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Cairo Cool to Tehran's Clinch

[Asia Times-Hong Kong] Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani - Egypt appears adamant in its refusal to reestablish diplomatic relations with Iran - frozen for almost 30 years. Predictions of looming Egypt-Iran rapprochement were dashed with the appearance in July of an Iranian documentary film that portrayed the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat as a "traitor" for signing the 1979 Camp David peace agreement with Israel. The film, entitled "Execution of a Pharaoh," praised Khaled al-Islambouli, who assassinated Sadat two years later, as "a martyr." Mohammed al-Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of Egypt's al-Azhar religious establishment, which represents the highest religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, issued a statement in which he accused the producers of the film of committing "the most heinous of crimes," while stressing Sadat's status as martyr.
2008-09-18 01:00:00
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