Moved to my new website

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Covering "Blogging The Future" AUC event #GV09

I vote for Global Voices Advocacy

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

 

 

Global Voices Advocacy is really an awesome network for defending blogges and online activists around the globe against cencorship and phyiscal/virtual harrasments of all kinds. It also provides all kinds of support, technical and tactical, to bloggers and activists to optimize their performance. Follow it to find out how you can help defending bloggers around the world.

Murad is back – War on bloggers continue

Murad is still persisting on his war with bloggers. For more information you can go here , here , here , here and here.

via HMLC (Hesham Mubarak Law Center)

The High Administrative Court, first circuit, is going to hear the appeal presented by AbdelFattah Murad on the Administrative Court Sentence of refusing the lawsuit presented by him to block Human Rights Organisations’ websites. The court will be held at Saturday 4 April.

The HMLC report about the case (in Arabic)

The report translation

Blank Post for Tunisian Blocking.

Blogger Ahmed Abdel-Fattah is detained (now free) / Aya Youssef Detained

MB Blogger/Journalist Ahmed Abdel-Fattah just send a message through his Jaiku that he is detained and he is currently held in Dokky Police Station
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Update from Abna'a Masr (In Arabic)

News just reached us about our reporter, Blogger Ahmed Abdel-Fattah (Yalalally Blog), disappearance during covering the pro-Gaza caravan. The last thing Ahmed sent was about the blockade around the State Court by masses of Central Security Forces and Pseudo-Civil Karate troops for suppressing the caravan. Also there is news about the security assaulting Dr. Hamdy Hassan, the official spokesperson of the pro-Gaza caravan, and Dr. Abdel-Geleel Mustafa the General Coordinator of Kefaya Movement. Abna'a Masr demands the Ministry of Interior to release their reporter immediately depending on the government's declaration of Freedom of Press.

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Update:

Ahmed has just updated his Jaiku that he is free, news from inside Dokky Police Station saying that a journalist, working in Dostor Egyptian independent newspaper, is still held in the Police Station. Her name is Aya Mohamed Youssef. She is working in the Official Egyptian TV (ERTU) as well. She is interrogated for possession of leaflets against the regime (manshorat).

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Update:
Aya Youssef has been released earlier from the General Prosecution to the Dokky Police Station to return home.

Epitaph lost her blog

We are a group of Egyptian bloggers really bothered by the blockage of the two-year-old blog "Epitaph_87" ( http://www.epitaph-87.blogspot.com/) along her gmail account (epitaph87@gmail.com), since October, 4th , 2008. She has sent you her problem and requests on Google Help Center and Blogger Support, but in vain. We wish that you'd help us retrieve that blog and account and answer the requests of our fellow blogress, sending you from (epitaph_1987@hotmail.com), and hopefully ASAP!

Thank you

Elections: Your vote is in the John

Via MagicBox

MubarakPhone: I don't know what will you do more than this!!!

From Guebara

Usually MubarakPhone is not followed by any comment. But I want to say that I really hesitated before making this design, for really the situation is so hard and inhuman to make fun of it. 64 bodies are out till now, 8 of them are of unknown identity due to the complete distortion of their facial features. All this with an unknown number of bodies beneath the rocks, dead and alive. What is worse is a statement out speaking of converting the scene to a mass grave for the difficulties in extracting out the bodies and the high cose!!!

MubarakPhone: I don't know what will you do more than this!!!

Credit for the pic: Mohamed Ali

With Laila | Coming soon...

Coming soon to blogs near to you

On the next 19th of October

With Laila

For more information:

laila.eg.08@gmail.com

Egypt: No justice for 49 facing trial before emergency court

From the Amnesty international report about trial of 49 people in mehalla :

Photo by Hossam Hamalawy

The trial of 49 people before an emergency court for alleged involvement in the violent protests of 6 April 2008 in the city of Mahalla is due to resume on 6 September.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Egyptian authorities to stop trying individuals before special emergency courts that flout basic guarantees for fair trial.

