Quantcast
Channel: Egyptian Chronicles
Viewing all 4289 articles
Browse latest View live

DSC09252 [Flickr]


DSC09251 [Flickr]

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2015 : The Cursed lady’s Wall “Ep.24”

0
0
And so the Good Queen of Venus saved our Seas Mermaid from the Evil sea’s Witch.
Things are turning good somehow to Seas Mermaid at last.

Queen Tahara found the Evil Magical Needle that turned to be an eyelash.
The Queen put it in the fire and said the magical words by which she summoned the evil witch to her court.
The evil witch begs for mercy wickedly but found none. The Queen orders her guard “Saturn” to take the evil witch and cut off her hair and eyelashes and then throw her in exile at the “Sour” Sea.
Seas Mermaid then asks the Queen to return back home under the sea because her family is extremely worried about her fate.
Indeed King “San-Gor” was too worried about his daughter who did not return back. He sent his minister to check on his daughter on the ship and the minister followed his order.
The minister returned back telling his king that Nour was still alive and that his daughter could not be found anymore. Heartbroken, the king ordered his minister to bring the evil witch from her prison

700 Days and Counting

0
0
Do you know that on Thursday Egyptian Freelance photographer Mahmoud Abu Zaid aka Shawkan had spent 700 days fro his life in detention and prison pending investigation for doing nothing except his job ?
Do you know that Shawkan is currently suffering from Hepatitis C and has to receive proper medical treatment as soon as possible ?
Here is what Shawkan said in his recent letter from prison.
Despair penetrated my red blood cells and kidney, my brain rejects sleeping and my body sweats continuously. Losing consciousness for a few minutes became a habit on a daily basis. My weak body, full of disease, became helpless to continue bearing hard imprisonment for two years, without any guilt except bearing my camera to shoot events with neutrality and objectivity
“Source : Freedom for Shawkan
Shawkan’s detention renewal was already adjourned to next 21 July by the court this week suddenly when the Freelance photographer’s detention pending investigation by prosecution was renewed for another 45 days 20 June !!!!
Esraa Mahfouz’s detention was also renewed today for another 15 days pending investigation.
حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل اتجدد لاسراء 15يومربنا ينتقم منهم ويشتت شملهم ويحرق قلوبهم علي اعز ما عندهم
Posted by Hanaa Ali on Saturday, July 11, 2015

Esraa’s health condition is deteriorating rapidly. She can hardly move like before. Esraa’s mom wrote  for Al-Araby Al-Gadid about her cheerful daughter who was like a butterfly
Esraa on the cover
of Al-Araby's special feature
on women detainees in Arab world
Demanding the Freedom for her daughter, Mrs. Hanaa Ali says that Esraa told her that she feared that she was going to be paralyzed in prison.I do not know what to say more about Esraa Mahfouz , that girl who loves life, people and photography except this is too much for real.
Of course Esraa could be a little luckier than her friends Omar and Sohip who are officially facing a terrorism-related case. We know that the two young men are facing military case, but we did not know what it is or what it is except Only last night. Egypt’s ministry of defense released on YouTube a video clip showing the confessions of alleged members of the most dangerous terrorist cell following the Muslim Brotherhood.
The young men appearing in the video confess that they received training abroad to commit terrorist acts in Egypt and so on.
Among those men who are identified as terrorists officially in the video despite they have not stood a trial yet 5 young men who were reportedly forcible disappeared for at least 40 days.
Among those 6 young men, Sohip and Omar who were arrested with Esraa at Chili’s in Maadi earlier last month. Omar did not appear in the video clip. According to his family, Omar was badly tortured and can not speak easily nor he can move one of his arms.
Sohip appeared in the video claiming that he bought a gun with LE 75,000 !!!
Sohip has already told his family that during his detention he was blindfolded for 12 days and that he was electrocuted
Already I do not know how Sohip received training abroad on allegedly terrorist acts when he was arrested in late 2013 among those arrested in the infamous Al-Jazeera international’s Marriott Cell. For a year,Sohip was detained and then sentenced to jail for three if I am not mistaken.
Sohip as a terrorist in the video
He was released pending trial during the retrial last February. Since his release, Sohip used to report on a daily basis to his parole officer at Al-Haram Police station according to his family.
Needless to say, showing the confessions of those men as suspects is a huge violation to the constitution, the law and human rights. I think we are speaking logic here.
Sadly enough Sohip and Omar became best friends through Esraa and the trio began to go out this summer together. It is just sad.
The three having good times in better days 
Now Shawkan and Esraa are not the only photographers currently behind the bars unjustly.
There is also doctor-turned journalist Abdullah El-Fakhranay who was in the wrong place and wrong time from three years ago where he was arrested with Mohamed Soltan at the Soltans House in Cairo. El-Fakhranay was sentenced life in jail in the “Rabaa Control room” case. Soltan was deported and is now a free man while El-Fakhranay is still in jail.
El-Fakranay’s family issued a statement earlier this week demanding his release and freedom.
بيان من أسرة الصحفي والحقوقي #عبدالله_الفخراني.في يوم 25 أغسطس 2013 ذهب ابننا عبدالله أحمد الفخراني، الطالب بالسنة ال...
Posted by ‎Abdullah Al-Fakharany عبدالله الفخراني‎ on Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Mahmoud Mohamed, who was arrested in the third anniversary of the 25 January for a T-shirt against torture has got his detention for another 45 days pending investigation. Mahmoud has been in detention for more than 500 days now !!!

