Egypt wraps up first round of post-Mubarak poll

No pity

Conditions in the Hague detention centre are fine he told the court, but “If I had been asked, I would have bought a ticket and got on a plane to The Hague myself.”

“I was arrested under French shelling, about 50 French tanks surrounded my residence, helicopters dropped bombs… I saw my Minister of the Interior killed in front of me. I saw my son arrested and beaten.” In an apparent admission that he was still in control of Ivory Coast’s regular armed forces at the time, Gbagbo then said, “We were handed over to the forces of Outtara – who were not the regular forces of the country, because the regular forces were with me.”

He went on to describe the conditions of his imprisonment, saying he couldn’t see the sun from his cell and that he wasn’t permitted to take a walk, but insisted he was not asking for the court’s pity.

He complained that a snap trial hearing had been arranged last week at which he was handed an arrest warrant.

“Then they told me I was being taken to Abidjan… they didn’t even have the courage to tell me I was being taken to The Hague. I’m telling you this so that this won’t happen again. It’s a good thing not to play hide and seek.”

The court’s upper public gallery was packed with Gbagbo supporter who made their presence felt forcefully, loudly singing the Ivory Coast national anthem as the hearing drew to a close. Security guards who usually keep a tight grip on any noise in the gallery were powerless to stop the spontaneous outpouring of support.

Egypt wraps up first round of post-Mubarak poll

Egypt on Tuesday wrapped up the opening round of the first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's fall, with Islamists winning a landslide victory at the expense of weakened and divided liberals.

Turnout was low for the final day of run-off elections between individual candidates standing for the new parliament, which is to be chosen in a further two stages over coming months.

In voting last week for the new parties to be represented in the assembly, Islamist parties led by the influential Muslim Brotherhood as well as a new hardline Salafi movement picked up 65 percent of ballots cast.

The prospect of an Islamist-dominated parliament raises fears among liberals about religious freedom in a country with the Middle East's largest Christian minority, civil liberties and women's rights.

Liberal presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei accused the Islamists of relying too heavily on slogans which he said would soon become apparent if they gained power.

"Let them govern and have their chance. People will realise that slogans are not enough," ElBaradei said in an interview published on Tuesday by the independent newspaper Al-Shuruq.

He also stepped up his criticism of the military rulers who took power after the toppling of Mubarak in February, accusing them of mishandling the process of ushering in democracy in the Arab world's most populous nation.

"We live today in a fascist system with military tribunals and emergency law, and if there is another round of the revolution it will be full of anger and violence," he warned.

"The situation is going from bad to worse after the failure of the military council in managing the transition process," said ElBaradei, adding that young Egyptians were "completely despondent because nothing has changed."

The army rulers have chosen a highly complex election process to elect a new upper and lower parliament as well as a president that will end only in June next year under the current timetable.

The first of the three rounds of voting to choose the lower house of parliament has revealed various problems in a country with a long history of electoral abuse during the Mubarak era.

On Monday, after a confusing delay of several days in releasing results, the election commission dramatically revised down the turnout level from a "record" 62 percent announced last week to 52 percent.

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