Shoot to kill protesters: ex-Egypt Mufti to police, army

CAIRO (AA) - Former Egyptian grand mufti Ali Gomaa told top police and army officials that they were sanctioned to kill opponents, a video leaked online has shown.

"Shoot to kill. Don't ever sacrifice your troops or soldiers for these Khawarij [dissenters who don't abide by Islamic strictures]," Gomaa told a host of top generals, including Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim.

The video contained no indication of when Gomaa made the statements, but the six-minute video was apparently captured shortly after the clearing of Cairo's Al-Fath Mosque by security forces, which came three days after the bloody August 14 dispersal of two sit-ins in Cairo set up by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

"Blessed are those who killed them or were killed [while fighting them]," he adds in the video. "We need to purge our city and country of this scum."

"When I saw the images of Al-Fath Mosque yesterday, the rubbish and panic they were in, as if God imposed that on them," he said, apparently in reference to pro-Morsi protesters holed up in the mosque following deadly clashes with police.

"Don't you fear for the religion [Islam], because the religion is with you and God is with you," the ex-mufti told the top brass.

It was not the first time Gomaa has stirred controversy by providing religious cover for killing opponents of Morsi's July 3 ouster by the military.

Last month, local media had reported that Gomaa, during a meeting with riot police, had said that pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators should be killed.

He later said he had not been referring to any specific faction, but had rather called for the killing of "anyone who takes up arms against the state with the aim of harming security and stability."

It's permissible to kill whoever takes up arms with the intention of killing an on-duty policeman or soldier, Gomaa added.

englishnews@aa.com.tr