Egypt candidate Suleiman warns of religious state

[April 12, 2012]  CAIRO (AP) -- Hosni Mubarak's former vice president says he is running for president to prevent Islamists from turning Egypt into a "religious state."

Omar Suleiman, who was also Mubarak's long-serving intelligence chief, says the decision by the Muslim Brotherhood to field a presidential candidate"horrified" Egyptians. The Brotherhood, which has emerged as Egypt's most powerful political bloc after last year's uprising, reversed an earlier decision not to field a candidate.

In comments published on Thursday in the weekly El-Fagr newspaper, Suleiman warned that the Brotherhood would control all state institutions if it wins the presidency. The group already dominates parliament.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.

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CAIRO (AP) -- In an April 11 story on a court decision regarding the U.S. citizenship of the mother of an Islamist presidential candidate, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the court had ruled his late mother did not have American citizenship. The court ordered the Interior Ministry to provide the candidate, Hazem Abu Ismail, with evidence showing whether his mother was officially documented in Egypt as having dual U.S. -Egyptian citizenship.

[Associated Press]

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