This is too much for real.

DSC09371 [Flickr]

DSC09369 [Flickr]

DSC09370 [Flickr]

Famous cafe Riche in #downtowncairo #Cairo #Egypt #Blogger #Citizenjournalism #Cairowalks [Flickr]


Cafe riche in #Cairo #Egypt #Citizenjournalism #Blogger #Cairowalks #downtown #downtowncairo [Flickr]

July 12, 2015 at 08:12PM

July 12, 2015 at 08:28PM

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2015 : The Cursed lady’s Wall “Ep.25”

0
0
After seeing the evil sea witch punished for bad deeds at last , Seas Mermaid was in her way back home to her kingdom undersea to calm down her father , King “Sun-Gor” of the seven seas.
Tomislav Tomi

Back under the sea King “Sun-Gor” is devastated after all, his minister who followed Nour’s ship told him that the earthling was still alive while the Princess has disappeared and can not be found. family , Seas Mermaid did not kill Nour and is dead now.
That means one thing to the king and his
The king sends his guards to bring the evil witch but they returned back to tell him that she went missing too.
Crying over his daughter  , the King is surprised to see her alive coming through the city which received her warmly.
Seas Mermaid tells them all about her adventure.
Days later the sea princess is hit by another reality she has got to marry a sea prince as soon as possible. Still the Princess is still in love with Nour.
She meets Nour everyday telling him at the sea shore all about her adventures.
Tomorrow we will know what happens to the two lovers inshallah.

#Cairo metropolis :) #Egypt #Cairowalks #Nile #ThisisEgypt [Flickr]

DSC09429 [Flickr]

0
0

Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

DSC09429

Egypt's Famous Khan El-Khalili quarter and traditional old market in Islamic Cairo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili

DSC09431 [Flickr]

0
0

Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

DSC09431

Egypt's Famous Khan El-Khalili quarter and traditional old market in Islamic Cairo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili


DSC09432 [Flickr]

0
0

Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

DSC09432

Egypt's Famous Khan El-Khalili quarter and traditional old market in Islamic Cairo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili

DSC09433 [Flickr]

0
0

Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

DSC09433

Egypt's Famous Khan El-Khalili quarter and traditional old market in Islamic Cairo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili

DSC09437 [Flickr]

0
0

Kodak Agfa posted a photo:

DSC09437

Egypt's Famous Khan El-Khalili quarter and traditional old market in Islamic Cairo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_el-Khalili

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2015 : The Cursed lady’s Wall “Ep.26 & 27”

0
0
Sorry that I did not an episode of our Ramadan Arabian Nights last night due to technical problem. Suddenly my 8.1 windows laptop was hit by the infamous Blue Screen of Death “BSOD” and it seems that it was caused by one of our audio files unfortunately. I check my hardware and it was fine. In the end I deleted the file and downloaded it again and it worked fine thank God. I hope I do not see that “BSOD” again.
Anyhow back again to our tale the tale of the Cursed Lady’s wall. Seas Mermaid is back to both her mermaid nature and her sea world. She also returned back to her lover whom she meets everyday now on the sea shore telling him what happened to her.

After her return to the sea world, King “Sun-Gor” made it clear to her mermaid daughter that she had got to marry a sea prince as soon as possible. The Princes of seas were already coming to her court and she would choose a husband from them.
Back on land, Nour is giving a hard time to both his frustrated father and his poor wife who knows that he does not love her.
The seas Mermaid left on a promise to return once again to her beloved human.
Next day the lovers meet on the sea shore earlier than usual.


