Comments on: Letter from Sharqawi

By: The Arabist » Ok, we’ll forget about democracy, now give us a hand

The Arabist » Ok, we’ll forget about democracy, now give us a hand — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:07:55 +0000

[...] I gotta say, though the AP story was good quality reporting, the title was rather funny: â€œModerate Arabs look to curb militants.â€ â€œModerate Arabsâ€? Itâ€™s interesting to see APâ€™s standards for â€œmoderationâ€ lie in how close the regime is to DC. One regime sodomizes dissidents, the other beheads them, but still according to AP they are indeed â€œmoderate.â€ [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi’s lawyer calls for release of MB detainees

The Arabist » Sharqawi’s lawyer calls for release of MB detainees — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:53:14 +0000

[...] Gamal 3eid–lawyer for Sharqawi and Sha3er and the leftist director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information–issued a statement today, welcoming his clients’ release, but called up on the newly appointed Public Prosecutor to investigate the Qasr el-Nil officers who are involved in Sharqawi’s torture and put an end to police brutality; to curb the powers of State Security officers; and to release the Muslim Brothers prisoners of conscience. [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er are FREE

The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er are FREE — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 01:10:44 +0000

[...] Sharqawi and Sha3er have been finally released by 12:50am, after a long odyssey of “paper work” pending their release. [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er to be released!!!

The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er to be released!!! — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:18:57 +0000

[...] I have just received news the State Security Prosecutor has ordered Sharqawi’s and Sha3er’s release!!! [...]

By: The Arabist » Democracy detainees’ ordeal continues…

The Arabist » Democracy detainees’ ordeal continues… — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:52:30 +0000

[...] Karim el-Sha3er has been subject to a knife assault in prison, an activist source said. Sha3er and Sharqawi are the only two remaining Kefaya detainees, after the release of their fellow secular activists. (Hundreds of MB detainees are still in Tora.) [...]

By: The Arabist » Activists call for release of detainees

The Arabist » Activists call for release of detainees — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 22:47:21 +0000

[...] Around 150 activists assembled on the doorsteps of the Press Syndicate, protesting the continued detention of Youth for Change activists Sharqawi and Sha3er, and hundreds of Muslim Brothers detainees. [...]

By: The Arabist » Demo planned in solidarity with detainees

The Arabist » Demo planned in solidarity with detainees — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:54:39 +0000

[...] Activists are calling for a protest in front of the Press Syndicate, Saturday 15 July, to demand the release of Sharqawi, Sha3er, and the Muslim Brotherhood detainees, who were picked up during security crackdowns on pro-Judges demos. [...]

By: The Arabist » When torture rules

The Arabist » When torture rules — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:48:01 +0000

[...] The torture of Mohammed El-Sharkawi came within this context. [...]

By: The Arabist » Parliament endorses new press law

The Arabist » Parliament endorses new press law — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:33:32 +0000

[...] UPDATE: Here’s a Reuters report on the new “tough press law.” The law, even with Mubarak’s “last-minute intervention,” is abusive and horrible. With this new press law, and the Administrative Court’s ruling in favor of blocking blogs that “threaten national security”–one can expect The Arabist contributors to join Sharqawi soon in Tora… [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi receives death threats in Tora

The Arabist » Sharqawi receives death threats in Tora — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:16:11 +0000

[...] I have received troubling news from activist sources that Youth for Change detainee Mohamed el-Sharqawi has been subject to death threats in Tora prison, where he’s currently detained. 3alaa has posted on his blog some details about Sharqawi’s current ordeal. [...]

