Letter from Sharqawi

Mohamed el-Sharqawi has sent a testimony on his arrest and torture, from Tora Prison.

Here’s the English translation of it:

A Letter from Mohamed el-Sharqawi

Kidnapped on 25 May, Currently in Cell 8-1, Mahkoum Tora

How I was kidnapped, beaten and tortured for eight hours?

I went through many moments of fear and horror in my life, but nothing was like those I went through after I left the Press Syndicate on 25 May, 2006, around 6pm. I got into one of my colleagues’ car, to take a ride to the train station, so as to catch the train to Alexandria. I wanted to see my family, after a period by no means short—30 days—behind bars in Tora Prison.

The car stopped at the traffic light of Abdel Khaleq Tharwat St. crossing Talaat Harb St. I wasn’t paying attention, till my colleague screamed, “Who are those?!� I looked around me, and behind the windows there were tens of men in plain clothes trying to open the door. I could only think of one thing in few seconds… State Security personnel had come to kidnap me… I threw whatever I was carrying in the car, and opened the door, only to be met with a violent push into the entrance of the last building on Abdel Khaleq Tharwat St., before it crosses Talaat Harb St.

The fiesta started. They introduced themselves to me by their swift fists, till one of them kicked me to the floor. There was about 20 persons or more. Their punches and kicks came one after the other, and without much planning, which led them to kick one another, because they were all keen to do anything that props them up in front of their bosses. I could not recognize any of the faces, but three. I had seen them before several times in demos.

The first kept on insulting me with the dirtiest slurs and words, which actually left me feeling he was talking about himself instead. He gave me the first kick, which invited other legs to join in. These were moments of so much pain, so many insults, so many hits.

The second was one of the Public Security (Al-Amn Al-3am) officers. After he saw the blood pouring from my nose and mouth he tried to stop the beating. He was shocked when he was banned from doing that. All of this is happening while I’m on the floor, with their feet sending my body pain signals all over.

The third did most of the beatings. He is also the one who dragged me on the floor and staircase till I was shoved in a blue police van. He kept on hitting me, and asked for my mobile, which I was carrying at the Press Syndicate. His, and the others’, slurs where directed at me, my mother and father… I was seated in the van behind the driver’s seat, while he sat across me, and kept on hitting my face strongly and swiftly.

I can’t say I held on for a long time while they were beating me in the building entrance, back in Abdel Khaleq Tharwat. After they threw me to the floor, and found myself bleeding, I kept on screaming. I don’t why, but I was scared, and it’s human. And it’s my right to fear death on their hands without anyone knowing anything about me.

After I got into the van, I was told to put my head between my knees, and of course I obeyed their order. As soon as I did, they started hitting me on my back with all their strength.

I can say I was completely silent till they said they arrived. They took me out of the van, and went up three steps, then another relatively narrow staircase, before they led into a wide corridor, then to another staircase. Finally, they threw me in a room, and the beatings started again.

Before that, back in the street and the building entrance, the beatings went on for at least 20 minutes, and targeting all my body. Also in the street, every animal hit any spot he could reach in my body. This even led them on occasions to kick one another’s legs, which was in my interest I guess to decrease the beatings I receive.

On the way to the place they took me to, I heard one of them saying, “Close off the Garden City traffic light, and don’t let anyone pass, for the Sheriff’s car.â€� I knew then I was in Qasr el-Nil Police Station, as there were no other police stations in Garden City. Also the stair steps I walked on is similar to those of Qasr el-Nil’s.

Inside the police station, it was different. The beatings targeted places in particular, which showed more professionalism in practicing torture and sadism.

The started repeating one sentence, “What the fuck brought you today?� Then, they hit me in several places on my body, till someone ordered them, “take his pants off.� They unbuttoned my trousers quickly, while he shouted “you are a fag, wearing colored underwear.� Inside, I wanted to laugh, but the injuries my face sustained and the blindfold they had on my eyes prevented my facial expressions. After that, he started rubbing my left testicle, I think, with great pleasure. The pain was terrible. He kept on doing it for three minutes, during which I was screaming asking him to stop so that I can catch my breath. He took down my underwear, and tore it to pieces, and kept on hitting me on different parts of my body asking me to bend down. I refused, but they forced me. Then, this man, the one with the angry rough voice, inserted a paper in my anus. They kept doing their job, beating me, till I heard him say, “Lift his trousers up. May God curse he who looks, and he who’s being looked at.� I couldn’t help but appreciate so much the faith this man might have had sometime.

After that, I was asked about the money I had in my pockets, and whether Dr. Hani Enan gave it to me. I said I borrowed it from my friend Mohamed Taima. They asked me about my mother, and told me she was sick in Alexandria, and that she will die before she sees me. Then I felt so much remorse for not traveling to see her as soon as I was released.