The seas mermaid has to choose a husband already. They are waiting for her already undersea. she got an idea. She would turn Nour into a Merman through the magical eyelash or rather the magical needle of old sea witch she kept. Without thinking in consequences, Nour agreed and Seas Mermaid stuck the needle in his arm. And Nour was transformed to a Merman.
Nevertheless
In their way down Seas Mermaid, the big sea horses they would use to reach for the abyss. Originally a saddles maker, Nour noticed that the sea horses got no Saddle which made it hard to ride unlike land horse. That remark gave Seas Mermaid another brilliant idea. She gave her principality lantern that looked like a star and hanged at the end of her tail to indicate on her status. He was now an alleged sea prince.
Back on the sea kingdom, Seas Mermaid suitors from sea princes waited anxiously.
She welcomed them warmly and then said that she would choose them according to a test that would show their true personality. They would live in the sea city with the commoners for two weeks without their principality’s lanterns and in those two weeks, they should find a way to help the society and the people.
All the sea princes presented themselves to her and King Sun-Gor giving them their principality lanterns including Prince Nour El-Din aka Our Nour
I think you have an idea about what she and Nour are going to do.  

Esraa El-Taweel says She is disappointed with Egypt

0
0
Freelance Photographer Esraa El-Taweel has sent her first letter from detention earlier this month and she requested her friends and family to spread it as much as they can.She recounts what happened to her and how she feels. It is very sad letter.
El-Taweel is detained pending investigation for 45 days after forcibly disappeared for more than 15 days. She is now facing charges of joining the Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news.
Here is the letter translated in English by “Where is Esraa El-Taweel Facebook page ?”
1) "Among us, there is a friend who never feels tired; a friend who is always faithful, delicate, and if he says, he does."On Monday, 1st of June, Sohaib’s trial session was in court. I was talking to Umar on phone telling him about my fear for Sohaib wishing I could bear what he might face of unfair verdicts. Umar said that we will never undergo anything except what we have been destined to and what God has written to us. Umar told me we have nothing to do but to support him. Then he said, "let’s go out" and added “I will finish my work and then we can go horseback riding.”
2) In Time
On the same day in the morning, Umar suggested that I watch a movie called “In Time”. After watching it, I told Umar “Thanks God that we do not know what is hidden for us and that we do not know when we will pass away or what will happen. I tried to imagine if I ever knew the unseen/unknown/destined, I would be terrified.” When we were riding horses, I went absent minded, Umar asked me what I was thinking of; I said I was afraid that time will pass and we will not be together anymore.
Esraa and her cat woody

3) The Last Supper..After getting off the horses, we were clueless; where should we go for dinner? One of the things I love most about Umar is how he was always eager to experience new cuisines; every week, we tried eating in a different restaurant. He has never eaten at "Chili's" restaurant before, and the nearest Chili's branch was in Nile City in Zamalek. We sat at our table and happily ordered our meals. Sohaib called Umar saying "I am on my way to you, I will only order a salad". After finishing and exiting the restaurant, we found a big mirror and stopped to snap some photographs together. We took a lot of photos. Suhaib stood nearby to pray the evening prayer. We went out of Nile City once he was done. Suddenly, three men stopped us asking for our ID cards and our mobile phones, and then they forcefully pushed us into a micro bus. At first, I thought we were being kidnapped. I asked them repeatedly that I want to call my family but they refused. I looked behind me to find both Suhaib and Umar blindfolded. I asked one of the kidnappers who seemed to be their boss (the oldest) “Who are you sir?" He said “I am Hussam Farag “. I asked him "and What is the title of your Excellency?” He laughed and told me "I am an officer, and you'd better remain silent". After two minutes he ordered me to use my headscarf as a blindfold but it was short. Suhaib took off his T-shirt and the officer ordered him to hand it to me to cover my eyes with it.

4) 15 Days at the State Security Premises
I stayed locked up for 15 consecutive days at the State Security Premises; day-long investigations, hearing voices and screams of tortured victims, men crying out loudly. Sohaib and Umar were taken away and I was alone. I was the only girl there. For the length of the fifteen days I was kept blindfolded; hearing threats and getting horrified. Actually, I do not know how to tell what I was going through but it was a horrible and terrifying experience. During the first five days, I would tell myself "Today, they will release me and send me home". By the sixth day, I lost all hope and fell into despair. All that time, I was weeping and crying, thinking "this must be unreal", comparing it to torture in the grave. I would almost lose my mind when I thought about my family "Did anything bad/wrong happen to Dad or Mum?". I kept on praying and praying all the time. I had nothing to do but pray and weep with rivers of tears. In fact, I am unable to account for what was happening to me.

