Fire and smoke in Cairo
Photo: AP
Protests rage on
Photo: AP
The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brothers movement and one of the world's most prominent Sunni clerics is urging Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave Egypt.
"He doesn't live in our world. He doesn't feel the anger and hunger of this people," al- Qaradawi charged. "He's detached from reality. Mubarak must give up his position and leave Egypt. There is no other solution, except for Mubarak's departure."
In an extraordinarily belligerent speech on al-Jazeera Saturday, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said history was currently being made in Egypt, calling on the president to leave the country at once.
US Pressure
AP and Roee Nahmias
US president says he asked beleaguered Egyptian leader to take concrete steps to deliver on pledges of better democracy; earlier, Mubarak asks government to resign after at least 20 people die in nationwide riots
The Muslim Brothers' spiritual leader hinted that Egypt is on the verge of revolution, saying that "nobody can stop history from being made."
Addressing the president directly, al-Qaradawi made his demands clear: "Go away, Mubarak, leave this people alone! Enough, you've ruled for 30 years already! Dozens have been killed in one day. You cannot stay, Mubarak!"
"On behalf of hundreds of thousands of religious clerics in Egypt and in the Muslim world I'm calling on you to leave your country," he said.
The leading cleric, who fled Egypt in the past and currently lives in Qatar, not far from al-Jazeera's offices, called on Mubarak to follow in the Tunisian president's footsteps and leave honorably.
"Let's hope that you will be tried before a court for the oppression," he said. "Get up, leave Egypt, and let the people decide."
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