By: The Arabist » Hundreds march against new press law

The Arabist » Hundreds march against new press law — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 18:13:50 +0000

[...] As always before each demo, I didnâ€™t know what to expect, and my stomach refused anything but cigarettes and coffee. I met my friend Sally Sami–a long time friend from university who is currently a journalist and rights activist–as soon as I arrived in downtown, and things did not look good. There were nine Central Security Forces trucks, full of conscripts, parked in Mohamed Mahmoud Street in front of the AUC entrance. Three more CSF trucks were in the middle of Tahrir Sq., but full of Baltaggiya (the plain clothes thugs). In front of 3omar Makram mosque, at least four CSF trucks stood close to the US embassy in Garden City. Tahrir once more was under occupation by the security forces. That looks bad, I thought. As I approached Qasr el-3eini St., where the demo was supposed to happen, I received a phone call from a journalist friend asking if there was anything happening now at the Press Syndicate. None that I know off, I answered. â€œWell, the syndicate is under siege by tons of security,â€ he said. My impression was then that the government wouldnâ€™t allow the parliament demo, and instead the security would intimidate the demonstrators to push them away to the syndicate, where they could demonstrate under the siege and watchful eyes of CSF, and away from the people, like what happened with numerous demos in the past. As I got into al-Qasr al-3eini St., loads of CSF, Special Operations, and plainclothes security officers everywhere. All I could see was only 50 demonstrators, carrying banners, surrounded by CSF conscripts, on the opposite side of the parliament, long way from the entrance. The officers were allowing few numbers of journalists and activists into the ring, but were shooing other people away. As soon as I get into the ring, there was a fat man in sweaty striped shirt taking pix of the demonstrators with a small digital camera. I thought initially he was a journalist, but then I found activists from Youth from Change pushing him away and shouting â€œYalla ya Amn el-Dawla, ghoour!â€ (Come on State Security, piss off!). I met a journalist friend who was present earlier. He told me Mohamed 3abdel Quddoos–head of the Press Syndicateâ€™s Libertiesâ€™ Committee–together with roughly five other demonstrators showed up in front of the Parliamentâ€™s entrance on the other side of the street, but were pushed by plainclothes and uniformed police officers all the way to the place where we were crammed up now. My friend told me the parliamentâ€™s entrance was now guarded by the plainclothes thugs. I told myself this was really interestingâ€¦ our parliament, thatâ€™s supposed to be supreme symbol of lawmaking was under â€œprotectionâ€ of criminal thugs! Wow! By 11:30am, though, it became clear something was happening on the other side of the street, where the parliamentâ€™s entrance was. A group of demonstrators managed to assemble there, and where circled by CSF troops, State Security officers, and uniformed officers from Qasr el-Nil Police Station. Mohamed 3abdel Quddoos tried to get out of the cordon and join the demonstration on the other side, which was clearly larger, but was barred by security. He went mad. He kept on shouting, â€œYou either let us join them, or weâ€™ll bring them here.â€ After few pushing rounds, the officers started letting demonstrators two by two, and everybody ran to the other side to join the demo. There were around 300 demonstrators, led by Gamal Fahmy, a Karama journalist and member of the Press Syndicateâ€™s council. I saw also Gala 3aref the head of the syndicate, and other council members like Yehya el-Qallash, and a bunch of suits. The only reason, I thought, the security allowed this crowd to assemble was the fact that 3aref and the syndicate board was there. It would be a bit too much if they give such high-profile figures the usual police-treat, especially when there were loads of media cameras around. Gradually, the crowd swelled to 500 demonstrators, mostly left-wing journalists and their supporters, from the Socialist and the Nasserist tendency. Demonstrators were carrying banners in Arabic and English saying â€œViva Corruptionâ€¦ Down with the Freedom of Press,â€ mocking the new law. The demonstrators chanted against the law, government, police, and virtually everything they deemed wrong in the country, but I thought it was interesting that Mubarakâ€™s name was not mentioned at all. I asked a Socialist journalist present in the demo about the reason. He said 3aref and top union bureaucrats at the Press Syndicate Council, insisted on not portraying the demo as a confrontation with Mubarak, when the protest preparation was underway. They did not want to challenge the president in person. The result was that all the Kefayaâ€™s anti-president slogans were changed so that the word â€œMubarakâ€ was replaced with â€œtyranny.â€ Few minutes after 11:30pm, a handful of MPs in suits and one wearing a galabiya and turbine, from MB, Wafd, and independents came out from the parliamentâ€™s gate and joined the demonstrators. â€œWe are here to show our solidarity with the journalists against a corrupt government,â€ shouted one bearded MP in a suit, whom I did not know his name. Demonstrators kept on chanting against the government, new press law, calling for the release of Sharqawi and the rest of the detainees. They also chanted against the rising prices of basic commodities, police brutality, and other issues of civil liberties. The Press Syndicate Council suits, with the exception of Gamal Fahmy, tried hard to temp down the militant mood of the demonstrators, trying to sway the demonstrators from chanting about anything but the press law. Still, it was clear the activists wanted to generalize their struggle, and link it with others. Palestine and Iraq were not mentioned, but as always the US was denounced for sponsoring Mubarak and other Arab rulers. â€œOur rulers are Americaâ€™s dogs,â€ chanted a leftist activist, followed by others. The demonstration was still swelling in size, but we were all getting choked inside. The CSF ring was tight, and you could hardly breathe or find somewhere to stand among the crowd. I saw Mahmoud Amin el-3alem, the 78 year old veteran Marxist writer, who despite his fragile health insisted on coming. â€œI want to tell the youth, we the sheikhs are here with you today and everyday,â€ he said with his well-known ear-to-ear smile. â€œIâ€™m optimistic when I see them today chanting with so much liveliness. There is so much resistance here today more than we had in the 1950s and 60s. There is a lack of fear from the government among many young ones I see today.