Fustat

Yosri Fouda's comeback on Akher kalam

2011-11-14T11:00:00.004+02:00

Yosri Fouda made his first show in 3 weeks on his regular show Akher kalam yesterday evening. The guests are the same that was supposed to be on the last show that was taken of screen hours before it was supposed to be aired live on ONTV, the show was going to be about the interview with two SCAF members on the Maspero massacare among other things, that interview was an in depth show co-aired by Dream 2 and al Tahrir hosted by Mona al Shazly and Ibrahim Eissa.

The original Akher Kalam show was to have two guests, Ibrahim Eissa and Alaa al Aswany, do to pressure the show was canceled , and Yosri Fouda took a stand on media freedom , promise not to return to the show before things got better. Anything but the same guests on this comeback show would have been unthinkable. and that's exactly what happened.

A very warm welcome back to Yosri Fouda! Enjoy the show!

Bokra

2011-11-12T20:43:00.003+02:00

Bokra feels like an atempt of doing another al helm al 3arabi , with mainstream artists like Kazem al Saher, Saber al Rabeieh and Tamer Hosny , but also more artists with an activist perspective like Rim Banna and Souad Massi.

2011 has seen a new genre emerge , revolution songs , this is not one of them, but it still tries to capitalize on that trend , but in the end one could hope that tommorow will bring a much better future. The voice and the mindset of the people throughout the Arab World has , and will change even further. That is the great gain of 2011 , the year of the Arab Revolutions.

The Maspero Massacre - What Really Happend

2011-11-12T00:53:00.005+02:00

Over a month has passed since that Sunday, and i still can't look at the pictures from the Coptic Hospital or see the scenes with the APG's running over people without getting the exact same feeling of anger, disbelief, and hate.

The aftermath has not helped in curbing that feeling, on the contrary. The way it's been handled is nothing but a disgrace and it will change the way ordinary Egyptians look upon the 20 men that leads the country at this point in time. History will judge them harshly and the events at Maspero will be just as vividly known and remembered as Dinshaway is 105 years after the incident.

In support of and solidarity with Alaa

2011-10-31T17:21:00.006+02:00

I want to express my full support and solidarity with Alaa Abd al Fattah , whom recieved a 15-day detaiment by the Military Prosecution at C28. Civilians should not be tried in military courts, full stop. The Maspero incident as such should definitely not be under the jurisdiction of any military court, while the military was an active part http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn the incident. This case symbolizes everything that is wrong with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, they have done a lousy job of convincing the people that they are the custodians of the #Jan25 revolution. They are the single largest stumbling block on the road to a free society , a road that was paved with the blood of the 865 + martyrs whom payed the ultimate prize. I don't have an answer to the question of what should replace the SCAF , i only know that something is terribly wrong in the state of Egypt , and it's a four letter word #SCAF

My thoughts goes to Alaa, Manal and their family.

Please read Sarah Carr's brilliant piece.

Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman , Nobel Peace Laurete 2011

2011-10-07T12:12:00.008+02:00

The Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman is one of three Nobel Peace Prize lauretes this year, the other two being Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Liberian Women's rights and peace activist Leymah Gbowe.

The Jury's motivation was:

for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.

Tawakul Karman's reaction upon recieving the Nobel Peace Prize:

She dedicates the prize to the youth an women of the Yemeni and the Arab Revolution, and the peaceful way of these revolution. She celebrates at Change Square in Sanaa.

In my view, the fact that tawakul Karman recieved the prestigious award is a recognition of the crucial part played by women, not only in Yemen , but also in general in the uprisings during the "Arab Spring" This is as much a prize for Nawarra Negm, Esra Abdel Fattah , Mona Seif , Gigi Ibrahim, Lina Ben Mehenni to name but a few. It's also a tribute to the reclaiming of peoples power and an active citizenry in the Arab World as a whole.

I'm immensely proud and happy for Tawakul Karman and the Yemeni revolution whose struggle for freedom continues.

Above is a profile on Tawakul Karman from al Jazeera English series People & Power, Yemen: A tale of two protests from March 16th 2011. Another blogger's view on the matter for those knowing German from Hannes Alpen and Cristoph Sydow can be found here.

أنت الصوت

2011-09-29T13:59:00.005+02:00

This song is written and performed by emerging Tunisian artists Yasser Jrad, Badiaa Bouhrizi, Bender Man, If Lemhaf, Ben Nawel Kraiem Bizerta and Armada to create awareness for the upcoming Tunisian Constituent Assembly election now schedueled for Oct 23rd, postponed from the original date, July 24th. Of course music played a part in the Yasmine revolution that started in Mid-December 2010, in the small rural town of Sidi Bouzid , and whose first part concluded by the departure of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

More on the song can be found here.

Ladies at the MubarakTrial gives me the laugh of the week

2011-09-08T16:07:00.005+02:00

This interview with three ladies that can' t be described as anything but hardcore Mubarakfans (probably a great understatement) at the Police Academy during the fourth court session of the Mubarak trial yesterday really made my day. It's a must see. Comedy at it's best.

Thanks to AJ Misr Mubasher for providing us with this interview that iluminates and enlighten us on what actually took place at Abdel Moneim Riad Square during the January 25th revolution... I would love to be the manager of these three ladies and go on a world tour, i'm convinced they would be an instant success, in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon , Israel and Kafr al Meselha among other places...

Free Maikel Nabil - No to military trials for civilians

2011-09-01T13:05:00.003+02:00

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Maikel Nabil was the first prisoner of conscience in the post-Mubarak era. He was arrested on March 28, and tried and convicted in a military court that's not up to par with international standards. Maikel Nabil was given a three-year prison sentence , for publicly insulting the Army on April 8th.

He´s been on hungerstrike for the last nine days.

Since February 11, more than 7000 civilians has been tried in Military trials.

More on Maikel's case in an urgent action campaign from Amnesty International and CPJ.

A very late Eid greeting

2011-09-01T09:30:00.005+02:00

This is a very late Eid greeting to the Fustat readers with this beutiful song from the ever so lovely Reem Banna.

A special thought goes to the families of the at least 846 martyrs of the Jan25 revolution in Egypt, the first Eid without their loved one.

Ramadan Kareem with compliments from SCAF

2011-08-01T18:02:00.004+02:00

I think the footage says it all...

Footage taken by @Kikhote

Free Zeid Hamdan

2011-07-27T16:25:00.007+02:00

Update:
According to Zeid's facebook page, he's been released, lets hope that turns out to be correct, and that is the end of the story. Mabrouk! The message:

"I am free now , thank u for your help !"

According to the gifted lebanese alternative musician Zeid Hamdan's facebook account, he´s currently held at the police station of the Palace of Justice in Beirut. The reason being the song "General Suleiman" about Lebanon´s President.

This was Hamdan's status update on Facebook.

“Message from Zeid in prison: Dear friends, I am now in the prishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifon of the police station of the palace of justice in Beirut because of my song "General Soleiman". They are prosecuting me for defammation of President Soleiman. I dont know, until when I am staying in prishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifon. Please mobilize,” http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

There is a facebook page in support of hamdan's release.

More on Hamdan's arrest. Some more info can be found here.

Angie Nassar's interview with Hamdan in September about the song that apparantly caused the commotion can be found here.

A bit more on Zeid Hamdan here.

My favourite, and Zeid's tribute to the Arab revolutions is Eskat al Nizam

He has also worked with Egyptian singer maryam Saleh in the song Eslahat, and they performed together at the London "Shubbak festival" and in Rome earlier this month.

More on Hamdan's music here and here.

Six months since January 25th

2011-07-25T10:05:00.004+02:00

Six months ago today , the Egyptian Revolution began, this is my tribute to the brave men and women whom risked their lives for a better future for themselves and their country. First among them the 846 + martyrs who never came back. The heroes in this ongoing revolution is the Egyptian people.

Six months on, Ex-president Mubarak is gone , but the system is still in many ways intact. The best way to honour our martyrs is to keep pushing for justice, and the change of the system that kept the pride people of Egypt back for such a long time.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the ones whom was given their authority , by Mubarak, not the people , has proven to be just as bad as one could have expected , and Egypt has lost precious time and momentum , but in the long run i have no doubt that the Egyptian people will come out of this in the same way as they took charge of their own destiny on January 25th. Egypt is changing, and has a bright future.

Fangary speech

2011-07-12T12:51:00.004+02:00

Mohsen al Fangary has been my favourite "love to hate" personality in the post-Mubarak era, but today,s speech, if that's what you want to call it.. (It was more like a barking dog, telling the nation, von oben what the SCAF had in mind.

The SCAF communication skills leaves much to ask for , and the tone in which they chose to convey their message this time should come as surprise to no one.

It has been clear from the time of Field Marshal Tantawi's so called speech at the graduation cermony of the new police officers that he dosent have a clue about whttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhat the revolution was all about, or that he dosent care. If that is the case for all on SCAF is perhaps premature to judge, at least i can't.

I had very low expectations on SCAF from the outset, and nothing during the five months since has changed my opinion. The sooner they leave, the better. If roumers on Firgany becoming the new Interior Minister turns true , nothing will be better. The focus on PM Sharaf and what he can do or not is misplaced. The power is in the hands of SCAF , and their priorities is not the same, and has never been the same as the Jan25 revolution. They want to change as little as possible, while claiming to be the ones safeguarding the revolution and it´s goals.

It's really ironic that the same man captured saluting the 847 martyrs of the revolution in one of it's most iconic moments is the same man barking to the nation today.

UPDATE:

This is the brilliant brazilian cartoonist @CarlosLatuff's take on the relationship between Fangary and the Jan25ers.

A little bit more on the cartoonist can be found here.

يا شعب مصر

2011-04-27T12:14:00.003+02:00

Tamim al Barghouti's يا شعب مصر on the January 25th revolution.

Three months and two days have passed since that historic day and the 18 days until February 11 will always be treusured in all our hearts, just as the 846 martyrs who payed the ultimate price for freedom. This post is dedicated to them and their families.

I Did it My Way

2011-02-18T00:07:00.003+02:00

Hosni has left the building

2011-02-13T19:16:00.004+02:00

In a country were the last leader who left office while still breathing, rather than six feet under, was Egypt´s first President Muhammed Naguib in 1954, the clip above is truly of a highly symbolic as well as historic nature. It shows the painting of ex-president Hosni Mubarak being taken down from the wall of the room where the Government convenes.

It manifests the principal gain of the January 25th revolution so far, and one cannot help but wonder whom is next in line to be put inside the frame?

I have a suggestion to make, i would like to replace the painting with a digital photo frame, equal in size, were the photos would switch for every meeting and every martyr of the January 25th revolution would have a photo with his/her name and age as a reminder for the government as a whole that they are supposed to serve the Egyptian people, rather than every whim of it´s President.

Our weapon was our dreams

2011-02-12T12:47:00.005+02:00

This post is dedicated to the 300 + martyrs whom lost their lives sharing the dream of freedom.

we always say, you didn't die in vain, but thruth is it's always in vain for the ones who'd lost their lives, and their loved ones. You will never be forgotten though, and hopefully Egyptians, including your loved ones will gain a better life.

Special thanks to @Lastoadri

Midan al Tahrir the Heart of the January 25th Revolution

2011-02-11T21:08:00.003+02:00

This clip is taken just after it became known that President Mubarak stepped down.

18 days and 32 seconds

2011-02-11T19:18:00.003+02:00

18 days ago this started with a demonstration, i had very little hope for a success for that particular it's been an emotional rolercoaster ever since, with what happend in Hajj al Arbaeen in Suez and then on the 28th, this day that was dedicated to the 300 + martyrs. i would like to send a thought and a piece of my heart to all the families who have lost a brother, sister, daughter or son during these 18 days, and also to all those who lost someone due to police brutality and torture during the 29 years , 8 months and 3 days of Mubaraks rule, and perhaps more than anyone my thoughts goes to Khaled Said and his encredible mother, It's seems that a day dedicated to the martyes is also a perfect day for Mubaraks departure, and the beginning of a new dawn for Egypt.

The 18 days was ended by a speech held by Omar Suleiman, it all lasted for 32 seconds, and this is probably the last we will see of both of them. The army is in charge, but i will worry about that, beginning tommorow.

Today is day of joy and celebration, it's also a day that will go down in history books as the day when The January 25th revolution bear fruit, it's been the most fullfiling days of my life , and i'm happy beyond compare.

I will end this post with a video of the crowd at al Tahrir singing the national anthem, the Egyptian people now not only has a great history, but hopefully a bright future, all made possible by the their courage.

Mission not accomplished , yet...

2011-02-10T18:20:00.008+02:00

Just over an hour and a half ago, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a statement:

Statement Number One, issued by the Higher Council of the Armed Forces,

Stemming from the armed forces' responsibility and committing to the protection of the people, safeguarding their interest and security, and keen on the safety of the homeland, the citizens and the achievements of the great Egyptian people, and asserting the legitimate rights of the people,

The Higher Council of the Armed Forces convened today, Thursday, 10 February 2011, to deliberate on the latest developments of the situation and decided to remain in continuous session to discuss what measures and arrangements could be taken to safeguard the homeland and its achievements, and the aspirations of the great Egyptian people.

Peace, mercy and the blessings of God.

