ultimately alienated millions of Egyptians. Having won a narrow victory, his critics say, he broke his promises of an inclusive government and repeatedly demonized his opposition as traitors. With the economy crumbling, and with shortages of electricity and fuel, anger at the government mounted.
“The generals built their case for intervention in a carefully orchestrated series of maneuvers, calling their actions an effort at a ‘national reconciliation’ and refusing to call their takeover a coup. At a televised news conference late on Wednesday night, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi said that the military had no interest in politics and was ousting Mr. Morsi because he had failed to fulfill ‘the hope for a national consensus.’”
Mohamed Morsi was elected after former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in 2011 after an 18-day revolt against his dictatorship. After Morsi was thrown from power and arrested in 2013, President Obama said in a statement:
“The United States continues to believe firmly that the best foundation for lasting stability in Egypt is a democratic political order with participation from all sides and all political parties — secular and religious, civilian and military. During this uncertain period, we expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts. Moreover, the goal of any political process should be a government that respects the rights of all people, majority and minority; that institutionalizes the checks and balances upon which democracy depends; and that places the interests of the people above party or faction. The voices of all those who have protested peacefully must be heard – including those who welcomed today’s developments, and those who have supported President Morsi. In the interim, I urge all sides to avoid violence and come together to ensure the lasting restoration of Egypt’s democracy.”
The Muslim Brotherhood responded to Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow by filing suits with the ICC against Egypt’s army and interim government. The lawsuits accused them of “genocide against Egyptians.” Supporters of Morsi’s overthrow responded by filing lawsuits of their own with ICC. A number of the suits named members of the Muslim Brotherhood and world leaders like President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Turkish prime minister.
A professor of criminal law named Nabil Medhat Salem filed one of those lawsuits. The lawsuit, filed in August of 2013, named President Obama and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Cairo Post reports:
“Medhat has accused the Brotherhood leaders of deliberately killing numerous citizens at Rabaa al – Adawiya and Nahda Squares, burning mosques and churches, and he accused Obama of participating in these violent acts through incitement and support.”
It should be noted that Medhat is a private citizen, so reports that Egypt’s government filed the charges are false. The ICC dismissed the claims in 2014 because Medhat and other private citizens were not authorized to file the lawsuits:
“A communication seeking to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Egypt has been dismissed as not presented on behalf of the concerned State. On 13 December 2013, lawyers acting on behalf of, amongst others, the Freedom and Justice Party lodged a communication with the ICC Registrar seeking to accept the exercise of the ICC’s jurisdiction pursuant to article 12(3) of the Rome Statute with respect to alleged crimes committed on the territory of the State of Egypt since 1 June 2013.
“Upon receiving the communication, as per the established internal procedures, the Registry verified with the Egyptian authorities whether or not such a communication was transmitted on behalf of the State of Egypt, as a result of which, the Registrar did not receive a positive confirmation.”
So, reports that President Obama and Hillary Clinton have been “charged” by the Egyptian government with conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood are not true. Private citizens did name Obama, Clinton and other world leaders in lawsuits — but the ICC later dismissed them.