Tag: Human rights

Syrian Cyber-Dissident Arrested

Via Reporters sans frontières:

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate release of arrested human rights activist Ibrahim Zoro, who regularly posts material on foreign-based opposition websites. It noted that two other people were in prison in Syria for posting similar material.

It said the state security service, whose agents arrested Zoro on 5 April 2007 in Damascus, were “as always, acting quite illegally” and his family had not been told why he was picked up or where he was being held. “It is more like a kidnapping than an arrest,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

Zoro, who belongs to Syria’s Kurdish minority, was helping to organise a seminar called “The Philosophy of Lies.” He has posted many articles in Arabic on websites such as the blog Tharway and Mengos.

Zoro, 47, has already spent seven years in prison, from 1987 to 1994, for belonging to the Syrian Communist Party. He is a member of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights in Syria.

Journalist Muhened Abdulrahman and writer Habib Saleh are also in prison in Syria for posting material online.

horytna.net on air

After sorting out some technical problems (and coping with traffic much higher then expected), horytna.net is now on air! The internet youth radio aims to promote tolerance in Egyptian society, by discussing topics such as human rights, women issues, education and others.

Good luck with that, of course, but at the very minimum the site produces badly needed local content to get more Egyptians online.

horytna.net is run by the Egyptian NGO Al Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies, founded by friend Ahmed Samih.

Listen in!

Mubarak wants military appeals court

The plot thickens:

Egypt’s president wants military appeals court
Wed 28 Mar 2007, 12:41 GMT

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has proposed a law to set up an appeals court for suspects tried before military tribunals, known for their tough and swift verdicts, a cabinet statement said on Wednesday.

Mubarak has sent the draft bill to both houses of parliament, dominated by his ruling National Democratic Party. Under the present law, only the president can reverse verdicts of a military court.

“This will provide more guarantees for those transferred to the military judiciary,” the statement said. It did not say how judges will be selected for the new court.

Could this be a response to the criticisms about Article 179? If so, it’s a pretty limited one.

Final Schedule: 5th Cairo Anti-War Conference and 3rd Cairo Social Forum جدول الندوات واللقاءات بمؤتمر القاهرة الخامس والمنتدى الإجتماعي الثالث

The final schedule for the Conference and Forum meetings is now available in Arabic and English. Click on the poster below to download it…

Time table of the Cairo Conference

I’ll be speaking in two meetings. The first is on the fight against police torture in Egypt…

Sorry, some last-minute rearrangements… I won’t be speaking at the anti-torture forum. Blogojournalist and friend Abdel Moneim will be kindly replacing me.

Cairo 3rd Social Forum
Raise your Voices against Torture
Activists against Torture
Friday 30th of March 2007
3.30 – 6.00 pm
Press Syndicate – 3rd floor
Slide show: Victims and Tormentors
Interventions by activists against torture
Testimonies by survivors and their families
Join us with testimonies and recommendations for an international movement against torture

منتدى مناهضة التعذيب

And the other one on “Citizen Journalism,” scheduled Saturday, 6pm, at the Press Sydicate 4th floor, Room 5..

I’ll be speaking on the Egyptian blogosphere, part of the following forum: “Young Journalists: State Oppression and Violation of Economic Rights, Saturday from 3.30-5.30 pm, The Press Syndicate’s 4th floor, Room 4

Blogs and political change in Egypt

The conference should be a golden opportunity for us ya shabab to exchange experiences with international and local activists. I hope to see as many of you there. Click on the cartoon below to download the invitation and a background on the conference in Arabic, English, and French…

Invitation to the 5th Cairo Conference & 3rd Cairo Social Forum

HRW on arrests of anti-referendum protesters

Full thing after the jump.

Egypt: Don’t Enshrine Emergency Rule in Constitution

Protesters, Journalists Assaulted on Eve of Referendum

(Cairo, March 26, 2007) – Proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Egyptian parliament on March 21 effectively remove basic protections against violations of Egyptians’ rights to privacy, individual freedom, security of person and home and due process, Human Rights Watch said today. Parliament overwhelmingly approved amendments to 34 articles of the constitution on Tuesday in a vote that closely followed party lines. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak scheduled a referendum on the amendments for today, weeks ahead of the expected date. Opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood said they would boycott the referendum.

Last night, security forces arrested at least 13 activists on their way to a protest against the proposed amendments. Eyewitnesses and victims told Human Rights Watch that plainclothes officers supported by riot police surrounded two groups of activists and bloggers in downtown Cairo at around 7 p.m. The plainclothes officers kicked and punched activists, assaulted a number of female protesters, and confiscated memory cards from three foreign photojournalists’ digital cameras. Two of the 13 were subsequently released, but the authorities have not provided any information on where the remaining activists are being detained. A spokesman for the opposition al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party today told Human Rights Watch that security forces surrounded their offices in Cairo, Alexandria, Kafr al-Shaikh, Buhaira and Port Said last night, and that authorities had detained six Ghad Party members.

Continue reading HRW on arrests of anti-referendum protesters

Monday: NYC Anti-Mubarak Protest

Egyptian activists in New York City are organizing a demonstration against Mubarak’s dictatorial constitutional amendments, Monday 26 March, in front of the Egyptian Consulate, from 12:30pm to 1:30pm.

NYC to demonstrate against Mubarak

The Egyptian Consulate in NYC is located at 1110 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10022.

For more information, contact Shehab Fakhry: shehabfakhry [at] yahoo [dot] com,
917-392-9408