It seems to me that what has been more or less clear for the last week or so, that President Mubarak that has been in power only by name, for the last week or so will take on a more permanent arrangement. Significant in the statement was the fact that this was Statement No 1, meaning more statements can be expected - To my ears this means an active role for the Supreme Council of Armed Forces , if it´s to play a part in the political proccess that will follow , regardless of Mubarak´s imediate plans, is still written in the stars. Significant is also that Defence Minister Tantawy was among the Council, He´s been the Defence Minister for 20 years, and has been extremely loyal to Mubarak until now, The comments by the new NDP Secretary General Hossam Badrawy, once close to Gamal Mubarak, that the right thing to do for President Mubarak suggests that the new leadership of the party has decided that it´s not longer in their interests to support the President. If Hosni Mubarak, Vice-President Omar Suleiman, or the army will be in charge tommorow morning is still an open question, as is if the January 25th movement´s demands will be met, in full as stated, or only in part.

The speech that is said to be forthcoming in the next hours, will perhaps answer some of those questions, though not all. That´s why the mission is not likely to be accomplished for the people on al Tahrir Square , and around the country, perhaps a victory is around the corner, but the battle is not won yet.

What seems sure, is that Mubarak is out, but that´s the only sure thing..

So Eighties

2011-02-04T01:40:00.006+02:00

One of my favourite photos from around the world expressing their solidarity with the Egyptian people during these fantastic 17 days is this from Pretoria in South Africa.

Democracy activist Mona Seif interviewed on AJE at al Tahrir

2011-02-03T07:15:00.009+02:00

Listen to Mona Seif speaking to al Jazeera english at al Tahrir Square.

If people where not convinced after the speech , yesterday´s show of complete defience of the world community and total disregard for the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people by the regime, by now it would seem abundantly clear that Mubaraks talk of more democracy, is just that - talk to numb the world community, and the egyptian people alike, threating with chaos, a chaos created by nobody else than the regime itself when it withdrew police forces, in what seems to be a cynical calculation to be able to say that it´s either the regime or chaos.

We are entering day 10 of what started as a manifestation, and now is a struggle for Egypt´s future against the Egypt of yesterday, 59 years of military rule, and the emergency law in place since June 1967 until today, with the exception of 16 months from April 1980-October 1981.

This last 10 days has seen the brave Egyptian people all over the country rise in dignity calling for change , In Suez, Alexandria, Cairo, Mahalla and Aswan as well asamong other cities voices for change has been heard, but the answer of the regime has been the iron fist - At least 150 dead and posssibly up to 300 according to the UN High Commisioner for Human Rights, Pillay, added to that is 4-5 people who´d died , and the around 800 injured in the regime orchestrated violence that is ongoing since Yesterday afternoon in Central Cairo around the al Tahrir Square.

The question now , less than 36 hours after the largest demonstrations in the country´s modern history, is if the new Egypt or the Egypt of old will prevail, it´s a question of continued authoritarian rule , or a chance for democracy. In order for that to happen the axtivists need all the support they can get to keep the Tahrir Square a liberated space, so the demonstration can take place tomorrow , the consequences if that fails is nothing short of going back to the Egypt of old , regardless of President Mubarak and his government´s empty promises, hollow words and flowery language.

The comments of White House Press Secretary during Yesterday´s press briefing was probably more to the point , than intended.

MR. GIBBS: The administration believes that President Mubarak has a chance to show the world exactly who he is by beginning this transition that is so desperately needed in his country and for his people now.

The answer to Mr Gibbs and the world is already made, What we saw today is what Prresident Mubarak and his regime stands for, and they will try to cling to power no matter what they say in statements and speeches, using whatever means necessary.

Kefaya - Enough

2011-02-01T17:51:00.008+02:00

This is perhaps the youngest protester at al Tahrir Square today,taking part in the largest political protest ever being held in Egypt and giving the same message to President Mubarak as Kefaya had at their first demonstration on December 12th 2004. This is the full circle for the call for democracy in Egypt, and kiddo, you and 1-2 Million Egyptians are making history and making me so proud. This is made for your generation, and you will be able to say that you were there.

The photo is taken by Nick Kristof.

ZABA en route from Tunis

2011-01-21T11:29:00.004+02:00

This clip really made my morning!

Ben Ali on the phone to world leaders during his flight from Tunis.

No Christmas without Fairouz

2010-12-24T12:02:00.008+02:00

There is no better way to get into the right Christmas spirit than to listen to Fairouz, actually no Christmas is complete without Fairouz and this is my favourite, Talj Talj.

I like to wish those of my readers that celebrate on the 24th and 25th December a Merry One with family and loved ones, a special thought goes to the refugees and migrants around the globe,being detached from their loved ones, the Baby Jesus being the ultmate refugee, soon after his birth, leaving his native country for Egypt.

Enjoy the song!

Flight MS 717 bound for Alex

2010-12-10T13:12:00.007+02:00

Having read an article a few days ago on the rather serious topic of Egypt,s future...and upbeat assesment on the qualitative rise of Egypt Air as well as reading this ranking on the worst airlines in the world, with Egypt Air making the list led me in some strange way to think of the clip above, that brought back nostalgic memories of a not too distant past, when listening to the Egypt Air inflight information system announcments, one would be lucky if being able to decipher the essence of the message while piecing together words from the presentation in three different languages, all announced with the speed and sound equivalent to machine gun fire.

It's time for me to make this blog fly again I,m leaving you in the safe hands of Captain Herradi, enjoy!

Eid Mubarak, Habby Eid!

2010-11-16T03:38:00.008+02:00

Wishing all readers Eid Mubarak and a very nice holliday, special greetings to @Travellerw whom is on his (i believe) first Hajj!

This blog will resume regular activity shortly.

The photo above is taken during Hajj 1953 and is part of a fantastic set on JustQuran.com.

Another great hajj photo from this year can be found here

Life Magazine has one spectacular photo here and a variation on the usual lamb photo here

BBC Arabic and BBC news is also worthwhile your time with two beautiful sets on the hajj as well.

As always, The Big Picture provides a great set as well, enjoy, and go easy on the food!

A double Espresso

2010-09-24T19:09:00.008+03:00

This Alexandrian establishment, the Brazilian Coffee store has been providing the people of Alexandria with the best coffee money can buy since 1929, when inaugerated by the Greek Ambassador to Cairo.

This photo is from their new coffee shop, that played a small part on the morning of two of my best friend´s wedding day on this very day a few years ago. This is my way of wishing them a happy anniversary.

The photo, courtesy of Travel Aficionado, It´s part of a really interesting flickr set of photos on Egypt.

Livestream from Abdeen Oraby 2010 Demonstration

2010-09-21T17:24:00.008+03:00

You can watch the livestream of today's twin demonstrations in Cairo(Abdeen Palace, hence the name Oraby) and Alexandria(al Rasafa Sq)against hereditary rule (tawrith)here.

There seems to be a massive security operation, with arreests of activists, and the roads leading to the area surounding Abdeen is blocked. Only about 200 took part in the Abdeen demonstration according to this Reuters wire, quite a normal figure by Cairo standards, especially when the Muslim Brotherhood is a non show, But lately in contrast to the ordinary demonstrations, is the silent stands against torture and police abuse, that begun Spontaneously after the brutal killing of the 28 year-old Alexandrian Khaled Said by the hands of Alexandria police on June 6th. These silent stands are orgaized through a facebook group, started by an unknown person.

According to @Hishamkassem Gamela Ismail and a journalist has been detained/alternatively encircled by and Jack Shenker of the Guardian had a scuffle with the police. There seems to have been arrests of 6 April youth. According to Front for the Defence of Egypt Protesters there's been 40 activists surrounded by security forces, even before they got to the demonstration venue at Abdeen. In Alexandria, 9 activists have been detained.

This post is very poor on information, due to technical proplems with the twitter virus, but updates will be forthcomming.

Journalists targeted

As many times before, journalists was among those targeted, or rather their equipement, apart from the two cases mentioned above, an al Jazeera cameraman seems to have been detained and Jano Charbel who writes for al Masry al Youm English was stopped by police, whom tried to confiscate his camera, meanwhile al Jazeera arabic was broadcasting the event live.

UPDATE: Jano Charbel is out after being detained.

Shana Tova, Eid Mubarak, and Happy Neyrouz

2010-09-10T01:48:00.008+03:00

Once again we´re all celebrating together, the Jewish New Year, the Muslim Eid al Fitr, and the Coptic New Year, like one big happy family.

I would like to take the opportunity, Firstly to wish Hari Raya Idul Fitri to someone special and then to wish each and every one of my friends and readers that are celebrating, a happy holliday. It´s year 5571 in the Jewish calender and it will be 1727 in the Coptic one.

This bollywood style video clip below is my special Eid greeting to Mr Terry Jones of Gainesville Florida, i´ve heard you got a last minute cancelation for an event on Saturday, why don´t you and your congregation practice the moves in the clip on the church lawn instead, i´ll promise that you havent had so much fun since you did the night fever in the late seventies.

With this blog post i would also like to announce my return to blogging after my longest break since the start of this blog in spring of 2005. Regular posting will begin after i´ve eaten my first 5 Kg of Kahk..

GeekFest Cairo

2010-05-29T15:02:00.006+03:00

The GeekFest Cairo is definitely the place to be at tonight, i´m not a techiegeek in any way(geekie in other ways though) but topics and speakers tonight is all inspirational and should be well worth your while. It´s held at the Sawy Culture Wheel from 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. tonight, Meaning it´s just about to start (Sorry for the short notice...)

Speakers schedule

• Ziad Aly | AlZwad
http://www.alzwad.com/
@ZiadAly
INSPIRATIONAL SPEECH

• Naeema Zarif | Creative Commons
www.naeemazarif.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/naeemazarif/
@Naeema
What is Creative Commons

• Muhammad Mansour
http://www.triplem.host.sk/
@TripleM
Social Media for social change or WHATEVER ...

• Mohamed Gaber
http://www.gaberism.net/
@Gue3bara
Visual Political Agitation

• Ahmed Kelesh
Stand-up Comedy - The Real Deal

• Maggie Osama
http://magieosama.blogspot.com/
@MaggieOsama
#CairoTraffic

• Tarek Amr
http://notgr33ndata.blogspot.com/
@gr33ndata
Lessons Learned from a Failed Startup

• Ahmed El Lozy
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2924774
Utilizing technology in short film production

• Abderahman Ghareeb
http://www.slashproc.net/
@BooDy
Open Source disscussion

• Nader Al Saeed
http://www.naderelsaeed.co.cc/
@viper13666
Creative Multimedia

• Noha Atef
@NohaAtef
New Media vs. Traditional Journalism

• Mahmoud Saber
http://mahmoudsaber.com/
@Aoudd
Fat7enha Forga

• Mennatallah Hossam
http://devilicious-pink.deviantart.com/
Photography slide-show

• Hashem L Kelesh
http://myspace.com/hashimation
Don't Dare and Talk to ::: DIJIT :::
Geeky DJ

• Hazem Khaled from Wasmmedia
http://wasmmedia.com/
Foras9.com start up demo

• Alaa Abd El Fattah
http://www.manalaa.net/
@Alaa
Human Languages

For more information: GeekFest Cairo Facebook page , or the @GeekFestCairo on Twitter.

Case against Seif, Eid and Gharbeia postponed until June 26th

2010-05-22T08:45:00.006+03:00

The first session of the Court case No 8260/2009 held at the Khalifah misdemeanors Court against the leading human right defenders Ahmed Seif (Hisham Mubarak Law Center), Gamal Eid (Arab Network for Human Rights Information and prominent blogger Amr Gharbeia was held today.

The case was postponed until June 26th.

More later.

Live broadcast: from European Parlaiment on Egyptian Human Rights

2010-05-10T15:51:00.005+03:00

The Subcommittee on Human Rights(DROI)of the European Parliament is holding a public hearing on EU Neighbourhood Policy followed by the presentation of the Commission progress reports on Egypt and Ukraine and ending with the launching/presentation of the annual EU Human Rights Report of the world. The whole session is schedueled from 15:00-18:30 Central European Time (16:00-19:30) Cairo Time. All this will be broadcasted live and you can watch it here.

The progress reports on Egypt and Ukraine is schedueled to start from 16:30 Cairo Time.

If you have problems viewing the event , you could try pasting this link to your own prefered media player. This only works during the live broadcast. The session is beyond scheduele, so the part on Egypt has yet to start.

If possible i will try to post it here later, for those unable to watch it live.

Free Alaa! - Update Alaa released

2010-04-19T13:51:00.010+02:00

UPDATE: Alaa has been released and is on his way home.

One is always very ambivalent about this,one is of course happy, but also extremely frustrated, it shouldn´t be happening in the first place... Welcome home Alaa!

Epilogue

This is Alaa´s own words on what happend at Cairo airport, hopefully the end of the story.

Original post - Free Alaa!

Alaa Seif of manalaa.net , blogger extraordinaire and one of the kindest people around in the blogosphere has been detained at cairo Airport, upon arrival from his current home in South Africa.

"Blogger Alaa seif was detained at the airport, & is being transferred to a police station, on charges of evading a sentence over a bad check" (Sandmonkey)

The latest is that he´s still being held at the airport, and not yet transfered to a police station.

