On my way back from Sacramento to Berkeley, I saw a jeep, with bunch of rednecks, that had a sticker saying:

If you can read this, thank a teacher. And because it’s in English, thank a soldier

Inshallah ya zebala you’ll be all speaking Spanish soon…

Ahmed, human rights lawyer, Berkeley…

Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post, Berkeley…

I received those tweets from Nora… and here is a report by Sarah Carr…

A protest planned to take place in front of the People’s Assembly was banned yesterday by state security bodies.
According to Hesham Fouad, a member of the Freedoms Committee of the Journalists’ Syndicate, the protest was planned by the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience, which he described as a popular movement not tied to any organization.
Fouad said that the Committee is headed by Kamal Abu Eida of the Karama political party and Mohamed Abdel Qoddous, a journalist who is also head of the Freedoms Committee of the Journalists’ Syndicate.
The protest was against the new anti-terrorism law which the government is currently in the process of drafting.
It is widely rumored that the law will replace the 27 year-old, continually renewed state of emergency that ends on May 31.
There was a heavy presence of central security troops and plain-clothed policemen in downtown Qasr El-Eini Street, which borders the People’s Assembly, when Daily News Egypt arrived.
Daily News Egypt saw Abdel Qoddous surrounded, and then forcibly removed from his position opposite the gates of the PA by five plain-clothed men.
It was not possible to ascertain where Abdel Qoddous was taken as a plain-clothed man demanded that that Daily News Egypt reporters leave in the opposite direction to that taken by Abdel Qoddous.
The journalist’s mobile phone is currently switched off preventing Daily News Egypt from establishing his
whereabouts.

Sacramento…

From RSF…

Reporters Without Borders calls on the Egyptian authorities to free Kareem El-Beheiri, a blogger who was arrested on 6 April in the industrial town of Mahalla (100 km north of Cairo) while covering a strike in the textile plant where he worked. He has been held in Borg El Arab prison (40 km outside Alexandria) since April.
“We are worried about Beheiri’s health as he is being mistreated and has gone on hunger strike,” the press freedom organisation said. “The prison’s management refuses to move him to the hospital so that he can receive appropriate treatment. We call on the authorities to release him while they decide exactly what charges they are going to bring against him.”
Beheiri and two other activists who were arrested the same day, Tareq Amin and Kamal el-Fayyoumy, described their mistreatment in a joint letter on 18 May to Zakareya Abdel Aziz, the head of the Cairo Judges Club.

Click on the poster below to read the full statement…

Officer Sherif el-Qamaty, from State Security’s CounterCommunism Bureau… He tortured and raped leftist blogger Mohamed el-Sharqawi on 25 May 2006, in Qasr el-Nil Police Station…

I received the following message from a friend in Cairo…

At their meeting in New York last week, AUC’s Board of Trustees responded to a resolution passed by the Faculty Senate relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In its resolution, the board noted that AUC does not take positions on political issues… the board voted to neither accept nor approve the Faculty Senate’s resolution.

Saturday was the commencement of the 2008 UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism… Among the graduates were our friend James…

Alf Mabrouk ya habibi, and I’m glad you kept the hipster spirit by wearing your classy Zannouba flipflops..

The event was inaugurated by Neil Henry, the school’s dean, who mentioned Mohamed Maree in his speech and called for his release…

The highlight of the event was our friend Omar Fekiki’s speech..

Omar gave a very moving speech about the role of local fixers in aiding Western reporters, risking sometimes their own lives, and called on his fellow class graduates who will be international reporters in the future to treat them with respect and share responsibility for their security and safety after one leaves the country where s/he were reporting from…

I was sincerely touched by what Omar said, but this was nothing as sweet as what was to come.. Omar called his girlfriend, Ban, from the audience, and proposed to her in public amid massive applause and cheers from all the audience… She said YES:)))

Alf Mabrouk ya James… Alf Mabrouk ya Omar…

Sarah Carr reports…

The Abbaseyya appeals court yesterday adjourned the hearing of the appeal launched by Al-Dostour editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa until June 8 following a request by Eissa’s defense team that they be afforded a delay.
Eissa was convicted of spreading false information affecting national stability in March.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment after the court upheld the prosecution’s claim that articles published in opposition daily Al-Dostour in August 2007 concerning the state of President Hosni Mubarak’s health had undermined investor confidence and adversely affected the Egyptian economy.
For the first time during the course of the trial, Eissa himself appeared in court yesterday as he was obliged to under court procedures which require that appellants attend appeal hearings involving this category of offense.

