Muslim clerics on Egyptian TV suggest killing, rape
CAIRO - One hardline Muslim cleric on an Egyptian TV station justified sexual assaults on women protesters. Others issued religious edicts saying opposition leaders must be killed. Television screeds by ultraconservative sheiks are raising fears of assassinations here a day after a top anti-Islamist politician was gunned down in Tunisia.
Egyptian officials on Thursday beefed up security around the homes of Egypt's main opposition politicians, citing the possibility of a Tunisia-type killing.
Two well-known ultraconservative clerics sparked an uproar with their edicts several days ago saying sharia, or Islamic law, required the killing of opposition figures.
A third fanned the flames by justifying a string of sexual assaults on women protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
"They are going there to get raped," cleric Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah said, depicting them as loose women.
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