Alaa tweeted upon arrival at Cairo Airport and you can follow those tweets, and hopefully he´s tweeting upon release... here

Of course this is not the first time for Alaa to have to deal with this nonsense, the banner used in this blog post, is recycled, it was first used in a campaign to release Alaa and a group of 47 other activists in the early summer of 2006, then he was released after 45 days in Tora prison.

Alaa & Manal and many other bloggers and Human Rights organizations was involved in a marathon case feauturing judge Abdel Fattah Mourad,were the judge tried to block 50 websites after he had been caught with plaugerism of one of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) publications. A case that was more kafkaesque than any other case involving bloggers, perhaps apart from Kareem´s four year prison sentence, and ANHRI opens up for the possibility that this current case might be related to that in some way. If that´s the case i´m not the least surprised.

Here´s an old profile on Youth for Change in the form of an interview with Alaa and Manal.

Free Alaa!

Pic of the weekend

2010-04-11T04:59:00.003+02:00

ElBaradei supporters in Kuwait.

Sudanese refugees in Egypt

2010-04-10T19:29:00.005+02:00

This is the BBC Arabic TV Open Agenda - اجندة مفتوحة on Sudanese refugees in Egypt It´s also available online, and can be found here.

I would like to point you in the direction of the world´s two most important Human Rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights, both of them have issued documents on the same issue. Human Rights has put out a statement and has an URGENT ACTION on two Sudanese refugees in Egypt that risks a forcible return to Sudan on April 12th - Mohamed Adam Abdallah and Ishaq Fadl Dafallah are both from the Zaghawa ethnic community in Darfur (Sudan), and were recognized as refugees by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, in Egypt in 2009 because they would face persecution in Sudan if forcibly returned to that country.

They were arrested on August 4th 2009 in the town of Sheikh Zuwayid, close to Egypt’s border with Israel, where they said they had gone to provide assistance to Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers. On April 6th 2010 Mohamed Adam Abdallah were transfered from Cairo to Aswan police station from where he is expected to be forcibly returned to Sudan by ship on 12 April.

Ishaq Fadl Dafallah is currently at Cairo’s Khalifa Police Station, which is used as a deportation centre, and is also expected to be moved soon to Aswan for forcible return to Sudan on 12 April.

Please participate in any way you can to try to stop this. share the information as widely as possible.

You could also read my blog post about migrants in Egypt

I´m sorry for the cut and paste style, i write this in a hurry, mostly because i think it´s very important, so once again bare with me this time.

And yes there´s both presidential and parliamentary elections in Sudan , but it´s for three days, so i might get back to that topic.

The last 31 detainees of 6 April protesters ordered released

2010-04-07T11:06:00.009+02:00

After almost two hours of somewhat conflicting messages, it now seems that they are administrating the relase of all 31 detainees.

About an hour ago, the prosecutor ordered the release of the remaining 31 detainees in Cairo.

The names of those released now, would be the same as on this list.

During the last 24 hours 106 protesters in Cairo were detained, and then releassed.

What i think should be required reading for anyone interested is the testimonies that was given yesterday at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. What strikes me more than anything else, was how easily the security forces used violence against women protesting. This is of course not a new feature, but the casualness/routine of it might be. What is definitely a new occurence is the female officers used, if they were as easily commited to the use of force/violence as their male colleagues, then the stakes for female protestors might be higher in the future.

I will try to post later, until now it has been a case of trying to follow events, and i have a bit of catching up to do before i will be able to process my thoughts into something readable. For now , one is just happy for those who are now free to go home to their loved ones. I also would like to extend my greetings on such a great job to the unsung heroes that worked so hard to make their release possible, the lawyers and all the people and human rights organisations involved in the Front to Defend Egypt Protestors.

More migrants seek refuge in Egypt

2010-03-01T01:50:00.011+02:00

Perhaps the most important refugee ever to have entered Egypt, seeking shelter from Roman oppression was the child Jesus and his family. The four-year old little girl who died in the early hours on December 30th 2005 at the Mustafa Mahmoud Square in front of the UN headquarters was not as lucky, she was among 20 people killed in a stampede when state security tried to storm the camp that was set up by Sudanese migrants staging a sit-in three months earlier protesting UNCHR policy. If the infant Jesus and his parents would have seeked shelter today,chances are that he wouldn´t have been allowed to enter Egypt.

There are about 42 000 refugees living in Egypt, whom are registered with UNHCR(2008)in Cairo, the majority being from Sudan (54 per cent), a quarter from Iraq (24 per cent), 13 per cent from Somalia, refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia also form significant numbers, which are growning. The number of people living in Egypt, but not registered with the UNCHR are believied to be much higher, for example the Iraqis living in Egypt currently are estimated to be at least 17 000. Egypt was one of the major destinations for Iraqis at the hight of the sectarian violence in Iraq 2004-05, and according to Egyptian entry data there would be somewhere between 100 000 and 150 000. Much tougher visa restrictions put in place in late 2006 have minimized the number of Iraqis opting for Egypt. Some may have moved on, trying to secure entry to the EU, some have returned, but most likely, a large number of those entering Egypt in 2004-05 are still residing in Egypt, without official refugee status. That is most likely the case with the other refugee groups as well.

Dalia Malek points out the protection gap facing those entering Egypt illegally, obstructing or denying them access to UNCHR, among other things. Showing another side of the plentiful problems that refugees can face in Egypt.

One of the things that has bothered me the most in the last couple of years is how reckless our border guards are with their guns, with a policy that seems to be shoot first, and ask later, especially when it comes to migrants/refugees trying to cross the border to Israel. I´m not going to dwell on the subject much further at this point, but to stress the urgency of this pattern, the latest chapter in this tragic saga being the two killed last Sunday.

For those who wants further reading on this, the Human Rights watch report from November 2008, Sinai Perils provides a good start.

For those keen on knowing more about the situation for Iraqi refugees living in Egypt, a topic also raised in the Al Jazeera-English clip above, could start at the Iraqis in Egypt site.

In June 2009, the first Cairo Refugee film festival was held, you can find the website here.

Kal-ElBaradei

2010-02-24T20:59:00.008+02:00

So Egypt has finally got it´s very own contemporary political suphero, Kal-ElBaradei.

I have a great deal to say, but at this point i will be more than happy to give the floor to the one and only, Baheyya, with her unique voice, in her latest blog post, called the wildcard. I´m hoping that this latest development can persuade her to blog more frequently , once again.

Five years ago this month, when Hosni Mubarak made his big announcement about direct, multicandidate presidential elections, he couldn’t have dreamed that five years down the line, he’d face a most unexpected challenger. Someone who is everything that Mubarak and his son aren’t: internationally respected, intellectually nimble, and domestically popular.

Who knows whether ElBaradei has a real chance at the presidency? What’s clear is that his return to Egypt has completely flummoxed Mubarak and his retinue. Up to now, they’ve dealt handily with all the domestic politicians and pressure groups who’ve opposed their rule, ridiculing some, imprisoning others, co-opting still others, and simply exhausting whoever’s left. Along comes ElBaradei, with an energetic mien and an organized plan. His international standing ensure that he can’t be repressed or ridiculed. He’s made it crystal clear that he won’t be co-opted. And the incredible surge of popular enthusiasm that’s enveloped him makes it unlikely that he’ll get tired and retreat.

To continue reading Baheyya.

I´m indebted for this photo, to another great blogger, Moftasa.

Ismaouny - Warda and a football match

2010-01-28T21:07:00.004+02:00

Trying to find the right mood for the semifinal match in the African Cup of Nations by listening to the ultimate Algerian-Egyptian music i know, Warda!

Ever since the back to back matches in November deciding whom of the two North African giants who could book their tickets to the South African party of parties next summer, i´ve had a very hard time to enjoy one of my life long passions, football. What was played out, outside of the pitch made me totally sick and tired of the game i have loved since the age of nine.

Of course i have followed the results, but not really being that commited, i will watch the game, beginning within minutes, rather reluctantly, but hopefully it will be a good game, regardless of outcome. Where the spirit of sportmanship, that i once learned on the pitch can be one that prevails.

The two countries have so much in common, the best being Warda, and she is worth listing too.

Wael Abbas on BBC´s Hardtalk

2010-01-13T14:28:00.005+02:00

The Egyptan blogger Wael Abbas was interviewed by Zeinab Badawi on BBC´s flagship show Hardtalk , for those who wants to see the full 23 minutes interview, it can be found here.

Blogger Kareem Amer´s final appeal rejected by court

2009-12-22T16:23:00.009+02:00

Today, another chapter has been added to the never ending story about the blogger Abd al Karim Nabil Soliman, or Kareem Amer as he´s better known, a story that reminds us of how Kafkaesque the Egyptian court and prison system can be at times.

Kareem´s final appeal was rejected by the Cairo misdemeanor cassation court earlier today. The blogger was sentenced to four years imprisonment for insulting Islam (three years) and insulting the President of the republic(one year)on February 22nd 2007, but his ordeal began much earlier on October 26th 2005.

More later.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

2009-11-25T13:43:00.009+02:00

Today is the U.N International Day for the Elimination of violence against Women. Held annualy since 1981 in commemoration of the murder of the three Mirabel sisters in the Dominican Republic in 1960, on orders of Dictator Rafael Trujillo.

There will be a seminar/festival held by the Cairo Institute for Human Right Studies and al Takaieba artistic & Cultural Development Center from 7 P.M, it´s free of charge and the address can be found here.

I will update this post during the night, but i will give you the excellent study by al Nadeem Center for the rehabilitation of victims of violence and torture, their work and contribution is invaluable. The study is called: Once again.. Women speak out, it´s a PDF.

Threatened Voices

2009-11-03T16:36:00.006+02:00

One of the core issues on Fustat during it´s 50 something months has been Egyptian bloggers, their rights and violations against them. During the same period, Global Voices among many others has been a true friend of the Egyptian bloggers,taking over the torch from the Committee to Protect Bloggers if i remember correctly, in trying to track and provide help in form of a platform, being one of the hubs in fighting censorship, protect the written word online, and those bloggers/online journalists whom constitutes 45 per cent of all media workers in prison worldwide.

Those of you who follow my twitter account, might have noticed that my interest for free speech online, and bloggers rights is stretched around the globe, and not only to Egypt and the Arab World, so it will really be interesting to follow the new Global Voices advocacy project that is being launched today - Threatened Voices - described on it´s website as:

A collaborative mapping project to build a database of bloggers who have been threatened, arrested or killed for speaking out online and to draw attention to the campaigns to free them.

.

I´m looking forward to follow how this progress, and want to wish Sami Ben Gharbia and all at Global Voices involved in this ,as well as their network of partners the very best of luck!

This will be cross posted at Diwan of Democracy.

Egypt´s next President

2009-11-03T12:37:00.003+02:00

Al Jazeera English inside story from 2 November on Gamal Mubarak, the NDP and the future, A discussion with Maged Reda Boutros(really not my favourite, but the best gift the NDP could give the opposition in foreign media), Ikhwan´s Essam al Erian and Hany Amr from the Brookings Institute in Doha.

I got this via @Gemyhood http://twitter.com/GEMYHOoOD , Thanks!

Gamal Mubarak song

2009-08-13T14:00:00.005+03:00

As a teaser to my (possible) blog post about yesterday´s hyped Sharek event featuring Gamal and the future of Egypt,the young and bright, i´ll give you Mohsen el Sayad´s song in honuor of the reluctant politician, NDP hot shot, elequent speaker , patient listener and perhaps Egypt´s future leader - Enjoy!

Thanawiyya Amma

2009-07-17T14:37:00.004+03:00

This is for all those who´s just been through the thanawiyya Amma exams(final High School exams) and got their results. The year is finaly over!

This is the make or break exams that will in some way determine the future for all those hoping to study at the prefered faculties at universities(Hey a society does not only need medical doctors). The year, or as it has been for the last years, two years is a nerve-racking experience for all those involved, students, parents and family alike, when everything in the household is focused on how to help the student prepare in best possible way,including the obligatory private tutoring for those who can afford it(as those woo really can´t, but realizes that this is a necesity if they want their children to achieve the neccesary results), and if one fails, it´s like going to a funeral , when visiting. Of course the opposite happens if the student get the result expected, or a higher one, then the joy has no limits.

This year´s exam showed that girls fair better than boys generaly and that among the students with the best results in the country, there was 23 girls and 17 boys, if i´m not mistaken this has been the trend for a number of years, and i hope that this will show in the coming years within the work force in general, in board rooms of the private and government sector, and indeed that this majority can also reflect ministrial posts, women in elected office, as heads of universities and the diplomatic corps, some of this might be wishful thinking, but everything starts with a dream.

I´m also thrilled to see that the governate of Minya faired so well(No 2 in the country after Cairo), and my special congrats goes to Noha, who passed her exams with flying colours.

Bandung 1955, Sharm al Shaikh 2009

2009-07-15T13:38:00.007+03:00

On the opening day of the Non-aligned Movement´s conference in Sharm al Sheikh , i would like to present a photo that was taken 54 years ago in conjunction with the Bandung conference, the precursor to the Non-Aligned Movement. Held in Indonesia with the leaders from the free countries in Africa and Asia, it projected a vision of hope, modernity, and perhaps most of all, freedom for other nations still living under colonialism.