On the fifteenth day, they got me out to the deportation vehicle/wagon. I found myself at the building of the Supreme State Security Prosecution. The first round of investigations lasted for eighteen consecutive hours and it literally covered my whole life since the moment I was born. I could not understand anything of what was happening. I had been staying for sixteen days without having a shower. My legs were unable to carry me because of the injury that almost handicapped me ( I was shot with a bullet in my back on the 25th of January 2014, a fracture of the bullet hit and remained in my backbone causing temporary paralysis of which I am still suffering till this moment and can’t walk normally). I begged the prosecutor to only allow me to call my family but he refused. "You will be sent back to prison today, and tomorrow we will resume investigations".
5) Al-Qanater Women's Prison
I have been wearing a pair of trousers, a blouse, a cardigan and a short headscarf, and kidnapped with two young men. Their false accusations to me were: joining Al-Ikhwan (the Muslim Brotherhood "MB") , supporting the MB, fabricating news and spreading them inside and outside Egypt. How crazy and stupid is this?! Who am I?! All of those accusations never happened and nothing of this has been proved. I found myself in prison. This was the first time in my life to see such great number of people and a lot of ladies. They put me in the "newcomers" cell. I did not have any clothes except that filthy galabia (female prison garment), the prosecutor told me afterwards that they call it “ Shoull”. I am in a continuous state of nonstop crying. In reality I am very weak and I am weeping all the time. I am fine with this, tears can sometimes become a beautiful soothing thing. My whole body is itching, 17 days have passed with no single shower. My family knew that I was in Al Qanater Prison and came to visit me on the first day of the Ramadan. Thanks God.. Thanks God.. Thanks God. I felt as if I stepped out of my grave. I kept on crying and feeling that my faith in God has been restored. I experienced very strange feelings and strong emotions.. as if I have been resurrected. The prison is a scary and horrible place. A whole new world different than what I know; I met detainees who were accused of drug abuse, some for being prostitutes, some for pickpocketing , some for stealing public funds etc. I have encountered their very strange people who are nearly monsters and heard very strange stories. People inside are always ready to tell lies, backstab and fabricate stories about one another; an unhealthy environment packed with many problems and much hate. All ladies inside are constantly smoking which made me almost choke and lose breath. Jail is a despicable place, I hate it very very very much. Whenever I feel exhausted, I fall asleep and wake up horrified asking "Where am I?". All that time I have the feeling I am in the middle of an endless nightmare. What brought me here? How did all of this happen and still happening? I want to go back home to mum and dad. I was kept for 9 days in the newcomers' cell, then I was transferred to the MB/ Ikhwani (Islamists) cell. Everyone knows I am not an MB member, never was and no one in my family is. The most important thing in this new cell is that no one smokes here since I was almost dying short of breath in the other one. This cell is disgusting, full of cockroaches. Everything here is very difficult. I miss my home, I miss my family and my friends, I miss my cat Woody. I badly miss everything and want to go back home.

6) "At the end of the tunnel, life gives us light. It calls us to forget the pain we once suffered greatly."I do not know what is happening. I am praying all the time, asking God to end my torture and misery in captivity. God is generous.I am very disappointed with Egypt, and everything in it. As everyday passes, I wait in my cell expecting them to release me at any moment. Really, I am full of anger and disappointment. Oh God, when will this nightmare come to an end? I am actually very weak and I know that I am not good at writing. I just want to talk and let out my thoughts and feelings, although I do not understand till now why all of this is happening. However, I am waiting for anything; for any miracle to happen and make me happy. I love my father mother and my sisters so much.. as well as all my friends; I love them dearly too. Oh God, I pray for everything to get better.
7) Release
While I am writing this right now now, news came that Summar El-Najjar and aunt Farida (2 of my cellmates) will be released. I am very happy for them. I feel that I will be released soon too. Thanks God. I am waiting for my good news. Enough is enough.

*Ah! By the way, anyone who dares call me a "Hara'er" (Arabic word for "free women" Islamists in Egypt use to iconize women and girls detained or imprisoned nowadays); I swear I will make him regret it really bad, once I am out! smile emoticon
07/07/2015
Al Qanater Women's Prison
Esraa El-Taweel









Viewing all 4289 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images