Egypt summons Qatari, Bosnian diplomats over pro-Morsi stances

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned Tuesday the charge d'affaires of Qatar over the Gulf state's supportive stance toward Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi, official news agency MENA reported, adding the ministry will soon summon a Bosnian diplomat over similar matters. Egypt has summoned Qatari diplomats twice in a month. On Jan. 4, Egypt summoned the Qatari ambassador to complain about Doha's statement criticizing its security crackdown on pro-Morsi protesters. At a press conference Tuesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Badr Abdel-Atty demanded Qatar extradite wanted Egyptian Islamists sheltering in the country. Abdel-Atty cited some anti-government statements by these Islamists and criticized anti-Egypt reports by media outlets based in Qatar, mostly notably pan-Arab Al Jazeera TV, whose Cairo office was shut down by Egyptian authorities. Similarly, Egypt will summon the charge d'affaires of Bosnia to protest a hand gesture made by an official showing support for Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, according to MENA. The report quoted Abdel-Atty as rejecting the four-finger gesture made by Bosnian Presidential Council member Bakir Izetbegovic, which is known as a sign of support for Morsi. The gesture refers to a sit-in camp at Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo held by Morsi's loyalists opposing his ouster. The camp was dispersed by force in mid-August 2013, which left about 1,000 dead and thousands arrested. Raising four fingers has become a silent slogan for Morsi's supporters, who see his removal in July as "a military coup" despite the nationwide protests that demanded his resignation. Egypt has recently expelled Turkish ambassador from Cairo and summoned Iranian charge d'affaires over similar pro-Morsi stances.