Wael Abbas on BBC´s Hardtalk

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.

Wael Abbas and his mother attacked in their home

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

.

Wael Abbas recieves the Hellman-Hamlett Award

The Egyptian blogger/journalist Wael Abbas has recieved the Hellman-Hamlett Award from the Human Rights Watch. Here some more information on the award(no press release yet on the current award winner).

1000 Mabrouk ya Wael!

Fleishman on Wael Abbas

A good piece on the most important and influential Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas by Jeffrey Fleishman in L.A Times. Wael is of course the blogger who started to upload mobile phone video clips of torture and mistreatment of regular citizens in police stations on his blog, among other things. Clips that proved too graphic and disturbing for youtube.. Clips that have been important, as evidence in trials against police officers, as well as opening up a space for the traditional media to address issues that have been taboo prior to this.

The best blog is in my view, still Baheyya (no big secret that i´m revealing to old readers). Some might have a crush on Obama, i have a crush on Baheyya!

Sorry for not being able to blog lately, i´ve been really busy, but blogging with somewhat more regularity will return shortly. I hope to be able to post about the wonder in Kumasi(and hopefully in Accra tmrw), Rafah and Gaza and ID´s for reverts and Bahai´s soon.

Wael Abbas-You tube 1-0

After a week, You Tube rewinds it´s decision to suspend Egyptian Journalist and blogger wael Abbas account. And believe it or not, they offer an explanation on basis of this individual case, after being silent at first and banging their head against the wall , while claiming that they never discuss individual videos.

When asked about Abbas, a You Tube spokesperson said, "We take these matters very seriously, but we don't comment on individual videos."

In contrast, this is the You Tube statement constituting a clearcut You-Turn...

"We are committed to preserving You Tube as an important platform for expression of all kinds, while also ensuring that the site remains a safe environment for our users," YouTube said. "Balancing these interests raises very tough issues. In this case, our general policy against graphic violence led to the removal of videos documenting alleged human rights abuses because the context was not apparent.

"Having reviewed the case, we have restored the account of Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas — and if he chooses to upload the video again with sufficient context so that users can understand his important message we will of course leave it on the site."

And whom brings us this good news , if not the media institution that is the embodiment of free speech and human rights , Fox news!

Mabrouk ya Wael!

UPDATE:

Here is an article by Cynthia Johnston of Reuters, not adding anything new really, to what i´ve stated previously.

UPDATE II:

This is the response of Wael Abbas(partly Arabic)

Seven year prison terms for police station manslaughter

On Tuesday evening the Mansoura Criminal Court convicted three policemen, a captain and two informers of torturing a man to death, a fourth man received a lighter sentence of three years.

The incident occured on July 31st , when Nasr Ahmed Abdullah, a carpenter was taken into custody and held without charges when police was searching for his brother in the village of Telbana, 110 Km north of Cairo. He was later taken to hospital where he died. The cause of death was determined as internal bleeding close to the brain.

This is the harshest sentence in a similar case for the last ten years according to Gasser Abd al Razeq from the Human Rights watch. It´s also the second prison verdict in a torture case in three weeks time. The high publicity case of Imad al Kabir , who got sodomized at the Bulaq ad Daqrour police station in Giza, the torture was filmed on cell phone and subsequently and intentionally circulated among Imad al Kabir´s working collegues by the same police officers, who tortured him as a reminder to mind their own business and a source of blamengé for the young micro buss driver. What none of his tormentors had intended or expected was that this film would be passed on to bloggers, whom put it on their blogs and uploaded it to You Tube, among others, and then headlines in the newspapers. Suddenly the film was evidence against the police officers. The three year sentence that Imad al Kabir´s torturer´s got was the lightest possible, but justice has prevailed more than usual this November.

Human Rights Organizations claims that torture is widespread and systematic, something that the state refutes, although it admits to occasional cases were individuals make mistakes. These two sentences is hopefully the beginning of a new page in terms of taking torture cases involving police and innocent citizens seriously. I am very pessimistic though. There are ample cases to suggest that the opposite is still the norm. Just to days after the sentences in the Imad al Kabir case, came the next dead victim in the Omraniyya police station case. If the government wants to address the issue in a positive way, they could start by expanding the definition of torture in Egyptian law according to their international obligations. This would be a good sign of The Egyptian state taking their role role as a current member on the UN Human Rights Council seriously. A positive step has recently been taken by the state affiliated National Council for Human Rights, something that i salute. It would be nice if their friends in the same building could take notice of their work.

In a partially related story, the blogger who has made it one of his trademarks to create a space for these kind of videos, has got his You Tube account suspended and the videos showing torture or mistreatment at police stations removed. Wael Abbas happens to be a very good journalist, and among the most talented bloggers the Arab World has produced and it´s such a shame that You Tube does not take the opportunity to stand up for such a basic issue as torture. The BBC has a You Tube ¨channel¨, would anyone ever fathom the idea of you tube suspending the BBC, because of them showing graphic images from Abu Ghu´raib for instance?