â€ Wael al-Ibrashi was also present, and sounded defiant: â€œThe governmentâ€™s guys in the parliament are experts when it comes to cooking laws. This new law means we will not be able to open our mouths anymore about the government or corruption. This law is designed to put virtually all journalists in jail, except those who are government lackeys. But we will fight corruption and will not be silent over this governmentâ€™s crimes.â€ Some of the released detainees were also present like Wael Khalil, Ibrahim el-Sahary, Malek, Mohamed 3adel, Akram al-Irani. Some of them told me they have to show up for every demo to show State Security that prison has not deter them from activism. â€œIf we disappear, theyâ€™ll think what they did to us and Sharqawi worked. I try my best to show up for any event I can.â€ said one. Few minutes to 1pm, the journalists and activists decided to move to the syndicate. The security agents was in a dilemma. They were not keen on beating the demonstrators coz it would have been embarrassing, but at the same time they did NOT want the activists to reassemble anywhere and re-start a demo after they were â€œreleasedâ€ from the CSF control. The police started allowing passage for demonstrators out of the demo ring, one by one or two by two. Gamal Fahmy stood by watching, to make sure no one was nabbed. In few minutes, though, red flags and black banners were out, and activists reassembled quickly and started marching. The security was panicking. I saw police generals running to 3abdel Quddoos and other senior syndicate figures saying this was unacceptable, but Quddoos insisted they were marching. It was an unusual scene for a Cairenes in a while. Last year there were loads of street demos and marches that security forces were willing (reluctantly of course). But there had been nothing of that sort since the start of the crackdown on pro-judges demonstrators in April. Around 400 activists, with socialist journalists with the Center for Socialist Studies in the front, started marching into Tahrir, passing by the AUC main campus, into Tal3aat St. I was like wooow.. Where is the CSF and the thugs? And indeed I could see panicking moves by senior officers on the scene, on their walkie-talkies. CSF conscripts were being moved left and right, but nowhere near the demonstrators. Uniformed officers and plainclothes State Security were walking behind and sometimes to the sides of the demonstrators. Some of them were taking pix of the march, focusing on the organizers. The march was attracting the attention of everybody, since basically traffic stopped in Tahrir, and later Tal3at Harb St., as the march got underway. As the march reached Tal3at Harb, the police was expecting the demonstrators to move left down the street that leads to the syndicateâ€¦ but radical journalists from Socialists and Karama, steered the march right, and went down Qasr el-Nil St. The demonstrators continued marching, chanting slogans against the press law, corruption, tyranny. On pavement, and out on the balconies, people were watching. You got your usual mixed feedback: support, cynicism, mocking, cheering, or disgustâ€¦ The march reached Mustafa Kamel Sq, when demonstrators turned left, going down Mohamed Fareed St., then to 26th of July Road where the High Court is located. The chants soon turned to support the judiciary, and denounce the new judicial law. I could see some syndicate suits freaking out, and trying without success to hush the demonstrators, and limit the chants to press issues only. 500 meters away from the syndicate, the CSF troops could be seen once more. Plainclothes State Security had accompanied the crowd all the way from Tahrir to the syndicate. One of the usual faces was the green-eyed officer Sherif el-Damatti, from State Securityâ€™s CounterCommunism Bureau, who brought the case of the Revolutionary Socialistsâ€™ to court in 2004. (The court dismissed the case later.) He could be seen wearing a stripped chemise, talking on his mobile phone, and every now and then took a picture of an organizer by his Cellular digital camera. The march reached the Syndicate building by 2pm. The building was under siege by CSF. On the two corners there were battalions of baltaggiya on guard. All throughout the march there were no security hassles, but scuffles broke out in front of the syndicate, as initially CSF cordons wouldnâ€™t move to allow the protestors in. I saw 3abdel Quddoos being shoved by CSF officers and conscripts, together with Tarek Darwish from Al-Ahrar paper. Darwish lost it and started shouting hysterically, â€œThis is a country of pimps,â€ addressing the CSF officers. â€œDown with Mubarak.â€ The scuffles went on for five minutes, before CSF extra troops were swiftly brought in, and pushed all demonstrators to the syndicateâ€™s front steps. The demonstrators kept on chanting against the government, security, and then anti-Mubarak slogans were soon heard and repeated. It was 2:30pm by then, and I felt my brain was melting from Cairoâ€™s July heat. I went inside the syndicate, drank some water, interviewed a bunch of activists, and chatted a bit with few friends before deciding not to wait for the press conf that was to be held, and just go home. [...]