A short while later, another person, I think I know well, came in and told me: “Do you know now, @#$%, that you are worth nothing, and if we wanted to get you, we would get you? We would get you in three minutes you son of a dirty woman.â€� I was silent. I couldn’t figure out anymore what’s happening around me. The beatings were almost over, when I was told to lie on my stomach. He stood on my back with his feet and said, “you sons of $#%^@! As long as I’m in the Maktab el-Mokafha, the “Counter Bureau,” I will screw the shit out of you. You are all not even worth 10 piasters.â€� It was then that I recognized he was one of the sick people, called the “Mr. President Securityâ€� officers, formerly known as “State Security.â€�

He then added, “What brought you today you son of #$%^? True you didn’t chant, but you are acting important, giving interviews to journalists and satellites.� Finally he added, “I brought you the other pimp. He’s in the other room.� I asked him “whom?� He answered, “Essam al-Islambouli’s fag.� I said, “Whom? I don’t know.� He answered “Karim el-Shaer. You are pretending to be thugs. Alright. This time it’s a case, and you’ll never see Earth again… And your mother will die without seeing you…�

He finished talking, and ordered me to sit on the floor. I sat for more than two hours, scared of stretching my legs lest someone hit me, till they came to handcuff me, and put me blindfolded inside the prisoners’ truck. I heard someone i
nside saying “Karim, with whom you were in the car?� I knew then he was with me. The truck moved, and for few moments I thought I was on the road to Lazoughli. However, as the we crossed freeways with no change in direction, I assumed we were either heading to State Security HQ in Nasr City, or to the State Security Prosecution in Heliopolis, which we should name Waleed al-Dessouqi’s branch-Heliopolis—and that’s where we went.

Before they let us into the detention cell, they took off the blindfold, but not the handcuffs. First, they denied us water and going to the restroom. After a while, they left us, but I still went to the restroom, handcuffed, in their company.

After that, they called my name, and went upstairs to see the chief prosecutor. As soon as I got in, he asked me, “Who did this to you?� I told him the story, so he said, “ok, I’ll start the interrogation.� I asked him, “where are the lawyers?� He said, “Are there lawyers? If they are present, I’ll send for them. Go wash your face and come back.�

I got into the toilet, and stood in front of a mirror. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I saw someone else standing with red eyes, swollen face, and a bare chest full of cuts and bruises.

I returned to the chief prosecutor’s office, to find Gamal Eid, and another lawyer called Mr. Sayyed. I felt secure as soon as I saw Gamal, as after all he is a dear friend. The interrogation started. They told me to record every injury and how it happened to me, where, when and by who. Moments later, Ragia Omran came in with Ahmad—they are two lawyers. After I recorded my injuries, I said I refuse to be interrogated in front of the State Security Prosecution, and asked for a magistrate.

I left the Prosecutor’s building, after I spoke on the phone with Nora, Manal, Salma, Walaa, and Salma’s mother Dr. Mona. I felt so much pride and strength having all of them around me.

After all of this, I found myself in front of the gate of Tahqiq Tora Prison. Between the time of my arrest, till my arrival at Tora, the time passed was no more than eight hours.

Before I got into the prison, I saw Nora and Manal who were behind me, following the Prisoners’ Truck. Manal’s laughter and Nora’s smiles mean a lot to me. I one wrote to Nora that I used to remember her laughter and say “Tomorrow Egypt will be better.�

I am now in Tora Prison. I admit I miss Ahmad Droubi, Salma, Manal, Walaa, Nora and everybody. But I have friends and brothers here… Kamal, Maher, Walaa and Alaa.

Mohamed el-Sharqawi,

Tahqiq Tora Prison, Cell 8-1

….

For those of you, dear readers, who are wondering what Maktab el-Mokafha, the “Counter Bureau,â€� mentioned in Sharqawi’s letter means–this is short for Maktab Mokafhet el-Shyou3ia, the “Counter-Communism Bureau.â€� (Yes, I’m not joking wallahi.) It is a department in State Security Police, which was actually inherited from the Political Apparatus, the pre-1952 predecessor of Egypt’s State Security Police.

The Counter-Communism Bureau’s job is to infiltrate, monitor, and crack communist, and generally left-wing, organizations in Egypt. The director of that bureau now is State Security Lt. Colonel Waleed el-Dessouqi. Several leftist activists have previously accused Dessouqi of involvement in their interrogation under torture.

On another note, I visited last night Ahmad el-Droubi, who’s been recently released, at his home in Heliopolis. I couldn’t recognize him initially, as they shaved his long Ché-like hair and he grew a beard. Droubi was in good spirit, and his morale was high. He shared his prison stories with me and other fellow AUC alumnus. He still hasn’t lost his sense of humor. Droubi, and other friends, had gone earlier on Saturday morning to Tora again, this time as visitors not prisoners, to see Sharqawi. Droubi and another friend told me, though bruised and fatigued, Sharqawi was also in good spirit, and determined not to let the abusers go unpunished.

0 thoughts on “Letter from Sharqawi”

  1. […] So, they finally released Ahmed Al Droubi , one of the bloggers who got arrested, which would leave Alaa, Asma and Malek in priosn. However, Sharkway, who was just released a few days ago, decided to go to the May 25th Demo, and did nothing except hold a sign that said " I want my rights back". And for that he got kidnapped by state secuirty, arrested, beaten up, tortures and sexually assaulted. His account of what happend is right here . […]

  2. Horrible, disgusting to say the least. Beating up, and sexually abusing citizens is a crime, at least in my books. I hope reforms take hold and transforms Egypt. In the meanwhile have faith in your friends, family and fellow citizens who need a lot of patience and endurance. Let nonviolence shown the patnh tpo freedom. The principles of Mahatma Gandhi will show you victory.

    But I feel helpless and wish such such atrocious violence dealt on unarmed citizens coems to end, not only in Egypt but the world over.

