Egypt’s military council lacks political legitimacy: Iranian general

TEHRAN,June 26(MNA) – Chairman of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi said on Monday that the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has no legal or political legitimacy. Legitimacy either comes from God, which is peculiar to divine religions, or from people’s vote, Firouzabadi stated. However, he said, “The measures by the military council, which itself had been appointed by (former Egyptian president Hosni) Mubarak, have no legal validity or political legitimacy.” The remarks by the top Iranian general came after the SCAF released the results of the Egyptian presidential election after much delay in which Mohamed Morsi, the chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, was declared the winner of the election. It is widely believed that the SCAF has put a brake on the process of democratization in Egypt. Seventeen months after the uprising that toppled Mubarak, the military has set the country back where it was at the beginning of its hoped-for transition from dictatorship to democracy. Bahraini system has not legitimacy The major general also said that the “monarchial system” in Bahrain has no “political” legitimacy. He added that there are other countries in the region which have similar situation, but international bodies and countries’ leaders have kept silent about this fact. “Today, we see no resolution (issued) by the (UN) Security Council about the crimes” committed by these systems which lack legitimacy, he noted. The general was indirectly referring to the brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain with the support of Saudi military forces.