#RIP21: Revenge , Air Strike and another day in the Middle East

February 16, 2015, 4:00 pm

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And another big day not only in Egypt but also in Libya. Hours after the announcement of President Abdel Fattah EL-Sisi that Egypt got the right to retaliate for the murder of the 21 Coptic Egyptian migrant workers by Islamic state “IS” militants in the right time and place , we woke up on Monday to find that Egyptian air forces already conducted air strikes in Libya.

The Egyptian air forces conducted an airstrike against IS’ camps, training camps and arms depots in Libya according to the official armed forces’ statement on the official army Spox Facebook. The statement did not mention the location of the strike or a specific number of losses among IS militants. Just board general words and two videos showing air jet fighters taking off their hangers.

Post by ‎الصفحة الرسمية للمتحدث العسكري للقوات المسلحة‎.

Hours later the Libyan armed forces issued a statement declaring that both Egyptian and Libyan air forces conducted airstrikes earlier today in the city of Derna, Eastern Libya. Through out the day the Libyans were the ones who were speaking and revealing information about the strike to the media. Needless to say we got two governments and two parliaments so you can imagine the confusion of who is who as well where.

Of course one must ask and wonder why the Egyptian air forces conducted an air strike on Derna and not Sirte where the Egyptian workers were kidnapped or Tripoli where they were beheaded according to the analysis of the video. I do not know why but I know that Derna was the first Libyan city to see an IS-affiliated militant group attempting to expand in the war-torn Libya. May be Derna was chosen because of it is close to Egypt and the decision to retaliate was needed to be taken quickly.

The Libyan armed forces and its men who spoke to Egyptian TV channels all day long claimed that nearly 64 IS militants were killed in the air strikes including 12 foreign fighters. 

The Islamic Police HQ in Derna By Johr Ali

The Libyan air forces commander also admitted that there were civilian casualties among the killed including two women and a child in the air strikes conducted by Libyan air forces not by Egyptian air forces. This comes at the same time Libyan Facebook pages and twitter accounts in addition to Al Jazeera TV channels reporting that Children  were killed in the Egyptian air strike. The photos of the victims caused a controversy because a Libyan Facebook page claimed that there were for children who died from several months ago when it already the page itself uploaded the photo earlier !! There is a crazy debate about the photos up till this now on the social media.

Strangely but not so surprisingly hours later the spokesperson of Libyan forces spokesperson denied there were any civilians casualties in the air strikes at all.

Derna is a city and from what I understand the targets of the air strikes were in the city itself so it is highly possible and likely to have civilian casualties.Already army sources say the weapons depots were hidden in the buildings.  

After the strike "Johr Ali"

There were news that Egyptian air forces conducted another air strike in the afternoon but there was nothing in the official spokesperson’s Facebook page.

The other Libyan army following the other Parliament aka Islamists' GNC will retaliate against "General Sisi" denying that there is IS-affiliated group in the first place in Libya !!!

This is just crazy, I swear it is surreal. IS-affiliated groups are in Derna and Sirte and yet they deny it !!!

Now I am amazed at the speed of planning those airstrikes to the level that I wonder if our intelligence knew what was going to happen in those 45 days following the abduction of those workers and the armed forces planned in advance that strike.

You can imagine how the armed forces videos and those announcements made many Egyptians happy and proud. Today nationalist sentiments reached to the moon for real. The radio and TV kept airing nationalist patriotic songs all day long. The social media in Egypt is on fire. It was also full of rumors like Egypt would start a ground operation and would send its 999 special forces. This claim was denied later by sources in both Egyptian and Libyan armed forces. I think we should not open the Libyan front when things in Egypt are not stable.

Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s popularity soared today as the leader who acted quickly to avenge for Egyptians , still the implications of his action today will be a bigger test for his quick airstrike. With over 100,000 Egyptians workers in Libya that should be evacuated , there will be a bigger challenge for him. 

Personally I believe those airstrikes were to calm down the Egyptian public opinion after the horrifying video at the same they are official announcement that we are involved in Libya directly after months of denying involvement.

I do not know what is going in the backstage , I do not care that much about the the MB&Qatar Vs. Egypt&UAE as all what I care for is we do not get involved in another Yemen war in the 21st century or rather a Libya war. I feel it is like trap.

Libyan Herald already claimed that at least 35 Egyptians have been abducted. There is news also that the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli was torched by IS supporters. The embassy was already closed since the kidnap of Egyptian diplomats last year.

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#UWK_Massacre : The Final Death toll

February 20, 2015, 2:28 pm

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The Zamalek Sports Club’s hardcore fan group Ultras White Knights “UWK” has published the final list of victims who died from two weeks ago at the Air Defense stadium in Cairo. According to the UWK ‘s FB page the number of those  who died were 20 people just like what the Forensic Medical authority announced earlier.

Post by Ultras White Knights UWK.

It has published their names.
Now the confusion about the number turned out to be the result of mixing between the dead, injured and the missing form that night.

Late Hala El-Hebishy , the youngest victim in the incident "15 years old" filmed before the stampede

Of course people forgot about what happened from two weeks after what happened in Libya. It is unclear whether the football activity in Egypt will return or not as the last word will be for the government. The government is going to pay LE 100,000 each to  the families of the victims who died outside the stadium.
Other than that there is no updates about the investigations.
Now regarding this horrifying accident , I would like you to watch this episode from Balacano YouTube webcast by Shawky who is a huge Zamalek fan. Unfortunately it is Arabic only with no subtitles.

El-Balacona : Take off your cloth for the sake of Egypt 

Mosireen Presents : A Brief History of the Shura Council trial

February 21, 2015, 2:44 pm

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Mosireen Collective presents a Brief history of the Shura Council trial with English subtitles.


On Monday the Cairo Criminal court will say its final word in the retrial of the Shura Council trial where 21 protesters are facing 15 years in jail for illegal protesting and assaulting a police officer. Among those 21 protesters there are prominent activists like Alaa Abdel Fattah and Constitution party member Hany El-Gamal.

Alaa Abdel Fattah in court last session "Hussein Tallal"

Alaa Abdel Fattah is currently on partial hunger strike after being on a complete hunger strike for 100 days.
I am worried but hopefully insh Allah we will hear good news hopefully. Let’s pray for good news.

When Good Middle Class boys become Bad and Join IS !!

February 23, 2015, 4:43 am

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And once again Islam Yaken is back to the news and media in Egypt. Last week the New York Times published an interesting profile and video report about ISIS hipster Egyptian spokesperson Islam Yaken and his life in Egypt featuring two of his friends and once again the debate on why the good Middle Class boys join the Islamic State militant group is back.

Yeah we are back to this old debate.

Of course it did not stop at the NY Time’s feature as IS’ PR media machine could not waste this opportunity. From couple of days ago Yaken announced on his twitter account that one of his close friends in Egypt  joined him in ISIS.

Islam and Mahmoud , Now and then 2010 in Cairo and 2015 in Levant

That friend is yet another good middle class boy 24-years old Mahmoud Ghandour who joined Yaken in their pseudo-caliphate.The faculty of law graduate and the former football referee in the second degree football league in Egypt appeared in the NY Times video in the 2:97 minute where he and Yakan spoke about women.

Interestingly El-Ghandour was known to journalists who were doing profiles and reports about the ISIS social media face Yaken as he had a contact with his friend.

Despite he appeared not to having a problem in speaking to journalists at first, he said he did not want to speak later to them. He even warned and advised them to stay away from him and from Islam.
A quick bio about Yaken based on his social media profiles , he used to be a normal Egyptian Middle Class young man who loved music and women till Mid 2013 when he began to share Pro-IS views.


In the same year he traveled Syria allegedly for charity works but he actually his old pal who he knew from several years ago Mr. Islam Yaken in IS.

Then  he returned back to Egypt and was arrested in July 2014. He was detained for two months allegedly on suspicion for being a Muslim Brotherhood member but he was released later. In Late December 2014 he traveled to Italy and from there to Turkey and from there he got to this caliphate of psychopaths. Do not ask me how he left the country when he explicitly expressed Pro-IS views all the time and he was already detained by security authorities. 

Brothers in arm now

Now the Egyptian media is crazy about El-Ghandour , after all he is the nephew of Egypt’s most famous international referee Gamal El-Ghandour. Now mothers warn their boys from speaking to bad boys online , otherwise they would deceive them to join IS after good dose of similar warnings on TV.
I won’t fall in to IS’ trap and give those more than those paragraphs because I realized that the media is giving IS a golden opportunity to promote its sick ideas by following every photo those young men publish on their social media accounts by the orders of their commanders. 
My focus here is on the same old debate about why boys , mostly good middle class boys join terrorist organizations like ISIS.

It seems to me that the Pro-regime supporters are ridiculing the fact that oppression and injustice play a powerful way in creating terrorists.Hate , oppression, poverty and ignorance play a role in creating terrorism in addition to the fact that there is blood thirst psychopaths.

And yes even European Muslims join IS despite living in democratic countries , another fact I can not ignore. Still I know very well the problems of Muslim Youth in Egypt are different than those in Europe.

This is not my talk , there are political , academic and psychological studies about this.
Yes it is not all about poverty and oppression but all those factors play a role.
You can not expect to win the war against terrorism without tackling all the reasons making the society ready to produce future terrorists.
You can not ignore this fact and just say that Yakan and El-Ghandour were simply brainwashed and that’s it. We have to ask questions.
Recently people raised questions about the religious discourse adopted by Islamic institutions in Al-Azhar , it is a step but it is not enough.
And yes each person has his own circumstances. Ahmed El-Darawi is not Islam Yaken and Islam Yaken is Mahmoud El-Ghandour , this is a fact.
Personally I think El-Ghandour’s road to ISIS started with repentance from being a playboy to devoted Muslim whose best friend is ISIS hipster.
I was once told by one of the important sociologists in Egypt and the Arab world who had extensive research with Jihadists in 1980s and 1990s that radical times of change like the one we are living in the past 4 year s make some people radicalize in their actions due to their frustration and the fact they can’t cope with changes.
They had high hopes and suddenly they face a bitter reality. This is sociologist gave me examples like What happened to El-Darawi and late political activist Zeinab El-Mahdy
Some speculate that El-Ghandour joined ISIS after his detention in Egypt.
Actually it is untrue as he joined it earlier and he was only detained for two month. Still it is a fact according to many released detained and political prisoners the radical jihadist thought is having a comeback in the Egyptian prisons among Islamist youth. It is 1980s déjà vu.
This is what I fear more than those good middle class boys joining ISIS in Levant. Those prisoners will have hate and bitterness towards the society.

New Recruits

ISIS is targeting a specific class of youth in Egypt and the social media is helping a role here. We are not speaking about the old Jihadist type of poor uneducated Islamists in Cairo’s alleys. We are speaking about Middle Class boys educated in private language schools.  
It seems to me that among all Egyptian fighters in IS , the commanders like to show off their Middle and Upper Middle Class members like Yaken and Ghandour. I think the real role of Yaken and Ghandour is to recruit new fighters similar to them through social media.
Those photos of Yaken and Ghandour published by the orders of Yaken’s commanders without doubt in order to send a message that we are attracting new recruits from Egypt.
Islam Yaken and his pal Ghandour are claiming that they are still on contact with their friends in Egypt thanks to the social media and here is not about Twitter and Facebook. You got other networks and social media sites you are not paying attention to like for instance Instagram , Ask.FM,Line and Retrica. For God’s sake Ghandour has not closed yet his Facebook account !!!
Of course you won’t fight terrorism by blocking those social media sites or spying on users but you realize the new challenge in front of you. 
By the way just another fact ,Not all good middle class boys become bad after all.
 Hossam Atef who used to be Yaken’s friend and appeared in the NY Times’ video is the man behind “The Egyptian Spiderman”. Yeah he found his way after all and now he got a real good business as photographer.

Hossam and his teddy bear from His Valentine's project "Antikka Photography"

There is hope after all.

What more can We say ??

February 23, 2015, 3:34 pm

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Today Cairo Criminal court has said its final word in the retrial of Alaa Abdel Fattah and other protesters aka The Shura Council Shura retrial. Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman “Noby” were sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of LE 100,000 in addition to five years on probation for illegal protesting.

Other 18 defendants in the case including Constitution Party Member Hany El-Gamal , Dr. Yahia Abdel Shafei and Mohamed Sami were sentenced to 3 years in prison and a fine of LE 100,000 plus 3 years on probation. The court has also decided to uphold the original in-absentia 15-years in jail against four defendants who did not show up in court.

I do not know what to say or how to comment on such travesty as Ahdaf Soueif, Alaa’s aunt and prominent Egyptian writer described it. I do not know what to say for real more than what I have against the military trials for trials on that day in November !!

After hearing the verdict "Heba El-Kholy"

already said or written about that particular case since covering that protest

Some speculate that Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will issue a presidential pardon and release Alaa and other protesters according to his speech on Sunday. Last Sunday Egypt’s president said in his first long-monthly speech that “innocent youth” currently in prison would be released within days as he promised a group of young journalists from his supporters in January.

Personally I do not feel that this pardon will include Alaa because Alaa is not from that type of pseudo-activists who would thank the president and praise him for his generosity.


The regime knows that Alaa is a true political dissident.  I do not know to say. I feel sad and angry for what happened to Alaa who lost his father while he was in his jail and it seems to me that he will the first 5 years in his son’s life. I am angry for what happened to Abdel Rahman who was not protesting at the first place and went to protect girls assaulted by policemen. I am angry for what happened to that bright Constitution party member called Hany El-Gamal who came from the United States in order to rebuild his country.

I am angry for what happened to Mohamed Samy who vowed not to stop protesting till restoring the rights of his cousin Jika who was killed during the reign of Mohamed Morsi. I am angry for what happened to Dr. Yahia Abdel Shafy and his son. I am angry and sad for rest of those men whom actually are quite forgotten in the Egyptian mainstream media after being heroes of freedom during the time of Morsi.

Just watching the anger and sadness of the families of those men today in Court in photos and videos made me wonder and shiver from the fact that there are thousands of Egyptian families suffer from the same agony away from cameras and media attention.

The young activists who attended the trial screamed down with the military rule while the old parents of the defendants prayed in agony to God that those who imprisoned their children to taste injustice and see their own children suffer. It is heart breaking.

Freedom to the pink dragon aka Alaa and his compatriots. Freedom to all those unjustly detained because of protest law. 

It is more about Sadism Than Animal Cruelty “+18”

February 25, 2015, 3:22 pm

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Today Egyptian social media woke up to find yet another shocking video going viral. That video shows the brutal beating and stabbing of a dog till death by three grown ups. Here is a the video , it is extremely graphic. “+18”

Post by Ibrahim Ahmed.

The story of that poor dog is as follows. In working class semi-rural Shubra El-Kheima city,  a young man had a nasty fight with two brothers in Al-Ahram street. The young man brought his big dog to the fight where it attacked the two brothers and a man who had nothing to do with the fight. The

Late Max with his owner OSHA "OSHA Facebook page"

dog’s owner escaped the scene for fear of those two brothers’ anger. The Brothers and the man sued the dog’s owner who was sentenced one year in jail for attack and assault. This  week the dog’s owner returned back to Al-Ahram street and asked his enemies for reconciliation so they can drop the lawsuit and subsequently the prison sentence. The brothers asked for one thing : To kill the dog in front of everybody in the street so they could restore their pseudo-prestige after being humiliated by a dog. The dog’s owner agreed and we had that video.
As we live in the age of the social media , his owner was identified.
Of course the owner of the dog is trying to save his ass. He is the most hated person in Egypt now. After all he gave up the dog that saved his ass. Anyhow he published his status on his Facebook page.

Post by OS HA.

“ I am sorry Max , it was out of my hands” Osha , Max’s owner says.
In another post Osha asks God to forgive him for what happened to poor Max.  I think Osha will deactivate his Facebook page soon.

Hamda and the Fatwa

The three men who stabbed the dog were also identified in matter of hours. The man who stabbed the dog madly turned to be a real butcher. Mr. Hamda El-Gazaar says on his FB account before that he was a bad person and there was a fatwa issued by Renowned Saudi Sheikh Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen
deactivating it
It is interesting how that butcher uses fatwas of Sheikhs and ignores the direct quotes of Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” which order believers to be merciful with animals. We know that a woman was sent to hell for torturing a cat whereas God forgave for a woman working as prostitute for aiding a dog. Muslim warriors got specific orders not to harm animals or plants in wars for God’s sake. 
That butcher is example of how many Muslims unfortunately use fatwas to justify their wrongdoings.
When I think about it everybody is doing it whether political regimes or groups like ISIS. I am sorry if I am reflecting politics on social issues but I feel the whole thing is connected.
Now when it comes to legal consequences, I do know if those three men can be held accountable in the first place. Yes there is article 45 that speaks about animal rights

Article 45:  The state also commits to the protection and development of green space in urban areas; the protection of plants, livestock and fisheries; the protection of endangered species; and the prevention of cruelty to animals. All the foregoing takes place as regulated by law

Also the Egyptian panel code criminalizes the killing or harming the animals privately owned as long as they are useful like livestock. I do not know if dogs consider like livestock in the Egyptian law. 
But we should not forget that legally the owner of that dog agreed in his reconciliation with those men that they would kill poor Max for dropping the lawsuit against him. 
Nevertheless Renowned Animal Right activists Dina Zulfakir and Kafa Al-Diwnay  have filed a report in Kasr Al-Nil police station.

Post by Kafa Eldiwany.

Zulfakir is also organizing a stand next Saturday in Cairo , in Zamalek against Animal Cruelty. You know in the past I used to look to that kind of activism as luxury but now I believe it is extremely important and it is admirable what Zulfakir does from work in a society that ridicules human rights activists and believes that human right activism is a luxury so you can imagine how they look to animal rights activism. 
On Social media the incident created huge outcry. “Al-Ahram_Street_Dog” and “Haram_Street_Dog” were top trending in Egypt on Wednesday.
There is a Facebook page called “Al-Ahram_street-Dog”
Now I do not think that it has to do with the animal cruelty which exists in Egypt as much it has to do with the increasing sadism in the Egyptian society. Yes there is increasing sadism and social violence that no one can deny. After all that amount of violence towards the dog as seen in the video is indicator of sadism.
Yesterday Egypt’s Female version of Jerry Springer Riham Al-Saeed aired a video showing an attempted rape of a girl by 4 young men. Oh yes on TV millions of Egyptians saw a blurred semi-naked body of a 15 years old girl beaten mercilessly and madly by three young men and the fourth one was filming the whole thing on his mobile phone in order to teach that girl a lesson for God knows what. I did not see the whole video but what I saw on TV was not about sexual desires more about violence and sadism. After all rape is another kind of sadism.
For several years videos surfaced on showing horrible amount of social violence among people them especially in rural areas where the law is absent and popular vigilance replaces it. 
By the way Pro-Morsi supporters started to complain online on how people speak about the dog and do not speak about the victims of regime’s crackdown. I think me and other speak about both. I think if people begin to care for other creatures like dogs , they will care about other humans as well.

Banksy in Gaza and Walls of Freedom seized in Egypt

February 28, 2015, 2:09 pm

≫ Next: Help Karmooz Refugees , Do not Forget Them

≪ Previous: It is more about Sadism Than Animal Cruelty “+18”

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Last Thursday internationally renowned graffiti and visual British artist Banksy revealed his latest artworks in Gaza, Palestine. Oh Yes Banksy was in Gaza and he left one hell of a trace there.

Make this year you discover a new destination.

And here are the graffiti paintings. Aside remark : I do not think that he crossed the tunnels to Gaza through Rafah.

#Banksy #Gaza

A photo posted by Banksy (@banksy) on Feb 26, 2015 at 1:08am PST

#banksy #gaza

A photo posted by Banksy (@banksy) on Feb 27, 2015 at 8:35am PST

A local man came up and said 'Please - what does this mean?' I explained I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website – but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens. #banksy #gaza

A photo posted by Banksy (@banksy) on Feb 28, 2015 at 5:28am PST

I love the cat painting so much

In the Ruins of Gaza "Reuters"

This is the not first time Banksy visits Palestine. In 2005 he visited the West Bank and painted artworks on the ugly apartheid walls.

A living room with a view "Reuters"

Of course Banksy’s visit to Gaza is not highlighted in the Egyptian media because Gaza and its people are now being vilified in the Egyptian media after the court orders to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. The Arab media does not care also about highlighting this extremely important visit and the messages it included away from politics.  
Now in some sad irony Egypt officially seizes The Walls of Freedom Book which documents the Graffiti movement in Egypt after the revolution. The most important and comprehensive book about Egyptian graffiti art was seized in Egypt because“it ignites revolution and incites violence against police and army forces.” Yes it is officially banned in Egypt.
It is not big secret that many of the political graffiti paintings in Egypt have began to be erased. Already the graffiti paintings commemorating the Ahly club fans who have been killed on 1 February 2012 Port Said stadium were removed from the walls of Ahly club.
Ironically I know that Bnaksy will be arrested in Egypt and deported for igniting revolution if he comes and tries to paint one of his Pro-Revolution Anti-Military graffiti paintings in Egypt. 

Help Karmooz Refugees , Do not Forget Them

March 2, 2015, 4:15 pm

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Not less than 50 Syrian and Palestinian refugees are currently on a hunger strike since last February demanding their release from detention at Karmooz police station in Alexandria away from Egyptian media. Oh yes I knew about them through NGOs and foreign media not through local Egyptian media.

3-years old Hamza is detained with his 5 years brother Omar and 1 year old sister Gori along their mother "Karmooz Refugees"

The refugees have been in detention for more than 100 days after they attempted to immigrate illegally to Europe.

The tragedy started last 23 October 2014 when 74 refugees had left from Turkey by boat on 23 October aiming to reach Europe. Following a dispute between the smugglers, the refugees were left stranded on Nelson Island which is 4 km north of Abu Qir, Alexandria. After knowing what happened , The Center for Refugees Solidarity reported the incident to the Egyptian authorities in order to save the refugees.

On 1 November the Egyptian coast guards arrested those detainees and transferred them to Karmooz police station. On 5 November Egypt’s prosecutor general ordered their release.

The men's cell for refugees at Karmooz police station "Karmooz Refugees"

At the same time the National Security in Egypt issued an order to deport those refugees despite it is dangerous for both the Syrian and Palestinian refugees to return back to Syria.
Nevertheless the refugees were not released nor deported. They have been detained over 100 days in the police station. There are men , women, elderly as well children  who can not take it anymore.

Children inside detention try to enjoy their time Karmooz refugees

They are placed in two cells , one for men and one for women There are at least 7 children among the refugees including a-10 months and 8 women among the detained refugees.

Men's cell in Karmooz police station "Karmooz refugees"

There are 15 minors among the detained refugees in total. According to Center for Refugees solidarity detaining minors is against the Egyptian laws as well UN General assembly resolutions.
“The ongoing detention of minors is a clear violation of the Egyptian Child Law No. 12 of 1996 and its amendment by Act 126 of 2008 as well as the GA Resolution No 45/113 on the UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty.” says the Center that follows the case on its official website.

When will they be released ? "Karmooz refugees"

On 9 February 2015 at least 52 refugees started an open strike to protest against their detention. On 28 February 20 of those hunger strikers ended their strike still the rest 32 refugees are still on a hunger strike. Already I am sorry that I did not cover what happened to those refugees earlier.

And Yes they got mobile phones , they allow the refugees to keep their mobile phones. Already human rights activists in Alexandria are trying their best to help them for months. You follow their updates on that Facebook page 

I think the least we can do some noise so the UNHCR intervenes.

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Children of Yarmouk Refugees Camp Say They Are Hungry , Will The World Listen ?

March 4, 2015, 3:40 pm

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Syrian activists launched online a twitter Hashtag campaign tonight called “#I_am_hungry” in Arabic trying to make the world pay attention to the human tragedy taking place at Yarmouk Refugees Camp in Damascus.
According to UNRWA it has been 87 days since the UN organization was able to fully distribute food in the camp.

It has now been 87 days since we have been able to complete a full food distribution in #Yarmouk camp. #SaveYarmouk
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 3, 2015

If You think that this is strange and you won’t believe it then check the sad and horrifying photos and videos taken by activist and citizen journalist Rami Al-Sayed.

Ladies standing queue to receive food in buckets at Yarmouk camp earlier this month "Rami Al-Sayed"

Here are video taken earlier this week at Yarmouk refugee camp.

Food Distribution at Yarmouk Camp

The second video is even worse where children gather the remains of the food in their buckets telling Mr. Al-Sayed with tiny voices that they got no food at home.

Children of Yarmouk

I am hungry - A child from Yarmouk camp His face says it all "Rami Al-Sayed"

I am hungry- Rami AL-Sayed hopes that his photos can do something

That hunger extends to El-Hagar El-Asawd area in South Damascus besides the Camp

At least 10 people died reportedly in the camp because of lack food and medical supplies in the camp since the start of 2015.
Already Syrian and Palestinian activists say that not less 150 died because of hunger in the camp last year !!
Al-Assad's army troops are currently besieging the camp.
Shall I dare and ask where the Palestinian factions especially Fatah and Hamas are from this agony !? Shall I dare and wonder how the Iranian regime claims that it is the only defender of the Palestinian rights in the region but it allows their allies to kill the refugees like that !?
Shall I dare and ask where the rest of the Arab countries are !?
Shall I dare and ask where the rest of the world is !?
No I won’t ask because I know the answers in advance.

The Curious case of Mohamed Ibrahim and His Dismissal

March 7, 2015, 11:02 am

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On Thursday Egypt’s presidency announced a limited ministerial reshuffle including 6 existing ministers and appointing new 2 ministers in new ministries. The most important change in that reshuffle is how the minister of interior Mohamed Ibrahim was replaced by a new minister of interior suddenly or it seems to be suddenly. He was replaced by former head of Homeland security Police general Magdy Abdel Ghafer.

Ibrahim with Sisi and interim president Adly Mansour in 2013

Now why it was not that sudden because news of his dismissal or rather his resignation was spread next day following the Air defense stadium massacre in February if you remember.
During then it was said that El-Sisi wanted to dismiss Ibrahim but he would wait till after the Economic Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh.
But he did not wait and surprised us all now with this sudden change. Now people are discussing several theories on why El-Sisi dismissed Ibrahim.

• He dismissed him because of his constant failure to bring stability to the country and fighting terrorism.
• He dismissed him because of a Saudi request in order to pave the way for a reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood.   
• He dismissed him because He is a Pro-Muslim Brotherhood. “Oh yes this theory began to find fans !!”

For me the core of that curious case of Mohamed Ibrahim is how or why El-Sisi and the army kept him as the minister of interior when he served under Morsi even after Raba’a massacre.
El-Sisi could have replaced him after being the president but he kept him. I do not understand either how El-Sisi kept him when he proved his failure in fighting terrorism and hundreds of police officers have been killed during his time.


I do not need to recount the human rights violations record of Mohamed Ibrahim since his appointment as the minister of interior under the administration of Mohamed Morsi. I do not need to remind me how the Pro-25 January revolution activists and parties have been asking for his dismissal since Morsi.
But if we speak in numbers according to SASA Post website , the former minister achieved a number of failures if we are going to speak about security stability in the past 26 months.

The info-graph lists in 26 months as minister of interior  :

• 3565 civilians were killed in clashes 
• 252 policemen killed in attacks
• 236 people killed in torture
• Not less than allegedly 50,000 were detained 
• 3 security directorates above were bombed 

One hell of achievements as you can see.   
Police officers did not want Ibrahim to remain as minister of interior that long after his failure in fighting terrorism.
Already they do not look him as experienced police officer who served in Cairo or Alexandria or State security but rather prisons officer
Interestingly Youm 7 news website reported that Mohamed Ibrahim did not know about his dismissal except when he was attending an event in some Conscripts camp in Suez.
Some news reports claim that he even called PM Ibrahim Mehlab in order to make sure that he was dismissed which is quite interesting because he did not call the presidency.
Of course after the new reshuffle movement in the ministry of interior itself shows that the decision has been taken already from awhile and all arrangements were made in the dark away from Ibrahim.
What is even more interesting is how earlier this week Pro-regime TV hosts like notorious Ahmed Moussa started to Mohamed Ibrahim as well El-Sisi for keeping him in the cabinet for his failure in protecting the country and so on. This cannot be coincidence in a country TV hosts like Moussa take orders from above to speak about matters . Already for weeks Pro-regime Youm 7 website writers were attacking Ibrahim calling him a Muslim Brotherhood member and so on !!! For weeks the Pro-Sisi supporters were speaking online that once again El-Sisi should appoint a man from the army in order to restore the order in the street..etc.
Ironically Mohamed Ibrahim did not make it only in Egypt’s top trends on twitter but also worldwide trends for several hours with thousands of tweets and comments on Thursday for the first time... after his dismissal

Meet Egypt’s New MOI Guy : Magdy Abdel Ghafar

March 7, 2015, 2:26 pm

≫ Next: Happy International Women’s Day 2015 : Cool Egyptian ladies of the Past

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On Thursday El-Sisi appointed retired police general  Magdy Abdel Ghafar as the new minister of interior replacing Mohamed Ibrahim .

