Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Tuesday, December 27, 2011 0:13 am TWN, By Aya Batrawy, AP



	A group of Lebanese leftist activists stage a sit-in in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 26, to denounce violence against protesters by the Egyptian military. (AP) More Photos (2)

Sponsors
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!

Egypt releases prominent blogger from detention

CAIRO--A prominent Egyptian blogger accused of attacking soldiers during deadly clashes was released after nearly two months in detention, during which he became a symbol of the pro-democracy activists' struggle to end military rule in Egypt.

Alaa Abdel-Fattah's first stop after he was freed on Sunday was Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February. The square continues to be the focus of the campaign against the military, which took power after Mubarak's ouster.

Abdel-Fattah was accused of inciting violence and other offenses during clashes that killed 27 people Oct. 9, but he was never formally charged. He was arrested Oct. 30.

The arrest raised tensions between the activists who engineered Mubarak's ouster and the generals led by Hussein Tantawi, the deposed leader's defense minister for some 20 years.

Relations have since steadily worsened, hitting a new low this month when soldiers brutally beat and stomped on protesters, including women, in Cairo clashes that left at least 18 people dead and dozens wounded. Clashes between protesters and security forces have killed more than 100 people since Mubarak's ouster.

“We need to end military rule,” Abdel-Fattah said, moments after his release outside Cairo's police headquarters. “We cannot just celebrate my innocence. We know from the beginning I am not the one who killed people. We have not gone after the real criminals who killed people,” he said in remarks carried on Al-Jazeera TV.

A small crowd of supporters behind him chanted, “The people want the fall of the Field Marshal,” referring to Tantawi.

On Sunday evening, hundreds of people demonstrated against the military while waiting at Cairo International Airport to greet a protester, dentist Ahmed Harara, who was arriving from Paris. He flew there for medical treatment to try to save his vision. The treatment failed, according to activists.

1|2|Next Page>>