One hundred days have passed since Abu Omar’s release from State Security custody, and his saga continues.
Abu Omar was kidnapped from Milan, by the CIA in February 2003, part of their extraordinary renditions program, and was flown to Egypt where he was brutally tortured by the Mukhabarrat and State Security Police.
[Above: Torture victim Abu Omar. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy.]
Abu Omar is still banned from travelling outside the country. Moreover the government refuses to issue him a National ID card. This basically means he cannot open a bank account, issue a passport, or conduct any sort of transaction. He basically does not exist any more in the eyes of the law.
Abu Omar says he sent a letter to State Security Police demanding his documents, but they have ignored him completely. “If my problem does not get solved soon, I’ll travel to Cairo to protest and stage a hunger strike,” he told me tonight. “I’m expecting my arrest any minute, and have already prepared my bag with items I’ll need in prison.”
Are you trying to portray Abu Omar as an object of ridicule? H. el-H? If so, this photo is succeeding. Perhaps it’s a cultural gap issue. Let me explain, starting from the top down:
1) Subject appears to be wearing a ladies latex bathing suit cap.
2) The wide eyes, tilted head, and tighening cheeks portray the subject as leering at the camera; specifically, the beginning of a leer.
3) The untrimmed beard gives the subject, together with his leer, an impression of being dangerously wild.
4) The size and shape of the item in subject’s breast pocket suggests a packet of cigarettes. Only crazy people smoke cigarettes.
5) Subject ’s hands are folded in his middle but are not resting there, but toying with something.
6) Following the jumpsuit downwards from the waist, subject appears to be wearing a dress.
Honestly, would you buy a used car from this man?
I don’t usually ask the people I photograph to pose, and I like to leave such “deep” reflections like yours on how they look in the pix to the readers. And my time happens to be too precious to be wasted on that.
But regarding your worries about:
“Honestly, would you buy a used car from this man?”
Well, I think you were trying to refer here not to Abu Omar, but to Khaled el-Masri, another extraordinary renditions victim who was a car salesman prior to his abduction and torture.
I don’t know about you, but my decision to buy a car or not has to do with the appearance and efficiency of the car, I’m afraid, not whether the salesman is bearded or was it a woman in mini-skirt.
الأستاذ الفاضل / حسام
بحمد الله وتوفيقه تم عمل بطاقة رقم قومي لي اليوم الأربعاءوتم تصويري ، وساستلم البطاقة في السابع من الشهر القادم( يونيو ) يوم المحاكمة التي ستجري أولى جلساتها في ميلانو – إيطاليا
وقد أتصل بي أمس أحد ضباط أمن الدولة بالأسكندرية وطلب مني وقف أي عمل تصعيدي ووعدني بتسهيل كافة المشاكل التي تعترضني في مصر مقابل عدم التصعيد الإعلامي
أشكرك جزيل الشكر على وقوفك معي وعرض مشكلتي وأنا في أنتظارك لأخبرك بخبطة صحفية كبيرة جدا بالنسبة لقضيتي
في الأيام القادمةأبو عمر المصري
الأسكندرية
الأربعاء
ummm, Solomon2? I assume you are somewhat familiar with the region, but Abu Omar’s appearance is not particularly unusual: gallabiya, skull cap, beard. There’s a lot of that here, and by ridiculing it you come off as rather… parochial.