Today´s summit in Sharm al Sheikh projects nothing of that, it actually makes the G8 summit in the ruins of the earthquake shaken L'Aquila, Italy looking rather symbolic and projecting solidarity with the city, though that being exactly what Berlusconi wanted it to look like. The NAM-conference is just one more international photo op and a cash cow for the government, i would have loved the government to follow in Berlusconi´s footsteps for once, Duweiqa would have been the perfect venue, and the topic should have been one of tackling informal settlements/slums, poverty and job creation, and the widening gap between rthe haves and the have nots in the member states , in short, how to create a better life for the ones who needs it the most.

The movement that started out with high hopes and a vision of a better future, needs to find it´s focus and purpose again, right now it´s just a blur and a mess. The conference being held at a lovely though artificial venue will not change that.

Amnesty International Report on¨ Operation Cast Lead¨

2009-07-02T14:02:00.007+03:00

The leading Human Rights organization, Amnesty International launched an extensive 117 page report today, Operation 'Cast Lead': 22 days of death and destruction on the January war on Gaza.

In the report, Amnesty accuses both the Israeli Army and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups of war crimes.

The use of artillery shells carrying white phosphorous by the israeli army in densely populated areas, hindering paramedics and ambulances, including attacks on them, and the use of human shields by the israeli army, something the israeli authorities blames the Palestinian side of using is but a few examples of israeli actions during the 22 days of the operation.

Amnesty International found that the victims of the attacks it investigated were not caught in the crossfire during battles between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces, nor were they shielding militants or other military objects. Many were killed when their homes were bombed while they slept. Others were sitting in their yard or hanging the laundry on the roof. Children were struck while playing in their bedrooms or on the roof, or near their homes. Paramedics and ambulances were repeatedly attacked while attempting to rescue the wounded or recover the dead.

On the Palestinian side, the shelling of Qassams and Grads on the civilian population of southern Israel throughout the 22 days is a war crime , and the use of residential areas to fire rockets from, as well as storing them there, endangered Palestinian civilians.

According to Amnesty International 1400 Palestinians were killed during 22 days , from Dec 27th - Jan 18th, in the same period 13 Israelis were killed. Among those killed on the palestinian side were approximately 300 chilren, 115 women , 85 men over the age of 50 and 200 civilian men under the age of 50.

The figure are markedly higher than the figure given by the Israeli military,especially the death toll of civilians, were the military are claiming 1,166, of whom 295 were "uninvolved" civilians.

I have not yet read through the full report, that can be found here(PDF), this is based on a brief first look of the introduction and the press release, i will try to post more during the weekend, after reading through all of it.

Magdi Abdelhadi radio documentary on Mubarak´s Egypt

2009-06-30T14:51:00.005+03:00

BBC´s Arab Affairs analyst, Magdi Abdelhadi has made a two-part radio documentary on Mubarak´s Egypt, The first is about the institution that formed Mubarak, The military and it´s impact on Mubarak , as well as it´s importance and impact in Egyptian society, far beyond it´s traditional military role.

It can be found at the Arabist in full here.

The second part was to be broadcasted yesterday, and can be found here, it´s about Mubarak´s legacy and the future.

You will find it here.

Both are well worth your while, and the most striking comment comes at the end of part two, from former free-officer and minister under Nasser, Sarwat Okasha:

¨We didn´t think of governing the country, even some of the officers that participated in the revolution were not happy with what happend, because the should make elections for people¨

Magdi Abdelhadi question: But they say that the democracy seen in Egypt today was never seen before, that´s what President Mubarak says

Sarwat Okasha: ¨Yes that he says(laughter), but ask any man, he is going to lead this country to a system of royalty, because of the needs of his son, Papa i want to be like you(laugther), and everything is going this way¨

Magdi Abdelhadi question: If you knew that this is how things would develop, would you

Sarwat Okasha: ¨I would never, never participated, no.¨

It reminds me of a blog post i wrote back in 2006, named ¨we have had enough of corruption¨, the photo montage seen was a Time Magazine cover in September 1952, with an interview , with the then Prime minister, and later Egypt´s first President Muhammed Naguib.

Text of Obama´s Cairo speech

2009-06-04T14:21:00.003+03:00

Above is the much anticipated speech to ¨the Muslim World¨, below
is the speech in text as prepared by the White House, i don´t know if something was changed in it.

I will comment as soon as possible, wa salamu alaikum..

Egypts awaits Obama

2009-06-03T20:55:00.003+03:00

al Jazeera´s Amr Khakhy talks to people on the streets of Cairo the day before Obama arrives.

NPR speaks to Egyptian activists, one of them being 3arabawy.

BBC´s Justin Webb interview with Obama on eve of Cairo

2009-06-03T14:55:00.006+03:00

On the eve of Obama´s Keynote speech in Cairo ¨to the Muslim World¨ has given an interview to the BBC, anyone interested in the 16 mins interview conducted by Justin Webb can find it here, as well as the full transcript here.

Fares Barakat thrown from 4th floor when asking for search warrant

2009-05-25T14:47:00.005+03:00

At 7 P.M on May 17th, SSI officer Nagi al Gammal and asssistent Gamal el Taye'e was conducting an arrest on Ahmed Ali Hussin Eid in his apartment in Damanhour, Beheira, while the family was celebrating a birthday party for their daughter, together with friends.

One of the friends present, Fares Barakat asked for the search warrant, when he was pushed towards the balcony by SSI officer Nagi al Gammal, when resisting the assistent Gamal el Taye´e held him , and the officer ordered el Tayeé to "To throw this man from the balcony".

Fares Barakat fell from the fourth floor,unconscious and with these injuries:

Fracture of the right leg, hip and shoulder, three pelvic fractures, fracture nose, facial injuries, fracture of three vertebrae, blood accumulation in the stomach and around the liver, post concussion syndrome and difficulty breathing to upward pressure of abdominal blood collections.

In the photos , Fares Barakat is handcuffed while at the intensive care unit, reminding us of photos of hospitalized kids, in the wake of Mahalla al Kubra. He´s being treated like a criminal , while his requests for an investigation has been rejected by the Attorney General in Beheira. Unfortunately this is not the first time something like this occurs.

Sorry for the sloppy writing, but at times, the story is much more important , than the language.

In other news, blogger Diaá eddin Gad has been harassed by the State Security phoning him on numerous occasions , asking him to come see them, ¨for his own good¨

Prelude to Cairo speech

2009-05-22T11:21:00.005+03:00

On June the 4th, President Obama will hold a keynote speech in Cairo, adressing ¨the Muslim World¨, those who follows me on twitter might have noticed that i would prefer the al Azhar University , to be the venue for the speech. I might dwell on that in a blog post, in the coming week , but for now i only wish to share two different speeches, that was held at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies , UK and at the national arhives in Washington, the first by Great Britain´s Foreign Secretary David Miliband, the second by President Obama.

Miliband adresses the mistakes made over centuries from King Charles Street(The Foreign Office).

As British Foreign Secretary, it is my privilege to represent a country of extraordinary diversity and remarkable history. But it is as well to be clear about the prejudices that British history generates, not just in Muslim majority countries, but elsewhere too. Decisions taken many years ago in King Charles Street are still felt on the landscape of the Middle East and South Asia. Ruined Crusader castles remain as poignant monuments to the religious violence of the Middle Ages. Lines drawn on maps by Colonial powers were succeeded, amongst other things, by the failure – it has to be said not just ours - to establish two states in Palestine. More recently, the invasion of Iraq, and its aftermath, aroused a sense of bitterness, distrust and resentment. When people hear about Britain, too often they think of these things.

The most interesting part of Miliband´s speech in my view , is what he said about a two-state-sollution in Israel and Palestine:

The power to create peace in the Middle East is dispersed. It requires Fatah and Hamas to engage in transformational politics not violent conspiracies. It requires the new Israeli government to freeze settlements and accept a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. It requires the 22 states of the Arab league to be entrepreneurs for coexistence with Israel.

The full speech can be found here.

Barrack Obama´s Speech was not on the Muslim World as such, it was on National Security, but it can partly be seen as something that had to be addressed before coming to Cairo, in order to stay on track of what was one of his corner stone election promises, namely to close down Guantanamo, and also aknowledge that the creation of Guantamo, for purposes of making U.S.A safer , backfired , and in fact may have created more terrorists than it detained and also facilitated recruitment for al Qaida.

There is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority that is America's strongest currency in the world. Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against al Qaeda that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law. In fact, part of the rationale for establishing Guantanamo in the first place was the misplaced notion that a prison there would be beyond the law -- a proposition that the Supreme Court soundly rejected. Meanwhile, instead of serving as a tool to counter terrorism, Guantanamo became a symbol that helped al Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the existence of Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained.

So the record is clear: Rather than keeping us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security. It is a rallying cry for our enemies. It sets back the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries. By any measure, the costs of keeping it open far exceed the complications involved in closing it. That's why I argued that it should be closed throughout my campaign, and that is why I ordered it closed within one year.

The full text of the speech can be found here.

Both speeches are important reading, and should perhaps serve as a testement to those who doubt Obama´s and Miliband´s intentions when it comes to dealing with the Muslim and Arab World, both seem keen on both talking, and listening, and perhaps it´s not too much to ask, to at listen to what they have to say? Both of them and their governments will surely look out for national interests as their top priorities. Their work description is exactly that, but it seems to me that right now, that agenda goes hand in glove with much of the prioritized interests of both the Muslim and the Arab World. On one issue i have great doubts still, and that´s on human rights and democracy, during the first 110 days of administration, both Secreatary of Defence, Gates and Secretary of State, Clinton has visited the region, and left with statements that was, to put it mildly, vague on human rights, democracy and citizens and rather strong in support for the so called ¨moderate¨ leaders of the friendly states , Saudi, Jordan and Egypt. That worries me a great deal, i hope that the dialogue that both statesmen want to engage in with citizens and civil society in the neighbourhood is given priority, and proves not only to be empty words. Both Bush JR, and Condi Rice talked at length(Rice more eleqeuently than Bush), on democracy, human rights and so on, but their implementation on the ground never came close to the lofty words, not even prior to the tandem Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas election success.

Having said that, i will still listen with an open mind to what President Obama will have to say in Cairo, and i will keep listening, even if i will be dissapointed, because neither Obama´s or Milibands grows on threes, and they deserve the benefit of a doubt, much more than the average politician, they can´t walk on water, perhaps they can´t deliver a comprehensive peace(mostly because they have strange bedfollows as partners),but Obama can deliever on Guantamo and on leaving Iraq, and finally yes, who knows what can be achieved, the sky is not the limit , but if the limit is Jerusalem, negotiated peace within 1967 borders, and USA as a partner in multilateral politics, and not an administration,busy bullying those not agreeing with it until January 2013, then i can live with that.

Heavy metal kaman wa kaman

2009-04-21T00:45:00.009+02:00

On Augúst 14th 2006 i wrote a blog post that became one of my most read blog posts ever, called Reemerging heavy metal scene in Egypt .

I have been thinking about writing an update on the scene as it looks today, but today Arian Fariborz of the Deutsche Welle/Qantara beat me to it, Fariborz interview´s fellow blogger and friend, Hossam el-Hamalawy on the history and progress of the heavy metal scene to what it is today, here(Arabic) and here(German) - It´s still not available in English, but as soon as it is available , i will post the link. UPDATE: The link to the English language article Respectable Rebels can be found here.

another source about heavy metal in the Arab and Muslim World is Mark Levine´s Heavy Metal Islam, published last year. You could also look on his flickr account for images used in a campaign against metalheads in Egyptian media in 1997, when about a hundred people got arrested for listening to strange music and dress oddly, papers writing about kids worshipping Satan.

The headline is inspired by the fact that heavy metal finally seems to have become recognized as regular music, in terms of having venues to play at, as seen on the photo in the article , the Bibliotheca Alexandrina provided space for a festival,it´s also a testament to the fact that the genre stands stronger than ever after a tough time , and a strong come back, the fortunate choice of Bibliotheca Alexandrina as a venue is of course not always the case, rather the exception to the rule, but this is indeed a long way from secret venues, and an underground environment, though al Baron Palace is equally high class to Bibliotecha Alexandrina in my eyes, and i´m quite sure that al Baron Emplain himself is headbanging around in his grave just a few hundred meters away from the hindu inspired Palace.

The myths about the young satanists in 1997, is of course , just as many, as those of the creator of Heliopolis, Baron Empain, having won the land that Heliopolis was built upon in a card game with the Khedive is a myth, but it makes a good story, so did the ¨Satanistic metalheads¨ , but the kids paid a heavy price for that fantasy.

I´l leave you with a clip , that some of you will love, and most probably hate, it´s an instrumental version of an iconic song we all know, inta Oumri, but this time, with a whole different set of instruments than the traditional way we are used to hear it being performed. I give you the Palestinian-Israeli group from Acre, Khalas , with their interpretation of anta Oumri. For a better understanding of their take on the song and the incomparable Oum Kalthoum you might read this. Enjoy, or turn it off.

Wael Abbas and his mother attacked in their home

2009-04-09T14:28:00.015+02:00

Wael Abbas and his mother was just attacked in their home by a police major and his brother. The brother is a neighbour of Wael´s, and there seems to be a conflict between the two neighbour´s that´s behind this. the police officer broke into Wael´s home , and the blogger recieved minor teeth and head injuries.Wael´s mother is ok, and Wael went to the police station to file a complaint over what happend.