    Venkatesh
    USA

  3. […] after checking out a story on yahoo, i started finding site after site of people who are oppressed and are using the internet to speak out. very interesting and it is hard to feel how lucky we are as americans until we encounter and see what people around the world are going through. […]

  4. I really wonder – we human beings are soo base now, that our actions are that of a sophisticated animal – tails and all. I assume that the so called Eqyption authority must be made up of persons ( Moslems, Christians, etc). But surely they are false Moslems / Christians for ignoring the basic human rights sanctioned by both the Qur’an and the Bible. Are we allowing ANIMALs in the shape of humans to have authority over us?
    I agree with Dave – adopt Martin Luther King’s method and strategise it with mass communication. Ppl in the wrong are always scared of mass / public judgement.
    Whatever u do, persevere (istiqamah). May God bless you.

  5. Having the conviction of martin Luther King or Ghandi is one thing, but that must be coupled with a deeply rooted belief in divine intervention. You must truly belief in the oneness of humanity and love even your oppressors seeing them as victims of years of brainwashing. If everybody is a victim, then we can empathize and maintain calm in the storm. Dont let the vile nature of their deeds keep you from loving them as children of God. Your witness will eventually free them from the bonds of evil, though it may come only with the taking of your own life. this is the most difficult sacrifice for us, yet the most redemptive as well.

    peace

  6. My Serbian experience just helps me to show all respect of mine and to say:’ Fuck off, you mutherfuckers!’
    Hej Mubarak, Milosevic is waiting for you. Don’t let him wait too long!
    I lost my faith so I don’t believe such a sacrifice
    is worth, but I support all the people that believe they are strong enough to change something and to break the system! The others bring decisions for us, but go for your battle and kick them under their belts!

  7. why dont the people of egypt rebel i mean why not another civil war that police station and a prison would be my first targets and then work your way up

  8. […] بعدها بيومين اتنين زرناه Ù�ÙŠ سجن طرة.. الكدمات كانت مالية جسمه ومش عارÙ� يتكلم أو يبلع.. وعامل بذراعه جبيره اÙ�تراضية لصدره.. لكن كمان كان كاتب شهادته بتÙ�اصيل وقائع التعذيب.. شهاده بتبين قد ايه هو ذكي وناشط سياسي حقيقي Ù�ÙŠ دولة بوليسية.. طول Ù�ترة الضرب والتعذيب كان بيحسب الوقت ويركز Ù�ÙŠ احساسه بالمكان.. حكالي أنه Ù�ÙŠ القسم كانت يداه مكبلة أمام صدره.. وكل ما يضربوه على ظهره ينحني أكثر ويحاول ازاحة الغمامة عن عينيه شيئا Ù�شيئا بدون أن يلحظوا.. شرقاوي استطاع أن يحتÙ�ظ بانسانيته وسط موقÙ� لا انساني ويضحك على الأبله الذي نزع عنه ملابسه قائلا “خول ولابس سلب ملون”! شرقاوي كان يضحك ويقاوم ويÙ�ند مشاعر الخوÙ� التي يشعر بها ويحاول أن يكون منتبها ويجمع المعلومات ويتعرÙ� على الجناة.. كان عارÙ� أنه خارج.. وأن هيكون Ù�يه جمال عيد.. ومنظمات دولية.. وأصحاب وأهل.. وأن لسة المعركة ماخلصتش […]

  9. […] Ten minutes passed, and I’m still pushed to the floor. I concluded I was to be detained today. I wondered whether I’ll be taken to the Qasr el-Nil police station for a Sharqawi-style treatment, or would I be taken to Lazoughli, for a friendly meeting with State Security officers. I also tried to look around me from where I was lying down searching for the three disappeared activists. I couldn’t see any. […]

  10. […] 3eid said his client, whose body is healing from the torture marks, suspected the security wanted to destroy the old report made on Sunday, (the report hasn’t been disclosed yet to 3eid) and replace it with a new one that does not bear witness to his clients’ treatment in police custody. […]

  11. […] “Sharqawi was solid,â€� said Ahmad Seif. “He refused to be interrogated by the chief State Security prosecutor, who is the same person who interrogated him on his first night of arrest, and who refused to provide him with medical help. Sharqawi protested, and asked to be investigated by a magistrate. We stayed in the room for only ten minutes, after which Sharqawi was returned to Tora once more.â€� […]

  12. i just wanted to say how brave you are . I recognize in Egypt the age old mix of corruption & brutality that democracy is supposed to destroy. I t grieves me more than I can say to have been a tourist there, aware of the hardships of the people yet helpless to do anything. It is good to hear that the fight for what is right goes on – not merely the fight for what is Islamic. I still do not understand what it is that oppressors fear – loss of their wealth? Here in England we have lived in peace & freedom for so many years & yet the rich have not been persecuted, & the poor are generally freely educated & able to eat & be part of the political process. I am proud of my heritage, though ashamed of the current governments sin in its heavy hande oppressive war. We seem not to have learned much from our previous acts of Oppression in iraq.
    Peace be with you.

