Egyptians watch first presidential debate with bemusement

Mr Aboul Fotouh, who fell out with the Muslim Brotherhood in which he was a
leading reformist and was expelled last year, promotes himself as a liberal,
arguing for a pluralist politics.

He insists that Islam rejects compelling anyone to obey behavioural codes such
as wearing the veil or giving up alcohol, and when asked whether he believed
people should be allowed to convert from Islam to Christianity said there
should be no interference in freedom of belief.

But he was also forced by Mr Moussa to admit that he wanted the rules of
Sharia to be the basis of Egyptian law, not just its principles, as stated
by the current constitution.

Although both men have sought to win over the middle ground, the debate
highlighted their differences. Mr Aboul Fotouh was able to make telling
points about Mr Moussa’s late conversion to the cause of overthrowing Mr
Mubarak, whom he served as foreign minister during the nineties.

Mr Aboul Fotouh was a long-term opponent of the military dictatorship, first
springing to fame as a student activist in the seventies, a time when he was
a much more radical Islamist, when he confronted then President Anwar Sadat
live on camera.

Mr Moussa demanded he apologise for his role in the founding of the Gama’a
Islamiya, which after he left to join the Brotherhood became a militant
terrorist organisation responsible for hundreds of murders and spawned
several future prominent members of Al-Qaeda.

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