Update:

This is his own words and photos about yesterday´s events(arabic)and in english here

Update II:

Wael Abbas Court hearing

In a twist that feels Kafkesque, Wael Abbas is currently undergoing a court hearing were the two gentlemen that broke into his home and attacked Wael is accusing Wael for assaulting one of them, while the police officer claims not to have been there in the first place. They are demanding 10 000 E.P in compensation from Wael. In any other place this would be looked upon as bizare, but we all remember what happend to Imad al Kabir, who had to go to prison for three months for ¨resisting authorities and assaulting a police officer¨ A trade off was suggested by two senior police officers in conjunction with the arrest of Imad´s brother in November 2006, were the charges being raised against him might be dropped, if he in return dropped his complaint of being tortured at the Bulaq al Daqrour police station.

Imad al Kebir´s torturer released:

The stories of Wael Abbas and Imad al Kebir has been linked ever since Wael being one of those who published the video of Imad being tortured in the most brutal way. The very same day that Wael was being assaulted in his own home by a police officer(Wael´s version), we were also reminded by a Amnesty International press release of how police officers are treated with silk gloves by authorities, and apperantly also by the police force itself, though being convicted of torture, in this case, torturer in chief, Islam Nabih, whom not only being let out of prison a year early(for good behaviour), but according to news stories might be reinstated as a police officer in Asyut.

Police officers work description is to serve the people and implement law and order, they should not be above the law, and any officer convicted should be sacked and never again being allowed to work in any institutions of the state, instead impunity is the rule, and convictions of police officers comitting crimes is an exception to the same rule.

The sorry state that we are currently living under, reminds me of one of the famous qoutes of Shakespeare from Hamlet ¨there´s something rotten in the state of Denmark¨ only this is not Denmark(though i have arguments with the state of Denmark 2009 as well), this is unfortunately the state of Egypt today, once the craddle of civilization, Um ad Dunya, now and it pains my heart that mother Egypt has to endure these times. In a week´s time, we will celebrate Sham al Nessim, unfortunately the smell of something rotten will stay much longer than the feast of spring breeze, the smell of fesikh will leave us, but the rotten smell will linger on.

You can follow the developing story on twitter@Wael Abbas. UPDATE: To follow some of the traffic on twitter about this story, this might be a good place to start.

Today´s events had a happy ending, the two men accused of breaking in to Wael´s home was released on bail , while Wael seems to be free and not suspected of anything at the moment. The latest twitter uppdate read:

i'm free now and safe for the moment

Um Yousef stuck at Cairo Airport

2009-04-09T03:14:00.007+02:00

Laila el Haddad , Palestinian journalist and probably Gaza´s most famous blogger is currently being detained at Cairo Airport, and being denied entry into Egypt, in order to travel to her home in Gaza. Laila is being held together with her two small children Yousef and Noor. They traveled to Cairo from Durham North Carolina where Leila´s husband lives. A journey that is part of her and her family´s life, while her husband is a Palestinian who´s not allowed to live in Gaza, in order to live a life that contain dots of family life, she travels back and forth.

This time she is denied entry to Egypt, though she has obtained the necesary paper work from the Egyptian Consulate in the U.S prior to her traveling to Egypt. The reason why they are not allowed entry to Egypt , is because the Rafah border crossing is closed according to airport authourities.

We have been stuck in Cairo airport for nearly a day now. We are neither being allowed entry or exit by Egyptian authorities, who insist that as long as Rafah Crossing is closed, they are under strict orders not to allow Palestinians in.

Yes Rafah´s border crossing is closed, until Egypt decides to open it again, as they do haphazardly seldom, but why can´t the authorities grant them entry to Egypt? It´s not Egypt that is a closed zone, or have i missed something? What´s so unique and changed this time, it´s not the first time she travels through Egypt to Gaza via Rafah´s border crosssing, this is routine for her and her kids, though a dreadful and endlessly tireing one. The authorities should let her into Egypt, instead of treathening to send her and her children back to the U.S with the next plane, despite the small fact that her visa to the U.S already expired, being the reason of why she left for Cairo in the first place.

Laila, Having been held at the airport for approxmately 32 hours at this point, this seems to me as being a combination of something written by Kafka and the Terminal, only this is not fiction, it´s a mother and her two small children Yousef and Noor.

You can follow her ordeal on twitter or on her blog.

Update: A new quick blog post by Laila

¨quick post to let everyone know after 36 hours I am being deported- away from my home. more later¨

and also the latest tweet with the same meaning.

UPDATE: April 10th - Laila was allowed back in to the U.S this morning.

Casbah

2009-04-07T16:22:00.005+02:00

Today is not a day for serious blogging, at least not for me, i need something to lift my energy levels, so i´ll give you one of my favourite musicians, the one and only king of punk-Rai , Rachid Taha with his version of the Clash classic Rock the Casbah, enjoy!

Day of Anger

2009-04-06T14:40:00.011+02:00

In memory of those who lost their lifes, got torturted and abused, sacked and imprisoned in connection with the events of April sixth 2008, in Mahalla al Kubra and elsewhere, and also in solidarity with those making their voices heard today, in what is called the Day of Anger by the organizers. And also in support of the brave workers whom have lead by example, over the last years, and also won some battles.

April Sixth 2009

There has been reported clashes on Ain Shams Campus, and following arrests, were students are said to be held in Madinet Nasr first precinct, with laywers there, but students being denied legal counsel so far. At Helwan students in their hundreds are staging a sit in , campus demos in Mansoura(flickr photo set) and Asyut as well. As for the center of gravity last year , Mahalla has had a heavy police presence, but everything is calm in the city accoding to Muhammed Maree.

There was five people arrested in Menoufiyya at dawn today, four of them students, and one belonging to Kefaya.

As a prelude to today, there was 30 arrested in Kafr ash Sheikh, among them two female students Omniyya and Sarah whom were putting up posters for the previous strike, now only known as ¨the day of anger¨, there have also been reports on arrests in Port Said, Tanta, Fayoum, and Alexandria prior the events today.

There is live coverage from Cairo University here. Background can be found at the Arabist here. Zeinobia also has some background info, as well as continues updates. As always Arabawy is a key source for information about this. And the tool that had it´s first 15 minutes of fame during last year´s events is still a reliable source for minute by minute news, just use the twitter tag #6April and you´re up to date.

This is just a rough first quick attempt on the run to scribble down quick notes, more later.

Happy moulid al Nabi

2009-03-09T02:07:00.008+02:00

Today is Moulid al Nabi, celebrating the birth of the Prophet, and beside wishing my readers a happy Moulid al Nabi, i would like to offer you two very different writers on this subject, one being my favourite author, writing about celebrating Moulid during his late childhood and youth, some 85 years ago in Abbasiyya, a neighbourhood of Cairo, later immortalized while describing Kamal´s love for Aida on the pages of the second part of the trilogy(Palace of Desire). Of course i´m talking about the deeply missed Naguib Mahfouz.

The second writer is a female blogger, that i just discovered, that share my Saádi roots, and writes with wittiness. So let me leave you by introducing Fattractive, of Tales of a Fattractive Egyptian Woman , and her take on Moulid al Nabi!

Muhammed Adel ordered released

2009-03-08T13:32:00.009+02:00

Word is out that Egyptian blogger and journalist for the English website of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammed Adel is to - or rather has been ordered released by the State Security Prosecuction.

He was originally arrested on November 20th, and held in incommunicado , his house searched without a warrant the day after, in what now seems to be a pattern, when dealing with the activists in the opposition movement in solidarity with Gaza. Both Philip Rizk and Diaa Eddin Gad has been subject to the same treatment.

Mabrouk!

More on this later.

UPDATE: Muhammed Adel was released today, Tuesday March 10th.

Dostour up and running again

2009-03-06T17:40:00.006+02:00

The influential daily al Dostuor, the brainchild of Ibrahim Eissa , is back on the net. It´s website is up and running again, faster, and hopefully better than ever.

UPDATE:Dostour on Twitter

Following in the footsteps of major international news outlets , like CNN, BBC, Reuters, Der Spiegel and al Jazeera to name but a few.In what i believe is the first time a major newspaper in Egypt uses microblogging, al Dostour is now on twitter .

Boring speeches, opium of the people?

2009-03-06T10:44:00.007+02:00

This is a photo taken by Hafez Diab during the inaugural session of the of the 21st international conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, taken while the floor was occupied by Minister of Islmic endowments, Mr Zagzoug, were the the two leading religious leaders in Egypt, Sheikh Tantawi and Pope Shenouda display the usual sign of national unity, in a rather unusual way.

Apparently it´s not only the debates in the Egyptian parliament that works as a sleeping pill..Perhaps it´s the boring speeches from the NDP Aparachiki that is the common denominator?

Comment moderation

2009-02-27T12:11:00.002+02:00

I´ve enabled comment moderation this morning after being spammed with anonymous comments. This goes against my way of thinking, which is that everybody should be allowed to express their opinion as long as it´s not done with the use of abusive language or hate speech.

I´ve been lucky in the past, in not having encountered this kind of problems on anything, but a very limited scale.

This is hopefully just a temporary measure, as i would like to go back to the normal state of things as soon as possible.

Gouwa al Shabaka at the Press Syndicate tonight

2009-02-12T08:59:00.006+02:00

The documentary film about bloggers and freedom of expression on the internet in Egypt, Gouwa al Shabaka is screened at the Press Syndicate at 6:30 P.M this evening(Feb 12th). For those of you who haven´t seen it yet, i strongly recommend it.

It was first shown at the Human Rights film festival in Cairo last November, and you can read more about the 18 minutes film in my blog post on the festival,where you can also view Gouwa al Shabaka.

Philip Rizk released

2009-02-11T09:17:00.010+02:00

Philip Rizk was released in the early hours of Wednesday, February 10th, and is at home with his family.

This was the message , originally posted on the facebook page in support for his release.

Philip is out, he is safe and home with his family.
He requests that all upcoming planned protests and marches still take place to end siege on Gaza.

More details to come soon.
Please do not call the family members at this time.

Almost 100 hours after he was smuggled out of Abu Zaábal police station in a Suzuki microbus, by the very people whom are supposed to protect the safety of the Egyptian people, an hour later at a police security checkpoint at Qalaq all traces of Philip ended, until last night when he was on the phone with his parents, and then released.

Happy 27th birthday tomorrow , Philip!

This is a proper moment to pay homage to the unsung heroes of laywers who seldom gets the recognition they deserve, in this case HMLC and ANHRI laywers in particular, as well as people like Mostafa Hussein and others, they are the ones, together with people like Philip that makes me think that Egypt might have a bright future, regardless of it´s current state.

More later.

Update: Though Philip has been released there´s still others whose not, one of those is 22-year-old Diaddin Gad student in Gharbeiyya, Gad is also a blogger and activist involved in the latest protests on a local level against the war in Gaza , and Egypt´s policies towards the war. He´s a member of the Wafd party as well as Kefaya. He was picked up from his house on Friday, and is like Philip held at an undisclosed location. He might not have the network and international backing that Philip had, but it pleases me to see that both the BBC and AFP has written about his case, lets hope for an equally happy and speedy ending to his ordeal as with Philip.

Longish feature article on April 6th youth

2009-01-24T11:55:00.003+02:00

Samantha Shapiro has penned a longish feature article in the New York Times Magazine on April 6th youth, called ¨Revolution, facebook-style¨. I´ve only managed to skim through it very quickly this morning. You can find it here. I might comment on it later on today, when i have read through it.

Mission Accomplished

2009-01-23T09:25:00.004+02:00

Bye bye ya Bush bush , you will be sorely missed only by the comedians, shoemakers, Musharaf and actually myself, if only due to the fact that both Baby Bush and Condi, with whom i´ve had a love-hate relationship with from day one have triggered some of my best writing, a lot of it being on the topic of democracy promotion, were the ever so often symbolic and lofty language, that sounds so fine and dandy have crashed with the permanent innability to practise what they teach in real action on the ground.

But i can´t deny that i will sleep better at night, knowing that W have let go of the nuclear codes.

The photo, courtesy of A.P.

Cairo artists for Gaza

2009-01-22T13:36:00.011+02:00

Starting today (Thursday Jan 22nd,and continuing to Saturday Jan 24th) , some of Cairo´s brightest artists and musicians show their solidarity with the People of Gaza, in an art exhibition with 50 artists, donating a piece each from their work to be sold on spot. This will take place at the Cairo Atelier on 2 Karim al Dawla St.(Talat Harb Sq).

The second part, is a three nights music and theater festival (Friday Jan 23th-Sunday Jan 25th) featuring among others two of my favourite groups , Ana Masry and Wust el Balad.This will be held at the Townhouse factory space on 10 Nabrawy St off Champollion St.

The benefits from the events will go to Gaza through the Egyptian Popular Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the Give Gaza Organization.

You can find more information on the events, venues and schedules here.

The people of Gaza has been constantly on my mind since December 27th, my mood is perhaps best described by the title of Um Kalthoum, s famous song al Atlal (The Ruins).

Words have failed me, when i´ve tried to put them down on a sheet of paper, though having tried on several occasions , during the last month. Having had no desire to blog on anything else, but Gaza, i kept my silence.

The posters seen above provided , courtesy of Salma Said

UPDATE: I would like to share a link to To Tom Glasspool´s photography blog,Snapshot of Life with some really great photos from the concert, but i would also like you to browse the blog for fantastic pictures of Cairo. Many Thanks Tom for sharing , and for telling me about your excellent blog!