Magdy Abdel Ghafar

The 1953-born Abdel Ghafar got a very interesting C.V than Ibrahim.
After his graduation from the police academy in 1974, Abdel Ghafar joined the central security forces sector till 1977 when he moved to the State security. He remained there till 2008 when he was promoted to become the head of Ports security authority.
After the 25 January revolution , he was appointed as the head of the newly founded Homeland security which replaced the State security in March 2011. In the same month he appeared on TV promising that there would be no return to the old State security as there would be no more human rights violations after the revolution.

Magdy Abdel Ghafar’s interview on Al-Hayat TV in March 2011

He was then promoted to become the minister of interior’s aide for the Homeland in December 2011. He continued in his position till he was officially retired in August 2012. According to a leaked recorded conversation published in November 2013 by  Al-Watan Newspaper between ousted president Mohamed Morsi and some unknown person , the Islamist president refused to renew to Abdel Ghafar in order to “give to the new faces” an opportunity in the ministry of interior calling him “that boy Abdel Ghafar”.

Morsi : That boy Abdel Ghafar

It is worth to mention that Abdel Ghafar retired in August 2012 , the same month that witnessed that horrifying massacre of Sinai’s borders guards. 
The former police general was among the Egyptian officials who accused the American University in Cairo “AUC” of having “foreign agendas” and “shady activities” harming the country’s security. He was also among the eye witnesses who testified in the murder of Siyad Belal trial case. Siyad Belal was a young Salafist youth who was arrested as as suspect after the Two saints church bombing in early 2011 and was tortured till death by a State security officer.
Abdel Ghafer also testified in the trial by the request of the defense team “In this case the defendant aka the state security officer” in March 2012. There has been a media gag order on his testimony so it is not known what he had said.
Despite originally found guilty in the trial in 2011 , the SS officers accused of torturing Belal are now free. One of them was found innocent in 2012 while the other was released pending the trial in 2014.
Ironically Thursday marked the 4th anniversary of the storming of State security by revolutionary protesters which ended up by young protesters giving up all the documents they found in the SS HQ in Nasr City to the army as good concerned citizens. 
Trivia : His father was a police general and he come from the famous Abdel Ghafer’s Family in Mounfia , Nile Delta.
The Pro-Regime/Pro-Mubarak/Pro-Sisi are all repeating the same words that we should give the new guy chance at the same time they do not hide their happiness on how the President has chosen a State security police general because he will bring stability back by his toughness and so on.
Of course many concerned that having an SS officer as the minister of interior will increase the crackdown on the opposition forces.Others say that the man is an expert in MB and that’s another blow to them.
Well the man did not waste any time. In less than 24 hours following his appointment as minister of interior , he announced a huge reshuffle movement inside the ministry. This means that he knew he was going to be the minister for quite some time in order to prepare that reshuffle that including : The heads of Homeland security , The head of prisons sector and the General security.

Post by ‎الصفحة الرسمية لوزارة الداخلية‎.

From the interesting facts in that reshuffle that minister of interior aide for telecommunications police general Salah El-Din Hegazy who represented MOI in the National Telecommunication regulatory authority has become the head of the Homeland security.

In the end it is about changing faces in the ministry of interior will not make life better but rather adopting real reform policies that make police and the ministry of interior in the service of the citizens and law for real will make life better.
Interestingly human rights activists also found that the new head of prison sector Hassan El-Sohagy was convicted in 1992 of torture in a case that went back to 1986. The court sentenced him 6 months in jail. 
Now moving to the other new ministers in the reshuffle, we got new ministers in tourism , telecommunications , education , agriculture  , Culture and education. I find it so much interesting that the ministers of tourism, telecommunications and agriculture were changed just week before that Huge Economic conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. Already in other countries ministers have there own plans for their sectors so I do not know what kind of message we send to foreign investors. Of course when it comes to agriculture , I hope that newly appointed minister Salah El-Din Halal has got some sort of rescue plan to save the Egyptian cotton.
Now there is a big fuss about the newly appointed about the minister of culture I believe it deserves a standalone post.
There are new two ministers for two newly founded ministries : Minister Hala Youssef for the ministry of population and Minister Mohamed Youssef for technical education. I would say we got those two new ministries as President El-Sisi expressed his concern about the increasing population and the need for better technical education.

Happy International Women’s Day 2015 : Cool Egyptian ladies of the Past

March 8, 2015, 2:38 pm

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Happy International Women’s Day 2015 all the women around the globe who mostly do not know that it exists in the first of all. This year I won’t speak in a lengthy post or even in a short one about the women and their struggle for their lost rights in Egypt and the Middle East.
This year I will share with you a very nice collection photos I found online today from different sources and I think they are beautiful.
These photos are from regular Egyptian ladies, we do not know the names of the most them.
They are simple ladies and sophisticated ladies , rich ladies and poor ladies. Simply they were Egyptian ladies.
The first photo is from the Dutch National Archives which got a very nice old and rare collection of photos from Egypt in the 20th century. That photo is from the famous sit in and full hunger strike of Egyptian feminist writer and activist Doria Shafik and other women activists they started it in March 1954 to demand women’s suffrage in the Constitution written then.
The sit in was held for 8 days at the journalists syndicate in Cairo.

From Doria Shafik's suffrage sit in 1954 Dutch National Archives

The second photo is from Magnum Photo archives for an Egyptian lady walking through the ruins of Port Said during Suez war in 1956. The photos from that war show a complete destruction for Port Said city by the way.

An Egyptian lady walking carrying furniture out of the Port Said ruins "Magnum Photos"

Egyptian visual artist and Marxist activist Engy Aflaton“1924-1989”  {Magnum Photos}

Engy Aflaton and her paintings in 1960s

An Egyptian Lady in 1970 “Magnum Photos”
This is my favorite

An Egyptian lady portrait "Magnum Photos"

An Egyptian lady and her middle class family in the zoo in 1970 “Magnum Photos”

ِA middle class family outing in the Giza zoo in 1970 "Magnum Photos"

An Egyptian lady and her working class family in Cairo in 1970 “Magnum Photos”

A working class family in 1970  "Magnum photos'

An Egyptian lady in Sinai during the Israeli occupation in 1970 “Magnum photos”

An Egyptian lady in occupied Sinai in 1970 breastfeeding her baby "Magnum Photos"

An Egyptian wealthy lady and her butler in Cairo in 1970 “Magnum Photos”

A wealthy lady and her butler "Magnum Photos"

Happy International Women’s Day , hopefully next year it will be better for all the women in the Middle East especially in Egypt , Yemen, Libya , Gulf and above them of course Syria and Iraq.

