Thursday, September 28, 2017

A00815 - Mohammed Akef, Muslim Brotherhood Leader


Mohammed Mahdi Akef, Muslim Brotherhood Leader, Dies at 89

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS




Mohammed Mahdi Akef in 2009.Tarek Mostafa/Reuters

Mohammed Mahdi Akef, a former leader of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood who had been detained since 2013, died on Friday in Cairo. He was 89.
Talaat Fahmy, a Brotherhood spokesman, said the cause was complications of cancer and other health issues. He said that Mr. Akef’s family had requested that he be released from custody because of his health, but that the request was declined by an Egyptian court.
Mr. Akef, who headed the Muslim Brotherhood from 2004 to 2010, was among hundreds of members arrested after the Egyptian military’s 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Brotherhood.
Mr. Akef was initially convicted on charges of inciting violence and disturbing general security and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict was overturned on appeal, and he was facing a retrial.
The Muslim Brotherhood rose to power in elections after the 2011 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. But the military toppled the group after widespread protests against it.
Mr. Akef, a physical education teacher, was born in 1928 and joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1940. He was later part of its armed wing, known as the Special Apparatus, which carried out a series of assassinations and attacks in response to the British occupation of Egypt.
The group was accused of a failed assassination attempt against President Gamal Abdel Nasser, setting the stage for a heavy crackdown. Mr. Akef was imprisoned from 1954 until 1974.


Mohammed Mahdi Akef at a news conference in Cairo in December 2005.Mike Nelson/European Pressphoto Agency

After his release, Nasser’s successor, Anwar el-Sadat, embraced the Muslim Brotherhood and Mr. Akef was appointed to a government post.
As relations between Egyptian leaders and the Brotherhood fluctuated, Mr. Akef rose through the group’s ranks, eventually ascending to its top post in 2004. A year later, the Brotherhood participated in the country’s parliamentary elections, winning 20 percent of the seats.
After Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, the group won all of Egypt’s elections, parliamentary and presidential, giving it a rare moment of triumph that quickly ended when Mr. Morsi was forced out of office.
Survivors include a daughter, Alia.

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Mohammed Mahdi Akef (Arabic: محمد مهدى عاكف) (July 12, 1928 – September 22, 2017) was the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamic political movement, from 2004 until 2010. He assumed the post, that of "general guide" (Arabic: المرشد العام) (frequently translated as "chairman") upon the death of his predecessor, Ma'mun al-Hudaybi. Akef was arrested on 4 July 2013.[2] On 14 July 2013 Egypt's new prosecutor general Hisham Barakatordered his assets to be frozen.[3]

Early life[edit]

Akef was born in 1928 in Kafr Awad Al Seneita –Aga - Dakahliya Province, in the north of Egypt. The year of his birth was the year the Muslim Brotherhood Movement was founded.[citation needed]
Akef obtained his Primary Certificate of Education at Al Mansoura Primary School, and obtained his Secondary Certificate of Education at Cairo- Fuad 1st Secondary School. He then joined the Higher Institute of Physical Education and graduated in May 1950, after which he worked as a teacher at Fuad 1st Secondary School.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

He first became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1940, which was then led by Hassan al Banna.[citation needed]
Akef joined the Faculty of Law and assumed responsibility for the Brotherhood's training camps at Ibrahim University (present-day Ain Shams University).[4] This was during the struggle against the British occupation in the Canal preceding the 1952 Revolution, after which he left responsibility to Kamaleddin Hussein, then National Guard Chief.[citation needed]
The last Sections he headed in the Muslim Brotherhood before 1954 were both the Students Section and the PE Section at the Groups HQ.[citation needed]
He was arrested on 1 August 1954 and stood trial on charges including smuggling Major General Abdul Munem Abderraoof (one of the Army chiefs who spearheaded the ouster and expulsion of King Farouq), and was sentenced to death in absentia before the ruling was commuted to life imprisonment.[citation needed]
Akef was released in 1974 and was reappointed General Manager of Youth – a department affiliated to the Ministry of Reconstruction.[citation needed]
He then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work as an advisor for the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and was in charge of its camps and conferences. He took part in organizing the biggest camps for the Muslim youth on the world arena; in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia, Mali, Kenya, Cyprus, Germany, Britain and America.
He assumed the position of Director of Islamic Centre in Munich.[citation needed]
He has been a member of the Steering Bureau (Guidance Bureau) of the Muslim Brotherhood, since 1987.[citation needed]
He was elected Member of Parliament in 1987 for the East Cairo electoral constituency.[citation needed]
In 1996, he was court-martialed, charged with being head of the Muslim Brotherhood International Organization, and was sentenced to three years. He was released in 1999.[citation needed]
In 2005, he denounced what he called "the myth of the Holocaust" in defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, and accused the United States of attacking anyone who raised questions about the Holocaust.[5]
On October 19, 2009 Egyptian newspapers reported that Akef had resigned as the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood after a dispute among various leaders in the group.[6] However the following day reports on the Muslim Brotherhood website stated that Akef had not resigned and would continue to serve as the group's general guide until elections in January 2010.[7]

