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This is one hell of elections year !!

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2012 is just as interesting as 2011 as it seems.

We are going to have :

  • We are going to have a new president through presidential elections.
  • We are going to have a new constituent assembly.
  • We are going to have a new constitution through a referendum
  • We are going to have a new Pope for the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria through Papal elections as well.
  • We are supposedly going to have new government

This is the official elections year in Egypt and honestly we should be worried and concerned because we are speaking about the fate of this nation.

By the way the Orthodox Church of Alexandria announced that the Papal elections and process of choosing a new pope can be adjourned till after the presidential elections. We can be speaking now of more than 4 months of Papal seat’s vacancy.

Still this is not the first time in the Egyptian history or the history of the Church that the Papal seat will be vacant for several months , already in the past 3 centuries the papa seat was vacant for couple of years from time to time.


The Pope’s Funeral :Wait for another big Egyptian funeral

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Pope Shenouda III’s funeral will be held tomorrow starting at 11 AM Cairo Local time at the Saint Marks Cathedral in Cairo.
The Pope has been already taken from the Papal Seat and was put in his coffin which arrived from Rome as a gift from the Vatican if I was not mistaken.
Al Masry Al Youm :Transferring Pope Shenouda III to a coffin
According to the Holy Synod the funeral of the Pope will be by invitations only , of course many Christians are angry for that decision yet others understand it. The angry Christians are sad that only prominent figures , foreign and Egyptian officials will let in while they are left outside.
Of course God knows how the streets surrounding the Cathedral will be packed with sad mourners tomorrow.
Outside the Cathedral "Getty"
Here is a map with the directions for the area , to be honest I did  not understand much from it !!
Officially tomorrow according to SCAF’s decree issued today will be a general mourning through out the country. The armed forces has assigned a military plane to transfer the coffin to its final burial place at St.Pishoy monastery per the late pope’s will. The old monastery built in the 4th century AD  played an important role in the life of Shenouda III , he was staying there in 1971 when he was informed that he was elected as the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Here are the tombstone and the grave prepared from ONA 
The tombstone "ONA"

The tomb "ONA"
After 10 years he was exiled there by the orders of President Sadat because of their famous fight and he had to stay there for another 3 years till he restored his papal position. It was among his favorite spots where he used to go and stay there for praying. The last time he went there was after the two saints Church bombing in a move interrupted as anger from Mubarak’s regime.
Today the Egyptian parliament stood a moment of silence dedicated to the late Pope Shenouda III it was a good a respectable gesture but unfortunately most of the Salafist members of Parliaments had either left the session or did not stand because according to Al Nour Party  a moment of silence is not part of Islam and this is just a moment that will pass. Of course it is worth to mention that Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” stood in front of his house when he saw the funeral of his Jewish neighbor passing by.
Egyptian Parliament stands a moment for silence for late Pope Shenouda
I think that Egyptian Muslim lady who gave water from her balcony to the Christian mourners standing in long queue for hours follow Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” for real unlike those Salafist MPs.
Giving water to the thirsty 
The Church has already requested thousands of mourners outside the Cathedral to leave in order to prepare for the funeral but I think it is hard considering the thousands waiting for hours on foot in order to have one last glimpse of the body of late Pope on his papal chairs.Thousands of Egyptian Orthodox Christians came not only from all over Egypt but from outside as well.
Pope Shenouda III passes away by dear Friend Mosaab El Shami
In the past 48 hours 3 Egyptian Christians died from suffocation and tens were injured because of the stampede outside the Cathedral , the big irony that the military police is securing the church as well it had secured the body of the late Pope on the Papal chair.
Securing the dead Pope "Mohamed Mohsen"
Downtown Cairo traffic as well the desert and agricultural highways are crowded with buses. Already from what I understand bishoprics through over the country are preparing for delegations to attend the huge event after couple of hours. I have not seen a single Orthodox Christian lady or girl today that was not wearing black. 
Standing a queue in the long street "Getty"
Pope Shenouda III was the first Pope to be enthroned at the Saint Marks Cathedral in Cairo and he is the second Pope to have a funeral in the same cathedral inaugurated in 1971.
It is expected that the funeral will be a big one , the biggest so far for a religious icon in the 21st century.
Wait for more coverage tomorrow ISA.

#Funeral:Pope Shenouda III Funeral in Cairo

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Thousands of Egyptian Orthodox Christians are standing outside the St.Marks Cathedral. The traffic is blocked there. The Cathedral  gates have been closed , some are saying that it was closed because after the Cathedral was full and that you did not need to have invitation to have access in , in fact many of those who had invitations were not let in after the gates were closed.
Other people are saying that the military police have closed the gate because of the VIPs inside. From what I see on TV there is no place inside or outside for anybody. There have been several stampedes so far outside.  The mourners outside the church banged on the gates and even some tried to sneak in.
By friend Bel Trew
The funeral has started earlier than 11 AM CLT with the prayers from both the delegation of Ethiopian Church and Syrian Orthodox Church. The Ethiopian church's prayers delegation was headed by Patriarch Paulos while the Syrian Orthodox Church delegation prayer was head by Mar Ignatious Zakka I.
The funeral rites of the Coptic Orthodox Church started shortly after the two delegations’ prayers. The funeral rites’ prayers are led by Interim Pope Pakhomious of Behaira and Pentapolis.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is seated in the first row in the Church , I see Abdel Hakim Abdel Nasser , the son of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

@11:05 AM

The prayers of the funeral rites are being read in Coptic language , some of the hymns are read in Greek. Some parts were shortly read in Arabic.
There are screens installed outside the Cathedral for the crowd standing outside it. Among those standing outside actress Elham Shahin “Muslim”
Among the attendees inside the church I spotted so far Potential Presidential Abdel Moneim Abu El Fatouh, Ahmed Shafik and Hisham Bastawisi , Al Wafd party lead Siyad Badawy and secretary general Fouad Badrawy are there.
Potential presidential candidate Abu El Fatouh

Lt. General Mahmoud Hegazy of SCAF has arrived is seated besides other army officers and generals.
You can watch the funeral online here.
There are Muslim Sheikhs from Al Azhar as far as we can see on TV. There are representatives from Catholic Church and Anglican Church. Famous Islamic preacher Amr Khalid is there.

Click for live updates blow after the break

Egypt’s most famous Coptic Orthodox Church deacon Ibrahim Ayad is leading the hymns along with his famous chorus. They read “Ethve TiAnastasi”and “Fai Etaf Enf” in Coptic , from what I understood these hymns are usually sung during holy week aka pascha.

@11:22 AM

Ibrahim Ayad is leading doxologies in Coptic language then in Arabic language.

@11:38 AM

The commander of military police Hamdy Badeen has entered the Cathedral.
Here is a video report from 25TVshowing the Cathedral earlier today.
25TV : In front of the Cathedral
The admin of the official FB page is mourning the Egyptian Saint poet and officer. “Pope Shenouda III was as officer in the Egyptian army in year 1947.”
Potential Presidential Candidate Khaled Ali has arrived to the cathedral.

@11:54 AM

The Speaker of People assembly’s Saad El Katanani is attending the funeral and is seated besides MP Marianne Malek and minister of tourism Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour.Actor Hany Ramzy and his brother Christian activist Amir Ramzy are there.
Saad El Katanani
Ibrahim Ayad and the rest of the deacons are bursting in to tears , according to Christian friends Ayad was raised by the late Pope.
Here are couple photos from inside the Church.
Pope Shenouda III in the casket
A bishop has read the will of Pope Shenouda III he had written before his death to the Christians praying that God would gift them a good Pope and asking them to leave evil.
ONTV : Pope Shenouda III’s will

Former Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is attending the funeral

@12: 24 PM

The Casket of Pope Shenouda III  has been closed after a number of priests , monks and bishops were let to kiss the casket when it is opened.
Naguib Sawiris is bursting in tears so the rest of the Christians.
The casket is moving and the people are shouting “We love you pope”. They are throwing flowers

@12:30 PM

They are moving the casket while people are trying to reach to it either to touch it to get a bless or to carry.
They are heading to the military plane
Bishop Pishoy is thanking the guests , he is mentioning who came including field Marshal Tantawy and General Anan “they visited the church from two days ago” despite they are among the guests.
He thanked Hamdeen Sabhi , Amr Moussa , Abdel Moneim Abu El Fatouh and Ahmed Shafik

@12:58 PM

Supposedly the casket has left the cathedral but I do not understand or know if it is going to be transferred by an ambulance or a military plane , but I think it will be transferred by air as planned.
Tahrir TV : Casket leaving Church
 
The casket leaving the cathedral
I do not know why people outside the cathedral are running in the other way , some say that many of them are heading to Wadi El Natroun.They are chanting “Oh God”
Hundreds of mourners are already there waiting for the burial and the casket.