  13. […] One of the bloggers most recently arrested, Moahmmed al-Sharqawi, said that police sexually assaulted him. Gamal Eid, who is part of a team of lawyers defending the bloggers, said that Sharqawi was badly beaten when rousted from a Cairo street last Thursday during a demonstration. […]

  14. […] I received a follow up from Nora Younis: Rozza felt hopeful with the political mobility and ran for the Nov 05 parliamentary elections. He used Sadat quote in his campaign and printed it on flyers. Sharkawi was one of the active Youth for Change leaders to help Rozza lead his street campaign and rallies. Moreover, he lived 40 years with and for people but he died alone. He was found in his office after 48 hours of silence. His friends got worried about him and broke in the office to find the body. tragic – Tragic indeed… […]

  15. […] State Security Prosecutor renewed today the detention of Mohamed el-Sharqawi and Kareem el-Sha3er, the two Youth for Change activists who were detained and brutally tortured by State Security police on May 25, 2006. […]

  16. […] At any rate, the prison did not even get me a bones medical specialist, as the prosecutor ordered. Just, every two days, a doctor passes by, and writes a medical report on my condition. The last person who came and wrote a report about my medical condition was today, Monday. He discovered I had a fracture in my seventh rib, and my left hand wrist, that needs a surgery and the insertion of metal plates. And I took a paper from him saying that, but he refused to mention everything in his official medical report…. […]

  17. […] تدهورت الحالة الصحية للناشط محمد الشرقاوي مع تجاهل الشرطة توÙ�ير العلاج اللازم لإصابات لحقت به بعد إختطاÙ� امن الدولة له من وسط القاهرة وتعذيبه أثناء الإختطاÙ� ÙˆÙ�ÙŠ قسم شرطة قصر النيل قبل ثلاثة أسابيع تقريباً ويشكو الشرقاوي من آلام مبرحة تتزايد بشكل خاص ليلاً Ù�ÙŠ منطقة الصدر التي أشتكى منها منذ إيداعه سجن طره وحبسه 15 يوما ثم تجديد حبسه الأربعاء الماضي 15 يوماً أخرى بتهمة إهانة مبارك  ورغم المخاوÙ� التي تأكدت Ù�يما بعد، لم يٌعرض الشرقاوي على أخصائي أو استشاري عظام ÙˆÙ�قاً لقرار النيابة Ù�ÙŠ العرض الأول عليها، وأكتÙ�ت الشرطة بمرور طبيب كل يومين أو ثلاثة لتوقيع كشÙ� ظاهري عليه ثم كتابة تقرير عن حالته، وصدر أخر تقرير الأثنين الماضي    […]

  18. sharkawi, your pain is ours. Oneday you will be out and those ignoring the natural law will be crashed by the law

  19. What happened is to be condemed . To say what happened is unique to Egypt is absurd. I fear the terror is used by all states as well as gangs, this includes our so called demcratic states , how about Guantnamo is what is happening there any better? .

    What about Israel the apparent saviour of democracy in the Mid East? surely they too need to be condemed for how they de-humanise and treat the Palestinians.

  20. What I read makes me fear the Arab and Moslem countries even more. We in Israel want peace and if the Arab treat their people this way how can we jews expect to live side by side with such Barbaric Gov’s
    Imagine how the Jews imprisoned by Nasser must have fealt after simialr treatment before they had to leave EGYPT.

    We have offered peace many times at great risk to us . This BB convinces me we cannto deal with exisitng Gov’s they are savages,
    We need many more years before we can deal as civilised nations on equal terms,.

    Just think if this happens in Egypt I dread to think what hapopens in Sudan , Yemen, Saudi, Syria etc…

    May there be peace in Egypt but I am not sure the region is ready for democracy , it could end up with many Lebanon and Iraq situations.

    Anyone remember how democracy failed Egypt in the past? if you read history this is the excuse Nasser used to get ri of the king, look at the mess he created, given time the Arab nations will join the rest of the world, at one time the Arab civilsation kept the world going today they need time to get back their past glory

    Good luck to you all – a genuine well wisher .

  21. Thanks for your well wishes Shapiro, and for being touched by Sharqawi’s story. This is exactly what happens, however, to Palestinian “terror suspects” who fall in the hands of Israel’s Shabak, as documented by international (as well as Israeli) rights watchdogs.

  22. […] Around 300 activists demonstrated Tuesday evening in front of the press syndicate, calling for the release of the pro-democracy detainees. The demonstrators included several of the recently released detainees, who showed up dressed in the white prison costumes they wore in Tora. The scene was beautiful. Released activists who haven’t seen one another since they got out of prison were hugging, and in tears. Others were recalling their prison stories, and exchanging jokes and laughters. Veteran socialist Kamal Khalil, and his colleagues Wael Khalil and Ibrahim el-Sahary got the lionshare of hugs and kisses. They led the demonstrators, in chants against Mubarak, and against State Security police. Central Security Forces surrounded the syndicate. The usual support brigades of baton-wielding plainclothes thugs were also present, together with few officers from State Security’s CounterCommunism’s Bureau. However, no hassels were witnessed, and one could get into the syndicate easily. The one-hour protest was followed by a conference, organized by the Liberties’ Committee. Several released detainees took the poduim, and shared their experiences with their supporters. Kamal Khalil denounced any talks between the opposition and Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, called for the release of Dr. Ayman Nour, Sharqawi, Sha3er, and the 700+ Muslim Brothers detainees. Kamal also condemned the US support for Mubarak and Israel, affirming that the movement for change in Egypt sees their democracy cause to be organically linked to other regional causes, most importantly Palestine and Iraq. Kamal also expressed his sorrow for the loss of his mentors and colleagues, Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly, Youssef Darwish and Ahmad Rozza, who passed away while he was in prison. “Rest in peace,” he said to his lost comrades. “I want to assure Hilaly the socialist movement has been revived. The Communists in Egypt are only getting stronger day by day. You taught us a lot, and we will not fail you.” I went out later with 3alaa, Manal, and Malek to a friend’s place where we were supposed to party. Unfortunately, after two hours of laughter, we were showered with SMSs about the Israeli invasion of Gaza. We lost the mood for partying, and decided to go home and follow the news. Israeli tanks, as I write now, are rolling into north and south of the strip. Israeli F-16s have bombed two bridges in Gaza’s central zone. Gaza is now in darkness as Israeli jets shelled the only electric power station Gaza has. […]

