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US postpones award to honour Egyptian woman activist in light of anti-US, anti-Semitic tweets

By: Bradley Klapper, The Associated Press

Thursday, Mar. 7, 2013 at 2:20 PM | Comments: 0

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is postponing an award for an Egyptian activist who rallied worldwide attention against forced "virginity tests" on female protesters because of anti-American and anti-Semitic comments discovered on her Twitter account.

The State Department announced earlier this week that Samira Ibrahim would be among 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage award presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday.

But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday the U.S. would hold off on awarding Ibrahim while officials investigate the tweets, which include support for attacks against U.S. diplomatic installations and praise for a terrorist assault against Israeli citizens in Bulgaria.

Ibrahim, who has already arrived in the U.S, says her account was hacked, though the comments stretch back several months.

After five Israelis were killed in a bus explosion in July, she welcomed the "good news." In other posts, she declared Saudi Arabia's royal family "dirtier than Jews" and attributed all crimes against society to Jews and referenced Adolf Hitler. She also voiced support for the attacks against U.S. embassies and consulates on the Sept. 11 anniversary.

"We, as a department, became aware very late in the process about Samira Ibrahim's alleged public comments," Nuland told reporters. "In conversations with us in the last 24 hours, Ms. Ibrahim has categorically denied authorship. She asserts that she was hacked. But we need some time, and in order to be prudent, to conduct our own review.

The tweets were first reported by the conservative publication The Weekly Standard.

Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican, urged the State Department to investigate and said other women were more deserving of the honour.

In a letter to Kerry, Kirk said Ibrahim used her Twitter account to "express anti-Semitic views and support for international terrorism" and called her hacking claim "dubious" given the timing and duration of the tweets.

Ibrahim was among seven women subjected to forced "virginity tests" after being detained during a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square in March 2011. She helped bring worldwide attention to the tests, which prompted the military to forbid the practice last year.

"Not only did she speak out about that, but she also became a real leader in her country in trying to address gender-based violence and other human rights abuses," Nuland said. "So it was on that basis that she was initially selected."

The State Department said Ibrahim also was arrested in high school "for writing a paper that criticized Arab leaders' insincere support of the Palestinian cause." She is a co-ordinator of the Know Your Rights movement, which seeks to raise political awareness and advocate women's rights in Upper Egypt.

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Associated Press writer Maggie Michael in Cairo contributed to this report.

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