@1:05 PM

The casket will be transported to Wadi Natroun by a military plane through Al Maza airport. There are mourners waiting already outside the airport.

@2:47 PM CLT

Thousands of mourners are at the Wadi Natroun’s Saint Pishoy Monastery already waiting for the military plane.
25TV : Thousands head to Wadi El Natroun’s Saint Pishoy Monastery
Presidential Candidate Hamdeen Sabhi and ambassador of Palestine have arrived to Wadi Natroun.
Military police as well Church's scouts are security monastery.
Military police at the monastery by Naly

@3:57 PM CLT

The bells are ringing in the monastery though , I do not know if the casket has arrived or not. Still there is nothing on TV !!

@4:12 PM CLT

According to some sources the casket has arrived already and the military plane landed few kilometers away from the monastery , I do not know why the burial is too slow.

@6:00 PM CLT

After hours of waiting the casket has arrived in ambulance and we were going to see a stampede in making with that huge number of mourners trying to get  access to the casket inside the ambulance. The military police and church’s alter boys and scouts are trying to prevent the crowd from touching the ambulance and to make a room for its backdoor so it would be opened and the casket would be transferred inside the monastery.

@6:12 PM CLT

The pope is transferred to the burial chamber inside the monastery , there are hundreds if not thousands inside the monastery trying to touch the casket carried by priests , monks as well military police in order to get a blessing.

@6:25 PM CLT

The Pope is laid in his final resting place and the tombstone was put , now mourners kiss the tomb and put flowers.
The funeral is over

Happy Mother’s Day From Egyptian Chronicles

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Happy mother’s Day to all the amazing and wonderful mothers that read and follow the Egyptian Chronicles not only in Egypt but in the whole world even those moms who do not celebrate it today.
Special Happy mother’s day to the strong mothers of martyrs in Egypt ,Syria, Yemen, Libya , Bahrain and Tunisia as well Palestine and the rest of the world who had to lose their kids throughout the year because of bloody politics.
Google Egypt got the best doodle for the occasion.

I do not know if we are going to continue to celebrate the Mother’s Day in Egypt as we have used to since 1950s in Egypt as the Salafists think we should not because it is not part of Islamic traditions “despite the date was the idea of two Muslim twins Mustafa and Ali Amin” and because they believe everyday is a mother’s day for mothers.
Well theoretically we should make everyday a mother’s day but practically we do not because life is not that easy. The Mother’s Day is not against Islam and honestly I can’t believe myself speaking about this matter in 2012 !!!
Another thing the Mother’s Day is being exploited commercially just like  the Valentine Day , plus honestly why some boys and men believe it is cool to give mothers kitchen appliances as mother’s day gift !!
In this merry occasion , I would like to share this song of legendary Soad Hosni Smile
Soad Hosni : Good morning my majesty
By the way the lyrics of that song was written by Salah Jahin and its music was composed by Kamel EL Tawil , May Allah bless their souls.
Happy mother’s day Smile

They Kill Cats in Gezira Club !!

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Today I have just found that many stray cats may have been mercilessly killed in Gezira sports club “GSC” in Cairo by the orders of the administration because they are annoying the members !!
Tweep Simbakis has posted a terrible photo showing dead cats in a bucket in the famous club. Other members confirmed that they did this because the straw cats were annoying the members and increasing rapidly !!

Updated#1 : The photo I posted turned not to be from the GSC but from another place still many GSC members confirm the news that stray cats were poisoned in the club.

Updated#2 : According Simbakis The Egyptian Society for mercy to animal "ESMA" interfered yesterday some cats , here is a photo for a little kitten after being rescued. 


It is not the first time that this happens in the A Class oldest Club in Cairo that takes pride of its pets cemetery “mainly for dogs”. According to GSC members it happened before and tens of cats have been poisoned by the orders of administration before Sham El Nassim last year !!

Update #3 : According to Nadia Montasser the GSC did that cats massacre before in last October 2011.Here is a photo a cat being saved then. 

This is just sick as well inhuman as it can be if it is true. Animal cruelty is not something unknown in our Egyptian society ; despite our so-called conservative society that brought Islamists to the parliament it ignores that Islam is against animal cruelty. Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” once spoke in a famous quote on how a woman was doomed to hell because she locked in a cat and made it starve with no water or food and how God forgave for a prostitute all her sins because she gave a stray thirsty dog water in her shoe so it could drink.
The image is terrible and yes I am speaking about cats being killed just like I am speaking about everything I consider to be wrong in this country.

Who is the Real Supreme Guide of Muslim brotherhood ?

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Who is the real supreme guide of Muslim brotherhood ? Who is the real decision maker in the brotherhood ?
Khairat El Shater 
Is the real supreme guide of Muslim brotherhood , Egypt’s biggest movement  really Mohamed Badie or his deputy chairman Khairat El Shater !? It seems to me that the second man in MB is actually the first man.
In the past few months anyone could not ignore that the man chosen by Foreign policy magazine as one of the most important thinkers in the world in 2011 was running the show when it comes to the Muslim brotherhood more than Mohamed Badie.
For months now we ready in the newspapers that El Shater met with Senator McCain , El Shater met with SCAF members , El Shater met with Hamas leaders and El Shater travelled to Qatar to have talks with officials there about the future of the region now !!
Khairat El Shater’s office is making calls with this and that , El Shater’s aides speak to this and that when they want to spread a certain message to the public or certain parties or even activists.
For weeks now we know that his name is being repeated as a potential prime minister pushed by the Muslim brotherhood then as a potential presidential candidate.
Needless to say I have heard from close sources to Muslim brotherhood as well from ex-MB members ‘mainly from youth’ that if the MB chooses El Shater as its official presidential candidate. Despite El Shater claimed that he does not want to run and despite some sources claim that Freedom and Justice party does not want him either , his name is still repeated on a daily basis in the media.
I know that the guidance office in the brotherhood is the highest executive office , its true kitchen which controls the brotherhood politically,religiously financially and socially and that office since 2009 is being controlled by the Qutbist conservative branch of the Muslim brotherhood that is sticking to the ideas of Sayid Qutb but the name of El Shater seemed to be playing a big role in the Muslim brotherhood decision making thanks to his financial roles I suppose. “I am still not that deep in MB affairs and issues”
El Shater’s importance in the Muslim brotherhood came from the fact that he is the man who invests the brotherhood’s money in projects appearing in public as the main financer of the brotherhood.
Back to the first question , my idea is that I feel that Mohamed Badie is just a decoration while El Shater is the real guide for the brotherhood that needs to be opened more when it presents itself as alternative regime to Egypt whether as a government or a presidential candidate project.
For instance El Shater who is now being groomed as either Egypt’s prime minister or even as Egypt’s president yet up till this moment we do not know anything about his fortune , we do not know anything about his financial records !! It is like accepting blindly another businessman/tycoon as the ruler of Egypt without knowing every penny he got and will have got from companies , otherwise what is the difference between Ahmed Ezz and El Shater !!
Heavens forbid if we mention that up till now we have not seen the financial records and sources of Freedom and Justice and Muslim brotherhood other than what we know that the MB members have to pay certain percentage annually from their income to the brotherhood and that this percentage increases with the income increase. Updated : According to a member in the brotherhood this subscription is increased by seniority in the group
Of course the talk about MB , El Shater and the future is too long , so that’s for now folks

Presidential Elections 2012 : Regarding Omar Soliman’s candidacy and all the other Gentlemen from the GIS

