Tag: egypt

Brothers and Comrades

Back to blogging freely, 3alaa posted something interesting yesterday on his blog, recalling his “release� experience in el-3omraniya police station, and more importantly, he sent strong message of solidarity to the Muslim Brothers’ detainees.
3alaa, the staunch secularist, bumped into the MB youth who were picked up during a summer beach trip in Marsa Matrouh. 3alaa speaks about how the misery of detention unites everyone, and how the brothers and the comrades became friends.
3alaa’s impression of the Brothers youth was that ‘they where from this new breed of islamists that reads blogs, watches al jazeera, sings sha3by songs, talks about intense love stories and chants “down Mubarak”. and being young most of them did not have any experience with prison before.‘
Interesting, coz it’s that same caliber of youth who are pushing the Islamist group towards moderation, and coordination with other secular forces. And it was them who pushed the MB’s leadership to join in the street protests after Kefaya presented both a daring model for breaking political taboos and, at the same time, a pressure on the group to take a stronger stand towards the regime, lest losing the base cadres who are eager for more confrontationalist stand vis a vis the government’s continuous crackdowns.
More raproachment is expected, and needed, between Islamists and leftists, in such a critical stage.

High school student fails exam for criticizing Bush

Remember when George Bush highlighted reforming education in the region, as a way of fighting “terror,� giving young Arabs a chance for a bright future and bla bla bla bla bla? Well, it seems to be working.
A high school student in a Nile Delta province failed her Arabic language exam two weeks ago for criticizing the US in a composition piece! Yes, I’m not joking wallahi.
Al-Wafd initially ran the story on Thursday, then the Qatari Al-Raya, and other media outlets picked it up. Alaa Farag Megahed, a student at the Sherbeen Modern Girls School, was taking her Arabic exam, when she was asked to write an essay on the “economic problems facing Egypt.�
It seems the girl wrote an essay, critical of Bush, and discussed the support given to corrupt dictators without much concern for their people’s needs.
As soon as her teacher at the “Control Room� (where exam papers are graded) read her essay, he went directly to his boss, who took her paper to the ministry of education branch in Dakahliya. The undersecretary for education, together with other ministry officials, sent for the girl, from her home, and brought her to the ministry for interrogation.
Her father was not allowed into the room, according to press reports, where Alaa was interrogated by three ministry and governorate officials, who accused her of belonging to a “secret organization.� Alaa could not understand half of the questions they asked. She was clueless, in tears. The ministry officials decided in the end to fail her in the exam, and ban her from taking the second term final exams!!!
The world is sure a safer place now, without terrorists like Alaa in our schools… Alhamdolillah!

Google Egypt

So it’s official, Google has arrived in Egypt. I guess that explains why whenever I type www.google.com, I get automatically diverted to www.google.com.eg with the default search language switched to Arabic.
Anyhow, you are still given the option of clicking on a link that will take you to google.com proper. I tried google-ing anti-Mubarak websites on the Egyptian google, and they still came out in the search results with no filter. So I guess we didn’t get the same bad deal the poor Chinese got.

Activists prepare for labor elections battle

Kefaya, Socialists, Workers for Change and labor union activists will meet Monday, 26 June, 7pm at the Center for Socialist Studies, to discuss strategy and tactics for the coming national labor unions elections, scheduled 20 August. The meeting will be open for the press. The center is located at 7 Morad St., in Giza. The center’s director, Kamal Khalil, and other recently released detainees will be attending the discussion.
Continue reading Activists prepare for labor elections battle

Leftist detainees released

Ibrahim el-Sahary, detained socialist journalist, called me five minutes ago. He’s free! Cheerful! He said he and a group of the detainees were taken from Tora Prison to State Security Giza premise (Gaber Ibn Hayyan) few hours ago, before they were released, including Wael Khalil, Kamal Khalil, and the rest.

Mabrouk! It’s a great day!

But again, we should NOT forget there are still two Youth for Change activists Mohamed el-Sharqawi and Karim el-Sha3er in Tora Prison, together with at least 700 Muslim Brothers detainees, after their arrest in pro-democracy demos. Their release is a cause leftists, liberals and Islamists have to lobby for.