Personal life[edit]

Akef's health deteriorated while he was imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities after the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, his daughter affirmed that he was isolated in the prison hospital and was only allowed a visit once a week, despite his old age and poor health.[8]

Death[edit]

He died on 22 September 2017 at the age of 89.[9][10]
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Mohammed Mahdi Akef (Arabic: محمد مهدى عاكف) (b. July 12, 1928, Kafr Awad Al Seneita, Dakahliya Province, Egypt – d. September 22, 2017, Cairo, Egypt) was the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamic political movement, from 2004 until 2010. He assumed the post, that of "general guide" (Arabic: المرشد العام - frequently translated as "chairman") upon the death of his predecessor, Ma'mun al-Hudaybi. Akef was arrested on July 4, 2013. On July 14, 2013 Egypt's new prosecutor general Hisham Barakat ordered his assets to be frozen.
Akef was born in 1928 in Kafr Awad Al Seneita in Dakahliya Province, in the north of Egypt. The year of his birth was the year the Muslim Brotherhood Movement was founded.
Akef obtained his Primary Certificate of Education at Al Mansoura Primary School, and obtained his Secondary Certificate of Education at Cairo- Fuad 1st Secondary School. He then joined the Higher Institute of Physical Education and graduated in May 1950, after which he worked as a teacher at Fuad 1st Secondary School.
Akef first became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1940, which was then led by Hassan al Banna.
Akef joined the Faculty of Law and assumed responsibility for the Brotherhood's training camps at Ibrahim University (present-day Ain Shams University).  This was during the struggle against the British occupation in the Canal preceding the 1952 Revolution, after which he left responsibility to Kamaleddin Hussein, then National Guard Chief.
The last Sections Akef headed in the Muslim Brotherhood before 1954 were the Students Section and the PE Section at the Groups Headquarters.
Akef was arrested on August 1, 1954 and stood trial on charges including smuggling Major General Abdul Munem Abderraoof (one of the Army chiefs who spearheaded the ouster and expulsion of King Farouq), and was sentenced to death in absentia before the ruling was commuted to life imprisonment.
Akef was released in 1974 and was reappointed General Manager of Youth – a department affiliated to the Ministry of Reconstruction.
Akef then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to work as an advisor for the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and was in charge of its camps and conferences. He took part in organizing the biggest camps for the Muslim youth on the world arena; in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Australia, Mali, Kenya, Cyprus, Germany, Britain and America.
Beginning in 1987, Akef was a member of the Steering Bureau (Guidance Bureau) of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Akef was elected Member of Parliament in 1987 for the East Cairo electoral constituency.
In 1996, Akef was court-martialed, charged with being head of the Muslim Brotherhood International Organization, and was sentenced to three years. He was released in 1999.
In 2005, he denounced what he called "the myth of the Holocaust" in defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, and accused the United States of attacking anyone who raised questions about the Holocaust. 
On October 19, 2009, Egyptian newspapers reported that Akef had resigned as the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood after a dispute among various leaders in the group. However the following day reports on the Muslim Brotherhood website stated that Akef had not resigned and would continue to serve as the group's general guide until elections in January 2010.
Akef's health deteriorated while he was imprisoned by the Egyptian authorities after the 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat, his daughter affirmed that he was isolated in the prison hospital and was only allowed a visit once a week, despite his old age and poor health.
He died on September 22, 2017 at the age of 89.



