Safwat Hegazi (sometimes written Safwat Hijazi; ar, صفوت حجازى, ; born 11 April 1963) is an Egyptian

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

and television preacher who is on the list of "Individuals banned from the UK for stirring up hatred". A supporter of

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 2013 Egyptian revolution The 30 June protests occurred in Egypt on 30 June 2013, marking the one-year anniversary of Mohamed Morsi's inauguration as president. The events ended with the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état after mass protests across Egypt demanding the immediat ...

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Safwat Hegazy is a graduate of the Faculty of Agriculture,

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. Hegazy was investigated in Egypt in 2006 for issuing a

fatwā A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

calling for the death of visiting Israeli officials. He later withdrew the fatwa. Safwat Hegazy has had several court cases brought against him for allegedly insulting women who do not wear the "niqab" full face cover for women; one court case was dropped when he and his lawyers settled out of court. In January 2009, on an Al-Nas TV show hosted by himself, responding to criticism from

Yigal Carmon Yigal Carmon ( Hebrew יגאל כרמון) (born 1946) is the president and cofounder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an organization which monitors and translates Arabic and Persian publications; radio and TV broadcasts; and ...

, Higazi declared: “I am an anti-Semite, I hate Zionism ... If not for the Arab rulers, we would devour Jews with our teeth.” In 2009, he declared in a television interview that

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ont ...

and the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

were not religions but were "man-made schools of thought". He said Baháʼís were a current danger and fought alongside Zionists in 1948. The government of the United Kingdom declared in 2009 that he is considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by glorifying terrorist violence. In an address that aired ''Al-Nas TV'' on July 11, 2010, Safwat advised parents that "our children sit in front of the computer and the playstation, and play games that will never lead them to wage Jihad." In 2012, Safwat launched MB candidate

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012United States of the Arabs" or "

Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

" with

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

as its capital, and urged listeners to "awake Jews from their slumber" and chanted that they would march as martyrs toward Jerusalem. During the June 2013 protests against Morsi, Hegazy threatened opposition protesters saying “whoever sprays Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood.” After Morsi was removed from office by the military coup, prosecutors ordered Safwat's arrest on 10 July 2013. On 14 July 2013, Egypt's military-appointed prosecutor general

Hisham Barakat Hisham Muhammad Zaki Barakat ( ''Hišām Muḥammad Zakī Barakāt''; 21 November 1950 – 29 June 2015) was Prosecutor General of Egypt from 2013 to 2015. During his term as state prosecutor, he was responsible for thousands of controversial pro ...

ordered his assets to be frozen. He was arrested on 21 August 2013. On 14 September 2013, Hegazy was acquitted on charges of "inciting violence" at the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassa ...

headquarters on 30 June 2013. Cairo Criminal Court on 7 December 2013 refused to return a verdict and recused itself in another case involving Hegazy and

Mohamed Beltagy Mohamed Elbeltagy ( ar, محمد البلتاجي; born 1963) is an Egyptian physician and Muslim Brotherhood politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2010, and is currently the general secretary of the Freedom and Justice Party. B ...

citing "embarrassment" as a reason for its decision.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hegazi, Safwat 1963 births Egyptian imams Egyptian Islamists Living people

Career and views

See also

References