Statement from 3alaa’s lawyers; New letter from Sharqawi

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has welcomed 3alaa’s release. Still, it denounced the State Security Prosecutor’s office, and called for reviewing its legal status. You can find the English statement here.
The Arabic statement is followed by a scanned copy of a letter from Sharqawi, dated Wednesday, complaining of maltreatment.

3alaa beaten up in 3omraniya police station

I received an SMS saying 3alaa was beaten up inside the notorious 3omraniya police station in Giza, where he’s currently locked up, pending release, following an order by the State Security prosecutor two days ago.
I spoke with his wife Manal. She says 3alaa was moved from Luman Tora prison to State Security’s premise in Giza (Gaber Ibn Hayyan), then to the 3omraniya police station last night, for the ever-lasting bureaucratic paper work. 3alaa was locked up in a tiny cell, full of criminals, some of whom were high on drugs and others were armed with knives and sharp objects, Manal said. Scuffles have broken out inside the cell between the criminals, who reportedly hit 3alaa several times. 3alaa spent the night standing on his feet, coz there was no room for him to sleep in that filthy cell. According to Manal, he managed to call her on the mobile phone, and he sounded in a very bad state, desperate to get out.
I called Ahmad Seif al-Islam, 3alaa’s father. He is still hopeful his son will be released in few hours.
Some activists and 3alaa’s family are standing at the moment in front of the police station awaiting the blogger’s release. On hearing the news 3alaa was beaten up, other activists are now on their way to the police station to protest 3alaa’s maltreatement.
This is bloody unbelievable! Let’s hope 3alaa gets out soon!

UPDATE: I just received breaking news….. 3alaa released!!!!!!!!
I called his wife on the mobile, but his sister Mona replied instead. She said 3alaa was beside her, talking on two cellular phones.. but she said he’s out… yes, finally out!!!! hohohohohoh!! MABROUK YA SHABAB! MABROUK YA TENNIN YA BAMBY!

UPDATE: Finally spoke with 3alaa. He’s in great spirit. I asked him, “Shall we meet up soon?” He answered quickly, “Of course, next demo!” followed by a long laughter…

UPDATE: Nora Younis posted a photo of 3alaa with Manal at home following his release.

All detainees to be released, except Sharqawi and Sha3er

I was just on the phone with Ahmad Seif al-Islam, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center and father of detained blogger 3alaa. He said all remaining non-Muslim Brothers detainees, around 20 Kefaya activists are to be released– including Kamal Khalil, Gamal 3abdel Fattah, Wael Khalil, Ibrahim el-Sahary–by a unexpected order from the State Security Prosecutor today.
Karim el-Sha3er and Mohamed el-Sharqawi were given another 15 days in prison, however. They, together with 3alaa el-Kashef (an activist from 3arish), had been the only activists referred today to the State Security Prosecutor, who decided only to release the latter, and renew the detention of the first two. The rest of the activists are to be released directly, sometime tomorrow from Luman Tora and Mazra3et Tora prisons.

MABROUK YA SHABAB!

3alaa Seif al-Islam, whose release was ordered yesterday, is still in Tora Prison as of the moment. His friends have expressed concern his release could be further stalled, but hoped he would be freed tomorrow. 3alaa has been blogging from his prison cell. His last posting was about “Kambuzz,” a “criminal” who was moved to their cell, as part of the “punishment” to the political detainees for hunger-striking. 3alaa wrote it seems the prison authorities’ policy has been bringing opposite results, with the “criminals” getting politicized and joining the dissidents’ cause.
And, we should not forget there are around 700 detainees from the Muslim Brotherhood still in prison, after being picked up in pro-democracy demos, from their homes, or summer camps. We all hope their release will follow soon. Continue reading All detainees to be released, except Sharqawi and Sha3er

3alaa to be released!!

State security prosecutor ordered today the release of detained leftist blogger 3alaa Seif al-Islam, who’s been locked up in Tora Prison since 7 May. 3alaa’s actual release, however, isn’t expected to happen before sometime tomorrow or Thursday, because of the notorious red-tape and paper-work his lawyers have to go through.

Mabrouk ya 3alaa! Mabrouk ya Manal!! Continue reading 3alaa to be released!!