  23. […] 3alaa Seif, the leftist blogger who has recently come out of prison, is appealing to you to help release his friends Mohamed Sharqawi and Kareem el-Sha3er. Please check out the appeal on Human Rights First website. 3alaa, and other leftists, have been also campaigning for the release of Muslim Brothers detainees. Mr. El-Sa3id Ramadan, the editor of Ikhwan Web, sent me a list of the MB detainees who were picked up during the pro-democracy demos. The number of detainees had exceeded 900 since last March, but it has gone down to less than 600 detainees at the moment, according to Ramadan, as there has been some recent releases. The list is in Arabic, and there are missing names yet, which Ramadan has promised to send in soon. We’ll be updating the list as we receive more names. (If you are a Muslim Brother activist, and know more names, please contact the website administrator, and we’ll add the names you know.) […]

  24. […] Around 500 demonstrators gathered in front of the Press Syndicate today, to denounce the Israeli military operations in Gaza. The protestors, mostly nationalists and leftists, chanted against Israel’s assault on Gaza, the US support for Tel Aviv, and against the Egyptian Mukhabarrat whose agents are involved in mediations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The demonstrators, led by the two Kamals (Kamal Khalil and Kamal Abu 3eita), also chanted against Mubarak, his son, and the Egyptian businessmen who have links with Israel. The demonstrators called for war against Israel, abolition of the Camp David agreement, and halting the Egyptian cement and iron exports to Israel (some of which go into building the illegal Zionist settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories). The chanting and the singing went on for an hour, on the doorsteps of the syndicate. Cars driving through Abdel Khaleq Tharwat Street where slowing to watch the demonstrators, and some flashed signs of support. Kamal Khalil, one of the Revolutionary Socialists’ leaders, called for the release of Sharqawi, Sha3er, Dr. Ayman Nour, and the Muslim Brothers detainees. Kamal reiterated the socialists’ line on Palestine: “The road to Jerusalem, passes through Cairo,” he shouted addressing the crowd. “Our liberation from Mubarak’s rule in Cairo, is linked to the Palestinians’ struggle for liberation from Zionist control, is linked to the Iraqi armed resistance to the American invasion. Every blow we strike against Mubarak here in Cairo, is a plus for the Palestinians and Iraqis. And every blow they strike against the Americans and Israelis is a boost for us. It is obvious now America is not interested in democracy. We never had an illusion to start with they were sincere about their proclaimed goals. Down with America! Down with Israel! Down with the Arab regimes!” An hour later, the protestors got into the syndicate, where Fathi Hammad, member of Hamas’ politburo made a speech, describing the plight of the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. “We have no other means, but kidnapping occupation soldiers to free our people from Israel’s prisons,” he said. “There are women and children incarcerated. Talks never brought us anything. The Israelis promised to free the prisoners before, but all what they do is releasing common criminals or those whose sentences are about to finish.” […]

  25. […] Detained Youth for Change activist, Mohamed el-Sharqawi is blogging from prison, in a series postings titled, Ayyam al-3ozla (Days of Isolation). Sharqawi’s detention was renewed last Wednesday by the State Security Prosecutor for another 15 days. He remains in Tora prison with his colleague Karim el-Sha3er, and hundreds of Muslim Brothers detainees. […]

  26. […] Amnesty International issued a statement Friday expressing concerns over the govt’s new “anti-terror law” currently in the making. One of Mubarak’s promises during his “electoral campaignâ€� last year was the abolishing of the notorious Emergency Law, with which he ruled Egypt since 1981, and replace it with an “anti-terror law.â€� The Emergency law is regarded as the Grim Reaper in the nation’s political scene. It gives the government abusive powers to lock any suspect for 6 months, break demonstrations, and stiffle political life. Though the government claims it’s only used against “terrorists and drug dealers,” it’s clear who is the law used against: Sharqawi, Sha3er, 3alaa, Ibrahim, Kamal, Wael, and hundreds of other activists from the movement for change, as well as thousands of detainees who are languishing in prisons since 1981, and millions of Egyptians in their daily life encounters with the Egyptian police. Of course, as we know, our president’s promise went with the wind (together with few others) as the NDP-controlled parliament voted last April to extend the law for another two years, fearing a “legal vacuum if the emergency law is abolished nowâ€� as Mubarak put it. Now that the regime’s legal experts are well cooking the new anti-terror law, Amnesty International echoed the fears expressed by Egyptian rights activists and opposition group in a statement and memorandum sent to Mubarak. […]