On 5 April 2008, the government banned all demonstrations in advance of a general strike planned for 6 April in support of industrial action by textile workers in the city of Mahalla north of Cairo. Thousands of members of the police and security forces were deployed in Mahalla, Cairo and other cities.

The industrial action was called off after negotiations with officials and under pressure from the government, but violent protests broke out in Malhalla against the rise in the cost of living. At least three people, including Ahmed Ali Mabrouk, a schoolboy, died after being shot by the security forces and dozens were wounded due to excessive use of force. Around 258 people were arrested during the clashes and later released without charge.

The 49 defendants are being tried for a wide range of charges, including: assembly of more than five people with the aim of disturbing public order and security; deliberate destruction of public and private property; ransacking and theft; violent resistance and assault on police officers during the exercise of their duties; and illegal possession of firearms. If convicted they face up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

The defendants are the first to be tried by an emergency court following the Egyptian authorities' renewal of the state of emergency in May 2008. Emergency courts regularly use evidence obtained under torture and other ill-treatment to secure convictions, and their procedures routinely fall short of the basic guarantees for a fair trial. Judgments by emergency courts cannot be appealed against and become final after ratification by the President.

The trial, which started on 9 August before the (Emergency) Supreme State Security Court in the city of Tanta, north of Cairo, has been postponed upon the request of the defence lawyers in order to allow them to review the case files. The court also acquiesced to order expert examination of the damage to property allegedly caused by the defendants, and ordered the arrest of those defendants previously released on bail by the public prosecutor. When police officers later went to proceed with the arrests, they arrested relatives of the defendants who were not at home and took them into custody as “hostages” so as to force those wanted to surrender.

Torture and threats of sexual abuse

The 49 people who are facing trial were arrested after the clashes, between 13 and 18 April 2008. After their arrest they were blindfolded for up to nine days. Many of them said that while they were being held at the State Security Investigations offices in Mahalla and later in Cairo they were beaten, tortured with electric shocks and threatened with the sexual abuse of their female relatives.

When they were brought before the Public Prosecutor on 21, 22 and 23 April, their lawyers complained about the torture and other ill-treatment inflicted on their clients. No independent investigation is known to have been opened as a result. The main evidence used against the defendants are the confessions, allegedly extracted under torture, that they had thrown stones at the police, as well as the testimonies of members of the security forces and government officials. Some of the defendants stated that they had not even participated in the protests, this being confirmed by witnesses. These witness statements were dismissed by the Public Prosecutor.

All the defendants remained in detention until 2 June when the Public Prosecutor ordered the release on bail of 20 of them, including a 58-year old woman. Nine of those released were immediately rearrested under emergency legislation by orders of the Minister of Interior. All those in custody are currently held in Borj al-Arab Prison, near Alexandria. On 6 June, the Public Prosecutor referred their case for trial before the emergency court in Tanta.

Amnesty International is urging the Egyptian authorities to:

• rescind the decision to refer the defendants to the emergency court and order a retrial before an ordinary court and ensure they receive a fair trial.
• release immediately and unconditionally those protestors found not to have used violence; the others must be given a fair trial in accordance with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law and standards.
• open a full, independent and impartial investigation into the killings of the three people in Mahalla. In particular the investigation should focus on the circumstances in which police used lethal fire and ensure that any officers or other officials responsible for using or ordering excessive force should be brought to justice.

My Crime - by Egyptian hands in Arabian land

Again with friend Gaber

My Crime

My Crime, by Egyptian hands in Arabian land.

Mubarak Phone | I will burn the city

From Gebara

Egyptian Shura Council and People's Assembly on Fire!!!

The Egyptian Shura Council and People's Assembly (The two houses of Parliament) are now on fire. Several officials suggesting an electric fire or a thrown away lighted cigarette!!!

Photos for the burning of the historical building with the unsuccessful attempts to turn down the fire even by helicopters can be available here and here.

Rumors say that the fire can be an intentional one, to burn documents related to some recent important incidents (related to corruption) Like Mamdouh Ismail Salam 98 case for example.


You can also see vidoes (updated every minute) for the fire directly and news coverages.



Personally, I'm now remembering the V for Vendetta movie ending, when the Parliament exploded.



