CAIRO – Dawoud, spokesman of the liberal al-Dostor Party, was stabbed on Friday as he happened to drive by a pro-democracy march in downtown Cairo.
CAIRO – Dawoud, spokesman of the liberal al-Dostor Party, was stabbed on Friday as he happened to drive by a pro-democracy march in downtown Cairo.
Egypt’s former vice-president Mohamed ElBaradie has condemned as “barbaric” an attack on Khalid Dawoud, the former spokesman of the main opposition bloc to ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
“The attack on Dawoud reflects the enormity of the plight we are in,” Elbaradie wrote on his Twitter account.
Dawoud, the spokesman of the liberal al-Dostor Party, was stabbed on Friday as he happened to drive by a pro-Morsi march in downtown Cairo.
He was set to undergo an arm surgery on Saturday.
The attack has drawn a storm of condemnations from various political forces.
The Salafist Call, one of Egypt’s leading Salafist movements and the Nour Party’s ideological parent, has described the attack as a “criminal” act that does not augur well for the future of Egypt.
“We reject any attack against politicians regardless of their political affiliation,” said Sherif Taha, the official spokesman of al-Nour Party.
Strong Egypt Party, which was founded by former presidential candidate Abdel-Monem Abul Fotouh, described the attack as “dishonorable” and called for respecting different opinions and shy away from the “policy of intellectual terrorism”.
Dostor party member Esraa Abdel-Fattah said she was “surprised” by the attack as Dawoud has repeatedly called for national reconciliation.
“The attackers did not give themselves the chance to remember that this man has sympathy for them,” Abdel-Fattah said. “They only saw him as a part of the National Salvation Front.”
Dawoud walked out of the National Salvation Front in mid-August to protest at the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protest camps, which left hundreds of people dead.
The National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, the main support bloc for Morsi, has denied involvement in the attack.
“We strongly condemn the attack on Dawoud who had adopted esteemed attitudes following the dispersal of Morsi’s support camps,” said Magdy Salem, the deputy chairman of the Islamic Party, one of the parties that make the NADL.
He denied any link between Morsi’s backers and the attack, saying that supporters of the deposed president cannot commit such actions, which contradict with their principles.
Salem said the attack against Dawoud was meant to “punish him for the humane position he took following the eviction of pro-democracy protest camps”.
