HRW on Ahmed Maher
Human Rights Watch has called for the investigation and prosecution of those who beat Facebook activist Ahmed Maher in detention late last week (English and Arabic): read more »
Darfur Rebels Attack Khartoum
Between a natural catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in Burma, Hizballah’s politics by other means, and Obama’s victory in the U.S. Democratic primaries, I almost didn’t notice that the JEM attacked a suburb of Khartoum today. This is huge news on its own right. read more »
The Global War on Drugs, Cairo, 1952
The menace of the world drug trade, Al-Musawwar, Cairo, August 16, 1952. Apologies for the bad scan.
Pangea Day - Cairo, Egypt
Let's start by the official introduction to the Pangea Day event, the one that is printed in their Media Guide and Press Releases. read more »
Police beats and Insults The Real founder of 6th April Strike Group
The activist and founder of strike 6th of April group on Facebook has been abducted yesterday and forced to leave the car when he was going to work at “New Cairo”.
Egypt cuts off unregisted mobiles Egypt asks mobile firms to bar anonymous users | Technology | Reuters
Egypt is now moving in the direction of much more repressive regimes, wanting to control all communications:
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has asked mobile phone companies to block service to anonymous subscribers as a public security measure, and at least two firms have begun efforts to comply, Egyptian officials and mobile firms said on Monday.
The move comes as Egypt tries to combat a wave of public discontent over rising prices and low wages that have sparked a series of labor and anti-government strikes, organized largely by mobile phone and over the Internet. read more »
The ‘Strike’
Headlines from Egyptian newspapers, May 4, 2008, President Hosni Mubarak’s 80th birthday. Left: Al-Karama, the newspaper of the Nasserist Al-Karama (Dignity) Party. The headline reads, “Stay at home.” Right: Al-Ahram, the government’s flagship daily. The headline reads, “The day Egypt was born anew.” I wish I had a scanner. read more »
Editors’ Appeal Trial Continues
The appeals court in Giza hearing the case of four opposition newspaper editors yesterday adjourned until June 7 to consider documents and pleadings submitted in the case. The editors’ lawyers asked to call witnesses, including Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama, to testify that the articles criticizing President Hosni Mubarak and other senior ruling-party officials’ stance on Hizballah and the war in Lebanon did not damage public order in Egypt.
Reuters Critical of "Official Foot-Dragging" in Egypt
An article authored by Cynthia Johnston, just published in Reuters, underscores the continuing struggle of the Baha'is of Egypt in their attempts to obtain their government-issued official documents.read more »
Links for November 24th
Automatically posted links for November 24th: read more »
Egypt: A “Journalist” Grabbing on Straws in Desperate Attempt to Deny Rights of Baha’is!
In an article published today in Egypt's semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram, the writer Muhammad Dunya attempted to refute the recent report that was jointly produced by Human Rights Watch and the Egyptian Initiative read more »
Jazz-Age Cairo
I sometimes think I was born in the wrong time:
Del.icio.us links for November 23rd
Automatically posted links for November 23rd: read more »
Working Late? Let’s See Your Permit
It’s Friday evening, and once again, I find myself thinking about women. Specifically, this post from Purple Rose of Cairo, which cites a recent episode of the popular talkshow al-Qahira il-Youm on Labor Minister Aisha Abd al-Hadi’s decree that women must apply for a special permit to work after 8:00 p.m. (Purple Rose feels betrayed that a female minister should have issued such a decree and that the presenters discussed the decree in neutral terms. She notes that the minister and the presenters themselves must often be in violation of its terms.) read more »
Del.icio.us links for November 22nd
Automatically posted links for November 22nd: read more »
Pakistan - Egypt parallels
Since the beginning of Pakistan’s constitutional crisis, I’ve been thinking of potential parallels with Egypt. These remain fairly superficial, since after all the general political and strategic situation is quite different, and arguable opposition politics are more vibrant in Pakistan than they are in Egypt. Still, there are some similarities, notably the central role the issues of judicial independence and constitutional reform are playing, as well as the relationship between the military and executive power, the use of emergency laws, and of course the proposition that “better the devil you know” policies are best for stability. read more »
DENIED: Egypt Bloggers Plan Parallel Torture Film Festival
Egypt: Bloggers Plan Parallel Film Festival on Police Torture:
Egyptian bloggers have announced that, while the Cairo film festival is taking place from 27 November to 7 December, they will hold a parallel festival in which a “Golden Whip” will be awarded to the best video showing “controversial acts of torture allegedly committed by the security authorities.”
Two policemen received three-month jail sentences on 5 November for mistreating a detainee. A video of the incident, filmed with a mobile phone, caused an outcry among human rights activists and enabled identification of the two police officers. read more »
Del.icio.us links for November 21st
Automatically posted links for November 21st: read more »
‘Three Decades of Peace Notwithstanding’
“Three decades of peace notwithstanding, the Egyptian-Israeli front remains a tinderbox, one in which a cold peace may just become a cold war,” Jeffrey Arzava wrote last March in an article for the Israeli Middle East Journal of International Affairs. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen this kind of paranoia with regard to Egypt from an Israeli source. But it was the first in a string of Israeli articles suggesting escalating tensions with Egypt. read more »
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