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From couple of weeks there have been strong rumors in the media that Omar Soliman , the former VP and ex-GIS chief was going to run for presidency which were denied completely by journalist Adel Hammouda if you remember.
Then despite he did not announce that he will run we find his unofficial presidential candidacy support campaign had held a press conference in some Cairo where the famous 1980s stand up comedian Hammada Sultan announced his endorsement to the former VP. Most people took it as a joke still his unofficial support did not and we found them claiming that the former Lt.General has got 30,000 Powers of attorneys “PAs”.
Presidential elections PA to Soliman 
Then yesterday we got news reports that Soliman was going to run for presidency.
Now it is worth to mention that last week Omar Soliman appeared in public recently more than usual : One at some mosque after Friday prayer where he told his supporters that he does not want to run for presidency because he fears to be assassinated by agents and traitors !!! “Who are these agents and traitors !!? Not to mention why the hell would I elect a person who is afraid on his life in this way !!?“ 
Omar Soliman in Da Mosque "Al Hayaa media" 
I found that photo in some Pro-Omar Soliman news website called “Al Hayaa” and honestly Soliman has hit rock bottom when it comes to this type of media as well type of supporters like  Hassan El Ghandor !! { Ghandor is one of the biggest and famous Pro-Mubarak supporters aka Mubarak’s children who abducted Amr Gharbia and bragged on how he and the rest of his Pro-Mubarak gang attacked MP El Khodiary in 2011. He used to a conscript in the Republican guard.}
The second time he appeared in public was at the A class wedding of Heba Serg El Din and Faiz Abaza that was labeled the biggest wedding in Egypt after the revolution.
May be this was a normal appearance if we took in consideration that Faiz Abaza is the brother of Omar Soliman’s son in law Farag Abaza , the famous Cars dealer. Needless to say there are lots of questions of marks as well rumors about Farag Abaza and whether he used his father in law’s position.
Heba Serg El Din, Soliman , Awatef Serg El Din and Faiz Abaza
El Fagr news portal
I do not think that Soliman will be able to run or can run for real or even has a chance. The Muslim brotherhood or as he calls them Brother Muslimhood voting bloc made it clear that they will endorse a candidate with Islamist background and will not support a former Mubarak’s official. The Salafists will not vote for him. He got strong competition from Ahmed Shafik and Amr Moussa.
Regionally I doubt that Soliman will be welcomed as the president of Egypt. Last month we found a recording that found its way interestingly online and raised many question marks, that recording is allegedly a conversation between Qaddafi and Omar Soliman where the later attacks the Americans, Saudi Royal family and Muslim brotherhood. “He will not get the MB endorsement for sure”
Omar Soliman and Qaddafi : It is a conspiracy
We do not know who recorded this conversation or how it was leaked “allegedly it was leaked from the Libyan intelligence” or why it was leaked in this particular time except that it may have ruin a possible job opportunity for Soliman in Saudi Arabia. “Still Soliman could have been playing a double agent game for the Saudis then , we do not know the whole truth in this game of nations”
Soliman is also haunted by the rendition scandals not to mention he is a lost card when it comes to the States and the West.
Aside from being powerful part in Mubarak’s regime for over a decade , Soliman failed in his job to protect Mubarak’s regime after what happened in January 2011 and that’s enough reason not to elect him as the president of Egypt.
If Soliman is really going to run , I think it will be for his ego as this is a man who waited for long to be the president and suddenly a revolution takes place and he is two steps away from the presidential palace but unfortunately the people did not want him !!
After nearly 2 decades of being one of the most important men in the MENA he is now retired with fears of being stalked legally and surrounded with bunch of hypocrites can make him not to think straight aside from any other political plans.
Officially we got two potential presidential candidates who used to work GIS other than Soliman who announced that they will run in the race: Hossam Khairallah and Mamdouh Qtoub.
Hossam Khairallah and his campaign were accused of paying bribes in couple of governorates by Abu El Fatouh and  to gather the 30,000 PAs to get qualified for the race.The last thing we know about Khairallah we have heard about is he was officially endorsed by El Salam PartySocial Peace party”. Thus he will run officially in the presidential race.
Mamdouh Qtub is another intelligence officer or rather another former director general in the GIS running for the presidential post. We were introduced to as a diplomat from couple of years ago when he was captured by some militant group in Iraq that he befriended and considered as heroic resistance group !!!
Interesting Qtoub presents himself as someone with Islamist background , his mother is an Islamist preacher and he knows how to recite Holy Quran in different, in fact he said that he used to teach those Iraqi militants who abducted him how to read Quran.
Qtoub is from the founders of the Hadara Party “Islamist moderate party” which got 4 seats in the parliament yet the party denied that it will officially endorse him.
Personally I know from some trusted sources that both Khairallah and Qotub got no support from the GIS. In fact I doubt that they will make it to the expected the runoffs.
Back to Omar Soliman I do not think that he is the military’s candidate because honestly one thing for sure they will be idiots to divide the votes they are allegedly targeting between Amr Moussa , Ahmed Shafik , Omar Soliman , Mohamed Salim El Awa , Hossam Khairallah , Mamdouh Qotub !!!

#PortSaid and another Sleepless because of the bloody football

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Today the Egyptian football association “EFA” has imposed today sanctions of the Port Said massacre on Al Masry Club of Port Said. The football team will be banned from playing for two seasons while the Port Said stadium will be closed for three years.
Now thousands of El Masry fans or rather fanatics in Port Said are furious , having protests since the announcement of the Sanctions. They are not having protests but disturbing flyers with an ultimatum to kick out any Non-Port Saidi outside the town !!  
The flyer "El Masry Club is red line
The protests from couple of hours ago headed to the building of the Suez canal authority in town where the protesters tried to break in to that building !!
Now there are protests , the army is protecting the Suez canal authority building in Port Said and is trying to disperse the protests by force using tear gases and birdshots. The buildings of the Suez canal authority in Port Said , Suez and Ismailia are from the most important vital building in the country.  The navy is already on alert and the military ruler of Port Said is saying that security forces will shot anyone tries to climb the fences.
According to ministry of health 16 citizens have been injured and a 13 years old kid killed from his injury in the hospital “he was shot in the back”.
The ambulance at the scene by Evianoo
Unfortunately nobody from regular people in Egypt will support the people of Port Said when the Suez canal is involved and some of them are portrayed trying to occupy the Suez Canal building there and many people will agree with the use of force.
To be fair according to the people from Port Said who are justifying these protests say that Port Said people are fed up from discrimination and crack down since time of Mubarak “!!” and that they are angry because there are underage detainees from the city arrested after the Port Said stadium massacre despite they did not attend the bloody football match.
Now as usual everybody is defending himself , Ultras Green Eagles of El Masry club accuses SCAF of standing behind these clashes claiming  on its official FB page that they withdrew from the protests this afternoon because they felt that there was something fishy especially that there was no extensive security presence at the Suez canal authority HQ in the city as usual.
Ultras green Eagles statement 
Well I can understand the detainees part despite but if we are going to speak about discrimination and crack down, well Port Said is lucky than Upper Egypt governorate and the bloody crack downs against Islamist militant groups in 1980s and 1990s
Now in Cairo , Ultras Ahlaway believes that these are soft sanctions and decided to have protests tomorrow in front of the EFA HQ in Cairo. Personally I agree with UA07 these are soft sanctions.
Another sleepless night and another round of young men get killed technically for nothing.

An intelligence PR : You need more than Op-eds , closed doors meetings and Facebook Pages

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No one can ignore that Op-ed Ibrahim Eissa wrote last week defending the General Intelligence “GIS” and praising its chief Mouard Mowafi that made several Pro-Revolution Anti-SCAF activists and writers like dear Sarah Othman extremely angry from Eissa.
It is worth to mention that Eissa was promoting for Omar Soliman’s presidential candidacy in Dostor for years before the revolution.
Eissa’s Op-ed came right after a visit made by Dr. Hazem Abdel Azim to the GIS by the request of Mouard Mowafi to clarify some points. Abdel Azim used to accuse the GIS of fighting the revolution yet after two hours with Mowafi he had the impression that the bureau is not fighting the revolution on the contrary it supports it. The conclusion you got from note of Abdel Azim is that Mowafi is saying that he and the GIS are the good guys !!
It is worth to say that Mowafi used to meet with political powers and figures like Muslim brotherhood and ElBaradei , human rights activists like Khaled Ali and Hussein Shabaan and youth activists throughout 2010 whether for negotiations or just enhancing the GIS’s image.
The last thing I found very interesting is that we got a new Facebook page of GIS officers for revolution !!! Oh yes I saw it and it has the same nonsense that we support the revolution , we will purge the GIS , Viva la revolution “You know I had enough from these stupid FB pages”
Is this some kind of a hidden PR campaign we are witnessing by the GIS ? Well the GIS does not need all that , the only thing it does need is a little transparency in that time of chaos in order to know on which side the GIS is. 

Egyptian Constitution : The 100 names are there

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And the Parliament has chosen the members of the constituent assembly that will draft our next constitution. Half of the members “50%” in the assembly are from the parliament “People’s assembly and Shura council” and the other half is from prominent figures representing allegedly the society.
The 50 members of the parliament are classified as follows :
There are three women in the 50 MPs in the constituent assembly , two from FJP and one from Wafd party. There are two Christian MPs only “Ehab Kharat and Margaret Azar”.
The other 50 members from outside parliament were chosen as well, there are many names I do not recognize but there are certain names that gave me hope. “Despite I know that they can withdraw at anytime.”
Among these names I know:
  • Ahmed Harara “Yes Dr.Ahmed Harara who lost both his eyes in 2011 during the early days of the revolution and Mohamed Mahmoud clashes”
  • Rafik Habib “ An Arab nationalist Protestant Christian thinker and writer who is close to the MB that he is the deputy chairman of  Freedom and justice ”
  • Atef El Banna “ a professor of constitutional law”
  • Nasr Farid Wasal “ The former Mufti of Egypt”
  • Nadia Mostafa “a professor of political sciences”
  • Mohamed Amara “An Islamist thinker”
  • Ibrahim El Arabi “The famous Egyptian businessman and industrialist of Toshiba El Arabi”
  • Moatez Abdel Fatah “ The famous political sciences professor and expert”
  • Abdel Ghafar Shukr “ The leftist leading figure in Tagammu party”
  • Ahmed El Nagar “ The famous economic researcher”
  • Mona Makram Ebeid “ Famous politician , she is a woman , a Christian and liberal”
  • Farouk Goweida “ Famous poet and writer”
  • Hossam El Ghariany “ The head of the supreme council of judiciary , close to the Muslim brotherhood and they thought of pushing him towards the presidential elections but he refused”
  • Mohamed Abu El Ghar “ The famous liberal figure heads the Egyptian Social democratic party , the famous doctor also a member in the 9th March movement for universities’ independence”
  • Sameh Ashour “The head of the lawyers’ syndication , a Nasserite”
  • Ashraf Abdel Ghafour “ The heads of the actors’ syndication , an actor”
  • Mohamed El Tahatawy  “ The former diplomat and ex-official spokesperson of Al Azhar who resigned in solidarity with the revolution in its early days , he is the grandson of famous Rafa’a El Tahatawy”
  • El Siyad El Badawy “ The head of the Al Wafd party”
  • Fatima Abu Ziad “ A Muslim brotherhood sister and a member in the guidance office”
  • Former Police General Emad Hussein “ The minister of interior’s assistant and the head of Police academy , he is representing the Police force”
  • Lt. General Mamdouh Shahin “ The minister of defense’ assistant for legal affairs as well member of SCAF , he is representing the Egyptian armed forces”
  • Nadr Bakr “ The spokesperson of Al Nour party , Salafist
  • Magdy Shenouda “ Late Pope Shenouda’s lawyer ”
  • Judge Nabil Marhim “ A member of the Church’s General congregation council , I think he is representing the Church” 
The rest of the names are unknown to me , some of them represent unions and syndications , others are sheikhs. I think we will know them by tomorrow. I want to see if there is representation for ethnic groups in Egypt as well the representation of the disabled.
There are three women only in those 50 and thus the total of number of women participating in the constituent assembly is 6 !! This is huge participation indeed !!  There are 4 Christians I found in those 50 so far including Mona Ebeid.
There are 20 substitutes for both groups.
Already I do not know why someone like Nader Bakr is in the assembly where as someone like Dr. ElBaradei is not in it.Also I wished to see human rights activists in that assembly.
Those hundred men and women will be remembered in our history either they will be praised or shunned.
It is worth to mention that several parties have withdrawn from the process like El Adl party for what they considered an exclusion process to the rest of the society.
You can read the full list in details in Arabic from Shorouk news.
Now interestingly enough here is the constituent assembly that draft our constitution in 1923 , our first real constitution in the 20th century.
Constituent assembly in 1920s
The constituent assembly then included a kid representing the Egyptian schools and a university student representing Egyptian universities.
Waiting to see a similar photo for that upcoming constituent assembly like this.

The final List of constituent assembly

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Here is the final list of constituent assembly members after it was announced by Mostafa Bakry @ 5 AM on Sunday
Freedom and justice members in PA :
  1. Saad El Katatani “Speaker of PA”
  2. Ahmed Diab
  3. Hussein Ibrahim “Parliamentary spokesperson of FJP”
  4. Osama Yassin “ The head of the Youth committee in PA”
  5. Mohamed El Beltagy
  6. Hoda Ghania “ a Woman MP”
  7. Farid Ismail
  8. Essam El Erian “ The head of foreign affairs committee”
  9. Tarek El Dessouki “ The head of economic affairs committee”
  10. Yousri Hani
  11. Sobhi Saleh “ The head of the constitutional affairs committee”
  12. Khaled Al Azhari
  13. Soliman Salem
  14. Abdel Rahman Shoukry
  15. Ahmed Abdel Rahman
Al Nour Party  members in PA :
  1. Ashraf Thabet “deputy PA’s speaker”
  2. Younes Makhyoun
  3. Talaat Marzouk “ The head of complains and proposals committee”
  4. Adel Azazi
  5. Shaaban Abdel Alim
  6. Salah Abdel Maboud
  7. Walid Mahrous
  8. Mohamed Mansour
Other parties members in PA :
  1. Essam Sultan of Al Wasat Party “Lawyer”
  2. Mahmoud El Sakka of Al Wafd party “Lawyer”
  3. Mohamed Dawoud of Al Wafd Party “ deputy PA’s speaker”
  4. Margaret Azar of Al Wafd party “ Christian and woman”
  5. Mohamed Anwar El Sadat of Reform and development party “ The head of human rights committee” 
  6. Ahmed Said of Free Egyptians Party “ The leader of the liberal party”
  7. Saad Aboud of Nasserite Karama Party 
  8. Ziad Bahaa El Din of Egyptian Social Democratic Party “ The party has announced its withdrawal from the assembly earlier this morning according to official statement”
  9. Hany Nour El Din of Building and Development party 
Independent MPs in PA :
  1. Former Lt.General Abbas Mokhamair “The head of national security and defense committee ”
  2. Mahmoud Khodeiry “ Reformist Judge The head of legislative affairs committee”
  3. Amr Hamazawy “A liberal political sciences professor and analyst, He has withdrew according to an announcement he issued today’s morning”
  4. Amr El Shobaki “Political sciences professor and analyst”
  5. Wahid Abdel Magid “Political sciences professor and analyst”
The Shura council members are classified as follows :
The Freedom and Justice Party Shura council members :
  1. Ahmed Fahmy “Speaker of Shura council”
  2. Ali Fath El Bab “Parliamentary spokesperson of FJP”
  3. Susan Saad Zaglol “Woman MP”
  4. Moussa Hozyan
  5. Taher Soliman “Lawyer”
  6. Mohamed Talaat Khashaba “ Lawyer in Upper Egypt and head of education and scientific research committee”
  7. Ezz El Din Abdel Wahab
  8. Mohamed Tousoun
  9. Maher Ahmed “From Alexandria”
Al Nour party members :
  1. Tarek El Sihari “Deputy chairman of Shura Council”
  2. Abdel Salem Rageb
  3. Hassan Omar “Member of education and scientific research committee”
Members from other parties :
  1. Ehab Kharat of Egyptian Social democratic party “ Christian , head of humans rights committee , Withdrew this morning”
The prominent personalities from non parliamentarians elected in the constituent assembly :
  1. Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel “ The former grand Mufti of Egypt”
  2. Dr. Mohamed Amara “ Famous Islamist Thinker”
  3. Farouk Goweida “ The famous poet and writer in Al Ahram newspaper.
  4. Sheikh Hussein Hamed Hassan “ Served as a professor of Sharia in the faculty of Economics and political sciences as well one of the famous advocates of Islamic finance in the Arab and Muslim world”
  5. Ex-ambassador Mohamed Fathy Rifaah El Tahatawy “ Egypt’s former ambassador in Libya and ex-Spokesperson of Al Azhar who resigned from his position in the early days of the revolution as well the grandson of famous Rifaah El Tahatawy
  6. Dr. Nadia Mostafa “A political sciences professor”
  7. Dr. Ahmed Harara “ The famous Ahmed Harara , the dentist who turned in to a revolutionary protesting symbol after losing both his eyes during the protests in 2011 Updated : Dr. Ahmed has resigned , I expected this ”
  8. Judge Hossam El Ghariany “ The head of the supreme council of judiciary , a reformist judge and is on the MB’s potential presidential candidates despite his refusal”
  9. Judge Yahia El Dakarory “ The former head of Judges’ club and deputy chairman of State security”
  10. Judge Abdel Abdel Hamid “ The current minister of justice”
  11. Dr. El Siyad Badawy “ The leader of Al Wafd party , I can’t believe that this man is chosen in the assembly !!”
  12. Lt. General Mamdouh Shahin “ The minister of defense assistant for legal affairs and member of SCAF, he represents the army in the assembly”
  13. Former Police General Emad Hussein “ Former head of police academy , he represents Police in the assembly”
  14. Judge Nabil Marhim “ Christian and a member of the General Congregation council following the Coptic Orthodox Church, he represents the Church in the assembly”
  15. Lawyer Sameh Ashour “ The head of bar association and former leader of Nasserite party”
  16. Journalist Mamdouh El Wali “ The head of journalists’ syndication”
  17. Dr. Moatez Abdel Fatah “ Political sciences professor and former member of advisory council , former PM’s advisor and current TV host”
  18. Ashraf Abdel Ghafour “ The head of actors’ syndication”
  19. Abbdel Aziz Abdel Shafi aka Zizo “ The veteran Ahly SC footballer and former coach”
  20. Ahmed El Siyad El Nagar “ The famous economic expert and researcher”
  21. Student Ayman Fouad El Marakabi “ A representative of Egyptian universities , a freshman in the faculty of dentistry , university of Mansoura , it is believed that he is related to general secretary of FJP in Damietta !!! ”
  22. Dr. Rafik Habib “A protestant Christian nationalist thinker and writer , he is the deputy chairman of Freedom and Justice party , his friendship to MB goes back to many years even in time of Mubarak”
  23. Atef El Banna “ The famous constitutional law expert and professor in Cairo university as well the member of the constitutional amendments in 2011”
  24. Dr. Mohamed Abu Ghar “ The leader of the Egyptian social democratic party , a physician and University professor who were among the founders of the 9th March movement that calls for the universities’ independence from the State”
  25. Businessman Ibrahim El Arabi “ Businessman , industrialist and heir of El Arabi industrialist commercial empire. He heads Cairo chamber of commerce”
  26. Fatima Mahmoud Abu Ziad “ The daughter of Mahmoud Abu El Ziad , the MB’s guidance office member , she is a graduate of the faculty of economy and political sciences , CU”
  27. Abdel Ghaffar Shukr “ The veteran leftist leading member in the Socialist Popular alliance Party , the Party has announced its refusal for the constituent assembly.
  28. Dr. Mona Makram Ebeid “ The famous liberal politician and former parliamentarian that descends from famous Christian political family is a political sciences professor in American university in Cairo.”
  29. Magdy Shenouda “ The lawyer of late Pope Shenouda III”
  30. Dr. Osama Ibrahim “ The head of University of Alexandria , A professor in the faculty of medicine and a member in the Muslim brotherhood”
  31. Dr. Mohamed Ahmed El Sherif “ The head of University of Minya and a member of Muslim brotherhood”
  32. Judge Ali Awad Saleh “ The deputy chairman of the supreme constitutional court”
  33. Dr. Gamal Nawara “ A professor in the faculty of engineering in the university of Zagzig”
  34. Dr.Sherif Abdel Azim “ A doctor and founder of famous Rasala Charity foundation”
  35. Hassan Lashin “ The head of the Egyptians abroad fund in Saudi Arabia”
  36. Dr. Mobaad El Gerhai “ A professor in Islamic finance”
  37. Engineer Mohamed Khalosy “ The head of the Engineers syndicate in Cairo and a member of the Muslim brotherhood”
  38. Dr. Abdel Hady El Kasaby “ The head of Sufi orders in Egypt”
  39. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Gowad “ The head of the pharmacists’ syndication and a member in the Muslim Brotherhood”
  40. Dr. Abdel Rahman El Bar “ An Islamic scholar , professor in Al Azhar  and a member in the Muslim brotherhood”
  41. Dr. Maged Shabita “ The professor of constitutional law”
  42. Dr. Mostafa Kamel El Siyad “ A political sciences professor in the American university in Cairo as well a member in the Socialist Popular alliance party”
  43. Abdel Fatah Khatab “ A representative of the general union of Egypt’s labors unions”
  44. Abdullah Kandeel “ A representative of the general Egyptian chambers of commerce”
  45. Ahmed Mohamed Khalifa “ A representative of the State council”
  46. Dr. Mohamed Yosri Ibrahim “ A Salafist Islamist scholar and preacher who lost the parliamentary elections in front of MP Mostafa Al Nagr in Nasr City area”
  47. Dr. Bassam Matawlly “I do not know who is he , he is being introduced as a prominent figure in the society !!!”
  48. Ayman Ali “I do not know who is he , he is being introduced as a prominent figure in the society !!!”
  49. Mohamed Saad Abdel Karim Gawish “ Representative of youth , what youth , do not even ask !! ”
  50. Nader Bakar “ Al Nour party spokesperson”
So 75% of the constituent assembly is controlled by the Muslim brotherhood and their Party. You will be surprised to know that not only the liberals are angry from the MB’s control but also the Salafists are angry from that control as well.
There are 6 women in the assembly and 5 Christians only.