  27. […] Darkness on the Edge of Cairo by John William Salevurakis Every day I walk from my fashionable neighborhood to the university and pass a pair of very kind, white-uniformed police officers. They stand in their almost blindingly clean attire, only a block from my crumbling apartment building, smoking Egypt’s cheapest Cleopatra cigarettes and directing traffic. “Ya Pasha!” they shout, “Habibi!” This is my daily greeting as I pass and kiss each of them on both cheeks. Since I came here from Utah nearly two years ago, I have been “a ruler” and their “dearest one” nearly every day. I don’t smoke but they commonly offer me a cigarette so I will take the time to uneasily chat in my pidgin Arabic. We talk about mundane things like the summer heat or when I’ll again be visiting America or Europe. In Cairo, the mundane is really of immense value as a symbol. It is a social ritual, it seems, representing calm and a certain degree of material prosperity, a sign that one can afford to be concerned about such things pertaining to one’s self and others. With regularity, however, the calm is now broken on the edges of Cairo, and the darkness, fueled jointly by domestic and foreign powers, is creeping in from the edges of town. Everybody’s got a secret, it seems. On May 25th, Karim Al-Shaer and Mohammed Al-Sharkawy were arrested at a local protest and taken to the Kasr El Nil police station near my apartment. They were beaten and tortured, and Al-Sharkawy was sexually abused, and then turned over to State Security Forces, at which point their long-term futures became even more uncertain. The two were then allegedly denied medical care and remanded to the Tora Prison for a minimum of 15 days under Egypt’s widely criticized yet strikingly familiar “Emergency Laws” which have been in place, almost without interruption, for the last 38 years. A second protest on June 2nd (Correction: actually it was June 1st) saw the detainment of three Egyptians and an L.A. Times reporter who also had his camera smashed by police in front of the Kasr El Nil station. It was loudly and repeatedly noted by security: “There’s no permit for a protest today for the demonstrators. There is no permit for the coverage by reporters!” Historically, no one has asked any questions when faced with statements such as these . . . but that obedience is starting to evaporate. This cycle of demonstrations and arrests is becoming more frequent as the darkness extends further toward the heart of the city. The calm that generally characterizes Egypt in the region is shattered in support of journalists and judges who are being oppressed by the Mubarak regime. The mundane is perhaps most foundationally overshadowed by popular frustration over last year’s forced re-election of President Hosni Mubarak. It is common knowledge here that voter fraud was rampant and neither journalists nor judges are being allowed to voice this reality. Support for those who do voice it is then swiftly met with brutality or the credible threat of it. What’s more, the American government issues only occasional communiqués of concern regarding these events of repression and hails Egypt as a fertile root of democracy in the region. On June 2nd, the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt expressed “disappointment” but continued to simply state: “We don’t know all the facts. We know that there are at least two sides to every story.” A day later, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in which Tom Casey said, “We are troubled by the recent reports that Mohammed Al-Sharkawy as well as Karim Al-Shaer were arrested and, during their arrest and detention, were tortured.” He continued to soften American concern by adding, “If those allegations are true, that would certainly be a violation of Egypt’s own laws” and “If the allegations are true, what we want to see happen is. . . .” What a repulsively inappropriate assertion of either doubt or diplomacy, given that a political activist in the region’s first true “democracy” was just reportedly sodomized with cardboard in a police station. Of course, maybe the definition of “democracy” is somewhat flexible as all of this was taking place a mere two weeks after President Mubarak’s son, Gamal, had met with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National Security Advisor Steve Hadley while visiting the U.S. on “private business.” At my university, I teach economic principles largely to the children of ministers in the Mubarak government or American students privileged enough to spend a semester or year abroad. When controversial political topics invariably arise, I make uneasy jokes about the room being bugged or offending someone’s father with my impending comments. Everyone laughs . . . but the darkness is here in my classroom, too, and perhaps only temporarily hiding behind the mundane graphical representation of supply and demand or the oblique writings of Thorstein Veblen. I still pass the usual white-suited police officers on my street. I still exchange smiles and handshakes and still get offered cigarettes. We chat about the mundane . . . the weather, my wife, our dog, and their families in Upper Egypt. I look at them and wonder, though, about the true reach of darkness into Cairo, from where it originated, and how far it will ultimately travel. I look at the policeman’s aging face, tobacco-stained teeth, and graying wiry hair, thinking only that this smiling gentleman could very well have been jumping on the stomach of a prisoner yesterday or penetrating another with whatever implement happened to be convenient the week before. A mundane object like a cardboard paper towel roll assumes a new horrifying aspect in hindsight. The calm here remains generally widespread, making the surface of daily life courteous, yet it is widely understood to be a façade for the externally supported brutality maintaining it. The United States has found itself stuck fast in a tarry mass of its own prejudice and financial interests in Iraq and yearns for allies, any ally, in the region. The price for this is paid by Egyptians who are victimized in the name of domestic political stability as well as by Americans, even Utahns, who find themselves witness to domestic imprisonments without trials, remote European “interrogation facilities,” or warrantless domestic surveillance in the name of insulation from terror. Hearing I have contracted to stay in Cairo for another three years, people of varied origins — including Americans — often ask me if I feel “safe” in what they perceive to be the darkness completely external to their own lives. My response to Americans is simply, “Do you?” […]