By: The Arabist » “Obedience is starting to evaporate”

The Arabist » “Obedience is starting to evaporate” — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:42:15 +0000

[...] Darkness on the Edge of Cairo by John William Salevurakis Every day I walk from my fashionable neighborhood to the university and pass a pair of very kind, white-uniformed police officers. They stand in their almost blindingly clean attire, only a block from my crumbling apartment building, smoking Egypt’s cheapest Cleopatra cigarettes and directing traffic. “Ya Pasha!” they shout, “Habibi!” This is my daily greeting as I pass and kiss each of them on both cheeks. Since I came here from Utah nearly two years ago, I have been “a ruler” and their “dearest one” nearly every day. I don’t smoke but they commonly offer me a cigarette so I will take the time to uneasily chat in my pidgin Arabic. We talk about mundane things like the summer heat or when I’ll again be visiting America or Europe. In Cairo, the mundane is really of immense value as a symbol. It is a social ritual, it seems, representing calm and a certain degree of material prosperity, a sign that one can afford to be concerned about such things pertaining to one’s self and others. With regularity, however, the calm is now broken on the edges of Cairo, and the darkness, fueled jointly by domestic and foreign powers, is creeping in from the edges of town. Everybody’s got a secret, it seems. On May 25th, Karim Al-Shaer and Mohammed Al-Sharkawy were arrested at a local protest and taken to the Kasr El Nil police station near my apartment. They were beaten and tortured, and Al-Sharkawy was sexually abused, and then turned over to State Security Forces, at which point their long-term futures became even more uncertain. The two were then allegedly denied medical care and remanded to the Tora Prison for a minimum of 15 days under Egypt’s widely criticized yet strikingly familiar “Emergency Laws” which have been in place, almost without interruption, for the last 38 years. A second protest on June 2nd (Correction: actually it was June 1st) saw the detainment of three Egyptians and an L.A. Times reporter who also had his camera smashed by police in front of the Kasr El Nil station. It was loudly and repeatedly noted by security: “There’s no permit for a protest today for the demonstrators. There is no permit for the coverage by reporters!” Historically, no one has asked any questions when faced with statements such as these . . . but that obedience is starting to evaporate. This cycle of demonstrations and arrests is becoming more frequent as the darkness extends further toward the heart of the city. The calm that generally characterizes Egypt in the region is shattered in support of journalists and judges who are being oppressed by the Mubarak regime. The mundane is perhaps most foundationally overshadowed by popular frustration over last year’s forced re-election of President Hosni Mubarak. It is common knowledge here that voter fraud was rampant and neither journalists nor judges are being allowed to voice this reality. Support for those who do voice it is then swiftly met with brutality or the credible threat of it. What’s more, the American government issues only occasional communiquÃ©s of concern regarding these events of repression and hails Egypt as a fertile root of democracy in the region. On June 2nd, the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt expressed “disappointment” but continued to simply state: “We don’t know all the facts. We know that there are at least two sides to every story.” A day later, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in which Tom Casey said, “We are troubled by the recent reports that Mohammed Al-Sharkawy as well as Karim Al-Shaer were arrested and, during their arrest and detention, were tortured.” He continued to soften American concern by adding, “If those allegations are true, that would certainly be a violation of Egypt’s own laws” and “If the allegations are true, what we want to see happen is. . . .” What a repulsively inappropriate assertion of either doubt or diplomacy, given that a political activist in the region’s first true “democracy” was just reportedly sodomized with cardboard in a police