Mubarak Memories That never exist !!

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For couple of weeks now the media in Egypt is speaking about alleged memories written by ousted president Mubarak. Rosa Al Youssef weekly “famous for its fabrication” is publishing excerpts from the alleged memories. These alleged memories will be published in UK by Canongate Books  for $ 10 million .
Despite I know that Mubarak and his family may work on memories in order to defend themselves in front of the world plus it is a good source of income , yet I highly doubt that Mubarak would see the following about himself :
  • His mom sued him for financial aid. “She did in early 1960s”
  • President Sadat used to call him stupid and was planning to dismiss him
  • Qaddafi killed Lebanese Emam El Sadr and Ashraf Marwan
  • He questioned Safwat El Sherif after the murder of Soad Hosni.
  • If he had been a real dictator he would have killed Amr Moussa because the later insulted him.
I do not think Mubarak will admit that he is mistreated his parents in 1960s publicly in front of the world or that Sadat used to call him stupid !! This is besides the fact that the words “Rose Al Youssef” and “memories” make me doubt that there are memories written by Hosni Mubarak at all.
Lately Rosa Al Youssef claimed that “Canongate Books” is facing huge pressure from the Arab rulers to remove about 300 pages in the alleged memories because it exposes them.
After researching and contacting Canongate Books , I found out that the British publishing house is denying totally that it is going to publish the memories of Hosni Mubarak or his wife  Suzanne as some newspapers claimed that the famous British publishing house was going to publish the memories of Suzanne Thabet.
It is worth to mention that Thabet was indeed planning to publish her memories before the revolution.
This is not the first time Rosa Al Youssef publishes fabricated news thanks to its genius Tawheed Wagdy ,the journalist who made a name in the media with his fabricated tabloid news. It seems that this is the natural evolution of Rosa Al Youssef from Adel Hammouda to Abdullah Kamel to Tawheed Wagdy !!

Here is where our fuel had gone !!?

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And drivers found this In the desert highway of Hurghada !!

Hurghada desert highway : Fuel Pond !!

For weeks now people are searching for fuel madly in Egypt standing with their cars in long queues in front of oil stations for hours creating traffic jams not to mention the long quest to find an oil station with loaded tanks of fuel.

This is not the first time something like this to happen after the revolution. Some are accusing the SCAF of standing behind this crisis especially that the Muslim brotherhood leaked a document showing that SCAF exported fuel to Fatah government in West Bank , Palestine in order to punish Hamas government as well to make Egyptians hate Palestine.

Well this fuel in Hurghada did not find its way to the West bank if I am not mistaken !!

The minister of supply , Gouda Abdel Khalak accused the remnants of Mubarak regime of standing behind the crisis past we.. Gouda was accusing indirectly Alaa Mubarak’s runaway father in law Magdy Rasekh of standing behind the crisis.

Ok if Raskh and bunch of evil ex-Mubarak regime men are standing behind the crisis why are not they behind bars ? We know that Raskeh’s companies distributes fuel for cars and gas cylinders for houses , is not this considered a monopoly ? Mostafa Pasha Bakry that Raskh still owns shares in “Cairo Gas” , we need to know if that is true or not and if it is true why these shares have been reclaimed by the government !!

Already how are the National Gas company and Arabia company are doing after his escape !!?

I do not know where the truth is but I know that it is very common to see a vehicle transporting fuel heading in to Cairo protected by army and police !!  