Baheyya on Mubarak ´s stance over Gaza

2009-01-16T12:04:00.005+02:00

Baheyya returns with her first real blogpost in over five months. The topic this time is on Mubarak´s stance on Gaza, with a piece called The Wages of Mubarak's "Realism". It´s Well worth your precious reading time, as always.

Maybe it´s about time for me to resurrect fustat as well?

22 defendants in Mahalla trial sentenced to 3-5 years

2008-12-15T13:45:00.016+02:00

The Tanta Supreme Security Court judge al Sayyed Abdel-Maaboud issued verdicts today on the 49 defendants in the case concerning events in Mahalla on April 6th-7th. 22 defendants received prison sentences of 3-5 years and 27 were acquitted.The charges brought against them could have rendered a maximum of 15 years imprisonment.

One of those convicted was a 58 year old woman ,Fawzeya Hafez El Shinnawy, she was sentenced for carrying a molotow cocktail. She, togheter with four others facing prison terms were tried in absentia.

Prior to announcing the verdict the judge, Al Sayyed abd al Maaboud stated that :

¨price rises were a global phenomenon and not the fault of the Egyptian government and he praised the restraint of security forces in quelling the demonstrations¨.

My thoughts on the judges statement

While i hope to see the judge statement in full soon, i will give my quick thoughts on the statement above.

While the hounorable judge is perfectly correct in his assumption that the price rises is in some parts indeed a global phenomenon(a subject that the judge has little expertise knowledge about, i´m sure.), and aknowledging the rapid response of the government just days after the riots when a delegation of ministers, headed by PM Ahmed Nazif headed to Mahalla to speak with the workers. Also recognizing the effort of the government in giving a 30 percent salary raise to government employees.

This is in my humble view, all good things , albeit too little, and too late, it´s merely a temporary band aid, and further more, just a week after announcing the wage increase, a law was rushed through parliament, putting into effect steep price raises on petrol and tobacco, meaning that some of the wage raise, is taken away from those who got it in the first place. On top of that the inflation has kept on increasing and peaked in July to it´s highest in 16 years, since then having dropped, but still significantly over 20 percent, with the November numbers at 20.9, this, despite the fact that the Central Bank is doing all it can to get the Egyptian economy back on track. I havent mentioned the bread crisis, that the government was ultimately responsible of, but after a very slow start, handled in a way that might come close to adequate.

The statement of the judge regarding the security forces showing restraint during April 6-7th, is nothing but laughable, considering the manyreports of torture and ill-treatment , and the only picture that flashes through my mind, is a very vivid one of young teenagers in their hospital beds, being handcuffed to the bed.

I have a hard time understanding the necessity of a judge passing judgement on anythinhg, but his specific case. I´m really not keen to know his views on how the government economical policies toward the food crisis faired, nor am i concerned with his views on how good the security forces behaved. What would intrigue my curiosity is how the hounorable judge, views an investigation that is said to have contained a lot of anonymous secondary sources, i would like to know his views on the alleged torture of defendant Hamada Tewfiq, these are questions that i want answered by the judge, because these questions is within the frame of his work related expertise. I guess that unanswered questions is also answer, highly respected right hounorable judge.

Background to trial

The last working session of the trial before the verdict was held on November 13th.
The 49 was refered to Court on June 17th, and the trial started on August 9th.

The occurence of emergency trials has been critizised by Egyptian and international Human Rights Groups alike, due to lack of fair trial standards and the absence of the possibility to appeal the verdict.

My sympathy and thoughts goes out to the 22 convicted and their families, especially the 58-year old supposedly ¨molotow¨ lady, and her family, regardless of the fact that she´s still at large. My thoughts also goes to the three who lost their lives during April 6-7th, among them 15-year old Ahmed Hamada, none of these deaths has been investigated , as of yet.

Sarah Carr has a photo set on her flickr account, from the Tanta Court house today.

The Hisham Mubarak Law Center issued a list of trial No 5498/2008, the verdicts, and those convicted here(each one has a number, their names dosen´t appear, i´ll try to present a list of those convicted, as well as those acquitted later on today).

20 and 60 years annivesary

2008-12-12T10:53:00.010+02:00

I ´ve been neglecting fustat for way too long. I´m going through a rough period, workwise and have a huge pile of backlog material to read, i´m beginning to catch up, and new postings are due, during the weekend(at least that is my intention). While waiting, i just want to point to two important anniversaries.

This week it´s 20 years since Naguib Mahfouz received the Nobel Prize, and yesterday would have been the authour´s 97th birthday.I remember buying my first Mahfouz novel, adrift on the Nile, just days after it was made public that he won the prize, after that i had a period of two years when i read everything i could get my hands on. It´s been a love affair ever since.The American University will announce this year´s winner of the Naguib Mahfouz award on the 17th.

The other anniversary is of course the 60th anniversary of the U.N Human Rights declaration, in my view , the mother of all declarations. I will not dwell on the matter, not because i don´t have anything to say, but because of lack of time. I will just leave you with three human rights, and Egypt related links, my way of paying tribute to all the people working with human rights in Egypt and the world.

The first is a Amnesty International profile on Ahmed Seif al Islam , the well-known human rights lawyer from the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre(HMLC).

The second is the first annual report on the state of Human Rights in the Arab World by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies(CIHRS), that was released on December 5th to coincede with the anniversary(You can find the entire 300 pages report in a PDF-version, and a 59 pages synopsis in English, the full report in English will appear shortly).

The third is a blog post by the one and only Sarah Carr, where we get to follow her on a day , that begins with her casually going through her ¨fartbook¨account, finding an update on the possible arrest of the (very good) fellow blogger/journalist, Ahmed Abd al Fattah, and her deciding to follow it up by going to the Dokki police station, were Ahmed is supposed to be held. Ahmed was fortunate enough to come out the same day, after also having been interrogated by State Security. The post is a vivid example of how things work.

Unfortunately, not everyone is as fortunate as Ahmed was this time, this post is dedicated to those people, normaly regular people with less connections or networks , and also of course to the bloggers currently in jail or police custody, Kareem and Muhammed Adel, being but two of them.

Happy Aid al Adha 1429

2008-12-08T03:06:00.010+02:00

I would like to wish my Muslim readers, sunni and shia alike(celebrating on Tuesday) a happy aíd, aíd said,aíd Mubarak and so on.

If you are celebrating in Egypt , and don´t have a clue on what to do or expect, jessys at Choclate mints in a jar, gives you the A-Z in about 65 words - clue, it´s basically about food(read Fattah) and money.

As for myself, i´ll go for the fattah 11 times out of ten, but then again , i´m too old , and cranky anyway.

Wishing you all a joyful and spititually fulfilling Aíd!

Human Rights Film Festival in Um ad Dunya

2008-11-22T09:02:00.006+02:00

As you all know , the 32nd Cairo International Film Festival is taking place in Cairo , this week, but a much more interesting development is The first Cairo Human Rights Film Festival, that begins today, as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights around the Globe, culminating on December 10th, the day of the original signing of the most important of all U.N documents.

This is the first such festival in Egypt, if i´m not totally wrong , but Human Rights Film Festivals is not a new phenomena, the Human Rights Watch has held a festival on the same theme for years, and earlier this year the Arab Gulf had it´s first in the form of the first Bahrain Human Rights International Film Festival took place in Manama.

The Cairo Human Rights Film Festival is organized by the American Islamic Congress and it´s Middle East Director Dalia Ziada in partnership with the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development and the New Woman Foundation and will feature seven films in an equal amount of days.

The opening film is Democracy in Dakar, on the impact of youth culture in the political context of Senegal´s Presidential election in 2007, Tomorrow follows the Egyptian film Guáwa al Shabaka about the internet freedom, or lack there off and blogging for human rights in Egypt, feauturing Gamal Eid, Noha Atef, Abd al Moneim Mahmoud, Ahmed Maher, Muhammad Gamal and others, directed by Mahmoud Saber and created by Muhammed Gamal.

Among the other films is Stephen Johnson´s animated film from 1988, explaining the 30 articles of the UDHR(view it here, in 31 different languages, arabic being one of them here.

The final film is the Egyptian classic al bab al Maftouh, based on Latifa al Zayyat´s novel, portraying Laila, played on screen by the legendary actress Faten Hamama. Laila, of course, being as important today , as when it was first published, has been an inspiration for the Egyptian blogger project , Kolena Laila.

Three other films are also part of the festival, The Elders, A force more powerful and Confronting the truth.

All the films are followed by seminars, and all are free of charge. The schedule is available here.

For those who can´t join the festival, you can view the film Guawa al Shabaka below(via Sami Ben Gharbeia). Thanks to Dalia Ziada and the AIC for this very good iniative.I also agree with Dalia, that this is a splendid way of celebrating the mother of all declarations, here, were the cradle of civilization once had it´s humble beginning , at least with Egycentric eyes.

al Ahly wins historic sixth African title

2008-11-17T18:49:00.013+02:00

This is not news anymore, but Yesterday, al Ahly took a historic sixth African Club Championship title, as the first team on the continent, after winning against Cotton Sport, Cameroon(4-2 on aggregate).

1000 Mabrouk to coach Manuel Jose, and the team, and on to Tokyo for the FIFA World Club Championship!

Regular posting will resume shortly.

Nora Younis receives Human Rights First award

2008-10-22T01:35:00.007+02:00

Nora Younis will receive the annual Human Rights award from the Human Rights First Organization when they celebrate their first 30 years as an organization in New York tomorrow. She will share the prize with Oleg Kozlovsky, a young democracy activist in a country that slides further from the straight path of democracy for each day it seems. Senator Ted Kennedy is also awarded for his long and distinguished career as a human rights defender.

Human Rights First have been very suportive of human rigths in Egypt, during the last years and Campaigned for Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who won the same award in 2002 Alaa and Kareem among others, and i would like to extend my greetings and humble thanks for your support on this happy occasion.

This is how they describe Nora:

... When Egyptian soldiers used water cannons and nightsticks to brutally evict Sudanese refugees from a public square in Cairo, Nora Younis was there, taking notes and shooting photos. Her blog of the incident drew international attention to the Egyptian government's abuses against these vulnerable refugees. Nora continues to raise awareness about rampant human rights abuses in Egypt through her compelling blog posts.

1000 Mabrouk ya Nora!!

Kolena Laila

2008-10-19T23:53:00.006+02:00

We are all Laila on October 19th and every day.

UPDATE: Nermeen Edrees at Global Voices has a nice round up on what the day entailed, and also from GV, Amira al Hussseini with a bit of background on Kolena Laila. For me the project is about sharing, dialougue and empowerment, and i really enjoyed the fact that it was cross-generational this time, with the piece from Manal´s mother and Maat´s piece about her grandmother´s University years in 1944-48, almost corresponding to Latifa Zayyat´s own time at the University during the early and mid 40´s. This opened up space to voices and added perspectives that would not be heard in the blogospere otherwise.

in solidarity with the people of Duweiqa

2008-10-16T01:45:00.005+02:00

Today marks the end of the forty-day period of mourning since that fatal Saturday morning on Sertember 6th. I would like to express my solidarity with the people of Duweiqa on this day.

Collapsing building in Alexandria kills at least 12

2008-10-08T12:40:00.009+02:00

A four-storey building collapsed in the Mustafa Kamel district in Alexandria this morning, claiming the lives of at least 11. Among the dead was a mother holding her baby tight. At least ten more were injured according to AFP. 35 people were living in the building that collapsed at 1 A:M in the morning. The rescue operation continues.

Salah Subhi, the Muslim Brotherhood MP for Alexandria was at the scene this moorning, and put the blame on the municipality.

"The building was known to need renovation work,"

Collapsed buildings are unfortunately far too common than one might have wished for. The city of Alexandria has been among the misfurtunate ones lately, on the eve of the new year, last December 35 people lost their lives in an equally tragic incident when a 12-storey building collapsed in the district of Loran. In 2005, 19 people died in another collapse in the City. It was less than three months ago, that i last had to write about it, then in the City of Mansoura , with an equally dreadful outcome, among the five victims at that time was two twins.
The building was from 1955, and a fifth floor was added in 1997 in violation of the law.

The residents had complained to the local authorities that the building was unsafe and the authorities had ordered the removal of the fifth floor and other structural changes, they added. But the orders were not implemented, they said.

New legislation was introduced in 1996 to counter the problem after a building collapsed in the upper Middle class area of Heliopolis in Cairo and took 64 lives, but little if any has changed.

UPDATE: A twelwth person has died according to newsreports.

Eissa pardoned by President Mubarak

2008-10-07T01:03:00.005+02:00

Ibrahim Eissa, the editor in Chief of al Doustor, has been pardoned today, on the 35 anniversary of the Crossing of the canal(The first day of the October War 1973). President Husni Mubarak pardoned him as part of the President´s efforts to foster freedom of the press in Egypt according to the Egyptian official news agency MENA.

While i fully appreciate the gesture from the President today, an important first step to foster freedom of the press in Egypt would be to carry out the promise given to Galal Aref, then Chairman of the Press Syndicate , on February 23rd 2004, about changing legislation, to safeguard journalists from facing the possibility of being sentenced to jail for what they write. This was later incorporated into the Presidential election platform in 2005. Today some 1685 days later, this promise has yet to be fulfilled. This is something that the President surely intends to do, prior to the ending of his fifth term in office in October 2011, or will it become part of the reforms sugested in the presidential election platform in 2011?

