An old police corporal in Tanta’s courtroom…

Michaela Singer reports…
When Doctor Ilhamy Sultan began searching for his missing brother on the night of July 21, 2008, the last place he expected to find him was lying in a hospital bed, the victim of brutal police violence.
Ragai Sultan is 46 going on 47. However, with an IQ of 50, he could be classified [...]

Sarah Carr reports…
The trial of 49 people accused of a range of criminal offences allegedly committed during the April 6 clashes in Mahalla began Saturday at the Tanta Emergency State Security Court, where judges called for a continuance.
The next hearing will be held on Sept. 1.
Defense lawyer Ahmed Ezzat of the Association for Freedom of [...]

I traveled to Tanta on Saturday morning to try to attend the Mahalla 49 trial.. As soon as I arrived in the city’s train station, I was shocked by the heavy security presence around Tanta’s Court which is literally few steps away from the station. At least four police trucks full of soldiers were parked [...]

I received the following statement from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information…
The Egyptian government imposed a new measurement which increases the extent of the censorship on Internet users, and violates their right to privacy. The new measurement obliges the tourist coffee shops, to keep the information of their visitors who uses the internet, including [...]

I’ve just returned from Tanta… The Mahalla 49 trial was adjourned till 1 September… Here’s a statement from the rights groups coalition that is defending the prisoners. I’m gonna post my report and some photos later, coz at the moment I’m very exhausted from traveling, and I’m honestly devastated after hearing the prisoners’ shrieks, in [...]

بيان من منظمة العفو الدولية…

مصر: لا عدالة لتسعة وأربعين شخصاً يواجهون المحاكمة أمام محكمة الطوارئ
عشية محاكمة 49 شخصاً على مشاركتهم المزعومة في مظاهرات احتجاج عنيفة، تدعو منظمة العفو الدولية السلطات المصرية إلى وقف محاكمة الأشخاص أمام محاكم الطوارئ الخاصة التي تضرب عرض الحائط بالضمانات الأساسية للمحاكمات العادلة. كما تحث المنظمة السلطات على فتح تحقيق واف [...]

I received the following statement from Amnesty International…
On the eve of the trial of 49 people for alleged involvement in violent protest, Amnesty International calls on the Egyptian authorities to stop trying individuals before special emergency courts that flout basic guarantees for fair trial. The organization also urges the authorities to open immediately a thorough, [...]

Information about Mahalla and the Egyptian labor movement is available in German here and here, also available in Greek and Italian…

Michaela Singer reports…
A student blogger has been detained for 15 days without trial after “turning himself in” to security.
Mohamed Rafat Bayoumi, mass communication student at Cairo University, was not at home when security raided his house around midnight on July 21.
Lawyers acting on behalf of Bayoumi told Daily News Egypt that security confiscated the student’s [...]

From the Daily News Egypt…
Two Egyptian teenagers suspected of trafficking fuel and food through tunnels into the impoverished Gaza Strip were wounded in a shootout with police on Thursday, a security official said.
The two youths were spotted by a police patrol near one of 20 tunnels between Egypt and Hamas-ruled Gaza that a security official [...]

SS pig Hisham Tawfiq, the sadist who tortured two young cousins of mine by electric shocks in custody, is profiled by the Torture In Egypt blog…

The Mahalla 49 trial is due to open this Saturday, 9 August…