Watch from the minute 4:30 if you want to watch the scene directly.

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Updates
Zeinobia An eye witness
Juplia Flickr
Juplia Youtube here and here

Mubarak Phone | The Vampire

My friend\graphics designer Gebara made this masterpiece in his Mubarak Phone series
Translation:

MubarakPhone
Did you see the Vampire?
MubarakPhone will suck all the Egyptians' blood.

Gamal Eid, Manal and Alaa facing trial

Again with Murad

Gamal Eid, the General Manager of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Manal and Alaa are facing trial for insulting Judge Murad during the law-suit in 2007 for blocking several blogs and sites (including the web site of the Arabic Network) for talking about piracy in his book about the legal base for blogging (He copied a large portion of material from the some of these sites in his book with even referring to them).

The court will be held in ElDokky Court in 24/9/2008 according to Egyptian Watchman

Murad, TO HELL!

Update on the 6th of April Detainees | They are FREE

The 6th of April Youth Movement detainees who were detained and attacked in Alexandria are now out. For the detainees from the rest of Egypt they are now on their way to Tanta in 15 mintues, then they will be going to Menofeya and Cairo

Detaining 14 people from 6th of April Youth Movement in Alexandria

After a successful conference for the 6th of April's Youth Movement at the Ghad Party Alexandria HQ and their meeting with some of Alexandria's youth, those young people went to the beach wearing the movement's t shirts, singing patriotic songs and raising the Egyptian flags. They were also flaying a kite with the Egyptian Flag shape on it.

But then, strangely, State Security officers came and told them to stop singing and taking off their t shirts. This was opposing to National Security according to the officers. The people didn't obey the "order", so "naturally" the State Security forces attacked them physically while spraying them a strange substance (supposedly some sedative substance). Resulting in falling of some of them, so they dragged them on the ground to the SS cars, hitting them heavily several times.The SS took them to a place called ElFara'ena (The Pharaohs) in Alexandria. This place is known to be the HQ of the State Security in Alexandria.

This is a video shot just before the State Security attack happen



Those brave ones are arrested:
Khaled Adel
Mahinor ElMasry (The only girl) Update: She is now out, the rest still.
Youssef Shaa'ban
Bassem Fat'hy
Mustafa Maher
Amro Ali
Nour ElDeen Sob'hy
Medhat Shaker
Moa'tasem Bellah Mohammad
Tarek Tito
Mohammad Mahmoud
Ahmad Nassar
Ahmad Afifi
The State Security ordered that they will be detained for 15 days and this is the text for the reason of their detention

On Thursday, 24th of July
4 pm
In the case of detaining the Internet Activists
The case's number is 5943 for year 2008 Raml First Administration in Alexandria
Accusations:
Crowding
Participating with others to disrupt the means of transport and disrupting traffic
Crowing for more than 5 persons in public places and collecting agents under the name of 6th of April movement via Internet and incitement to overthrow the regime and destabilize the Country
Inciting demonstrations by distributing leaflets within citizens to call for civil disobedience
The order:
Detention for 15 days for investigation

For more pics you can go there



It is observed this time the brutal security dealing with the detainees

10 activists arrested at Sidi Bishr in Alexandria

via Fustat

BREAKING STORY - 10 activists from Ghad Youth and the April 6th Youth has been arrested at the Sidi Bishr beach in Alexandria. They were singing songs about Egypt and raised the Egyptian flag on the beach as well as wearing T-shirts with 6th of April on. According to reports, they have been taken to the Alexandria State Security Headquarters, al Farana, the same place where Kareem Amer was taken after the Muharram Beq riots in October 2005.

Tamer Mabrouk arrested

Via Fustat

According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information(AHNRI), Tamer Mabrouk was arrested on the 17th of July by police in Port Said. Mabrouk is currently involved in a libel lawsuit by the Trust company in Port Said, a company that he has dealt with extensively in his blog, and done some really good investigative citizen journalism on workers rights and environmental impacts and responsibilities of the factory on the water nearby, and how it effects the fish in the lake.