Here is al Doustour´s own take on the pardoning of Eissa.

Here is Ibrahim Eissa´s press conference at the Journalists syndcate in Cairo after recieving the pardon.

Fire in Ghazl al Mahalla factories

2008-10-04T20:16:00.005+02:00

According to reports, A fire broke out in three factory buildings in Egypt´s and probably the Arab World´s largest factory with some 24 000 employees. The fire began when the factory was restarted after Eid al Fitr holidays, at about 6 o Clock in the morning . The factory contains raw cotton, so the fire spread heavily. The Fire brigade fought the fire for hours and managed to control it. The material damages seems heavy, but no casualties in the workforce is reported. The news is still sketchy , and there also seems to be an attempt at hindering reporters from reaching the factories.

Karim al Beheiry points out that this is the second fire that hits the Ghazl al Mahalla company within a week(considering that the factory was closed for half of it, that should keep the responsible for fire security, sleepless at night).

The City of Mahalla is situated in the delta, the industrial heart of Egypt. The workers of the Ghazl al Mahalla company has been the focal point of labour activism since December 2006, and the call for a general strike proclaimed on facebook that gathered 64 000 names in two weeks, where made to support the workers in Mahalla on that particular day, as well as being a call to protest the increase in prices. In the following days Mahalla was the scene of riots, that took at least two lives, and led to mass arrests and police brutality. The city was totaly cordoned off from the outside world for a few days.

One might wonder when this string of fires will end.

¨There is no such thing as a handicap¨

2008-10-04T10:18:00.006+02:00

Heba Said , one of Egypt´s Paralympics gold medalists, and a Zagazig native is being profiled by Michael Slackman and Mona al Naggar in today´s New York Times. At the time i wrote about the early medalists in the Paralympics in Beijing,medals continued to come like magnets all through the games , and the final toll was 12 medals, four golds, four silver and four bronze medals, making Egypt the 29th in the overall standings of the games.

They returned to a heroes welcome, or so it would seem when recievied by the first Lady and Gamal Mubarak. In the long run, maybe their success will have an impact, but there are still very much to wish for, in terms of people´s attitudes, heroine or no heroine, she still has to live her daily life fighting ignorance and prejudice.

HEBA SAID AHMED pulled her car up to the curb. “No parking here,” a police officer shouted. “But it’s a handicap car,” she said softly, motioning to her wheelchair in the back seat. The officer insisted that she park down the block.

A few minutes later, she had made it from her car, hauled herself on crutches down a flight of steps into a largely empty park when a man tried to stop her. “Members only today,” he said, not even asking if she was a member. She was not, but, exasperated, she said, “I am Heba Said, champion for Egypt.”

The man had no idea what she was talking about, and kept telling her to leave.

She was not raised within the family as any other child, so the first reality check, came in school, were she was told by her teacher that if she couldn´t stand up, this was no place for her. She was placed in a class room on the fifth floor for the first four years, when her father first pleaded with the headmaster to let her be in a first floor classroom, when pleading to common sense ended in vain, he used to carry her to class every day.

and still she says:

“I think there has to be a bit of struggle in your life,” she said. “It strengthens you. It builds character.”

She was always encouraged to do well in school and graduated from Zagazig University with a degree in psychology, it was in her teens that she began with sports and soon the medals started coming, and they´ve never stopped since.

She´s most likely to end her sporting career, while she´s on top, being a double paralympics gold medalists and search for other challenges in life, like having a family, and bring her children up to become champions.

What really lingers on in my mind in reading about Heba is this simple sentence, that tells more about us and the restraints, limits and prejudice that exists, Heba is way ahead of us, and she´s a true role model for all of us.

“THERE is no such thing as a handicap,” she said. “A handicap is in your thinking, or in your heart.”

Strings attached to Muhammed Refaát´s release

2008-10-03T13:16:00.003+02:00

It seems that the Egyptian blogger Muhammed Refaát has been , or about to be released, subject to conditions from State Security that would restrict him from ever updating his blog or his facebook account. Taking his story to the media or to Human Rights organizations, this according to al Doustor( the fact that he talks with al Doustor would of course disqualify him from following the terms).

He has been in prison since July 21 st, though ordered released by the state security on August 17th, but he was not released, instead an order was issued for him to be held under the ever so flexible Emergency Law.

It´s of course absurd that State Security could even contemplate setting preconditions for his release, but then again this is the Kafkaesque state of Egypt 2008.

More on this later.

al Jazeera English Cairo Special

2008-10-03T09:21:00.006+02:00

(Via the Arabist)

During the last forthnight al Jazeera English inside story has been airing three instalments about Egypt focusing on Ramadan, Youth and Political reform.

The first installment focuses on the food banquets for the poor during Ramadan.

Ramadan

Part II of the first installment can be found here

Youth

Part II of the second installment can be found here

Political Reform

Part II of the third installment can be found here

Al Beit beitak ?

2008-10-02T00:06:00.007+02:00

In the aftermath of Duweiqa, that cost 107 people their lives, the BBC offers us a glimpse at the same problem from another angle, were we get to follow two youngish couples, Hazem and Shaimaa and Ashraf and Rabab on their make or break day when they will compete against each other for the key to their future.

A serious social problem that changes society forever makes a good TV-game show?

This is Doqou el- Mazaher(Start the Bridal Music), the new show of Mahmoud Saad, famous TV-personality from al Beit Beitak. In a way it´s reality-TV, comming to Egypt, but the problem is that one of the couples will walk away with the keys to married life, a family and soon children , in short the Egyptian fairytale beginning of.... And they lived happily ever after...

The other couple will go back, not to their home, but to their parents constant nagging about why your fiancé is not doing so and so ,and their engagement is more likely to break up, than not.

On the other hand you have couples who never gets the chance to go on a TV-show, they live the reality day in day out, and it´s not bright.

What is needed is a sustainable plan that offers affordable housing in high numbers over 20 years , something that has been a scarcity since the late sixties. The problem should be solved by the government and private business in concert, not apartments thrown at people, desperate for an adult life and a family until network ratings, or another idea comes along, and closes down the show. TV´s role in society is not to do charity in the first place, TV should be about education and information and of course entertainment, but to dwell on others missery is not good television, some might argue that this is the ultimate infotainment, but trust me, the only ones who are not aware of the harsh reality on the ground in Egypt, are those who chose to look away, and they are not the ones who need an apartment, blinded by their lifestyle they already live in gated communities, like Qatemiyya Hights and set their eyes firmly on what to wear in Marina next summer.

al Beit beitak? Hard luck, don´t think so!

You can view the clip that goes with the article above, new policy from the BBC dosent alow me to embed the clip, so here is the link.

Happy Aid al Fitr and Rosh Hashannah 5769

2008-10-01T08:01:00.010+02:00

I would like to wish a happy Eid al Fitr to my Muslim readers and Happy Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year to my Jewish readers, today it´s 2nd Tishri 5679.

Kol sanna wa antum tayyibin and Shana Tova Umetukah (A good and sweet year).

Kahk al Aid
There is something that´s practically obligatory on all tables in Egypt on Eid al Fitr, that is Kahk. This tradition of eating Kahk on Eid al Fitr goes back about 1000 years, during the Fatimid Dynasty in Egypt, according to legend the ruler al Aziz(975-996) used to distribute Kahk to the people of the newly established city of al Qahirah(Cairo), it was also about that time that al Azhar was created as a religious institution by the Fatimids.

I would like to send 1 Kg of virtual Kahk al Aid to Sheikh Youssef al qaradawi, the highly popular and influential religious scholar, whom himself was educated at the very same institution some 980 years later, if he were to take a walk down the Memory Lane of his formative al Azhar years he would find himself passing by al Kahkeen alley, were the Kahk makers used to create their culinary masterpieces in what seems to have been a cultural high point in the City´s history, when the City was governed by the Fatimids , whom ruled over a population, most of whom belonged to another Muslim Law school. Tolerance seem to have been the name of the game, for most of the Fatimid years(al Hakim´s rule differs sharply from that pattern).

Qaradawi has been acting rather cranky and grumpy, as of late and perhaps he needs the Kahk to recover from the feverish statements he gave during the latter part of Ramadan, he obviously had some Basbousa or Konafa that made it possible to see things in a slightly different light, but in my view the issue was totally uncalled for from the outset, just because it´s fashionable with that kind of rhetoric at this particular point in time, be it from so called statesmen or religious scholar, it dosent make it right.

Happy Aíd!

This will be cross-posted at Diwan of Democracy.

UPDATE: The BBC has some nice photos from around the Globe on Aíd celebrations and Global Voices on celebrations in Moscow among other places, the piece shows the good, bad and the ugly among attitudes and prejudices towards the Muslim minority in Russia, but is interesting, it´s written by Veronica Khokhlova, and is one of many articles on the celebrations by GV. just learned that Áid al Fitr is called Uraza Bayram, so Happy Uraza Bayram to all Muslims in Russia!

Ibrahim Eissa´s sentence reduced to two months

2008-09-28T12:17:00.009+02:00

The Bulaq Abu al-Ella Misdemeanor Appeals Court issued a two months prison sentence to al Doustor´s editor in Chief , Ibrahim Eissa today. The verdict was an appeal of a six months prison sentence from March 26th 2008, and concerns articles published in August 2007 on the health of President Hosni Mubarak. He was brought to trial on charges of spreading false information, damaging public interest national stability. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of three years. Eissa was not in court today.

This story, as well as a number of other court cases featuring Ibrahim Eissa and virtually every other high profile editor of the free and opposition press, the Creme de´la creme of Egyptian journalism if you like.This has been like a real life Ramadan-tv series for the last year or so.

On February 23rd 2004, President Mubarak gave a promise of changing legislation, to safeguard journalists from facing the possibility of being sentenced to jail for what they write. This was later incorporated into the Presidential election platform in 2005. Today some 1675 days later, this promise is yet to be fulfilled.

National theater fire photos

2008-09-28T10:49:00.004+02:00

Just before iftar yesterday, the National Theather (al Masrah al Qaumi) was hit by fire, due to a circuit problem. The National Theater is situated in Ataba, downtown Cairo and was originally inaugurated in 1935. It had just recently been renovated. There were no activities in the building at the time. The main hall was destroyed and three firefighters were hospitalized after taking part in the rescue operation.

Here are some pictures that i want to share, it´s one from Muhammed Ghafari´s flickr account and a whole photostream that caught my eye wia Ahmed Abd al Fattah , It can be found here, and viewed preferebly as a slideshow(51 photos).

More later.

Umm ad Dunya

2008-09-21T22:50:00.003+02:00

The Picture is Nasa´s image of the day the 21st of September 2008.

Jailhouse Donkey

2008-09-20T12:11:00.004+02:00

It´s not everyday you find a news item with a soundtrack, but that happened yesterday when a Delta judge decided to put a donkey in jail for a day for stealing corn on the cob from a local research institute, the donkey was caught almost readheanded with the stolen cob at a police checkpoint set up only for that purpose. The owner of the donkey got a 50 E.P fine (9 USD).

One can only congratulate the local police for their effective method of work in this matter, perhaps this could be a model for preemtive police work for the whole nation. Minister of Interior, Habib al Adly will surely be proud of you.

You also have to commend the donkey on the good taste, i wonder if he´s fed grilled Corn on Cob on a regular basis, if that´s the case i would like to be in his shoes. Then the donkey is better of than most of the 40 percent of the Egyptian people living below or slightly over the margin of poverty( 2 USD/day - UN definition).

As for the Judge, you might wonder if that´s not the real ass in this story, at least if the real reason behind this odd story is not to help the poor farmer and reduce his fine, while ¨jailing¨ his animal for a symbolic period.

The soundtrack, well there is only one song to go with this story, behabak ya Houmar with Saad al Sagheer from the film Aleyya al Tarab bl talatha. I´ve always thought that the donkey looked kind of lost and Sad , but who could blame him, sentenced to be in the midst of Saad and Dina.

Enjoy the clip.

First International Day of Democrracy

2008-09-15T14:05:00.005+02:00

Today marks the first UN International day of Democray, the decision was taken on Nov 8th 2007. It´s about time i would say.... Better late than never! I´m celebrating!

Happy Nayrouz - Coptic new year 1725

2008-09-12T15:48:00.003+02:00

Yesterday September 11th was the Coptic new year - Nayrouz and the first day of the month of Tout, the coptic calender has 13 months, 12 of them are 30 days each and the last being five or six days long, dependinding on if it´s a leap year or not.

I would like to wish my Coptic readers(a late) happy Nayrouz 1725!

Egypt Rocks & Rules at Paralympics Powerlifting

2008-09-11T14:56:00.009+02:00

Medals seems to be like magnets to the Egyptian Powerlifting team in the current paralympics in Beijing. Egypt just collected it´s second gold in the men´s 56 Kg category by Sherif Osman, who broke the world record three times along the way to the Podium, settling for an end result of 202.5 Kg. This was an early birthday gift, Sherif´s 26th birthday is on Monday. You can find more photos on a jubilant gold medalist here.