#GUC Students start a sit-in for their colleague

March 10, 2015, 5:34 pm

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Hundreds of students at the German University in Cairo“GUC” started on Tuesday a sit-in to protest the death of their colleague 19-years old Yara Tarek Negm at the University Parking while the university administration has suspended the study for three days.

Late 19 years old Yara Negm "Instagram"

On Monday the freshman student in the faculty of engineering died after she was run over by the University bus at the University parking in her way home. Negm who suffered from bleeding and a skull fracture had to wait for 15 minutes till the university unequipped ambulance came and took her to the nearest hospital in the Fifth Settlement, New Cairo district.

The students are extremely angry because despite this is the first accident on campus from its kind , two other students were hit by other buses in the last couple of years.
 The students also are fierce on how the university administration ordered the workers to clean the crime scene and burn the blood of late Yara Negm “which officially is an evidence” with no good explanation before the prosecution would come and investigate the accident.

Negm's blood yesterday "Facebook"

Already the University administration handed over the bus driver to the security authorities and he is currently detained for 3 days pending investigation. 

On Tuesday the students Union organized a sit-in and told the students not to attend the classes and lectures on that day so the administration would realize that this was not just an incident and life goes on. Hundreds of students started the sit-in at the Platform area on Campus.

The students at the Platform earlier Tuesday "The insider GUC"

The students at the Platform earlier Tuesday "The insider GUC"

Here is a video from a member in the students Union arguing the students earlier Tuesday to participate in the sit-in saying that Yara Negm was not less than Max the dog.The video was shot by Mahmoud Magdy.

Hours later they moved the sit-in at the parking lot.

At the Gates "The insider GUC"

As result of the growing pressure, the administration declared that it would suspend the study in the University for 3 days postponing the weekly quiz as well the midterm exams.
Nevertheless the students Union announced that a group of its members would complete its sit-in at the University’s Campus tonight. The students will continue their sit-in till their demands are met. The nearly one hundred student spent their first night yesterday on campus.
They demand better parking system for the students. It is not much considering the money they pay every year.

At the GUC sit-in Tuesday night on campus "The insider GUC"

Here are their demands in case you wonder what they exactly want.

Post by The Insider Student Newspaper.

A side remark : I really respect that student movement in German University. Despite it is considerably young university yet it proved itself when it comes to activism and student movement in Egypt especially in the past 4 years admirably. God bless them and protect them.

My Two Cents about Egypt’s big Economic Conference

March 14, 2015, 1:37 pm

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In the past 48 hours Egyptians have been following carefully that huge big Economic Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh. They have been carefully following the big numbers announced in the media from aids and investments. On Friday Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE announced aids and investments equal to $12.5 billion. In mid Saturday Ahram Arabic News website announced that the value of agreements signed on Saturday between Egypt and other countries and companies reached to $ 48 billion. Now people are speaking about investments and aids equal to $128 billion. Huge big numbers that can change countries upside down if they are true.
I am not an expert in economy but here I will write about what I think.
People are speaking about how the conference succeeded and how El-Sisi did it and saved Egypt from poverty and bankruptcy. Actually organizing the economic conference was a huge success especially to JWT and the ministry of investment but whether it did succeed or not in saving Egypt from poverty and bankruptcy , well days will only tell especially we are living in a turbulent region that changes upside down every 24 hours if not 48 hours aside from all the economic radical changes in the world. This is besides the fact we are in true transitional time in Egypt. 

The banner of the conference on the NDP building in Cairo Friday 13,March by Mosa'ab El-Shamy

A New Capital city project was announced and a contract with an Emirati Company was even signed without even discussing this matter seriously on a social and national level as we are speaking about a new Capital city for the country that would cost billions of dollars !!
I just do not understand how such decision to plan for a new Capital city was taken in the first place without a parliamentary approval or discussion. This is a new administrative capital city to represent Egypt for God’s sake that will affect our history and future general. I know many people are amazed by that Dubai-sque design of this future city but I am sorry I won’t trade my great Cairo with any other skyscrapers city.

I won’t even comment on how an Emirati company designed and is going to construct The New Administrative Capital City of EGYPT without the approval of the parliament.
Ironically that Capital City project was from Gamal Mubarak’s NDP committee projects , man I do not want even to imagine how he feels now when he sees all what he planned for went to an army guy !! Well I think he won’t be very angry because after his father-in-law’s construction company got a new joint construction project with another Emirati Construction company.
Returning back to the parliament , I do not need to speak about the investment and financial reconciliation laws need to be revised because they are many question marks about those laws. You know yesterday foreign figures kept speaking about transparency and accountability and so on. Amazingly those laws are against accountability and transparency.  Already many of the contracts signed in that conference should be revised and approved by the parliament in perfect circumstances.
Of course if you dare and say this now in the media or on twitter in Arabic or even in English you will be accused of being traitor , MB member and a person who did not care for the poor in the Egypt.
The media is giving the people high hope when it comes to the Economic conference which is being hailed as another Sisi’s triumph when it should be dealing with the matter realistically and stop giving people empty promises.
Economic reforms without parallel political , social , legal reforms are only temporary remedies that won’t stop any popular uprising. Many of the youth who joined and playing a critical role in 25 January revolution came from a class that did not suffer that much economically.
The Gulf States believe that aiding Egypt economically and pouring investments will make people forget political and social democratic reforms just like in their countries unfortunately.
By the way interestingly I remember a twitter conversation with a Pro-Mubarak/Pro-Military supporters including Egyptian army officers unfortunately who believed that Chile’s Pinochet was a great leader who got rid from couple of thousands in order that the rest of population would live through economic reforms. Those guys did not even care for the end of Pinochet or how he is regarded in the history.
Needless to say I remembered Pinochet and the Western support to his economic policies when I read that Tony Blair said that democracy was important but we should be realistic !! Well Realistically speaking Mr. Blair comes from a country that takes pride in democracy and even celebrates it but because we are a third world Arab country , we should be realistic enough and accept dictatorships and so on.
These are my two cents about the big economic conference.

Too Early For Justice For El-Sabbagh or El-Gendy or Air Defense stadium Victims

March 17, 2015, 4:44 pm

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Tuesday was a busy day at the Prosecutor General’s office as it published an important statement regarding very important and highly controversial cases where police force has been a suspect for a murder.

Hisham Barakat , Egypt’s prosecutor General announced the results of his office’s investigation in the murder of Shaimaa El-Sabbagh , the Air Defense stadium massacre and the murder of activist Mohamed El-Gendy in one statement issued earlier Tuesday.

Sabbagh, Gendy and Zamalek Club fans at Air defense stadium

Today all the attention was focused on Shaimaa El-Sabbagh’s case and the announcement that the prosecutor General has referred a police officer to the criminal court for the murder of the Leftist activist last January. Amazingly almost all Egyptian news websites , newspapers and news channels focused on that headline without going in to details.