  28. […] As always before each demo, I didn’t know what to expect, and my stomach refused anything but cigarettes and coffee. I met my friend Sally Sami–a long time friend from university who is currently a journalist and rights activist–as soon as I arrived in downtown, and things did not look good. There were nine Central Security Forces trucks, full of conscripts, parked in Mohamed Mahmoud Street in front of the AUC entrance. Three more CSF trucks were in the middle of Tahrir Sq., but full of Baltaggiya (the plain clothes thugs). In front of 3omar Makram mosque, at least four CSF trucks stood close to the US embassy in Garden City. Tahrir once more was under occupation by the security forces. That looks bad, I thought. As I approached Qasr el-3eini St., where the demo was supposed to happen, I received a phone call from a journalist friend asking if there was anything happening now at the Press Syndicate. None that I know off, I answered. “Well, the syndicate is under siege by tons of security,â€� he said. My impression was then that the government wouldn’t allow the parliament demo, and instead the security would intimidate the demonstrators to push them away to the syndicate, where they could demonstrate under the siege and watchful eyes of CSF, and away from the people, like what happened with numerous demos in the past. As I got into al-Qasr al-3eini St., loads of CSF, Special Operations, and plainclothes security officers everywhere. All I could see was only 50 demonstrators, carrying banners, surrounded by CSF conscripts, on the opposite side of the parliament, long way from the entrance. The officers were allowing few numbers of journalists and activists into the ring, but were shooing other people away. As soon as I get into the ring, there was a fat man in sweaty striped shirt taking pix of the demonstrators with a small digital camera. I thought initially he was a journalist, but then I found activists from Youth from Change pushing him away and shouting “Yalla ya Amn el-Dawla, ghoour!â€� (Come on State Security, piss off!). I met a journalist friend who was present earlier. He told me Mohamed 3abdel Quddoos–head of the Press Syndicate’s Liberties’ Committee–together with roughly five other demonstrators showed up in front of the Parliament’s entrance on the other side of the street, but were pushed by plainclothes and uniformed police officers all the way to the place where we were crammed up now. My friend told me the parliament’s entrance was now guarded by the plainclothes thugs. I told myself this was really interesting… our parliament, that’s supposed to be supreme symbol of lawmaking was under “protectionâ€� of criminal thugs! Wow! By 11:30am, though, it became clear something was happening on the other side of the street, where the parliament’s entrance was. A group of demonstrators managed to assemble there, and where circled by CSF troops, State Security officers, and uniformed officers from Qasr el-Nil Police Station. Mohamed 3abdel Quddoos tried to get out of the cordon and join the demonstration on the other side, which was clearly larger, but was barred by security. He went mad. He kept on shouting, “You either let us join them, or we’ll bring them here.â€� After few pushing rounds, the officers started letting demonstrators two by two, and everybody ran to the other side to join the demo. There were around 300 demonstrators, led by Gamal Fahmy, a Karama journalist and member of the Press Syndicate’s council. I saw also Gala 3aref the head of the syndicate, and other council members like Yehya el-Qallash, and a bunch of suits. The only reason, I thought, the security allowed this crowd to assemble was the fact that 3aref and the syndicate board was there. It would be a bit too much if they give such high-profile figures the usual police-treat, especially when there were loads of media cameras around. Gradually, the crowd swelled to 500 demonstrators, mostly left-wing journalists and their supporters, from the Socialist and the Nasserist tendency. Demonstrators were carrying banners in Arabic and English saying “Viva Corruption… Down with the Freedom of Press,â€� mocking the new law. The demonstrators chanted against the law, government, police, and virtually everything they deemed wrong in the country, but I thought it was interesting that Mubarak’s name was not mentioned at all. I asked a Socialist journalist present in the demo about the reason. He said 3aref and top union bureaucrats at the Press Syndicate Council, insisted on not portraying the demo as a confrontation with Mubarak, when the protest preparation was underway. They did not want to challenge the president in person. The result was that all the Kefaya’s anti-president slogans were changed so that the word “Mubarakâ€� was replaced with “tyranny.â€� Few minutes after 11:30pm, a handful of MPs in suits and one wearing a galabiya and turbine, from MB, Wafd, and independents came out from the parliament’s gate and joined the demonstrators. “We are here to show our solidarity with the journalists against a corrupt government,â€� shouted one bearded MP in a suit, whom I did not know his name. Demonstrators kept on chanting against the government, new press law, calling for the release of Sharqawi and the rest of the detainees. They also chanted against the rising prices of basic commodities, police brutality, and other issues of civil liberties. The Press Syndicate Council suits, with the exception of Gamal Fahmy, tried hard to temp down the militant mood of the demonstrators, trying to sway the demonstrators from chanting about anything but the press law. Still, it was clear the activists wanted to generalize their struggle, and link it with others. Palestine and Iraq were not mentioned, but as always the US was denounced for sponsoring Mubarak and other Arab rulers. “Our rulers are America’s dogs,â€� chanted a leftist activist, followed by others. The demonstration was still swelling in size, but we were all getting choked inside. The CSF ring was tight, and you could hardly breathe or find somewhere to stand among the crowd. I saw Mahmoud Amin el-3alem, the 78 year old veteran Marxist writer, who despite his fragile health insisted on coming. “I want to tell the youth, we the sheikhs are here with you today and everyday,â€� he said with his well-known ear-to-ear smile. “I’m optimistic when I see them today chanting with so much liveliness. There is so much resistance here today more than we had in the 1950s and 60s. There is a lack of fear from the government among many young ones I see today.â€� Wael al-Ibrashi was also present, and sounded defiant: “The government’s guys in the parliament are experts when it comes to cooking laws. This new law means we will not be able to open our mouths anymore about the government or corruption. This law is designed to put virtually all journalists in jail, except those who are government lackeys. But we will fight corruption and will not be silent over this government’s crimes.â€� Some of the released detainees were also present like Wael Khalil, Ibrahim el-Sahary, Malek, Mohamed 3adel, Akram al-Irani. Some of them told me they have to show up for every demo to show State Security that prison has not deter them from activism. “If we disappear, they’ll think what they did to us and Sharqawi worked. I try my best to show up for any event I can.â€� said one. Few minutes to 1pm, the journalists and activists decided to move to the syndicate. The security agents was in a dilemma. They were not keen on beating the demonstrators coz it would have been embarrassing, but at the same time they did NOT want the activists to reassemble anywhere and re-start a demo after they were “releasedâ€� from the CSF control. The police started allowing passage for demonstrators out of
    the demo ring, one by one or two by two. Gamal Fahmy stood by watching, to make sure no one was nabbed. In few minutes, though, red flags and black banners were out, and activists reassembled quickly and started marching. The security was panicking. I saw police generals running to 3abdel Quddoos and other senior syndicate figures saying this was unacceptable, but Quddoos insisted they were marching. It was an unusual scene for a Cairenes in a while. Last year there were loads of street demos and marches that security forces were willing (reluctantly of course). But there had been nothing of that sort since the start of the crackdown on pro-judges demonstrators in April. Around 400 activists, with socialist journalists with the Center for Socialist Studies in the front, started marching into Tahrir, passing by the AUC main campus, into Tal3aat St. I was like wooow.. Where is the CSF and the thugs? And indeed I could see panicking moves by senior officers on the scene, on their walkie-talkies. CSF conscripts were being moved left and right, but nowhere near the demonstrators. Uniformed officers and plainclothes State Security were walking behind and sometimes to the sides of the demonstrators. Some of them were taking pix of the march, focusing on the organizers. The march was attracting the attention of everybody, since basically traffic stopped in Tahrir, and later Tal3at Harb St., as the march got underway. As the march reached Tal3at Harb, the police was expecting the demonstrators to move left down the street that leads to the syndicate… but radical journalists from Socialists and Karama, steered the march right, and went down Qasr el-Nil St. The demonstrators continued marching, chanting slogans against the press law, corruption, tyranny. On pavement, and out on the balconies, people were watching. You got your usual mixed feedback: support, cynicism, mocking, cheering, or disgust… The march reached Mustafa Kamel Sq, when demonstrators turned left, going down Mohamed Fareed St., then to 26th of July Road where the High Court is located. The chants soon turned to support the judiciary, and denounce the new judicial law. I could see some syndicate suits freaking out, and trying without success to hush the demonstrators, and limit the chants to press issues only. 500 meters away from the syndicate, the CSF troops could be seen once more. Plainclothes State Security had accompanied the crowd all the way from Tahrir to the syndicate. One of the usual faces was the green-eyed officer Sherif el-Damatti, from State Security’s CounterCommunism Bureau, who brought the case of the Revolutionary Socialists’ to court in 2004. (The court dismissed the case later.) He could be seen wearing a stripped chemise, talking on his mobile phone, and every now and then took a picture of an organizer by his Cellular digital camera. The march reached the Syndicate building by 2pm. The building was under siege by CSF. On the two corners there were battalions of baltaggiya on guard. All throughout the march there were no security hassles, but scuffles broke out in front of the syndicate, as initially CSF cordons wouldn’t move to allow the protestors in. I saw 3abdel Quddoos being shoved by CSF officers and conscripts, together with Tarek Darwish from Al-Ahrar paper. Darwish lost it and started shouting hysterically, “This is a country of pimps,â€� addressing the CSF officers. “Down with Mubarak.â€� The scuffles went on for five minutes, before CSF extra troops were swiftly brought in, and pushed all demonstrators to the syndicate’s front steps. The demonstrators kept on chanting against the government, security, and then anti-Mubarak slogans were soon heard and repeated. It was 2:30pm by then, and I felt my brain was melting from Cairo’s July heat. I went inside the syndicate, drank some water, interviewed a bunch of activists, and chatted a bit with few friends before deciding not to wait for the press conf that was to be held, and just go home. […]