This was the second gold after Fatma Omar´s gold yesterday,her third consecutive paralympics GOLD, after having won in Sydney in 2000 and in Athens four years later.

I´m not going to say in which category she won, because as a gentlemen i´ve been taught not to ask a women´s weight, but i´m thrilled for her, it´s extra special when a women wins, because it signals that we as a nation should take women sports seriously and it creates role models for girls who sees that it´s possible to sport and win medals.

i´m actually very pleased to hear about another female participant in the powerlifting still waiting for her hour of glory(tomorrow hopefully), Rania Alaa Eldin Morshedi has a five-year old son , but still continues to compete on international level. This is something unusual for women in sports in Egypt, they usualy drop their career as soon as they graduated and got married, in my view they give up their career before having reached their peak, and in fact some times not being able to collect the fruit of their hard labour for years and years.

In total this was the fifth medal in powerlifting, two golds, one silver and two bronze! We also won a bronze medal in the Men's Javelin Throw, you can see who the rest of the medalists are here.

I´m quite sure this means that neither President Mubarak, nor the Muslim Brotherhood will call for an investigation as to the bad results this time around, though one should learn from success, just as much as take leasons from the mistakes.

1000 Mabrouk to all the medalists and the whole Egyptian team at the Paralympics!

Living in Washington?

2008-09-10T17:39:00.007+02:00

If i was living in Washington, this is what i would be doing today!

The Project on Middle East Democracy(POMED) is hosting an event with the headline - Egypt Today: The State of Human Rights and Rule of Law

It´s a panel made out of Michele Dunne - Editor of Arab Reform Bulletin, at Carnegie Endovment, Neil Hicks from Human Rights first, Marc Lynch(A.K.A Abu Aardvark) and Ambassador Nicholas Veliotes, among other things a former Ambassodor to Egypt.The whole event is moderated by Stephen McInerney, Director of Advocacy, Project on Middle East Democracy.

For me , the star without a shadow of a doubt is Michele Dunne, her knowledge of Egypt is profound,on a level few western scholars can compete with. Marc Lynch, for me is more of a specialist on Islamic political movements than Human Rights and Rule of Law, being a very able blogger, he has found a niche for himself in describing blogging in a political context and perhaps especially so when writing about the Ikhwhan bloggers. In terms of Egypt his field has been Ikhwan,modernity and democratization. He´s been focusing more on Iraq lately, the Awakenings and other Sunni political movements, correct me if i am wrong. To end my presentation of Abu Aardwark, i must say that i miss the times when he used to spend plenty of time disecting the relationship between popdivas, the Arabic pop equivalent of the three Tenors, except for the fact that hate each other, or so goes the myth - Nancy, Haife and Ruby used to be the hottest topic over at Abu Aardvark, nowadays, one has to make due with the occasional hip-hop lyric namedropping.... please ya Marc, write about the Divas once in a while...

To set you in the right frame of mood for this serious topic, after me losing my way, humming ¨Ana Haifa ana¨ you should read Michele Dunne´s newly penned piece in the American Interest - A Post-Pharaonic Egypt You could also read something from the other aisle of Think tank Washington, Jeffrey Azarwa from the American Enterprize Institute and judge for yourself, his piece is called - The Autumn of Mubarak , the article was just published in the Weekly Standard. Least but not last i throw in an article by Scott Carpenter on the highly politisized queston on the future of U.S Aid to Egypt, the Military part of it was something current U.S Ambassador Margaret Scobey to Egypt commented on only yesterday.

It begins at 14:00 eastern time(in about an hour) - i´m sure there will be a transcript as well.

UPDATE: Here is Marc Lynch´s part of the opening discussion, focusing on describing the political scene in Egypt.

UPDATE II: Here is a link to the full discussion, unfortunately Neil Hicks couldn´t take part in it.

Fustat/Duweiqa

2008-09-10T14:40:00.005+02:00

I´m temporarily changing the name of this blog to Fustat/Duweiqa as a tribute and a symbolic act of solidarity and respect with the victims, families and the people of Duweiqa and the whole area of Manshiyyet Nasser, when they enter a period of mourning and at the same time have to face a life, so dramatically different from what they had only four short days ago.

These last days, i have felt completely numnb, angry, frustrated , all shades of feelings, but most of all the fact that flashes through my mind constantly, that a life is the cheapest commodity in this country it´s totally without value, and exchangeble. The assembly line in Charlie Chaplin´s 1936 classic, Modern Times has been in my head during the last days, letting people work until they can´t anymore and then just throw them away. In the case of Duweiqa, life is as harsh as it gets, but nobody pays attention, until it´s to late, our Prime Minister seemed to somewhat pride himself and his governments´s achievements last February, when he stated in Parliament:

that the new law regulates slums and said that, while slums all over the world are made of tin shanties, in Egypt they are made of reinforced concrete

The have´s in our country plays Russian roulette with the have not´s every single day, and the only time the life of ordinary, but economically less fortunate Egyptians are valued is if they die in some kind of catasthrope that catches the media eye, if Mufti Ali Gouma deems your death important enough to be a martyr, then your life has a prize tag - (5000 E.P).

On Monday night some people tried to organize a vigil for the victims of Duweiqa at Talat Harb in downtown Cairo, they were not alowed to express the most hounorable , and decent feeling of solidarity, compassion and common sorrow. That incident made me write this. The victims of Duweiqa deserves to be remembered, the survivors and the people deserveres better living conditions, unfortunately after the 40 days mourning period is over, the public eye will move elsewhere and most likely the daily life of those who most need our support and respect, will continue as it did prior to last Saturday until it happens again, the promises given, most likely broken and the lives lost in vain, only left in the loving memories of their families.

Lastly i would like to follow the example of my fellow bloggers Marwa Rahkka and Zeinobia and ask for people to help in whatever way they can, this is through a facebook group created by Zed Magazine, but any way and any help and prayers is more than good enough.

Mahalla trial resumes today

2008-09-10T02:52:00.006+02:00

The trial involving the remaining 49 defendants from the April 6th strike resumes today. It was originally reffered by the Public Prosecutor to the State Security Court in Tanta on June 6th and the trial began on Aug 9th, when the defence managed to postpone the trial in order to be able to read the prosecution material. They didn´t manage to get the defendants out on bail though.

I´m much too tired to write anything half decent right now, crawing for bed, but i want to give you some reading material about the trial and then i will follow events more thouroghly as they develop.

Amnesty International issued a statement just prior to the second session was about to begin on Sept 6th, were the charges are stated, and includes:

Assembly of more than five people with the aim of disturbing public order and security; deliberate destruction of public and private property; ransacking and theft; violent resistance and assault on police officers during the exercise of their duties; and illegal possession of firearms.

If convicted they face up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

AI calls upon the proper authourities to end the processs in the Supreme State Security Court, which is a emergency court, without the normal legal safeguards for the defendants. AI calls on the authourities to hold the trial in a normal court of law that offers the defendants the opportunity of a fair trial.

Amnesty International is urging the Egyptian authorities to:

* rescind the decision to refer the defendants to the emergency court and order a retrial before an ordinary court and ensure they receive a fair trial.
* release immediately and unconditionally those protestors found not to have used violence; the others must be given a fair trial in accordance with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law and standards.
* open a full, independent and impartial investigation into the killings of the three people in Mahalla. In particular the investigation should focus on the circumstances in which police used lethal fire and ensure that any officers or other officials responsible for using or ordering excessive force should be brought to justice.

Arabawy gives us an eyewittness account from the first court session in Tanta on Aug 9th here

Sarah Carr gives us an equally important account from the opening of the second session on Sep 6th here.

Sorry for the poor quality of blogging, but it´s more important that you have the tools, than me packaging it neatly right now.

You can also use the fustat search and look for the words April 6th, General Strike Mahalla and Burg al Arab and you will find more material.

15 years prison sentence for ringleader in "thanawiya amma" case, 7 years for torturing a man to death

2008-09-08T16:08:00.006+02:00

The verdict in the ¨Thanawyya amma¨ case in Minya vas issued today. The head of Minya's Examinations Committee,Ezzat Khalil Mansour got a 15 year prison sentence and he also loses his work.

I am in no way inclined to think that this is something that authourities should look lightly upon, but bare in mind that a case were a man was tortured to death inside the police precinct, by the very people who is supposed to uphold the law, and defend the public, rendered a seven years prison term for the policemen involved. That the case that all off us are all to familiar with, the Imad al Kabir torture case rendered three years in prison , not to speak about the sentences in al Salam Boccacio 98 case, still fresh on our minds and still staining the reputation of the judicial system.

With this in mind i can´t say that this is a fair sentence. Killing someone gives you seven years, being involved in 1000 people´s death, and you are acquitted, so forgive for thinking that 15 years seems a bit too much....

Rockslide in Manshiyyet Nasser claims at least 103 lives

2008-09-06T13:01:00.029+02:00

A rockslide in the shanty town of Manshiyyet Nasser at the foot of the Muqattam Hills, Cairo has taken at least 18 lives,and at least 22 injured. The death toll is expected to rise sharply.

UPDATE: At least 20 dead according to the BBC. Footage from the BBC Arabic can be found here.

UPDATE II: 1:00 PM Sep 7th - 31 bodies has been confirmed dead after being pulled from under the rubble according to Egyptian authorities and 46 people has been treated in hospitals so far.

UPDATE III: 48 hours after the rockslide the death toll has risen to 38 and 57 wounded according to Health Ministry figures released on Monday morning. Meanwhile this AFP news wire put the number of recovered bodies at 43, quoting an unnamed security official.

UPATE IV: By midday Monday(51 hours after the rocklside), a security official talking to the Associated Press claimed the number of recovered bodies to be 47, the number of injured is at 57. The BBC have the same number of recovered bodies. It seems the equipmment is finally in place, meaning that the work on recovering bodies is moving faster, which means that the death toll will probably climb faster all through Monday. I am not going to be able to blog more, until tonight, when i will try to update and also put this in perspective, but what is clear alraedy is that this is the worst disaster that the area of Manshiyyet Nasr has lived through since the 70´s , although the community has been tested time and time again.

UPDATE V: 16:45 - Reuters puts the death toll at 51.

UPDATE VI: 22:00 Tuesday September 9th(85 hours after the Rockslide)- According to Dr Adel Azouz, in charge of Cairo´s Emergency services, 54 bodies have now been recovered. 64 are counted as wounded, as well as 13 of the emergency workers that has been involved in the rescue effort.

During a tour of the area yesterday(Tuesday) by members of parliament and The Governor of Cairo, Abdel Azim Wazir , the Governor promised 2000 houses for those affected by the rockslide, the houses will be given to the families on Friday and a vision of 10 000 units more to help improve the communities was introduced, but this seems to part of the Suzanne Mubarak project in Manshiyyet Nasser. Some of the young men of Duweiqa greeted the V.I.P´s with rocks.

UPDATE VII: Abdel Rahman Hussein of Daily News Egypt puts the recovered bodies at 57, and injured at 70. Appearently the police dispearsed people organizing a vigil for the victims at Talat Harb on Monday night, sometimes you just dont have the right words to express what you feel, this could easily count as one of those rare moments...

UPDATE VIII: Muhammed Sultan, head of the Emergewncy services at the Ministry of Health states that the number of recovered bodies has reached 62.

UPDATE IX: Thursday September 11th - Egyptian authorities comfirm that 72 bodies have been removed from underneath the rubble. This makes it the worst catastrophe in terms of lost lives in the Manshiyyet Nasser area,in 1993, 70 people lost their lives in a similar way, in the nearby neighbourhood of the garbage collectors, Zabaleen.

UPDATE X: Saturday, September 13th - A week after the Rockslide in Duweiqa, 82 bodies have been recovered from underneath the rubble. according to a security official, speaking to the Agence France Presse(AFP). The rescue effort is likely to continue for at least another week according to the same source.

UPDATE XI: Saturday 20th - Two weeks after the rockslide in Duweiqa, 103 bodies have been recovered from underneath the rubble. The rescue effort continues. No one has been found alive from start of the rescue effort.

Rockslide

At approximately 9 AM local time on Saturday September 6th, a rockslide with eight rocks fell on houses in the area, reducing a six-storey house to rubble, in total approximately 35 houses are destroyed and under the rocks, some of them 30 m high and weighing between 60-70 tonnes.

The Civil Defence, police with sniffer dogs and people from one the leading construction companies Osman Ahmed Osman Construction are at the sight, but people are callinhg for more to be done and for a quicker response and the involvement of the Army in the rescue efforts. Most of the rescue efforts until now has been done by hand and by the relatives and neigbours themselves according to newsreports. Eyewitness claim that screams and mobile phones could be heard from people under the rubble.

The initial figures of dead and injured are expected to rise sharply. According to some estimates as many as 350-500 could still be under the rubble, if the death tool goes that high, then this could be the second largest accident in recent history, only topped by the Salam Boccacio 98 disaster in February 2006, claiming over 1000 lives. A train disaster in February 2002 claimed 361 lives.

Ramadan Kareem

2008-09-01T15:23:00.006+02:00

I would like to wish my readers from Matruh to Baris, and from Palestine, Texas to Cairo, Georgia(and of course readers all over the world) a happy Ramadan!

A special greeting goes to the good people of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, and to the special one of course - Ramadan Mubarak!

Here´s a cute cartoon about Ramadan!

This will be cross posted on Diwan of Democracy.