Egypt's 'Tamarod' suspends co-founders membership over Sabbahi backing

CAIRO

Egypt's Tamarod, the youth group that spearheaded last summer's demonstrations that led to the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the army, has announced it had suspended the membership of three of its co-founders over their support for leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi for presidency.

In a statement late Saturday, the campaign announced it has suspended the three co-founders' membership for committing "violations aimed at tarnishing the group's reputation."

Hassan Shahin, Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Khaled al-Qadi announced their support for Sabbahi's presidential bid, only hours after the group had declared it will support army chief Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi for president, although the latter has not yet announced whether he will vie for the top post.

"The movement suspended the three members for taking down the statement we issued on Facebook Friday declaring our support for al-Sisi should he announce he is running for president," spokesman Mohamed Nabawi told Anadolu Agency.

He added that during a group meeting on Friday, the three members voiced objection at first to supporting al-Sisi's possible presidential bid but they eventually agreed to commit themselves to the "majority's decision" to back al-Sisi.

Sabbahi, who leads the Popular Current leftist movement, announced he is running for president in a press conference Saturday which the three suspended Tamarod members attended.

"Members of [Tamarod's] executive and administrative committees as well as it's provincial leadership were all surprised [the three co-founders] attended the Popular Current's press conference and thus came to the decision to freeze their membership," Nabawi said.

Shahin, Abdel-Aziz and al-Qadi could not be immediately reached for comment.

Al-Sisi, widely seen as the driving force behind Morsi's ouster, has remained tight-lipped as to whether he plans to vie for Egypt's top office. But speculation has been rife that he would soon resign from his military post to make way for a possible presidential bid.

Egypt's presidential elections are expected within the next two months.

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