MB Vs. SCAF : More Than war of statements

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After few hours from now the Muslim brotherhood will hold a historical meetings its members and the rest of the nation are more than interesting to know its results as it will not affect the brotherhood and its future but it will affect the the future of democratic transition in Egypt .
In the past 4 days the Muslim brotherhood started a war of statements from the Muslim brotherhood then followed by a statement from Freedom and Justice against SCAF accusing of fighting the Parliament and refusing to get rid from Ganzouri to directly accusing SCAF of rigging the presidential elections in advance and sabotaging the revolution !!!
The Freedom and Justice statement attacking SCAF
Then the Freedom and Justice party showed this alleged document accusing SCAF of creating the fuel crisis currently in Egypt because it exports fuel to Fatah government in West bank in order to weaken Hamas !!! This is from the party that defended SCAF from couple of weeks ago in the NGOs trial fiasco. Of course both SCAF and Fatah in West Bank denied officially the allegations.
SCAF did not sit silent but it issued its 9th communiqué for year 2012 attacking those political powers suspecting its intentions asking to learn from the past’s mistakes in a clear reference of the famous 1954 crisis between Nasser and Muslim brotherhood.
Now the Freedom and Justice newspaper that used to attack protesters all over the country call the people to go in to million man protests. I will not go and translate what both teams are saying.
For months FJP was dying to form the government but legally the parliament can’t withdraw trust from Ganzouri’s government according to the constitutional declaration , SCAF only can do it thus the MB and its political arm are pressing to SCAF to get rid from Ganzouri. Also did not the parliamentary elections which FJ party won take place under SCAF’s rule !?
Anyhow SCAF is insisting on keeping Ganz till the presidential elections.
Some believe that this is a charade between SCAF and MB to divert the attention from the constituent assembly. I do not believe that.
The Muslim brotherhood does not care for democracy as they do not have this process inside the brotherhood itself for real not to mention just quick look to the constituent assembly and you will  know who they think .
The fight is over power as the brotherhood want full power and SCAF will not let this to happen because they also want full power even if it is from the backstage. SCAF is ready to give some power and not full power where as the Muslim brotherhood is hungry for power and it is not ready to leave power because any other political power is bad liberal secular minority.
There is talk about a deal offered by the SCAF yet MB seemed to be refusing : 10 ministries for leaving the army and its budge to the military plus the important ministries of defense , interior and foreign affairs.
The MB wanted to the police academy to accept a group of its young members , oh yes to be graduated as policemen/MB’s members and this shows their plans. The Egyptian army learned bad experience in 1981 after the assassination of Sadat and thus its officers and soldiers are monitored carefully when it comes to religious radicalism. These are important remarks we should put in our consideration.
As SCAF is telling brotherhood to learn from history , most if not all people remembered immediately 1954 and what happened in it when Nasser and the rest of the Free officers turned against both Mohamed Naguib and the Muslim brotherhood “First generation including Siyad Qotub himself”. Naguib was exiled in Egypt , Muslim brotherhood was officially banned and its members started their long time agony with regime’s jails and their fight against it for more than 6 decades till the 25th January revolution.
The 1954 experience was hard and I thought personally that the Muslim brotherhood decided not to repeat its mistakes and not to lose the military rulers since Mubarak’s stepping on February 11,2011. For months the brotherhood abandoned the revolutionary path ignoring all the calls for the million protests or even helped the protesters for fear SCAF would turn against them.
SCAF just wants to wrap up these months and return back to the backstage , they will not escalate because simply they are not mavericks like those boys in 1954. They are old men and regardless of what they seemed they are not wicked like Nasser. Needless to say these old men can disband Freedom and Justice party as well Al Nour Party if they want to as they are religious based parties but they keeping they card till  it reaches to a dead end.
Now it is worth to mention that the Muslim brotherhood is facing its own troubles and bubbles from inside the brotherhood that storming it for the first time since the days of Hassan El Banna.
The defections of the MB’s youth are not stopping and the presidential elections are increasing the crack between the youth, the leadership as well veteran members who believe that the brotherhood should endorse Abdel Moneim Abu El Fatouh like Sheikh Karadawy or Kamal El Helbaway or Mohamed ElBeltagy whom I feel that he will join the defectors of MB very soon.
Last Thursday the youth of MB held a protest outside the MB HQ in Cairo for the first time in history to demand the freedom of choice in presidential elections. “ To support Abu El Fatouh”
I am not speaking from nothing , I am speaking from news within the brotherhood from very trust sources. Already according to a tip I got from two days there were leading figures in brotherhood that they did not know that MB was going to attack SCAF publicly in this way.
Only time tell us shortly if that clash between the Muslim brotherhood and SCAF is true and which team will win in the end , also time will tell us on how
Hopefully Egypt will not pay a price in this clash , enough prices we had to pay so far.
“By the way SCAF is holding a meeting with parties tomorrow at the same time”

Update : 

The Muslim brotherhood members are distributing a statement in Metro stations tonight about the obstacles facing the civilians in the democratic transition where they are attacking SCAF and calling for a new government. They want the people to protest I suppose.
The brotherhood statement scanned by Ahmed Mahdy
The brotherhood statement -2 by Ahmed Mahdy
Here is the open letter sent by veteran Sheikh Youssef Qaradawy from his official Facebook page to the Brotherhood's leadership telling them to let the members have the freedom of choice when it comes to presidential elections and that they should not push a presidential candidate to the race after their promise that they will not for fear it will split votes for Islamist presidential candidates. 
Qaradawy mentioned in his open letter that the brotherhood has fired number of its members for breaking the orders regarding the presidential elections and that now the brotherhood is interested in  entering the race , these members should return back to the brotherhood.
He also hinted out that the brotherhood should endorse those candidates close to its way of thinking in direct reference to Abu El Fatouh.
The meeting of the Brotherhood's guidance office is delayed to noon. The brotherhood now is speaking about three possible presidential candidates : Khairat El Shatar , Mohamed Morsi who is the chairman of the FJP and Saad El Katatani , the speaker of people's assembly !! 

The Constituent assembly crisis : It is not about majority more about a whole nation

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Everyday more members withdrew from the 100 members constituent assembly rejecting the way of choosing its members and the Islamist majority control. Of course it is worth to mention that there are talks now between the Muslim brotherhood and other non political powers and parties in Egypt. SCAF had a meeting today with the parties represented in the parliament to discuss the constituent assembly debate and gave them 48 hours to solve their issues. “Then what?” 
The Parties that have withdrawn so far :
  • The Egyptian Social Democratic Party “ 6 members including two Christians one of them in a woman”
  • The Free Egyptians Party “Three member”
  • Al Wafd Party “Three members including a Christian lady”
  • Al Karama Party “ One member”
  • The Socialist Popular alliance Party “One member”
  • El Wasat Party "One member-Essam Sultan" 
The independent members that have withdrawn so far :
  • MP Amr Hamzawy “From the 50 parliamentarians list”
  • MP Amr Shobaky “From the 50 Parliamentarian list”
  • Lawyer Sameh Ashour , head of bar association “ The 50 non-parliamentarians”
  • Dr. Ahmed Harara , Revolution protester and injured “The 50 non-parliamentarians”
  • Ahmed El Siyad El Naggar , the famous economic researcher “The 50 non-parliamentarians”
  • Ashraf Abdel Ghafour , the head of actors’ Syndication “The 50 non-parliamentarians”
  • Abdel Fatah Khatab , the representative of the Egypt’s labors unions general union “ The 50 non-parliamentarians”
  • Judge Ali Awad Salah , the representative of the supreme constitutional court because the court did not accept the insult of MB that the court will help SCAF in the rigging presidential elections " The 50 non-parliamentarians" 
  • MP Wahid Abdel Magid "From the 50 parliamentarians list" who withdrew from the first session of assembly to object the procedures of electing the head of the assembly 
The independent substitute members that have withdrawn so far : “ There are 20 members in each category to replace the original members if they withdraw”
  • Eman El Bahr Darwish , the head of musicians’ syndicate. “I think he is chosen because he is a little bit religiously conservative”
  • Rabab El Mahdy , the political sciences professor in the AUC and the political advisor of Dr. Abu El Fatouh “She is a Marxist”
  • Samir Marcus , the famous Christian writer
After the announcement of the final list we find many objections not form the liberal parties and parties who members are now viciously attacked by the MB members and Salafists but also institutions and from the Egyptians that found themselves excluded :
  • The Nubians protested in front of the State council today because they were not represented despite the Egyptian Nubian MP Amr Abdel Galil had presented a list of 22 Nubian personalities to the parliament so it would choose names from them “ I will not guess but I think Dr. Malaka Zarrar and Mohamed Mounir are among them”
Where is Nubia from the constitution ?
The MB students statement
Now I do respect the parliamentarian majority right in drafting the constitution but I would like to hint out that if we consider that every parliamentarian majority has the right to draft the constitution alone then we will have a new constitution every four or five years !!
The constitution is not a majority matter or a book that is written by the majority alone regardless of its identity.
The constitution defines the relation between the citizen and the state , the State identity “I swear to God that even stones in Egypt know that it is Arab country in Africa , its religion is Islam and its language is Arabic !!” and the rights and duties of citizens , president, government , army and governors.. etc. It is beyond political or religious affiliations.
The Muslim brotherhood and the rest of the Islamist groups do not want to understand that in the rest of the world the government and the majority change every couple of years yet the constitution does not change for the change the majority but rather for specific political and social changes in the society after being approved by the public .
Did the French change their constitution which is from the important constitutions in the world based on the change of the majority ? The Americans change their majority between Republicans and Democrats and yet their constitution did not change based on the Republican change or the Democrat change.
Of course the Muslim brotherhood and the rest of the Islamist groups do not believe that anyone will rule instead of them in Egypt and thus they think that they will rule from here to eternity without realizing for one moment that the huge success they achieved in these elections may not be achieved again and they may lose in the next elections.
I admit that I am a romantic person and for months I though that the Muslim brotherhood will have the social intelligence enough to include everybody in Egypt whether other political powers or even consider better geographic/religious/ethnic representation.
Needless from talking with MBs “Hardcore ones” they believe that there is no need for any representations because the Islamists in the assembly “most of them follow the orders of the Muslim brotherhood” do not make mistake and Islam respects human universals and the minorities rights which is the absolutely true. Still we are not taking here about Islam but rather humans who are interpreting the religion from their own perspective. 
The problem of these hardcore MBs and Islamists that they considered women , Non-Muslims and Egyptians from Nubia , from Matrouh and from Sinai as secondary citizens , kids that they , the adults will look after not as equal citizens.
We are having this fight now because simply this is the revolution’s constitution which hundreds paid their lives as price in order to have. We are having this fight because as Egyptians we have all the right to know criteria those 100 names were chosen to draft our constitution , it is not a Samir Magazine for children for God sake !!
By the way the constitution referendum says that the constitution should be drafted after the presidential elections.