An interview with Mohamed Marei after release

Mohamed Marei who was detained with James Buck in 6th of April was released on the 6th of July. This is an interview with by Sarah Carr.

The Bride for the the bride - By Nawara Negm

Nawara Negm wrote this article (in Arabic) in ElWafd newspaper, sent to me via Zeinobia. I like her presentation and translated the thing, here it is...

‎I came across a title in the news about the marriage of Phyllis ‎‎Leon (84 years) and Del Martin (87 years), and for clarification, ‎‎Phyllis is a woman, and Del is a woman too. Recently, in ‎‎California, a law was issued allowing Gay Marriages. The ‎‎moment I saw this I just remembered the President of Columbia ‎‎University while he was directly attacking the Iranian President ‎‎because in Iran they do not respect the gay rights.‎

‎I will consider trying to be more “civilized”. What does the ‎‎President of Columbia think about polygamy? (In case of a male ‎‎marrying several females as in Islam) What happens in the West ‎‎is that polygamy is a crime from a legal (punishment with jail ‎‎and fines) and social point of views. ‎

‎It is just related to different cultures and different definitions ‎‎across different civilizations. In our old (Islamic or Arab) ‎‎history, polygamy was introduced and it wasn’t that offending to ‎‎the public. This social state continued for thousands of years ‎‎with nearly no change. And if went back in time to the other ‎‎side of the ocean, we will find that the Greek and Roman ‎‎civilizations didn’t despise homosexuality. In the contrary, they ‎‎considered the female as a disgusting creature; a creature who ‎‎bleeds, and suffer protrusions which negatively affects the ‎‎beauty of the human body. Females were just created for ‎‎preserving the mankind, and males must beware of them. Real ‎‎love is between a man and a man. It is the noble, pure love, for ‎‎there is no children are begotten and there is no required ‎‎commitment of any kind to force one of the partners to continue ‎‎living with the other. It is just love and love only. You can see ‎‎that in Plato’s book “The Republic”. But in the same time, it ‎‎was prohibited in the civilizations (The Greek and the Roman) ‎‎for the male to marry more than one female. The thing that ‎‎made the Romans call our (Egyptian) Queen Cleopatra by the ‎‎name: Egyptian Whore because she married Caesar while he ‎‎was already married.‎

‎I understand the differences between cultures and I do accept it. ‎‎But this glorification of homosexuality happening nowadays in ‎‎the West to the extent of adding being high emotional, artistic, ‎‎intelligence, and creativity to homosexuals is the normal ‎‎evolution to the Western heritage and civilization (civilization as ‎‎history). What I really don’t understand, why the West (and the ‎‎United States specifically) doesn’t understand that our ‎‎perspective towards homosexuality is just the same as their ‎‎perspective towards polygamy? And that their crimination of ‎‎polygamy and their refusal of legalization of the many affairs of ‎‎men (outside marriage) is just the case as our refusal to legalize ‎‎homosexuality though they are existing in our societies?‎

‎I find it trivial and playful to draw caricatures of Plato or show ‎‎him in a movie while he is putting a gum in his mouth while ‎‎wearing make-up and dancing playfully. But the Westerners, ‎‎though there is no comparison between our Prophet (Peace be ‎‎upon Him) the most Gracious in our hearts, culture and history ‎‎and Plato, made of fun of our Prophet for nothing but marrying ‎‎more than one woman.‎

‎The West considers us (the Arabs) idiots, and I want to clarify ‎‎that we see them as idiots as well. A famous saying among the ‎‎Arabs: Americans are idiots. But this comes back to our ‎‎definition of idiocy. They think that the idiot person is the one ‎‎who does not know how to read and write correctly, is not ‎‎brilliant in Physics and Math, etc. While we consider reading ‎‎and writing, computers, Physics and Math as skills with an ‎‎availability to be learnt easily. But in the other hand, in our ‎‎culture, We understand life and variations in abilities between ‎‎different human beings, their richness, differences, and ‎‎accepting this while searching for the common among them ‎‎without altering them. This is the real wisdom. We do not think ‎‎like Westerners think that who is not with us is against us.‎

Torture is unacceptable - International Day in Support of Torture Victims

Torture affects thousands of people in about 100 countries around the world.