station. Of course, maybe the definition of “democracy” is somewhat flexible as all of this was taking place a mere two weeks after President Mubarak’s son, Gamal, had met with President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National Security Advisor Steve Hadley while visiting the U.S. on “private business.” At my university, I teach economic principles largely to the children of ministers in the Mubarak government or American students privileged enough to spend a semester or year abroad. When controversial political topics invariably arise, I make uneasy jokes about the room being bugged or offending someone’s father with my impending comments. Everyone laughs . . . but the darkness is here in my classroom, too, and perhaps only temporarily hiding behind the mundane graphical representation of supply and demand or the oblique writings of Thorstein Veblen. I still pass the usual white-suited police officers on my street. I still exchange smiles and handshakes and still get offered cigarettes. We chat about the mundane . . . the weather, my wife, our dog, and their families in Upper Egypt. I look at them and wonder, though, about the true reach of darkness into Cairo, from where it originated, and how far it will ultimately travel. I look at the policeman’s aging face, tobacco-stained teeth, and graying wiry hair, thinking only that this smiling gentleman could very well have been jumping on the stomach of a prisoner yesterday or penetrating another with whatever implement happened to be convenient the week before. A mundane object like a cardboard paper towel roll assumes a new horrifying aspect in hindsight. The calm here remains generally widespread, making the surface of daily life courteous, yet it is widely understood to be a faÃ§ade for the externally supported brutality maintaining it. The United States has found itself stuck fast in a tarry mass of its own prejudice and financial interests in Iraq and yearns for allies, any ally, in the region. The price for this is paid by Egyptians who are victimized in the name of domestic political stability as well as by Americans, even Utahns, who find themselves witness to domestic imprisonments without trials, remote European “interrogation facilities,” or warrantless domestic surveillance in the name of insulation from terror. Hearing I have contracted to stay in Cairo for another three years, people of varied origins — including Americans — often ask me if I feel “safe” in what they perceive to be the darkness completely external to their own lives. My response to Americans is simply, “Do you?” [...]

By: The Arabist » AI fears abusive govt powers in new “anti-terror law”

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 01:26:25 +0000

[...] Amnesty International issued a statement Friday expressing concerns over the govt’s new “anti-terror law” currently in the making. One of Mubarakâ€™s promises during his â€œelectoral campaignâ€ last year was the abolishing of the notorious Emergency Law, with which he ruled Egypt since 1981, and replace it with an â€œanti-terror law.â€ The Emergency law is regarded as the Grim Reaper in the nation’s political scene. It gives the government abusive powers to lock any suspect for 6 months, break demonstrations, and stiffle political life. Though the government claims it’s only used against “terrorists and drug dealers,” it’s clear who is the law used against: Sharqawi, Sha3er, 3alaa, Ibrahim, Kamal, Wael, and hundreds of other activists from the movement for change, as well as thousands of detainees who are languishing in prisons since 1981, and millions of Egyptians in their daily life encounters with the Egyptian police. Of course, as we know, our president’s promise went with the wind (together with few others) as the NDP-controlled parliament voted last April to extend the law for another two years, fearing a â€œlegal vacuum if the emergency law is abolished nowâ€ as Mubarak put it. Now that the regimeâ€™s legal experts are well cooking the new anti-terror law, Amnesty International echoed the fears expressed by Egyptian rights activists and opposition group in a statement and memorandum sent to Mubarak. [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi blogs from prison

The Arabist » Sharqawi blogs from prison — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:54:53 +0000

[...] Detained Youth for Change activist, Mohamed el-Sharqawi is blogging from prison, in a series postings titled, Ayyam al-3ozla (Days of Isolation). Sharqawi’s detention was renewed last Wednesday by the State Security Prosecutor for another 15 days. He remains in Tora prison with his colleague Karim el-Sha3er, and hundreds of Muslim Brothers detainees. [...]

By: The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er’s detention renewed

The Arabist » Sharqawi and Sha3er’s detention renewed — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 12:56:02 +0000

[...] State Security Prosecutor renewed today the detention of Youth for Change activists Mohamed el-Sharqawi and Karim el-Sha3er’s for another 15 days. [...]

By: The Arabist » Solidarity demo for Gaza

The Arabist » Solidarity demo for Gaza — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 21:54:45 +0000

[...] Around 500 demonstrators gathered in front of the Press Syndicate today, to denounce the Israeli military operations in Gaza. The protestors, mostly nationalists and leftists, chanted against Israel’s assault on Gaza, the US support for Tel Aviv, and against the Egyptian Mukhabarrat whose agents are involved in mediations between the Israelis and Palestinians. The demonstrators, led by the two Kamals (Kamal Khalil and Kamal Abu 3eita), also chanted against Mubarak, his son, and the Egyptian businessmen who have links with Israel. The demonstrators called for war against Israel, abolition of the Camp David agreement, and halting the Egyptian cement and iron exports to Israel (some of which go into building the illegal Zionist settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories). The chanting and the singing went on for an hour, on the doorsteps of the syndicate. Cars driving through Abdel Khaleq Tharwat Street where slowing to watch the demonstrators, and some flashed signs of support. Kamal Khalil, one of the Revolutionary Socialists’ leaders, called for the release of Sharqawi, Sha3er, Dr. Ayman Nour, and the Muslim Brothers detainees. Kamal reiterated the socialists’ line on Palestine: “The road to Jerusalem, passes through Cairo,” he shouted addressing the crowd. “Our liberation from Mubarak’s rule in Cairo, is linked to the Palestinians’ struggle for liberation from Zionist control, is linked to the Iraqi armed resistance to the American invasion. Every blow we strike against Mubarak here in Cairo, is a plus for the Palestinians and Iraqis. And every blow they strike against the Americans and Israelis is a boost for us. It is obvious now America is not interested in democracy. We never had an illusion to start with they were sincere about their proclaimed goals. Down with America! Down with Israel! Down with the Arab regimes!” An hour later, the protestors got into the syndicate, where Fathi Hammad, member of Hamas’ politburo made a speech, describing the plight of the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. “We have no other means, but kidnapping occupation soldiers to free our people from Israel’s prisons,” he said. “There are women and children incarcerated. Talks never brought us anything. The Israelis promised to free the prisoners before, but all what they do is releasing common criminals or those whose sentences are about to finish.” [...]

By: The Arabist » 3alaa asks for your help to free his friends

The Arabist » 3alaa asks for your help to free his friends — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 14:00:16 +0000

[...] 3alaa Seif, the leftist blogger who has recently come out of prison, is appealing to you to help release his friends Mohamed Sharqawi and Kareem el-Sha3er. Please check out the appeal on Human Rights First website. 3alaa, and other leftists, have been also campaigning for the release of Muslim Brothers detainees. Mr. El-Sa3id Ramadan, the editor of Ikhwan Web, sent me a list of the MB detainees who were picked up during the pro-democracy demos. The number of detainees had exceeded 900 since last March, but it has gone down to less than 600 detainees at the moment, according to Ramadan, as there has been some recent releases. The list is in Arabic, and there are missing names yet, which Ramadan has promised to send in soon. Weâ€™ll be updating the list as we receive more names. (If you are a Muslim Brother activist, and know more names, please contact the website administrator, and weâ€™ll add the names you know.) [...]

