Tag: egypt

‘Polygamy’ soaps irk feminists in Egypt

‘Polygamy’ soaps irk feminists in Egypt:

Cairo: Egyptian pro-women groups are disappointed that several TV serials being shown on local and Arab TV feature polygamy as a recurrent theme.

“I have been working in the field of women’s welfare for more than 20 years and I have never seen so many polygamists in Egypt as portrayed in TV dramas,” said Eman Beibers, the chairperson of the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women.

At least seven television serials with polygamists are on the air waves every night of Ramadan – when viewing rates in the Arab world peak.

“These shows by no means reflect real life in Egypt where many young people cannot afford the spiralling cost of marriage,” Beibers told Gulf News.

My TV isn’t working well so I haven’t had a chance to watch this year’s soaps. But Beibers does seem to have a point about TV’s obsession with polygamists…

Eissa no longer to be tried in Emergency Court

Following up on this post from a few days ago, the office of the General Prosecutor has decided not to try al-Destour editor Ibrahim Eissa in a State Security Emergency Court:

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt’s prosecutor general reversed a decision to send an outspoken tabloid newspaper editor who questioned President Hosni Mubarak’s health to the country’s emergency court of no appeal, a judiciary official said Friday.

Al-Dustour editor Ibrahim Eissa will instead face a regular criminal court where appeals are possible on Oct. 1, said the judicial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. He did not elaborate on the reasons why the prosecutor general reversed the decision.

One can only come to the conclusion that pursuing the trial in an Emergency court would be unnecessarily hurtful to what remains of Egypt’s image. The decision must have come from up high.

Egypt’s independent press to strike on October 7

Egypt press plans day without papers in rights protest:

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian independent and opposition newspapers will not publish on October 7 in protest at a government clampdown that has seen several journalists sentenced to prison terms in recent weeks.

Editors from 15 newspapers agreed to the protest “against the fierce campaign against the free press in Egypt” at a meeting late on Wednesday, according to a statement received by AFP on Thursday.

See recent entries in the media category for background.

al-Hodaiby answers Tahawy

Muslim Brother Ibrahim al-Houdaiby has responded to Mona al-Tahawy’s critical column in the Forward on the group. In this pieces he distances himself from Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef’s remark that she appeared “naked” because she was unveiled — not the first time I hear Ibrahim condemn al-Houdaiby in favor of the person many see as the MB’s real strongman, Khairat al-Shater. He also makes the argument that while the MB has not been successful at convincing the world (more importantly, I wold add many Egyptians) of its commitment to democracy, it is serious about establishing a dialogue with other political currents.

The Muslim Brotherhood Will Stand Up for All Egyptians:

Reading Mona Eltahawy’s September 21 opinion article, I felt more than ever that all Egyptians — regardless of their ideological orientation, gender or age — have a lot in common (“I Will Stand Up for the Muslim Brotherhood”). Eltahawy and I differ on much, yet we share a common objective and we struggle for the same cause of bringing real democracy, justice and freedom to Egypt.

Eltahawy is critical of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political orientation and stances on a number of issues, yet she stands with us in solidarity against the Egyptian government’s crackdowns. It is important that Egyptians of different political views defend each others’ political rights, as Eltahawy has done — and as several Muslim Brotherhood members, myself included, have previously done on behalf of opposition leaders Ayman Nour and Talaat El Sadaat and bloggers Kareem Amer and Sandmonkey.

Nor is that the only point on which we agree.

In her opinion article, Eltahawy criticizes the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, for calling her “naked” because she was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and pants. I could not agree more with her.

Not wearing the hijab, or headscarf, makes a woman unveiled, not naked. I realize how offensive it is to call someone “naked” for not wearing a headscarf, and I find Akef’s comment unjustifiable.

[…]

I agree with Eltahawy when she writes that the Muslim Brotherhood is “the last man standing in Egypt.” I sincerely believe this puts an additional responsibility on the group, as it must shoulder the burden of helping others to stand.

As declared several times by leaders including Deputy Chairman Khayrat El Shatir (who is currently being tried by a military tribunal), the Muslim Brotherhood realizes that no single party or group will be able to solve Egypt’s economic, political and social problems. It is for this specific reason that Muslim Brotherhood members need to hear constructive criticism and advice from their political rivals, so we can all help each other move forward in pushing for genuine reform in Egypt.

Frankly, I find that neither Tahawy nor al-Hudaiby make a particular convincing case, and I find it odd that they are having this argument in America’s premier Yiddish community magazine.

Eissa to be tried in State Security Emergency Court

I cannot believe that Ibrahim Eissa, fresh from a conviction earlier this month, will now face trial in a State Security Emergency Court:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – An outspoken Egyptian editor whose newspaper questioned the president’s health has been referred to a court notorious for handing down swift convictions of spies and Islamists, in a move condemned by rights activists Wednesday.

The referral of al-Dustour editor Ibrahim Eissa to State Security Emergency Court, whose verdict cannot be appealed, is the latest event in an unprecedented crackdown on the press that has seen the convictions against five newspaper editors and two journalists in the last few weeks.

“This is scary,” said Nasser Amin, Eissa’s lawyer and a legal rights activist said. “It’s one of the most dangerous courts for civil liberties in Egypt after the military tribunal.” Two weeks ago, Eissa was brought in for seven hours of questioning by a state security prosecutor on charges of disturbing the peace and harming national economic interests because of articles that ran in his newspaper repeating rumors that the president was seriously ill.