ِA Copy from the statement of prosecution concerning Shaimaa El-Sabbagh murder "Mohamed Garhy"

The prosecutor general referred the central security officer to the criminal court  on the charges of“beating till death” and “causing injuries to other people” according to his statement. The investigations of the prosecution also revealed that the 32-years old leftist activist and member in the Popular alliance party died due to wounds sustained from “light birdshot”.

Now I do not understand that “beating till death” part because one thing for sure Shaimaa was shot not beaten till death. I would not be so surprised if the prosecutor accused the officer of manslaughter but “ beating till death” !!! Anyhow you should know that according to Egypt’s Panel code that officer whose name is not mentioned in the statement can face from 3 to 7 years in jail if it is not premeditated murder.

It did not stop at here because in the same statement the prosecution referred the members of the Socialist Popular alliance party to court on the charge of breaking the protest law !!!!!!

By the way a group of Egyptian journalists broke the media gag order imposed in the case of late Shaimaa El-Sabbagh and revealed the name of that officer.

Central Security Forces “CSF” First Lieutenant Yassin El-Emam is accused of beating Shaimaa El-Sabbagh till death. It turns out also that the prosecution referred a police general in the Central security forces to court also for hiding information. It is worth to mention that the ministry of interior maintained that its forces did not kill El-Sabbagh.

Media is cheering of course for the big news without paying to attention to the fact that there is still a trial. That officer can be acquitted in the court , in fact there is a bigger that he will be acquitted like other officers and policemen accused of killing and torturing citizens. There is a big possibility that the officer can be acquitted and Shaimaa’s comrades find themselves behind bar for couple of years after all. I am sorry for being pessimistic. 

I see that the regime wants to close the Shaimaa El-Sabbagh’s file as much as it can after all the noise she caused following her tragic death abroad more than serving justice.

Of course I can not hear any comment from the Pro-Sisi/Pro-Military supporters who were accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of standing behind the murder of Shaimaa El-Sabbagh on the eve of 25th January revolution.


The prosecutor general also announced the results of the Air Defense stadium massacre. investigations. "Scans from the prosecution statement below in Arabic. Source : Mohamed Garhy" 

 Last February not less that 20 Zamalek sports club fans were killed outside the air defense stadium during a football game between Zamalek and ENPI . Despite the evidence from video footage and eye witnesses’ accounts about the police and Zamalek Sport Club’s role in that massacre , Hisham Barakat referred 16 suspects from allegedly the Muslim Brotherhood and Ultras White Knights 07 Fan group to the criminal court for standing behind what happened on that blood day !!!

I do not know what to say except I am worried that this would be the start to ban Ultras groups in Egypt and to designate them as terrorist organizations.

Now the big surprise or rather shock was the announcement of Prosecutor General about the murder of late activist Mohamed El-Gendy in 2013.

A scan from the prosecution's statement about El-Gendy's murder  "Mohamed Garhy"

To refresh your memory Popular current member Mohamed El-Gendy disappeared during the 28 January revolution anniversary and appeared later while in a coma with traces of torture in the hospital where he died after few days. The Medical Forensic Authority initially claimed that El-Gendy died due to injuries resulted from a hit and a run accident.

Due to the public anger , another forensic authority was formed later by the orders of the prosecution and proved that the young activist died because of torture. An eye-witness also came forward and claimed that he saw El-Gendy when he was being tortured at a CSF camp.

Amazingly we got a confession from Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki in March 2013 that the Minister of interior then Mohamed Ibrahim asked him to say late Gendy was hit by a car before the autopsy report would be released.

El-Gendy became a new icon for revolution in Egypt along late Mohamed Shafei and late Jika against the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi’s rule as well his minister of interior Mohamed Ibrahim.

Now on 17 March 2015 Egypt’s prosecutor announced that officially that Mohamed El-Gendy died due to a hit and a run accident and that the case is temporarily shelved.

I do not know what to say for real.

I just can not forget his mother’s speech at that public presser held before the 30 June protests calling all Egyptians to bring down the MB’s rule and restore her son’s right.

Mohamed El-Gendy’s mother addresses Egypt

I can not forget either how her son’s case was milked by different media outlets day and night before 30 June and the ouster of Morsi and how the same outlets are completely silent now.

Mrs. Samia , El-Gendy’s mother already engaged in to politics after the 30 June protests and the ouster of Morsi. She was already going to run for parliament in Tanta on behalf of the Pro-Sisi 25/30 electoral coalition.

On Tuesday she announced that she won’t run for the parliament and will fight for son’s rights even if this means that she will go to international courts. Human rights lawyers already appeal against the decision of the prosecutor general.

I do not know what to say for real. Some say that justice has been served despite realistically speaking we still got two trials and a case that is shelved.

Justice has not served to Shaimaa or Mohamed or the Zamalek fans yet and I highly doubt that it will be served anytime soon.

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Partial solar eclipse 2015 [Flickr]

March 20, 2015, 3:10 am

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Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

Partial solar eclipse in Giza , Egypt. Taken by iPhone and x-Ray image. Did not take with my camera as eclipse filters are not available in Egypt

Celestial Chronicles : Partial Solar Eclipse in Egypt

March 20, 2015, 9:46 am

≫ Next: Happy Mother’s Day 2015 : What’s your mom’s name ?

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And Egypt witnessed that partial Solar Eclipse seen in most of Europe and part of North Africa. Yes it was a small partial Solar Eclipse but still it is a partial solar Eclipse. It started from 11:15 AM and ended at 12 : 30 PM. I took couple of photos using my mobile phone and X-Ray image while wearing my sunglasses. This is what I got and it is not the best. I cropped the image by the way.

I did not use my Camera because I do not have filters to protect it and I did not take any risk. The X-Ray image and the iPhone were quick solution

Here is the image without crop

Nevertheless some brave photographers took the risk in Egypt and snapped couple of great shots.

By the way tonight We  are going to have a Super Moon.

Happy Mother’s Day 2015 : What’s your mom’s name ?

March 21, 2015, 10:28 am

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Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers in the Arab world celebrating it especially in Egypt.

An Egyptian peasant mother in one of the villages of Giza in 1950 By Rene Burri-Magnum Photos

I like the fact that some news websites and some users on the social media began to ask this year the daring question that many men consider as an insult in our region : What is the name of your mother ? 
Many young Egyptians as well Arabs are participating in #MyMothersNameIs

Give your mom back to her name

This was part of UN Women campaign “in Egypt and I think it is great. Mom’s names are not insults. 
Several websites like DotMisr produced similar video clips about the same issue.
On that day I must remember the two men who decided to introduce the Mother’s Day not only in Egypt but also in the Arab Culture : Ali and Mostafa Amin

Mostafa and Ali Amin

And of course the national anthem of Mother’s Day “Set El-Habayeb” by Syrian-Egyptian singer Fayza Ahmed.
Here is the original video clip produced in early 1960s for the song.

Set El-Habayeb by Fayza Ahmed

To all mothers in the Arab world : Happy Mother’s Day.

When The Daughters of the Nile Decided to strike in 1954

March 22, 2015, 3:42 pm

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From 51 years ago Egyptian feminist and political activist Doria Shafik ended her 8- days hunger strike and sit-in along other ladies at the Journalists syndicate in Cairo after taking a promise from General Mohamed Naguib , Egypt’s President then in a written statement that Egyptian women’s political rights above them the suffrage right in Constitution in the what can be considered one of the most important feminist and civil rights victories in the 1950s.