By: The Arabist » Demonstrators call for release of detainees

The Arabist » Demonstrators call for release of detainees — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:38:28 +0000

[...] Around 300 activists demonstrated Tuesday evening in front of the press syndicate, calling for the release of the pro-democracy detainees. The demonstrators included several of the recently released detainees, who showed up dressed in the white prison costumes they wore in Tora. The scene was beautiful. Released activists who haven’t seen one another since they got out of prison were hugging, and in tears. Others were recalling their prison stories, and exchanging jokes and laughters. Veteran socialist Kamal Khalil, and his colleagues Wael Khalil and Ibrahim el-Sahary got the lionshare of hugs and kisses. They led the demonstrators, in chants against Mubarak, and against State Security police. Central Security Forces surrounded the syndicate. The usual support brigades of baton-wielding plainclothes thugs were also present, together with few officers from State Security’s CounterCommunism’s Bureau. However, no hassels were witnessed, and one could get into the syndicate easily. The one-hour protest was followed by a conference, organized by the Liberties’ Committee. Several released detainees took the poduim, and shared their experiences with their supporters. Kamal Khalil denounced any talks between the opposition and Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, called for the release of Dr. Ayman Nour, Sharqawi, Sha3er, and the 700+ Muslim Brothers detainees. Kamal also condemned the US support for Mubarak and Israel, affirming that the movement for change in Egypt sees their democracy cause to be organically linked to other regional causes, most importantly Palestine and Iraq. Kamal also expressed his sorrow for the loss of his mentors and colleagues, Ahmad Nabil el-Hilaly, Youssef Darwish and Ahmad Rozza, who passed away while he was in prison. “Rest in peace,” he said to his lost comrades. “I want to assure Hilaly the socialist movement has been revived. The Communists in Egypt are only getting stronger day by day. You taught us a lot, and we will not fail you.” I went out later with 3alaa, Manal, and Malek to a friend’s place where we were supposed to party. Unfortunately, after two hours of laughter, we were showered with SMSs about the Israeli invasion of Gaza. We lost the mood for partying, and decided to go home and follow the news. Israeli tanks, as I write now, are rolling into north and south of the strip. Israeli F-16s have bombed two bridges in Gaza’s central zone. Gaza is now in darkness as Israeli jets shelled the only electric power station Gaza has. [...]

By: Hossam el-Hamalawy

Hossam el-Hamalawy — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 23:08:58 +0000

Thanks for your well wishes Shapiro, and for being touched by Sharqawi’s story. This is exactly what happens, however, to Palestinian “terror suspects” who fall in the hands of Israel’s Shabak, as documented by international (as well as Israeli) rights watchdogs.

By: david shapiro

david shapiro — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 10:34:20 +0000

What I read makes me fear the Arab and Moslem countries even more. We in Israel want peace and if the Arab treat their people this way how can we jews expect to live side by side with such Barbaric Gov’s
Imagine how the Jews imprisoned by Nasser must have fealt after simialr treatment before they had to leave EGYPT.

We have offered peace many times at great risk to us . This BB convinces me we cannto deal with exisitng Gov’s they are savages,
We need many more years before we can deal as civilised nations on equal terms,.

Just think if this happens in Egypt I dread to think what hapopens in Sudan , Yemen, Saudi, Syria etc…

May there be peace in Egypt but I am not sure the region is ready for democracy , it could end up with many Lebanon and Iraq situations.

Anyone remember how democracy failed Egypt in the past? if you read history this is the excuse Nasser used to get ri of the king, look at the mess he created, given time the Arab nations will join the rest of the world, at one time the Arab civilsation kept the world going today they need time to get back their past glory

Good luck to you all - a genuine well wisher .