  29. […] I have received troubling news from activist sources that Youth for Change detainee Mohamed el-Sharqawi has been subject to death threats in Tora prison, where he’s currently detained. 3alaa has posted on his blog some details about Sharqawi’s current ordeal. […]

  30. […] UPDATE: Here’s a Reuters report on the new “tough press law.” The law, even with Mubarak’s “last-minute intervention,” is abusive and horrible. With this new press law, and the Administrative Court’s ruling in favor of blocking blogs that “threaten national security”–one can expect The Arabist contributors to join Sharqawi soon in Tora… […]

  31. […] Activists are calling for a protest in front of the Press Syndicate, Saturday 15 July, to demand the release of Sharqawi, Sha3er, and the Muslim Brotherhood detainees, who were picked up during security crackdowns on pro-Judges demos. […]

  32. […] Around 150 activists assembled on the doorsteps of the Press Syndicate, protesting the continued detention of Youth for Change activists Sharqawi and Sha3er, and hundreds of Muslim Brothers detainees. […]

  33. […] Karim el-Sha3er has been subject to a knife assault in prison, an activist source said. Sha3er and Sharqawi are the only two remaining Kefaya detainees, after the release of their fellow secular activists. (Hundreds of MB detainees are still in Tora.) […]

  34. […] Gamal 3eid–lawyer for Sharqawi and Sha3er and the leftist director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information–issued a statement today, welcoming his clients’ release, but called up on the newly appointed Public Prosecutor to investigate the Qasr el-Nil officers who are involved in Sharqawi’s torture and put an end to police brutality; to curb the powers of State Security officers; and to release the Muslim Brothers prisoners of conscience. […]

  35. […] I gotta say, though the AP story was good quality reporting, the title was rather funny: “Moderate Arabs look to curb militants.â€� “Moderate Arabsâ€�? It’s interesting to see AP’s standards for “moderationâ€� lie in how close the regime is to DC. One regime sodomizes dissidents, the other beheads them, but still according to AP they are indeed “moderate.â€� […]

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