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Friday, September 22, 2017

A00814 - Brenda Lewis, Soprano Opera and Broadway Singer

Brenda Lewis, Versatile American Soprano, Is Dead at 96

By MARGALIT FOX
Ms. Lewis in a 1967 telecast in the title role of “Lizzie Borden” by Jack Beeson.NET Opera, via Photofest
Brenda Lewis, an American soprano whose mastery of a vast range of vocal styles carried her to the world’s foremost opera houses and the Broadway stage, died on Saturday at her home in Westport, Conn. She was 96.
Her son Michael Asen confirmed her death.
Ms. Lewis, who sang for a decade with the Metropolitan Opera and for two decades with the New York City Opera, was known for interpreting the music of living American composers.
She originated two signal roles in contemporary opera: the alcoholic Birdie Hubbard in “Regina,” Marc Blitzstein’s adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s drama “The Little Foxes,” and the title role in “Lizzie Borden,” by Jack Beeson.
At the Met, Ms. Lewis sang in 38 regular performances from 1952 to 1965.
At City Opera, where she appeared from 1945 onward, she sang parts including Santuzza in Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and the title roles in Bizet’s “Carmen” and Richard Strauss’s “Salome.”
Her Broadway credits include “The Girl in Pink Tights” (1954), by Jerome Chodorov, Joseph Fields and Leo Robin to the music of Sigmund Romberg, and “Cafe Crown” (1964), opposite Theodore Bikel and Sam Levene.
Ms. Lewis’s diverse career was made possible partly because she was able to learn a new role in a matter of days. Although she did not begin to take voice lessons until she was in college, she proved so adept that she made her professional debut less than two years later.
But for all her success in the opera house, Ms. Lewis said, it was musical theater she loved best.
“Broadway is what I really bide my time for,” she told The New York Times in 1953. “I love acting just as much as I do singing.”
Ms. Lewis around 1947 in the title role of Richard Strauss’s “Salome.”
It was on Broadway that she first played Birdie Hubbard, and, as Ms. Lewis liked to say, the role was foreordained: She was originally named Birdie.
The daughter of Jules and Lena Solomon, Birdie Solomon was born in Harrisburg, Pa., on March 2, 1921. (Her given name was the English equivalent of the Hebrew name Tziporah.) Her father was a scrap-metal dealer, her mother a homemaker.
Raised in Sunbury, Pa., she embarked on premedical studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she also sang in the glee club.
But before completing her studies, she took up a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. There, she embarked on serious vocal study for the first time, studying with Marion Freschl, who over the years also taught Marian Anderson and Shirley Verrett.
In 1941, while still at Curtis, she landed her first major professional role, with the Philadelphia Opera. Under the stage name Brenda Lewis, she sang the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier.”
She had seen her first grand opera — by coincidence, “Der Rosenkavalier,” with the German soprano Lotte Lehmann as the Marschallin — only two years before.
Reviewing the debut, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “The comely Miss Lewis didn’t look old enough to have to worry about lost youth,” for which the Marschallin pines in her aria “Da Geht Er Hin.”
“However,” the review continued, “her singing more nearly encompassed the role’s requirements.”
Ms. Lewis made her debut with the City Center Opera Company, as the New York City Opera was then known, in April 1945, as Santuzza.
Among her most lauded later roles with the company was Salome. Reviewing Ms. Lewis in the part in The Times in 1947, Howard Taubman wrote:
“She sang the music so well that you forgot it was difficult, and she acted Salome so believably that singing and action merged into a characterization that had passion and even a touch of pity.”
Ms. Lewis opened in “Regina” at the 46th Street Theater in October 1949. Though the show ran on Broadway for only 56 performances, her portrayal of Birdie, the sister-in-law of the title character, was widely praised.
Reviewing the production in The Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote, “Brenda Lewis’s pathetically tippling Birdie is a masterpiece of acting and singing.”
“Regina” went on to be staged with great success by many opera companies, notably City Opera. First appearing in that company’s production in 1953, Ms. Lewis — now portraying the title character, the grasping Regina Giddens — drew wide acclaim.
Before joining the Met, Ms. Lewis was a member of its national touring company, singing Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” eight times a week.
She made her Metropolitan Opera House debut in 1952 as Musetta in La Bohème. She went on to sing Rosalinde, Carmen, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” the title role in Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa,” Marie in Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” and other parts there.
In 1965, Ms. Lewis returned to City Opera to sing Lizzie Borden in the world premiere of Mr. Beeson’s work. The production was broadcast nationally on PBS in 1967.
Brenda Lewis in an undated photograph. She sang for a decade with the Metropolitan Opera and for two decades with the New York City Opera.Opera News Archives
She sang as a guest artist with the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Vienna Volksoper, the Zurich Opera and other companies.
Ms. Lewis was a longtime resident of Westport, Conn. After retiring from the stage, she taught at the Hartt School, the conservatory of the University of Hartford. She also produced and directed productions of the New Haven Opera Theater.
Ms. Lewis’s first marriage, to Simon Asen, a violist and conductor, ended in divorce. Her second husband, Benjamin Cooper, an electronics engineer and manufacturer, died in 1991.
Her survivors include two sons, Leo Asen and Michael Asen, from her first marriage; a daughter, Edith Cooper, from her second marriage; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Her recordings include “Regina,” in which she sings the title role, and “Lizzie Borden.”
In an interview with Opera News in 1999, Ms. Lewis recalled her Met debut, an occasion so auspicious that for the first time in her career she chose — briefly — to take the stage wearing her contact lenses.
“I didn’t want to just walk into something,” she explained, though it was a decision she soon came to regret.
“At the end of the first act, I realized I couldn’t stand it,” Ms. Lewis continued. “I was petrified when I walked out there and saw that hall — and those lights, and that orchestra, and that son of a bitch with the baton! I knew I could not get through the rest of the night with my contacts in.”
She removed them the moment she came offstage and never wore them in performance again.
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