Abu El Fatouh En Jesuit : 2 hours of questions

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Presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abu El Fatouh was invited for a lecture at the College De Sainte Famille “CSF” aka The Jesuit Downtown Cairo tonight by the Catholic patriarchs and priests association and “The Justice and Peace organization” which also follows the Catholic church.  It was an open invitation for everybody and I attended it.

The lecture was moderated by journalist Youssef Ramez who did an amazing DSC03048job.Abu El Fatouh came along some of the member of his campaign including his political advisor and AUC political sciences professor Rabab El Madi. El Mahdi is a famous Marxist and even Father William hinted out to this fact as it was a sign on how Abu El Fatouh was open to others despite his Islamist background.

Most of the attendants were Christians including a considerable number of nuns “including a dear old foreign nun I once met in a Spanish course from several years ago” who went to listen and to ask the famous Islamist candidate who was Many of the attendants from were also graduates of the Jesuit as well , there couple of young students who came and attended the lecture. There were several Egyptian TV channels recording the lecture along two foreign TV channels.

The lecture started with a moment for silence for Egypt’s martyrs and late Pope Shenouda. Father William of Catholic Church then spoke to introduce Abu El DSC03046Fatouh then journalist Youssef Ramez introduced him once again. Abu El Fatouh spoke about him and his program , about citizenship and unity between Muslims and Christians. “It was clever to stress about this point especially he is an Islamist candidate in a Catholic School”’ He slammed those who spoke about Christians and women as second degree citizens , there was no need to guess whom he meant.

Abu El Fatouh will officially present his PAs tomorrow to the HEPC at 9.30 AM and he will also announce his presidential program on the same day. He hinted out that there are two main projects in his program and they are related to education and health.

Abu El Fatouh wants a real better free educational system and thus he will not cancel free education but rather improves the whole system considering the scientific research as part of our national security

The second project Abu El Fatouh is planning to do if he is the president will be a full health insurance for all Egyptians. I think as a doctor specialized in hospitals administration , he can do something about it.

Then people began to send their questions and more than 14 questions were about his relation with the Muslim brotherhood “Including my question”.  The answer was that there will be no privileges for the Muslim brotherhood and it will be like any other political group in the country if he becomes a president. People applauded that answer. Abu El Fatouh did not speak much about the brotherhood except that he said that he knew that he had to leave to the brotherhood when he intended to run for the post.

He was asked about building churched and He answered  that the president should not interfere in building churches or mosques , already there is no need for mosques and churches in the country as we need more hospitals and schools blaming Mubarak’s regime of creating the sectarian tensions in the country.

He defended his quote that Egypt is an Islamic country saying that he was saying this to those who want Egypt to become Islamic country in reference to the Salafists. “Egypt had become an Islamic country from 14 centuries ago !!” He said. He also defended his quote that there is nothing called 100% secular country saying that there is a semi-secular country only.

There was also this debate about the concept of civilian state which Rabab El Mahdi backed up him where they insisted that the civilian state is against the military state.

Father William asked him about how to raise the awareness of the people especially with poverty and illiteracy and Abu El Fatouh had a good point saying that two phases ; one on the short run and the second is on the long run. On the short term will youth can go to their neighborhoods and villages to increase people’s awareness and on the long run the country should adopt the Cuban experience in fighting illiteracy. “He revealed that he met with the Cuban ambassador , already Abu El Fatouh is from the few presidential candidates that met many foreign ambassadors in Cairo in those few months

He believes in Social justice more than Hazem Salah Abu Ismail who does not believe in free education or progressive taxation,no wonder Rabab El Mahdi believes in his project.

Now to be honest I did not like how Abu El Fatouh defended the majority in the parliament and accused the media of portraying them as idiots , well unfortunately so far they proved to be idiots. He also said that we should not worried from the upcoming constitution because the Egyptian people will not let anyone to mess up with their constitution. An old man from the audience reminded him with the constitution referendum and what happened in it.

The last question Abu El Fatouh answered was a question from Southern Sudanese professor about the future of Egypt

“The separation of South Sudan is another crime done by Mubarak regime yet the South Sudan problem was since 1950s and the military regime that used religion made it worse.I was always against the rule of El Bashir in Sudan “ Abu El Fatouh answered adding that he believes that Egypt and the Arab world should start a new page with South Sudan as well Africa.

Ironically the man who made a name for himself in 1975 after his debate with Sadat did not like how couple of young men suddenly interpreted him in an attacking way to ask him about his views regarding Islamic Sharia and the right to build Churches.

While leaving I listened to couple of reactions especially from Christians and they were concerned because of the Muslim brotherhood background yet all reactions agreed that he is from the best presidential candidates.

Here is part of the lecture I broadcasted for couple of minutes  on bambuser.

By the way I record nearly 40 minutes of the meeting in the audio as well several video clips , I will upload them in few hours.

France Bans More Muslim scholars

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France has decided to ban 4 Muslim scholars from entering its territories. The four scholars are : Egyptian Sheikh Safwat Hegazy , a former mufti of Jerusalem Akrama Sabri, Saudi clerics Ayed Bin Abdullah Al-Qarni and Abdullah Basfar.

In a joint statement by French minister of foreign affairs Alain Juppe and minister of interior Claude Gueant we know that there are banned from entering France because “These people's positions and statements calling for hatred and violence seriously damage republican principles and, in the current context, represent a serious threat to public order”. The decision is taken after the Toulouse massacre shocking events.

The ministers wanted also to ban Tarek Ramadan from entering France as well but French government can’t do it because he is a Swiss European citizen.

Ramadan , Hegazy and the rest were invited to attend some conference organized  by the Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF) in early April.It is worth to mention that UOIF issued a statement condemning the Toulouse massacre describing it as it an act of terrorism that got no religion.

Now officially there are 5 high profile Muslim scholars/Sheikhs banned from entering France. France has already decided to ban Sheikh Youssef El Qaradawy from entering its territories. Strangely the Muslim brotherhood did not unleash attack on France like UAE , they are surely busy with their feud with SCAF and there is no French version from Dubai police chief Khalafan !!

Already Hegazy if I am not mistaken that he is banned from entering Britain as Safwat Hegazy at Tahrir squarewell. Hegazy had issued once a fatwa to kill the Israelis who enter Egypt in 2006 that he revised and said that it was wrong later. He paid a price for that fatwa that he regretted later and apologized then interrogated by State security then banned from preaching on Fridays for awhile. I think Hegazy is banned because of that old fatwa.

Also I think Sheikh Sabri of Jerusalem is banned because of anti-Zionist anti-Jewish opinions when it comes to Al Aqsa Mosque. I do not know much about Al-Qarni and Basfar to be honest.  

Banning these sheikhs will not solve the problems of radicalism because honestly I do not think radicals from Muslims listen to someone like Sheikh Youssef El Qaradawy or even someone like Safwat Hegazy.