He was referred to trial for Oct. 1, but it wasn’t clear until late on Tuesday in which court he would be tried.

If convicted, Eissa would face sentences ranging from 24 hours to three years in prison, as well as a fine, said Amin. Only the president has the power to overturn the court’s sentence.

Once again — State Security Emergency Courts (which in years of reporting I’ve never seen hand down an acquittal) offer no possibility of appeal, only a presidential pardon.

Update: It now seems that prominent commentator and Kifaya signatory Muhammad Sayyed Said, who recently launched the newspaper al-Badil (The Alternative), is being sued by a lawyer (presumably from the NDP, like the others who have filed suits lately) over the presidential health rumors issue.

Egypt’s attack on the press continues

Egypt jails three journalists:

CAIRO (AFP) – A court on Monday sentenced the editor of an opposition newspaper and two other journalists to two years in jail for “damaging the image of justice”, in the latest case against Egypt’s media.

Al-Wafd’s editor Anwar al-Hawari, Mahmud Ghallab and Amir Othman were jailed for “having published untrue information which damaged the reputation of the justice system and the justice ministry”, the court ruled.

The three, who did not attend the hearing and remain free on bail pending an appeal, were also ordered to pay small fines, a judicial source said.

The judge accepted the case filed by several Egyptian lawyers after Al-Wafd had in January quoted Justice Minister Mamduh Mari as saying that 90 percent of Egyptian judges were not up to the job.

Mari said he had been misquoted and the lawyers then claimed the reports had indirectly damaged their image.

“We are not at war, we didn’t reveal military secrets. We only did our job as professional journalists,” Hawari told AFP after the sentencing, insisting on the accuracy of the quote.

It’s worth noting that this is the same Mahmoud Marei whom, for the past year, has led a multi-pronged attack on the judiciary by cutting salaries, denying funds to independent judges, reassigning them, refusing to meet with Judges’ Club leadership for months, etc.

White House criticizes Egypt on rights

White House criticizes Egypt on rights:

NEW YORK – The White House on Monday voiced displeasure with recent decisions in Egypt to crack down on dissenting voices within the media and to close a human rights group, saying it is “deeply concerned” about the moves.

“These latest decisions appear to contradict the Egyptian government’s stated commitment to expand democratic rights,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

The unusual public statement of discontent with the leadership in Egypt came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was having dinner in New York with Egypt’s foreign minister.

One supposes that this may have more to do with being embarrassed by the Washington Post again than anything else — another statement that carries no teeth and serves a domestic purpose.

Blogging Egypt’s Factory Strikes

Blogging Egypt’s Factory Strikes:

Whether or not this is picked up in the American press shouldn’t matter. It’s a story to pay attention to, however you can.

The textile factory at Ghazl el-Mahalla in the Nile Delta is Egypt’s largest, with over 27,000 workers. Nearly all of the factory’s workers went on strike last December to demand their yearly bonuses, which had been withheld and which provide most of their annual salary.

On Sunday, some 10,000 of those factory workers went on strike again, demanding 150-day shares of annual profits, improved industrial safety, and a raise in their monthly bonuses.

Within a few hours the number swelled to 15,000 as Egyptian police surrounded the factory.

The Egyptian government quickly declared the strike “illegal.”

“The numbers of strikers are expected to rise in the coming few hours…the factory is under police siege,” according to posts today by Egyptian blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy. His blog, 3arabawy, is one of Egypt’s most widely read in English. Along with Wael Abbas, an Egyptian blogger who gained international attention last year by posting (and continuing to post) videos of police brutality, el-Hamalawy is a go-to source on the rumblings of a wide scale labor movement in Egypt.

Keep track of Hossam’s frequent updates to follow news of the strike. And come on, American journalists in Cairo, make the effort to do a different kind of story and head over to Mahalla al-Kubra. They make the best taamiya in Egypt.

Update: AP has a report on the arrest of labor leaders.

Kassem given award, Diehl on Egyptian press

It’s with great pride that I learned that my friend and former boss Hisham Kassem, until a few months ago the publisher of al-Masri al-Youm, was given a well-earned National Endowment for Democracy 2007 Democracy Award. I also knew that he and the other recipients (from Burma, Thailand and Venezuela) got to spend 55 minutes with President Bush. Today Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl, who has led the newspaper’s campaign against the Egyptian regime, raises the issue of press freedom in Egypt and debriefed Kassem about his meeting with W:

The Egyptian publisher Hisham Kassem was in Washington last week to pick up the National Endowment for Democracy’s prestigious annual Democracy Award, in recognition of his role in jump-starting a free Egyptian press. Along with two other honorees, he spent nearly an hour in the Oval Office with President Bush, who spoke with feeling about his “freedom agenda” and his intention to pursue it after he leaves office.

But Kassem could not help but feel a little depressed. While he was being honored, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was directing a frontal assault against the island of liberty Kassem helped to create in Cairo — independent newspapers that have subjected Mubarak’s rotting autocracy to serious scrutiny for the first time. And hardly anyone in Washington seemed to care.

“Egypt was the least of his priorities,” Kassem said of Bush, who spoke more enthusiastically during their meeting about pushing for democracy in Burma, Venezuela and Russia. “You can feel Egypt is on the back burner right now. Everyone is in despair about the situation.”

Having spent some time with Egypt-watchers in and out of the administration in Washington last May, I came to the same conclusion.