| Carried over into Monday. |
CAIRO -- A moderate Islamic party outlawed for 15 years was granted official recognition Saturday by an Egyptian court in a sign of increasing political openness after the fall of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Wasat Al-Jadid, or the New Center, was founded in 1996 by activists who split off from the conservative Muslim Brotherhood and sought to create a political movement promoting a tolerant version of Islam with liberal tendencies. Its attempts to register as an official party were rejected four times since then, most recently in 2009.
The founder of the newly recognized party, Abu al-Ila Madi, said Saturday's ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court was "a positive fruit of the Jan. 25 revolution of the freedom generation."
Madi said his party would immediately get to work organizing its membership and opening branches to freely participate in Egypt's political life. Seeking to prove Al-Wasat Al-Jadid has a more moderate position, Madi said two Coptic Christians and three women were among the party's 24 top members.
"We will cooperate with all political powers, secular or democratic, to develop the democratic process," Madi said. |