Egypt opposition leaders meet with prominent Salafist preacher

Mohamed Hassan, leading member of Egypt's Salafist Call, meets with leaders of National Salvation Front on Thursday in hopes of achieving degree of national reconciliation Leading members of the National Salvation Front (NSF) opposition umbrella group on Thursday met with prominent Salafist preacher Mohamed Hassan to discuss recent domestic political developments. The meeting was held at Hassan's private residence in Cairo. According to reports, NSF members presented Hassan – a leading member of Egypt's influential Salafist Call movement – with a written copy of their demands, including the amendment of certain articles of Egypt's newly-approved constitution. NSF members want the proposed amendments to be debated and passed by the incoming House of Representatives (the lower house of Egypt's parliament, formerly known as the People's Assembly) following upcoming parliamentary polls. Hassan, who is spearheading an initiative aimed at national reconciliation, reportedly promised to deliver the NSF's list of demands to President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hails. The meeting, which lasted for three hours, was attended by Egyptian Conference Party head Amr Moussa; Wafd Party head El-Sayed El-Badawi; and Egyptian Popular Current founder Hamdeen Sabbahi. Prominent Islamist figures to attend the meeting included Salafist Call vice-chairman Sheikh Said Abdel-Azim; Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya MP Gamal El-Markaby; and Mohamed Youssef Ibrahim, secretary-general of the Islamic Legitimate Body of Rights and Reformation. Constitution Party founder and NSF co-founder Mohamed ElBaradei, for his part, did not attend Thursday's meeting, according to Constitution Party spokesman Khaled Dawood. From Ahramonline