A military funeral has been held for Egypt’s former vice president and the country’s long-time spy chief Omar Suleiman amid fierce condemnation from Egyptian activists, Press TV reports.
The funeral took place on Saturday in the capital city of Cairo while President Mohamed Morsi did not attend the ceremony and many Egyptian activists denounced it because they consider Suleiman a remnant of the ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
“The Americans are saying that he [Suleiman] was their ally. So how can we honor him with a military funeral?” said one Egyptian to Press TV correspondent.
The official, as the key pillar of Mubarak’s authoritarian regime and holder of many dark secrets, was the Egypt’s longtime spy chief and a close US and Israel ally.
According to a report that appeared on AOL News website on February 4, 2011 Washington and its allies viewed Suleiman as a reliable fix-it man in some of the Middle East’s most sensitive disputes.
The report said that Suleiman mediated Arab-Israeli talks and even aided the CIA when it needed a hand in interrogating so-called terror suspects.
Several days before Mubarak’s ouster, Suleiman was appointed vice president in January 2011 when the revolution gained momentum. He was directly involved in the killing of protesters.
Before the May poll in the African state, Suleiman had officially registered as one of the presidential hopefuls in the country’s first-ever freely contested presidential elections.
His move caused extreme outrage and frustration among many Egyptians who were calling for the prosecution of Mubarak’s vice president as many believe that he played a key role in killing peaceful protesters and exporting gas to Israel way below market prices.
The Supreme Presidential Election Commission barred former intelligence chief Suleiman from the May elections.
Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday at a hospital in the United States where he was undergoing medical tests at the age of 76.
Presstv