I do not know but I feel it has do with the elections season more than the horrible Toulouse massacre and how Sarkozy is using Islamophobia to get more votes. There is no doubt that I have seen this coming when the French authorities announced that the serial killer of Toulouse massacre was a Muslim man. There will be a campaign against Muslims in French led by the right wing in France that found a golden mine against French Muslims  and Muslim immigrants."Sarko’s UMP is center right party”

This decision will increase the gap unfortunately between French Muslims and France as well the Muslims in general especially in the Arab world and France. Already today I found a friend of mine who is a liberal describing the decision of France as racist especially France battle with Niqab is still in our mind.

Egyptian Presidential Elections : Wacky Races indeed

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And now the big surprise of the game : SCAF has dropped the charges Ayman Nour was convicted of and thus Nour restored all his legal and political rights including his right to run for presidential elections !!

Nour announced the news as soon as he knew on his official twitter account before changing his twitter bio as a presidential candidate 2012.
By Nouran Sallam

Nour is the leader of Ghad El Thawra Party which got already 2 seats in the People’s assembly and thus Nour will not need any PAs or recommendations.  Nour will register himself on Friday.
There are fears that Nour will divide the liberal votes. I am quite surprised because if I am  not mistaken Nour withdrew from the Presidential race after Mohamed ElBaradei because he believed it would be a charade. “Despite he could not then because of the legal problems that prevented him from running”.
Veteran Leftist Abu El Ezz El Hariri is already the first presidential candidate to reserve his place in the first stage of the race because he is a member in the parliament and got the official endorsement of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party.
General Hossam Khairallah has also got the official endorsement of El Salam party which got seats in the parliament after failing to secure enough PAs. Khairallah’s campaign was accused already of paying bribes for the people so they would sign PAs for Khairallah. It is worth to mention that the leader of El Salam party is the head of Muslim youth association , who was accused of being part of the battle of camel attack against the protesters in Tahrir square on February 2nd and 3rd.
Now there are presidential candidates from two unknown parties : Mohamed Awad of “Egyptian National Party” { An NDP remnants party of Tawfik Okasha} and  Mohamed Fawzy of “The Democratic Generation Party” . Do not even ask about them !! Strangely infamous lawyer Mortada Mansour is going to register himself as the “Egyptian National party” candidate.
Now Amr Moussa has managed to collect 45,000 PAs to become the first presidential candidate to gather these PAs from citizens from two weeks. He is also the fifth one to become officially qualified for presidential elections. 
Amr Moussa after presenting his PAs "Moussa' Campaign" 
Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotoh has collected more than 30,000 PAs according to his campaign last week and today he went to the HPEC to present 45,000 PAs.
going to the HPEC with the PAs "Abu El Foto campaign"
Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail campaign claims that they managed to gathered over 150,000 PAs.Abu Ismail has not gone yet to present these PAs to the HPEC. He will go on Friday “Is the HPEC opened in the weekend already !?”. According to a tip I got there will be a show off for Abu Ismail followers next Friday where they head to the HPEC with buses from all over the country. They will allegedly form a human chain from Dokki to Heliopolis !!!!!!!
Now many Salafists are angry from Al Nour Party because it has not announced its full endorsement to the famous Salafist Sheikh. There have been contradicting news that the party will not endorse him in the past two weeks. Al Nour party will lose some of its popularity among its Salafist base without doubt if it does not endorse Abu Ismail.
Nevertheless Al Nour party is not that important to the Salafist votes compared to the famous Salafist Sheikhs. The Shura council of Salafist sheikhs “Shora Al Olamaa” has announced its official complete endorsement to Sheikh Abu Ismail.
Mansour Hassan withdrew from the race after embarrassing him and his history. Of course what Wafd party is more embarrassed after endorsing him publicly despite the refusal of the youth members in the party. I think they will endorse Amr Moussa now.
I highly doubt that Bothiana Kamel and Khaled Ali will manage to collect enough PAs despite I really wish they would.
I do not understand why Hamdeen Sabhi does not run as the presidential candidate of the Karama Party “got a seat in the parliament” instead of humiliating himself. May be he will do this in the end. The man wants to prove that he is a popular in the country but it is not time for bragging.
Here is the official Presidential elections website with the latest updates regarding the official Presidential candidates.

#Ultras : It is their Strike , their rules

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Ultras rules by Mona Seif
Many girls form the Egyptian protesters class and many feminists are angry from Al Ahly Ultras groups , oh yes they are so angry.
Ahly Ultras is having this sit in at the Parliament for nearly 5 days and that sit in unlike any other sits in this area has witnessed , it has very unique rules.
The rules are as follow : girls are not allowed in the sit in after 10 PM , No girl is allowed to smoke inside the sit in , No girl is allow to stay over in the sit , No girl is allowed . There are also another rules.
They hanged a big banner with these rules saying that despite respect to the individual freedom yet they respect the Egyptian society values and traditions.
The Ultras justified its rules that they learned from the other sits in’s mistakes.They do care about the image in the society whether you consider hypocrisy or not because they had enough of being defamed in the media for years and appearing as football crazy druggie hooligans.
Misogynist , indeed it is. Ultras movement is misogynist , no girls are allowed to join it in the first place. The members of Ultras groups are actually a reflection of the Egyptian society with its different background and classes , they are not liberal or leftist progressive movement for God sake as some believe. They are simply a football fan group that has been dragged to politics in very unusual circumstances.
Ultras big puppets parade 
Well unfortunately our dear ladies are making the same mistake of the Egyptian  protesting class that thinking all the society is like them and whoever protests against SCAF or the government in Tahrir share the same social and political views like them. Already I feel not only the protesting class does this mistake but also all other political forces in the country does it , taking people for granted !! The leftists think that the they will get the working class vote and yet most of the working class vote in the country goes to the Islamists. 
Anyhow sometimes I feel that we are using the Ultras because they know how to kick the security's ass and yet we do not want to think for once about their unique rules that made them a powerful subculture in our Egyptian society.
The Ultras Sit in by Mosaab El Shimi
I head enough from comments on twitter like “I blame the Ultras , I am sad from their position …etc.” to the big “screw them” because honestly it is nothing when I remember all those boys killed in Port Said in a football match , it is nothing when I remember all the sacrifices these boys have presented for Egypt in their young age. The Ultras boys have grown up and showed maturity in their young age after that massacre without doubt.
You can imagine how our lady activists who participated in almost all the sits and protests are extremely angry in front of these rules. Some of the activists have already criticized and decided to boycott the sit in “as if the sit in needs them to succeed”
This is not a feminist crusade to change the society’s values , this is not a feminist sit in , it is an Ultras sit in.
It is their sit in and these are their rules , they do not need our help as much we should be very thankful that they are insisting on their demands.
Again it is their sit in and these are their rules.
The Ultras sit in demands : A trial for Port Said massacre and those behind it , Purging the ministry of interior , more penalties against Al Masry club. 

Abu El Fotoh En Jesuit in video and his presidential program is finally here.

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Here are three short video clips in Arabic I recorded for presidential candidate Dr. Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotoh during his lecture in Jesuit School “CSF” which I covered last Wednesday.

Here is the first clip showing the answer of Dr. Abu El Fotoh about a question regarding the citizenship concept in Egypt.

Abu El Fotoh speaks about citizenship

The second clip Abu El Fotoh speaks about the concept of the civil state and its history. You will noticed that he was backed up by his political advisor Rabab El Mahdy who supported his definition for the civil state.

Abu El Fotoh Speaks about civil state concept

The third and last clip I recorded in video was his answer about a question regarding the Egyptian-Southern Sudanese relations and South Sudan.

Abu El Fotoh speaks about South Sudan

Now after registering as a presidential candidate yesterday Abu El Fotoh campaign released the presidential program of the strong Islamist candidate on the same day. You can read the program in Arabic here.

Abu El Fotoh presidential program

I think this is the first presidential candidate to present a full program for real. Now I have gone through it fast and I have written several remarks about it quickly :

  • The language used in the presidential program PDF is targeting the educated and intelligentsia class , the language used in the presidential program is hard for the average Egyptian citizen who does not know the meaning of a concept like sustainable development. I hope that the presidential program is simplified especially its economic parts.
  • I think Islamic Sharia was mentioned 3 times only in the 45 pages Program.
  • Are we going to have a new constitution if he becomes the president instead of the one the constituent assembly wants to draft !?
  • He wants a semi-presidential state. “Abu Ismail wants a Presidential state while Muslim brotherhood wants a parliamentary state”
  • He believes in decentralization in governorates , local councils and municipals and how governors and mayors are going to be elected.
  • He is with the freedom of unions and syndications.

I still need to go through the program again especially the economic part of it. These are my initial thoughts.

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