All European Union countries oppose torture and have been fighting together for 15 years to put an end to it and to help victims resume a normal life. That’s why the European Union is financing projects across the world to make torture a thing of the past. These projects are being run by the European Commission within the framework of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights.

26 June - International Day in Support of Torture Victims

People vs Politicians

What do politicians want? What value do they add to people in my country? Is it worth all this media coverage? Being it corrupted official one or the usually not so good independent?

Politicians claim that they word for people, so do Members of Parliament, popular talk shows, News Agencies, or even Bloggers. I'm not essentially a leftist, but I believe in the impossible meaning (at this moment) of Democracy; The Masses ruling the Masses. (This can happen within the hi-tech era, thought not our point now.)

Do people, the Mases, really believe in one or more of those? And if someone achieved a degree of credibility, does this mean that this someone is of a major importance of influence?

All these strikes, sit-ins and protests; the major ones were held solely by normal people, very normal people indeed. Media maybe had some influence by covering "some" of them, and usually in not so good a way. Activists/Bloggers did a great job (as persons versus corporate backed new media) in documenting and covering these incidents which is the major part of this activism plus calling for protests which usually ended up with the 30-some demonstrations held in downtown against at least 10 thousand of the armed Central Security Forces. with some exceptions (Major protests)

The major workers' (and others') protests were effective mainly (if not only) for the economic crisis (crimes) in all Egyptians suffer. While all the media catalysts (New Media and Bloggers) were just lucky enough to be in the right place in the right time and trying to do the right thing.

Politicians are trying to do their dirty jobs in numerous ways, either they were suposed in the good side or the their bad side. They either involve in bashing it in a very unethical way, or boasting the so-called heroic acts of their party or their precious personnel. The later are really worse esp if they have they keys to show business to market themselves. Man that reminds me of Bill Clinton's show business policy.

The economic crisis is increasing at a high pace. More people will move sooner or later. I'm already feeling a volcano building from years, slowly, waiting for a weak point to erupt. Growing exponentially in a dangerous way recently. Real politicians are not those who only write in newspapers and go show off in talk0shows. Real politicians emerge within people, those normal people who suffer everyday to get their bread (life as Egyptians call it)

People around the world who exist in countries supporting the Egyptian authoritarian government, your taxes directly finance the dirty\corrupted business between our governments and is directly used for supporting cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. In addition to state terrorism against normal people ion the international bright name of fighting terrorism. You have part of the ball to play with. You know you can do something.

Adolescence of media in Egypt

Media is an important factor of public opinion formation, being free or otherwise. Egypt was the victim of centralized or controlled media since the 1952 coup (I personally feel that media was fairly developing before this date). Any one can imagine how can controlled media be so destructive to the abilities and talents of any nation. Media, fundamentally, must be free.

Any country controlled by military men hate free media to their bones. I think even in thr western democracies, officialis in in the security field (military or police) hate media to some extent. Maybe because of the being-exposded feeling. In the last two decades Egypt was witnessing an increase in the freedom level in difference media forms, beginning with the satellite channels, then after them the independentnewspaper. I see that the most important terms in the media equation are: money and credibility (credibility here includes the mass influence).

I want to talk about about a very recent example of what I can call adolescnce or idiocy of supposedly free (independent) forms of media. The 6th of April strike. I really don't know if this is a trend of personification used differently by the normal people (as an easy way of dealing with things), or by the seucirity (to make the government heads happy by oppressing the the personified ones). In the end of the day, the press used all of its power to make the strike personifed in a girl who found herself in the middle of unexpected extraordinary circumstances with no real reason other than being accidently the founder of the controversial strike group without being the real person who suggested the whole thing. This press mass idiocy, next to the equivalent idiot policy for the State Security, was the main reason of detaining Israa Abdel Fattah plus all the fuss that happened, and all the "chaos" the press got in.

The credibility of media is measured by the personal scale within every person receiving the media material, but the media must run after the truth, not after high noise show business. Show business destoys the eopes of freedom in our oppressed countries.