Suffrage protests after 1952 , you can see Doria Shafik in the middle wearing black ensemble "Dutch National Archives"

I remembered that strike through rare photos I found at the Dutch National Archives and I wondered why nobody remembered that important event let alone Doria Shafik properly as political figure more than the same old paragraph in the newspapers about that Middle class elegant feminist in March, the women’s month. 
The 1954 women’s strike at the journalists syndicate was an important Chronicle in our modern history. 
Doria Shafik , a long time feminist in Egypt was furious that the Constituent assembly did not include women’s political rights in the draft constitution of the First Republic. It seemed that the members of assembly broker their promises earlier to her to include those rights.

Ladies protested for their  political right in early 1950s "Dutch National Archives"

{Ladies support the Women's party's demands} as written on the banner

One cover from her weekly newspaper “The Daughter of the Nile-The politician” shows an Op-Ed attacking PM Ali Maher then from not including the right of women to run for political positions in Egypt in the draft Constitution despite his early promises.

The daughter of the Nile-The politician " Bibliotheca Alexandria"

On 14 March 1954 she started a hunger strike and a sit-in at the journalists syndicate in Cairo.
She was not alone as there were other 8 ladies from her party “Bent Al-Nil” or “The daughter of the Nile ”.

The other ladies were leading feminist figure Mounria Thabet who had called for the suffrage rights since 1923 , Fathia El-Falky , Bahiga El-Bakry , Amany Farid, Hayam Abdel Azizi and Mounira Hosny, Ragia Hamza and two other ladies I could not find their names.

The ladies examined by a doctor during the sit in "Dutch National Archives"

The sources I found about that sit-in says that feminist Amnia Shoukry and other ladies also held a similar strike in Alexandria.

After few days of those ladies’ strike , they were joined by American Journalist Charlotte Weller , the Chicago News Reporter and the wife of renowned journalist George Weller. The Wellers were visiting Egypt when they decided to participate in the sit-in. Charlotte Weller participated in the sit-in and became the tenth protester while her husband covered that unique sit-in from Cairo in time that there was no twitter or Facebook.

Charlotte Weller and Doria Shafik

The ladies were wearing fancy pajamas and robe de chambre. They looked tired in the few photos I found online for that interesting sit-in. Two of the original nine ladies who started the strike were transferred to the hospital after health problems from the hunger strike.

One the ladies transferred to the hospital "The Dutch National Archives"

Not less than 120 AUC students then signed petition in solidarity with those ladies
The Wellers’ coverage and participation attracted the American media to cover what is happening in Cairo Of course Doria Shafik’s fame brought European media to cover her bold move along with the other ladies in her party. Here is a very rare footage showing the strike filmed by Italian News reel.

The daughters of the Nile’s sit in

Amazingly I have not found anything accusing Shafik of being an U.S spy who was trying to destabilize the democratic process with her strike because of the Wellers.
No thugs attacked the strikers. All What I found that famous politicians tried to convince Doria and her sisters to stop the strike for the sake of their health in fatherly way as “George Weller” described it in his reports about the strike.

A copy from Weller's report about the sit in "Doria Shafik : Egyptian Feminist , a woman apart"

Of course there were voices against the political rights of the women in the Constitution including the Free Officers themselves , the original Junta of 52. I was surprised to know among the opponent voices against those rights were none other than Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat !!
Oh yes He wrote Op-ed in  “Sawt El-Tahrir” which represented voice of the Free officers that the woman’s true place was in her house serving her husband like his grandmother who raised him !!
In the end the first woman party leader in the history of modern Egypt got a promise from General Naguib , Egypt’s first president in written statement to include women’s rights above them suffrage rights in the draft constitution.

Shafik and Naguib in August 1952 "Bibliotheca Alexandria"

Ironically we never applied 1954 constitution in the first place. Nevertheless the Egyptian women was granted the right to vote in the 1956 Constitution. Historically we owe to Doria Shafik and those ladies who were on a hunger strike wearing fancy robe de chambre at the Old journalists syndicate.

Doria Shafik did another sit-in but it did not attract attention and it was rather the end of her political career during the time of president Nasser. She started a sit-in at the Indian embassy in 1957 against Nasser’s dictatorship as she saw the wrong path he was leading Egypt to politically.

Shafik with some Indian lady in 1950s  (Dutch National archives

She chose the Indian embassy because she was a personal friend of Indira Ghandi already.
Nevertheless She was alone and lost the fight against Nasser.

The original Military president put her under house arrest banning her from writing in the newspapers and magazines. It was the end of her political career and the end of an era.

Doria Shafik stayed at her home till her enigmatic death in the 1975. She fell from her balcony. The mainstream story says that she committed suicide but you know political as well prominent figures in Egypt got that thing with balconies. 

If you want to know more about Doria Shafik then I recommend you to visit her official website set by her daughters.
I look to those pages from our political history in 1954 and I wonder how we ended up to that situation we got in 2015.

#GERD Declaration of principles : Transparency is needed

March 23, 2015, 5:07 pm

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Today Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed with the Sudanese president and Ethiopian PM a Declaration of Principles agreement in Khartoum  over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam “GERD” and the dispute over the Nile Water share of the downstream countries specifically Egypt.
For hours we did not know what those principles are and what they meant back in Cairo while the media was praising the president and his wisdom as usual.

In Khartoum

Needless to say in prefect normal circumstances such an agreement needed to be discussed by a parliament publicly before the president would take a decision that would affect Egypt’s national security in the future.
You cannot  expect the people to accept that deal even if it were initial one without questions when the mainstream media back in Cairo has been inciting against the dam and Ethiopia for years !!!
We have to ask questions.
I do not know if Abdel Fattah El-Sisi understands very well that the final agreement will affect his great great grandchildren before the rest of the population. This deal is much more important than the Muslim Brotherhood and that universal conspiracies against him  altogether.We can survive terrorism and economic crises after all.
Now the Principles are available online in Arabic and English .
We have to ask about those principles and what they mean and whether they are binding or not. I read them and already I got couple of questions in my mind. I know that this is not the final agreement but I wonder if those principles will affect Egypt’s historical rights aka 1922 Nile Basin countries agreement or 1902 dams agreement.
We need honest , clear and transparent answers.
By the way in a statement to the media in Ethiopia on Thursday , the Ethiopian minister of irrigation made it clear that there were no discussion about the dam’s capacity.
Needless to say for the first time since months I see people speaking against what El-Sisi did publicly  indirectly. Today I found Egyptian irrigation experts and African affairs experts slamming that declaration of principles.
Egyptian Former minister of irrigation Mohamed Nasr Allam slammed the declaration on air and said boldly that such agreement needs a parliament. Allam predicted that after GERD started to operate , Lake Nasser would vanish !!! Scary stuff at night !!
By the way we do not have Parliament and we won't have it anytime soon. The Ethiopians also finished 40% of the dam !!
Interestingly while reading the Ethiopian FM Facebook page’s short statement about the Principles Declaration in Khartoum , I found people from Ethiopia asking our same questions in Cairo.
The effect of such agreements goes beyond both regimes whether the Egyptian or Ethiopian but regimes do not want to understand.The governments of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia should be more transparent.
Anyhow days will tell.