The case gets even more ridiculous…

Lawyer Samir El-Shestawy — who previously raised criminal charges against Eissa following the publication of the 2007 articles in a case that was thrown out in March — spoke during the court session.
El-Shestawy has now raised a civil claim against Eissa.
Critics allege that the lawyer is settling political scores against Eissa on behalf of the ruling National Democratic Party.
El-Shestawy told the court that his own children — who were also in court — had been deeply disturbed by the Al-Dostour articles.
“They entered my office crying about what they had read concerning President Mubarak’s health,” El-Shestawy told the court.
“My claim against Ibrahim Eissa is not a personal dispute between me and him. It concerns articles written in an unacceptable style which presented extreme details about the President’s health,” he continued.
El-Shestawy requested that his children be allowed to give evidence in court in support of his claim that they had been disturbed by the articles published in Al-Dostour.

Ya salaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam! Ya salaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam ya Shestawy ya ebni.. Ya3nee wallahi, I can hardly hold my tears back coz of your deep felt patriotism, you and your “disturbed” kids, and I’m very touched by your sincere love for kalb el-Amrikan brezident Hosni,… I can imagine your speech in court can be something like TV scene with a Raafat el-Haggan soundtrack music or the national anthem on violins playing in the background… Well, I hate to “‘disturb” you and your kids more ya Shestawi but everyone knows Kalb el-Amrikan Hosni is old and will die soon ya habibi… So prepare yourself for more “disturbance”…
Anyways, read a statement by HRINFO here in English, and is available in Arabic over there… And please click below to watch a set of photos of the trial, shot by Sarah…

Sacramento…

Reminds me of someone…

Below is the video of the DC protest in solidarity with the Egyptian detainees, that took place on May 4th, in front of Mubarak’s Embassy…

You can check out some pix here…

Circulate ya shabab…

Seeking anti-Zionist Jewish signatures
Hello from the International Jewish Solidarity Network (IJSN),
May 2008 is the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe marked by the destruction or depopulation of more than 400 Palestinian villages through massacre and intimidation and the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinian people from their lands, communities and homes. Since then, Palestinians have lived under occupation, as refugees, and as second class citizens on their own land; Israel’s assault against indigenous Palestinian communities continues with unremitting brutality.
IJSN would like to invite you to sign our Statement on Gaza and of Solidarity with 60 Years of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Colonialism, Racism and Zionism. Please go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/IJSN_60/ to sign the petition.
By acknowledging the connection between the Nakba and the current suffocation of Gaza, we insist that the root causes of the ‘conflict’ be addressed. After signing the petition you will have the opportunity to donate direct aid to Gaza, financially support Palestinian organizing in the United States, and/or make a financial contribution to building this international network of Jews (www.ijsn.net).
Signing a petition and donating money are two ways to support the Palestine solidarity movement. Another way is to take action. Please join us in planning 10 days of internationally coordinated actions over the high holidays.
Go to http://www.ijsn.net/en/ijsn/ten_days_of_action/M12 to get involved.
Over the past two years, IJSN has been laying the groundwork for an international network of Jews who are committed to struggling against Zionism and its manifestation in the State of Israel. It is clear that – as with any other anti-imperialist struggle or struggle for social justice – working locally or even nationally is not enough. The challenges we face are international, and the roles that we can play in our local and national locations are limited unless we commit to finding the ways to work together across regions.
Specifically, as anti-Zionist Jews, we have a responsibility to build an international voice with the capacity to challenge the international nature of Zionism and its claim to speak on behalf of Jews worldwide. Toward this end, we hope the International Jewish Solidarity Network (IJSN) will be relevant to, a resource for, and in mutually supportive relationships with new and existing local, regional and international anti-Zionist efforts that share the Network’s politics and goals.
If you are interested in learning more about what we are about, what we have been up to, and where we are going, we encourage you to check out our recently updated website and look out for our forthcoming invitation to participate in broadening the network’s activities on the ground.
You can sign up to be including the planning of the 10-days of Action and to be updated on IJSN at: http://www.ijsn.net/en/ijsn/get_involved/M12
We look forward to building with you!
The International Jewish Solidarity Network

Ayman Morrar, US-Palestinian activist and owner of Fertile Grounds Cafe, Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley…