Unofficial Ambassador for Tolerance
Pakinam Amer Special to Review
Arab News
Although he does not regard himself as a goodwill ambassador, Hollywood star and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman plans to “tell his stories” in the Middle East in an attempt to bridge some cultural gaps. “There are great stories (to be) told outside Hollywood,” Freeman told Arab News.
According to the actor and director, his production company, along with many other filmmakers in Hollywood, is looking at the Middle East for co-productions, film sources and locations. “With the war going on over here (the Middle East), there are lots of stories: Family stories and war stories… The potential is great,” he said. Dubai, for Freeman, is a good choice — bearing in mind that he is friends with Sheikh Muhammad whom Freeman regards as “a visionary” and someone who “sees the future.” Freeman visited Dubai last year and Cairo this year for their international film festivals. His first exposure to Arabic — and specifically Egyptian — cinema production was through Adel Imam’s tour-de-force black comedy “Al Irhab wal Kabab” (Terrorism and Kebab) which is about a man framed as a terrorist by a stroke of bad luck. With a wide grin and a hint of excitement on his face, Freeman recounted his favorite parts of what he called “a very clever” movie.
Taking Arab News through a bumpy — but nonetheless enlightening — ride through Hollywood, Freeman spoke of his own career and mentors with Clint Eastwood at the top of the list along with other idols such as Gary Cooper and Sydney Poitier. Before being an actor, Freeman was a US Air Force mechanic who dreamed of flying and acting. In his high school graduation yearbook, his nickname was “the actor.” He left the Air Force more than 50 years ago and aimed for Broadway. “It was one of the turning points in my life,” Freeman reminisced. The actor, who believes that to “succeed in any endeavor, (you have to) pour in and do it,” did just that, took the decision and set out to do it, embracing the philosophy that no one starts at the top.
Recounting his own path to success, Freeman said that any path must be marked by perseverance. “You are going to have a lot of setbacks. Even when you think you are there, there are places where you stumble… One person said to me ‘My son wants to be an actor but I told him to get an education so he would have something to fall back on’… Well, if you have something to fall back on, that is where you are going to wind up.”
Dedicated to his career with nothing to fall back on, Freeman moved from one success to the other, starring in remarkable movies such as “The Unforgiven,” “Seven” and “Dreamcatcher” One of his new projects is a historical movie about a World War II tank battalion. This untitled “dream project” for Freeman, is not about politics. Being the director of this movie, he explains that “War is war. If you fight behind a wall and somebody is shooting at you, you are not thinking politics, you are thinking survival.”
Being a producer is not a smooth ride either, as Freeman explained. High-profile studios such as Warner Brothers, according to the actor, turn down human interest stories (even if they are low-budget) “all the time.” The actor cited the examples of such movies as “Million Dollar Baby” and “Mystic River” which were rejected by Warner Brothers and then went on to win academy awards.
Stopping to talk about “Million Dollar Baby” and his experience with Clint Eastwood, Freeman told Arab News how much he enjoyed working with Eastwood. “An outstanding actor and a superb director,” Freeman described him. “I have always said that Clint does not direct actors; he directs the movie,” said Freeman. “I think he leaves it up to the actors to act. A lot of directors who never acted are looking for something that they can’t identify, especially if they are both writers and directors because they think if they wrote the script they know all the characters. If you hire someone else to act it, you have got to let it go.”
Nevertheless, not every good script he has worked on has turned into a great movie. The idea of having expectations about a good script and seeing it turn out differently on the big screen is not alien to him. “It happened to me a couple of times, primarily from my point of view, because the writer was directing. You can’t control character from the writer’s standpoint in the movies; very few people have that talent. The best would be if you wrote it, banned yourself as a writer and if you are going to direct it, just watch.”
The lover of acting, directing and producing spends half his time coming up with a nice script, a good story and the other half bringing to life unforgettable characters and scenes. Through cinema, he has enchanted many of his fans and has certainly created a legacy. Yet, the actor — old in years but young at heart — wants to accomplish more than just a legend through the magic of the silver screen. “I think that the more we exchange things in the movie industry, the better we all are going to be.” For the veteran actor, cinema is more than a career; even as a child it taught him and gave him many ideas, “When I was growing up, I learned most of what I know from the movies, right or wrong.” Cinema has a powerful presence, the actor said and it can change people’s lives if they will only listen closely to each other’s stories.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=21§ion=0&article=75180&d=24&m=12&y=2005
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Special to Review: "The Name of God: Represents Realism in Its Entirety"
In The Name of God: Represents Realism in Its Entirety
Pakinam Amer, Arab News
CAIRO, 10 December 2005 — Saris in golden and red or yellow and green adorning dark, stunningly beautiful girls dancing around with their waist-long black hair fluttering under the morning sun; this is the essential picture of a Bollywood (aka Indian Hollywood) movie that is definitely not what this independent film is about.
“In the Name of God”, a local Indian feature film directed by Jayaraaj and written/produced by the young artist Aryadan Shoukath, represents realism at its core: No extreme make-up, golden masks, colored saris or singing voices.
The film tells the heartbreaking story of a Muslim woman named Samira who marries a young, aspiring, educated man. Through a twist in the plot, her knight in shining armor (in his case red robes and a silk white scarf) delves into Islamic fundamentalism and eventually becomes a terrorist. An educated young woman and a true believer, strong in soul, she crushes her feelings for him and one day bravely — tears brimming her eyes and cutting through her heart — turns him in.
The culture of Kerala, a south Indian state with a considerable Muslim population, is manifested in colorful details. Small characters make big differences in the movie with every person contributing to the master plan and the smooth flow of events.
The movie, whose characters use the regional Malayalam language as opposed to Hindi (the official Indian language), has earned every bit of praise it has received after it was screened at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival. Developing from a liberal small-budget movie that has gained both support from sensible voices and death threats from Islamic extremists, the movie has been praised at the Berlin, London and Asian-Pacific film festivals. It has — unsurprisingly — won awards for direction and best acting.
One of the remarkable aspects of this movie is its dramatic approach; in other words, the angle by which both the director and the scriptwriter handled the almost worn-out issue of terrorism. The artists do not resort to the common rhetoric of “terrorists are so because they are evil” or “they are bad because their religion teaches them Jihad (Holy War).” On the contrary, the movie suggests not a justification but rather a reason behind the current waves of terrorism threatening not only the West, but also a country like India where the major and the oldest religions have lived side-by-side for tens of centuries.
Caught amid the ripples of events and faced by hatred, the Muslim terrorists’ motives and driving forces becomes apparent: Wrong but meaningful. The events underlined in the movie began when a group of Hindu extremists demolish a mosque, brutally killing children, elderly and women.
Inspired by the destruction of the 16th Century Babri Mosque on Dec. 6, 1992, the movie shows how the outbreak of violence formed a vicious circle of yet more violence, as each group of extremists retaliated leading to a series of acts each leaving behind a bloodbath.
Dec. 6 became a black day and Indian Muslim extremists retaliated.
The movie provides a political statement and a religious one. Unlike movies that condemned Islam along with terrorism, this film makes great distinction between each concept stressing on the fact that few Muslims are terrorists and terrorism is not Islam and never will be.
Through the person of Abdel-Rahman Sahib, a true-life character played by a real Islamic scholar named Mummutty, the spirit of the faith is exposed. Sahib, juxtaposed with his own son the believer-turned-terrorist husband of Samira, represents true Islam. Sahib has white-grey hair and a small silver beard, practices Islam in beautiful moderation.
In the movie, we see him fighting terrorism and valiantly keeping patience and holding on to his stance even as his son becomes a terrorist. Shunned by society for turning in her own husband, Sahib becomes Samira’s sanctuary and her mentor. Both of them write and — after difficulty and conflict — succeed in publishing the book entitled “In the Name of God”, which is meant to be a guideline of moderate Islam and a wishful end for terrorism.
It is interesting how the writer uses the word “secular” and the concept of “secularism” in his work, giving it a new meaning other than the popular idea of an irreligious state. Throughout the movie nevertheless, the audience could easily see how a concept like an Islamic state is frowned upon.
Pakistan, the state for ex-Indian Muslims, is referred to — and as Sahib makes clear — as existing thanks to imperialism and is originally an idea encouraged by the British invaders meant to create a religious strife in India and to divide its people.
The notion of secularism is explained by the scriptwriter in a simple manner: “Tolerance; that is the [true] secularism,” Shoukath told Arab News. “It is a secular India that we want; a state where all religions live together and practice freely.”
According to Shoukath, Muslims became a minority — reduced from 40 percent to around 10 percent — since the creation of the partition between India and Pakistan, leading to an understatement of Muslim presence and issues.
The use of color in this movie is very keen and elaborated. Early on, we see Samira as a child celebrating the Muslim feast amid her family. She was wearing her best clothes, laughing and giggling and helping her father distribute charity among the poor.
The mix of laughter, childhood innocence and fragility is turned through the years of hardship into a dreading calm, a daunting realization of the horrors of life and inner strength. We see Samira after a decade on the first day of the feast sitting in a prison yard waiting to see her husband, holding a pack of sweets while a shadow of a distant smile haunts her face as she sees a little child wearing her new clothes with an innocence she once had.
The child herself is not yet another character built for a temporary dramatic effect. We later know that this same child that has crossed Samira’s path is yet another victim of terrorism. The child, who lost her leg because of a bomb, becomes an inspiration for a change of heart in Samira’s husband and entices his real return to God and true Islam.
The first scene in the movie was that of Samira sitting in an empty prison yard, with a dark-colored sari, a melancholy look in her eyes, clinging to hope, while the adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) was recited in the background.
That scene remains in mind, as we see how the young woman strived to become a representative of a tolerant and a fair face of Islam, fighting tradition, upholding righteousness and being loyal to her husband’s memory by never losing hope in his redemption.
Samira is every woman. As one line in the movie said: She is like all other women who suffer not because of her fault but because of a man’s, a son’s or a father’s fault. They make mistakes and “the women wail.”
The last scene in the movie, however, is that of Samira’s husband after his own self-journey, repentance and return to true Islam — again — sitting in the same empty prison courtyard. He sits there yearning to meet his wife as the new enlightened man he has become. He waits and waits but Samira, who had given up the dark colors for red saris, kohl and golden ornaments when her husband returned to his senses and was free not from prison but from his own once-blinded mind, never came.
As he sits, somewhere Samira is blown up in a terrorist attack on a bus. Then again it was Dec. 6, the black day, which the extremists decided to “never forget.”
The movie ends while the husband — soon to be taking his turn in sorrow — waited while the adhan, beginning in the name of God and ending in it, broke another silence.
Pakinam Amer, Arab News
CAIRO, 10 December 2005 — Saris in golden and red or yellow and green adorning dark, stunningly beautiful girls dancing around with their waist-long black hair fluttering under the morning sun; this is the essential picture of a Bollywood (aka Indian Hollywood) movie that is definitely not what this independent film is about.
“In the Name of God”, a local Indian feature film directed by Jayaraaj and written/produced by the young artist Aryadan Shoukath, represents realism at its core: No extreme make-up, golden masks, colored saris or singing voices.
The film tells the heartbreaking story of a Muslim woman named Samira who marries a young, aspiring, educated man. Through a twist in the plot, her knight in shining armor (in his case red robes and a silk white scarf) delves into Islamic fundamentalism and eventually becomes a terrorist. An educated young woman and a true believer, strong in soul, she crushes her feelings for him and one day bravely — tears brimming her eyes and cutting through her heart — turns him in.
The culture of Kerala, a south Indian state with a considerable Muslim population, is manifested in colorful details. Small characters make big differences in the movie with every person contributing to the master plan and the smooth flow of events.
The movie, whose characters use the regional Malayalam language as opposed to Hindi (the official Indian language), has earned every bit of praise it has received after it was screened at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival. Developing from a liberal small-budget movie that has gained both support from sensible voices and death threats from Islamic extremists, the movie has been praised at the Berlin, London and Asian-Pacific film festivals. It has — unsurprisingly — won awards for direction and best acting.
One of the remarkable aspects of this movie is its dramatic approach; in other words, the angle by which both the director and the scriptwriter handled the almost worn-out issue of terrorism. The artists do not resort to the common rhetoric of “terrorists are so because they are evil” or “they are bad because their religion teaches them Jihad (Holy War).” On the contrary, the movie suggests not a justification but rather a reason behind the current waves of terrorism threatening not only the West, but also a country like India where the major and the oldest religions have lived side-by-side for tens of centuries.
Caught amid the ripples of events and faced by hatred, the Muslim terrorists’ motives and driving forces becomes apparent: Wrong but meaningful. The events underlined in the movie began when a group of Hindu extremists demolish a mosque, brutally killing children, elderly and women.
Inspired by the destruction of the 16th Century Babri Mosque on Dec. 6, 1992, the movie shows how the outbreak of violence formed a vicious circle of yet more violence, as each group of extremists retaliated leading to a series of acts each leaving behind a bloodbath.
Dec. 6 became a black day and Indian Muslim extremists retaliated.
The movie provides a political statement and a religious one. Unlike movies that condemned Islam along with terrorism, this film makes great distinction between each concept stressing on the fact that few Muslims are terrorists and terrorism is not Islam and never will be.
Through the person of Abdel-Rahman Sahib, a true-life character played by a real Islamic scholar named Mummutty, the spirit of the faith is exposed. Sahib, juxtaposed with his own son the believer-turned-terrorist husband of Samira, represents true Islam. Sahib has white-grey hair and a small silver beard, practices Islam in beautiful moderation.
In the movie, we see him fighting terrorism and valiantly keeping patience and holding on to his stance even as his son becomes a terrorist. Shunned by society for turning in her own husband, Sahib becomes Samira’s sanctuary and her mentor. Both of them write and — after difficulty and conflict — succeed in publishing the book entitled “In the Name of God”, which is meant to be a guideline of moderate Islam and a wishful end for terrorism.
It is interesting how the writer uses the word “secular” and the concept of “secularism” in his work, giving it a new meaning other than the popular idea of an irreligious state. Throughout the movie nevertheless, the audience could easily see how a concept like an Islamic state is frowned upon.
Pakistan, the state for ex-Indian Muslims, is referred to — and as Sahib makes clear — as existing thanks to imperialism and is originally an idea encouraged by the British invaders meant to create a religious strife in India and to divide its people.
The notion of secularism is explained by the scriptwriter in a simple manner: “Tolerance; that is the [true] secularism,” Shoukath told Arab News. “It is a secular India that we want; a state where all religions live together and practice freely.”
According to Shoukath, Muslims became a minority — reduced from 40 percent to around 10 percent — since the creation of the partition between India and Pakistan, leading to an understatement of Muslim presence and issues.
The use of color in this movie is very keen and elaborated. Early on, we see Samira as a child celebrating the Muslim feast amid her family. She was wearing her best clothes, laughing and giggling and helping her father distribute charity among the poor.
The mix of laughter, childhood innocence and fragility is turned through the years of hardship into a dreading calm, a daunting realization of the horrors of life and inner strength. We see Samira after a decade on the first day of the feast sitting in a prison yard waiting to see her husband, holding a pack of sweets while a shadow of a distant smile haunts her face as she sees a little child wearing her new clothes with an innocence she once had.
The child herself is not yet another character built for a temporary dramatic effect. We later know that this same child that has crossed Samira’s path is yet another victim of terrorism. The child, who lost her leg because of a bomb, becomes an inspiration for a change of heart in Samira’s husband and entices his real return to God and true Islam.
The first scene in the movie was that of Samira sitting in an empty prison yard, with a dark-colored sari, a melancholy look in her eyes, clinging to hope, while the adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) was recited in the background.
That scene remains in mind, as we see how the young woman strived to become a representative of a tolerant and a fair face of Islam, fighting tradition, upholding righteousness and being loyal to her husband’s memory by never losing hope in his redemption.
Samira is every woman. As one line in the movie said: She is like all other women who suffer not because of her fault but because of a man’s, a son’s or a father’s fault. They make mistakes and “the women wail.”
The last scene in the movie, however, is that of Samira’s husband after his own self-journey, repentance and return to true Islam — again — sitting in the same empty prison courtyard. He sits there yearning to meet his wife as the new enlightened man he has become. He waits and waits but Samira, who had given up the dark colors for red saris, kohl and golden ornaments when her husband returned to his senses and was free not from prison but from his own once-blinded mind, never came.
As he sits, somewhere Samira is blown up in a terrorist attack on a bus. Then again it was Dec. 6, the black day, which the extremists decided to “never forget.”
The movie ends while the husband — soon to be taking his turn in sorrow — waited while the adhan, beginning in the name of God and ending in it, broke another silence.
AP: Danish Cartoons of Prophet Irk Muslims (Contribution)
Friday, December 9, 2005 · Last updated 1:22 p.m. PT
Danish cartoons of prophet irk Muslims
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- It was a provocative exercise: asking cartoonists to draw pictures of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in one of Denmark's largest papers.
But apparently no one at the Jyllands-Posten daily imagined the scale of the fallout: Death threats against the artists, protest strikes in Kashmir, condemnation from Muslim leaders worldwide and even criticism from the U.N.
"I'm very surprised that the reactions have been so sharp, very shocked, and I find the death threats against the cartoonists to be horrible and out of proportion," Carsten Juste, chief editor of Jyllands-Posten, told The Associated Press. He said the pictures were not meant to offend.
The paper refuses to apologize for publishing the drawings Sept. 30, citing freedom of speech - a right cherished in this northern European country of 5.4 million that also refused to prosecute an artist who depicted a crucified Jesus Christ with an erection.
One cartoon shows Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Another portrays him with a bushy gray beard and holding a sword, his eyes covered by a black rectangle. A third pictures a middle-aged prophet standing in the desert with a walking stick in front of a donkey and a sunset. A fourth depicts a schoolboy near a blackboard.
"If we apologize, we go against the freedom of speech that generations before us have struggled to win," Juste said.
The paper had asked 40 cartoonists to draw images of the prophet. That idea alone would be enough to offend many Muslims, since Sunni Islam bars depiction of any prophet from the Quran out of concern that such images could lead to idolatry.
"The Quran clearly forbids anyone from belittling a prophet, whether Jesus Christ, Abraham or Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon them - and it stresses they must be accorded utmost respect," said Ragab Zaki, a Muslim Sunni senior cleric at Egypt's Ministry of Endowments.
"Ridiculing any prophet is a crime, according to the Quran," he said.
Critics say the drawings in Jyllands-Posten were particularly insulting because some appeared to ridicule Muhammad.
"Those cartoons are very offensive to every Muslim feeling, and to Islam as a religion," said Abdel Moeti Bayoumi, a theology professor at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. "Do you expect Muslims to remain silent or rise to defend their religion?"
The turmoil comes a year after Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by a Muslim radical because he made a film critical of Islam. It also revives memories of the 1989 death threat against writer Salman Rushdie over his portrayal of Muhammad in "The Satanic Verses."
The paper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, came up with the idea after the author of a children's book on religion said its illustrator demanded anonymity because he feared retaliation for a picture of the prophet.
Juste said the newspaper's intention "was to examine whether people would succumb to self-censorship, as we have seen in other cases when it comes to Muslim issues." Twelve artists participated.
After the drawings were published, 11 ambassadors from Muslim countries signed a letter of protest to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. But his government has refused to intervene.
"As prime minister I have no tool whatsoever to take actions against the media and I don't want that kind of tool," Fogh Rasmussen said Oct. 24.
Still, Danes were caught off guard by the furor.
Lise Poulsen Galal, an anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen, noted that 85 percent of Danes belong to the state Lutheran church and tend to think of others as guests. Three percent of the population is Muslim.
The drawings have been a topic in Muslim chat rooms on the Internet, and two cartoons were posted on the newspaper's Web site.
The Danish Foreign Ministry said the youth auxiliary of Pakistan's largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, offered a reward of about $8,000 for killing the cartoonists. But spokesmen for the group say they have not made such threats, which Denmark's intelligence service has also downplayed.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, many shops and businesses shut down Thursday after Islamic separatists and religious groups called a strike to "protest the outrage felt by Muslims over the insulting cartoons," separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said in a statement.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the drawings during a visit to Denmark last month.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour was investigating the matter.
"I understand your attitude to the images that appeared in the newspaper," Arbour wrote the Organization of the Islamic Conference. "I find alarming any behaviors that disregard the beliefs of others. This kind of thing is unacceptable."
---
Associated Press writers Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen, Salah Nasrawi in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and Maggie Michael and Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
(Paki Amer)
Danish cartoons of prophet irk Muslims
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- It was a provocative exercise: asking cartoonists to draw pictures of the Prophet Muhammad that were published in one of Denmark's largest papers.
But apparently no one at the Jyllands-Posten daily imagined the scale of the fallout: Death threats against the artists, protest strikes in Kashmir, condemnation from Muslim leaders worldwide and even criticism from the U.N.
"I'm very surprised that the reactions have been so sharp, very shocked, and I find the death threats against the cartoonists to be horrible and out of proportion," Carsten Juste, chief editor of Jyllands-Posten, told The Associated Press. He said the pictures were not meant to offend.
The paper refuses to apologize for publishing the drawings Sept. 30, citing freedom of speech - a right cherished in this northern European country of 5.4 million that also refused to prosecute an artist who depicted a crucified Jesus Christ with an erection.
One cartoon shows Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Another portrays him with a bushy gray beard and holding a sword, his eyes covered by a black rectangle. A third pictures a middle-aged prophet standing in the desert with a walking stick in front of a donkey and a sunset. A fourth depicts a schoolboy near a blackboard.
"If we apologize, we go against the freedom of speech that generations before us have struggled to win," Juste said.
The paper had asked 40 cartoonists to draw images of the prophet. That idea alone would be enough to offend many Muslims, since Sunni Islam bars depiction of any prophet from the Quran out of concern that such images could lead to idolatry.
"The Quran clearly forbids anyone from belittling a prophet, whether Jesus Christ, Abraham or Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon them - and it stresses they must be accorded utmost respect," said Ragab Zaki, a Muslim Sunni senior cleric at Egypt's Ministry of Endowments.
"Ridiculing any prophet is a crime, according to the Quran," he said.
Critics say the drawings in Jyllands-Posten were particularly insulting because some appeared to ridicule Muhammad.
"Those cartoons are very offensive to every Muslim feeling, and to Islam as a religion," said Abdel Moeti Bayoumi, a theology professor at Al-Azhar University in Cairo. "Do you expect Muslims to remain silent or rise to defend their religion?"
The turmoil comes a year after Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam by a Muslim radical because he made a film critical of Islam. It also revives memories of the 1989 death threat against writer Salman Rushdie over his portrayal of Muhammad in "The Satanic Verses."
The paper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, came up with the idea after the author of a children's book on religion said its illustrator demanded anonymity because he feared retaliation for a picture of the prophet.
Juste said the newspaper's intention "was to examine whether people would succumb to self-censorship, as we have seen in other cases when it comes to Muslim issues." Twelve artists participated.
After the drawings were published, 11 ambassadors from Muslim countries signed a letter of protest to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. But his government has refused to intervene.
"As prime minister I have no tool whatsoever to take actions against the media and I don't want that kind of tool," Fogh Rasmussen said Oct. 24.
Still, Danes were caught off guard by the furor.
Lise Poulsen Galal, an anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen, noted that 85 percent of Danes belong to the state Lutheran church and tend to think of others as guests. Three percent of the population is Muslim.
The drawings have been a topic in Muslim chat rooms on the Internet, and two cartoons were posted on the newspaper's Web site.
The Danish Foreign Ministry said the youth auxiliary of Pakistan's largest Islamic group, Jamaat-e-Islami, offered a reward of about $8,000 for killing the cartoonists. But spokesmen for the group say they have not made such threats, which Denmark's intelligence service has also downplayed.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, many shops and businesses shut down Thursday after Islamic separatists and religious groups called a strike to "protest the outrage felt by Muslims over the insulting cartoons," separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said in a statement.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the drawings during a visit to Denmark last month.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour was investigating the matter.
"I understand your attitude to the images that appeared in the newspaper," Arbour wrote the Organization of the Islamic Conference. "I find alarming any behaviors that disregard the beliefs of others. This kind of thing is unacceptable."
---
Associated Press writers Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen, Salah Nasrawi in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and Maggie Michael and Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
(Paki Amer)
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Beni Suef Theater Burns Down
Poor safety conditions blamed for Beni Suef fire
By Pakinam Amer
Seven people have been arrested in the investigation into the fire at the Beni Suef Culture Palace on 5 September that killed at least 40 people, including its director, Bahgat Gabr.
Officials and eyewitnesses have pieced together how the tragedy tookplace. On 5 September, a troupe of young actors from Al Fayoum was performing a play that they hoped would be part of the Experimental Theater Festival, due to be held in Cairo later this month. A crowd of actors, directors, journalists and critics was in attendance for the performance, which took place in a side hall inside the theater. A security official who refused to give his name said that the high casualties were in part caused by the presence of more than 150 people in a room that could "barely hold" 70 spectators."
When the fire started, only the spectators who were standing near the only open exit got out in time," the official said. "People were trampling each other to escape the room."
Officials say the fire was started when an actor kicked over one ofthe dozens of candles that adorned the theater that night. The candle set on fire the spray-painted paper that covered the walls to create the impression of a cave. The Ministry of Interior issued a statement denying that the incident involved arson, as some media reports had initially speculated, reporting that Islamist extremists had set the building on fire.
All the performing artists of Al Fayoum Theater Troupe perished, alongwith many members of the audience. The room reportedly had only one fire extinguisher. "We had to collect all 20 fire extinguishers from all over the center but no matter what we did we could not contain the
According to early reports, it took emergency ambulances and the fire department more than 20 minutes to get to the theater, although both the hospital and fire department are only a few streets away. According to a report in Al Akhbar of 8 September, it took firefighters more than two hours to contain the fire. Yet sources atthe Culture Palace said they had notified the fire department that candles would be used in one of the shows, and asked them to send reserve fire forces to the theater "just in case."
"The officials cannot realize the extent of the disaster," said Mohammed Rashad, an eyewitness and the relative of one of the deceased. "My cousin died and they gave his family LE15,000 compensation. Do they think that money will cure everything?"
Rashad insists the Ministry of Culture should bear "full responsibility" for this incident.
"Isn't there supposed to be an ambulance at the ready in front of the theater anyway?" he asked. "Where are all the security measures? I went to the morgue to identify my cousin. Some victims' bodies were pitch black and unrecognizable. Carelessness killed these people."
Copyright (c) 2005 Cairo Magazine
By Pakinam Amer
Seven people have been arrested in the investigation into the fire at the Beni Suef Culture Palace on 5 September that killed at least 40 people, including its director, Bahgat Gabr.
Officials and eyewitnesses have pieced together how the tragedy tookplace. On 5 September, a troupe of young actors from Al Fayoum was performing a play that they hoped would be part of the Experimental Theater Festival, due to be held in Cairo later this month. A crowd of actors, directors, journalists and critics was in attendance for the performance, which took place in a side hall inside the theater. A security official who refused to give his name said that the high casualties were in part caused by the presence of more than 150 people in a room that could "barely hold" 70 spectators."
When the fire started, only the spectators who were standing near the only open exit got out in time," the official said. "People were trampling each other to escape the room."
Officials say the fire was started when an actor kicked over one ofthe dozens of candles that adorned the theater that night. The candle set on fire the spray-painted paper that covered the walls to create the impression of a cave. The Ministry of Interior issued a statement denying that the incident involved arson, as some media reports had initially speculated, reporting that Islamist extremists had set the building on fire.
All the performing artists of Al Fayoum Theater Troupe perished, alongwith many members of the audience. The room reportedly had only one fire extinguisher. "We had to collect all 20 fire extinguishers from all over the center but no matter what we did we could not contain the
According to early reports, it took emergency ambulances and the fire department more than 20 minutes to get to the theater, although both the hospital and fire department are only a few streets away. According to a report in Al Akhbar of 8 September, it took firefighters more than two hours to contain the fire. Yet sources atthe Culture Palace said they had notified the fire department that candles would be used in one of the shows, and asked them to send reserve fire forces to the theater "just in case."
"The officials cannot realize the extent of the disaster," said Mohammed Rashad, an eyewitness and the relative of one of the deceased. "My cousin died and they gave his family LE15,000 compensation. Do they think that money will cure everything?"
Rashad insists the Ministry of Culture should bear "full responsibility" for this incident.
"Isn't there supposed to be an ambulance at the ready in front of the theater anyway?" he asked. "Where are all the security measures? I went to the morgue to identify my cousin. Some victims' bodies were pitch black and unrecognizable. Carelessness killed these people."
Copyright (c) 2005 Cairo Magazine
The problem with the proletariat
The problem with the proletariat
Blue-collar workers are increasingly vocal about their complaints
By Pakinam Amer and Summer Said
Thursday September 1, 2005
Around 30 workers from a textile factory in Daqhaliya staged a two-day sit-in outside the Prime Minister's office on 22 August saying that they have been denied their pensions for five years."
Our voice does not reach anyone anymore, it seems like we are from another planet," said Sabri Al Gayyar, a former worker, explaining what drove them to stage their protest."
They only wanted to get rid of excess workers," complains Abdel Azeem Al Sayyed, who worked at the Company for Weaving and Spinning in MitGhamr in the governorate of Daqhaliya. The Mit Ghamr workers represent 136 families who share the same fate. Some say that their children have dropped out of school to work and support their families. The youngest of the workers is 42 years old and has a household of four to support.
The sit-in, however, was just one of a handful of recent demonstrations by disgruntled blue-collar workers.
A few hours later in nearby Midan Talaat Harb, about three dozen former employees of the Egyptian Spanish Asbestos Company (Ora Misr) protested outside Groppi's Café, complaining that their former employer (who also owns Groppi's) fired them without providing workers' compensation or health benefits.
"We've had enough," said Mahmoud Al Sayyed, a 32-year-old worker at Ora Misr. "The government is doing nothing but telling us lies, the owners of the company are tyrants and the unions are useless."
Then, five days later, on 27 August, four paramedics climbed a tower in Maadi and threatened to jump off if their treatment and working conditions didn't improve.
The actions are indicative of the problems underlying the government's drive to privatize industries that have been run, inefficiently, for years by the state.
Early retirement schemes have resulted in massive layoffs, particularly during the 1990s. A report from the Land Center for HumanRights estimates that some 450,000 workers lost their jobs between the beginning of the privatization program in 1991 and 2002. While many received compensation to leave their jobs, economic research has shown that they still had problems finding new jobs or establishing businesses.
Under the government of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, privatization efforts largely stalled, in part due to fears of the social upheaval they could cause. The privatization program slowed down from 31 dealssigned in 1999 to 25 in 2000, 16 in 2001, 8 in 2002 and only 3 in 2003.
With the Nazif government's relaunch of the privatization drive,workers are again worried about their future and, as a direct result, are increasingly willing to take to the streets, according to the Land Center report, Egypt witnessed 743 worker protests from 1998 to 2003. In 2004 alone, there were 267 protests, or twice as many as the previous year.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, the economically neo-liberal Minister of Investment who oversees privatization, conducted a record 28 transactions in 2004, which he says were worth LE 5.6 billion. He has also said that the government will review compensation for workers that are dismissed after privatization deals but insists that 20-30 percent of current public sector workers, who are often under-paid and under-employed, will have to go. He must reconcile this with his government's promise to keep in mind worker welfare. For now, however, strikes and protests have left him undaunted about his mission to sell off the bulk of public sector enterprises, including some of the gems in the state's portfolio, such as Telecom Egypt."
I think I will break another record this year," Mohieldin told journalists after a recent Mubarak campaign press conference.
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
Blue-collar workers are increasingly vocal about their complaints
By Pakinam Amer and Summer Said
Thursday September 1, 2005
Around 30 workers from a textile factory in Daqhaliya staged a two-day sit-in outside the Prime Minister's office on 22 August saying that they have been denied their pensions for five years."
Our voice does not reach anyone anymore, it seems like we are from another planet," said Sabri Al Gayyar, a former worker, explaining what drove them to stage their protest."
They only wanted to get rid of excess workers," complains Abdel Azeem Al Sayyed, who worked at the Company for Weaving and Spinning in MitGhamr in the governorate of Daqhaliya. The Mit Ghamr workers represent 136 families who share the same fate. Some say that their children have dropped out of school to work and support their families. The youngest of the workers is 42 years old and has a household of four to support.
The sit-in, however, was just one of a handful of recent demonstrations by disgruntled blue-collar workers.
A few hours later in nearby Midan Talaat Harb, about three dozen former employees of the Egyptian Spanish Asbestos Company (Ora Misr) protested outside Groppi's Café, complaining that their former employer (who also owns Groppi's) fired them without providing workers' compensation or health benefits.
"We've had enough," said Mahmoud Al Sayyed, a 32-year-old worker at Ora Misr. "The government is doing nothing but telling us lies, the owners of the company are tyrants and the unions are useless."
Then, five days later, on 27 August, four paramedics climbed a tower in Maadi and threatened to jump off if their treatment and working conditions didn't improve.
The actions are indicative of the problems underlying the government's drive to privatize industries that have been run, inefficiently, for years by the state.
Early retirement schemes have resulted in massive layoffs, particularly during the 1990s. A report from the Land Center for HumanRights estimates that some 450,000 workers lost their jobs between the beginning of the privatization program in 1991 and 2002. While many received compensation to leave their jobs, economic research has shown that they still had problems finding new jobs or establishing businesses.
Under the government of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, privatization efforts largely stalled, in part due to fears of the social upheaval they could cause. The privatization program slowed down from 31 dealssigned in 1999 to 25 in 2000, 16 in 2001, 8 in 2002 and only 3 in 2003.
With the Nazif government's relaunch of the privatization drive,workers are again worried about their future and, as a direct result, are increasingly willing to take to the streets, according to the Land Center report, Egypt witnessed 743 worker protests from 1998 to 2003. In 2004 alone, there were 267 protests, or twice as many as the previous year.
Mahmoud Mohieldin, the economically neo-liberal Minister of Investment who oversees privatization, conducted a record 28 transactions in 2004, which he says were worth LE 5.6 billion. He has also said that the government will review compensation for workers that are dismissed after privatization deals but insists that 20-30 percent of current public sector workers, who are often under-paid and under-employed, will have to go. He must reconcile this with his government's promise to keep in mind worker welfare. For now, however, strikes and protests have left him undaunted about his mission to sell off the bulk of public sector enterprises, including some of the gems in the state's portfolio, such as Telecom Egypt."
I think I will break another record this year," Mohieldin told journalists after a recent Mubarak campaign press conference.
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
Islamists offer to help, but don't
Islamists offer to help, but don't
By Pakinam Amer
After a spate of terror attacks in Sharm Al Sheikh, Cairo and Taba, Islamist hardliners are offering to help pull Egypt out of the circle of violence.
Abboud Al Zommor, sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Anwar Al Sadat in 1981, has proposed to mediate with Al Qaeda and other terror groups in return for the release of the 10,000 Islamists allegedly held in Egyptian prisons since the 1990s.
Although he has served his 20-year prison sentence, and a court order has been issued for his release, Al Zommor remains in prison. His lawyer, Mamdouh Ismail, said that the release of the political detainees would be an act of good will and send a positive message to Islamist groups.
The ongoing detention of political detainees, overwhelmingly composed of Islamists, has angered Islamist groups and provoked condemnations from local and international human rights organizations.
Ismail said he proposed that the mediation should be composed of more than just Al Zommor. “I prefer to call it an initiative, not a mediation, and I think it should include widely respected Islamic scholars and other Islamic leaders in order for it to gain the acceptability it needs,” Ismail said. The government has not yet responded to Al Zommor’s proposal.
Al Zommor’s is not the only attempt to bridge the gulf between Islamic militants and Egypt. Islamists from Alexandria, Cairo and Suez organized a conference at Al Azhar Mosque on 29 July to discuss ways in which they could help the government undo some of the damage and prevent more attacks through “reasonable” dialogue with extremist Islamic groups.
The conference, however, largely degenerated into a series of attacks on the current regime. Its unjust acts against the people, including Islamists and politicians, could be considered a kind of “terrorist attack” in their own right, attendees declared.
“We condemn the Sharm Al Sheikh attacks but we have to point out that they are a result of the regime’s pressure on the Islamic groups,” said conference organizer Kamal Habib.
Habib called the terrorist attacks “retaliation” for the government’s harsh collective punishment of Islamists.
Attendees in the grand mosque of Al Azhar, who had come for Friday prayers, applauded and shouted “Allahu akbar” when the regime was criticized.
Cairo Magazine
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1247&format=html
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
By Pakinam Amer
After a spate of terror attacks in Sharm Al Sheikh, Cairo and Taba, Islamist hardliners are offering to help pull Egypt out of the circle of violence.
Abboud Al Zommor, sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the assassination of Anwar Al Sadat in 1981, has proposed to mediate with Al Qaeda and other terror groups in return for the release of the 10,000 Islamists allegedly held in Egyptian prisons since the 1990s.
Although he has served his 20-year prison sentence, and a court order has been issued for his release, Al Zommor remains in prison. His lawyer, Mamdouh Ismail, said that the release of the political detainees would be an act of good will and send a positive message to Islamist groups.
The ongoing detention of political detainees, overwhelmingly composed of Islamists, has angered Islamist groups and provoked condemnations from local and international human rights organizations.
Ismail said he proposed that the mediation should be composed of more than just Al Zommor. “I prefer to call it an initiative, not a mediation, and I think it should include widely respected Islamic scholars and other Islamic leaders in order for it to gain the acceptability it needs,” Ismail said. The government has not yet responded to Al Zommor’s proposal.
Al Zommor’s is not the only attempt to bridge the gulf between Islamic militants and Egypt. Islamists from Alexandria, Cairo and Suez organized a conference at Al Azhar Mosque on 29 July to discuss ways in which they could help the government undo some of the damage and prevent more attacks through “reasonable” dialogue with extremist Islamic groups.
The conference, however, largely degenerated into a series of attacks on the current regime. Its unjust acts against the people, including Islamists and politicians, could be considered a kind of “terrorist attack” in their own right, attendees declared.
“We condemn the Sharm Al Sheikh attacks but we have to point out that they are a result of the regime’s pressure on the Islamic groups,” said conference organizer Kamal Habib.
Habib called the terrorist attacks “retaliation” for the government’s harsh collective punishment of Islamists.
Attendees in the grand mosque of Al Azhar, who had come for Friday prayers, applauded and shouted “Allahu akbar” when the regime was criticized.
Cairo Magazine
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1247&format=html
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
Before the Vote
Before the vote
The presidential election commission is launched amid criticism
By Pakinam Amer
NDP bigwigs (from the right) Gamal Mubarak, Ahmed Nazif, Safwat Al Sherif and Kamal Al Shazli are refurbishing the ruling party's house with democratic decor.
MENA
The commission that will supervise the presidential election officially opened for business on 24 July. One of its first pronouncements was to confirm, as presidential chief of staff Zakaria Azmi said several weeks ago, that the presidential election will take place on 7 September.
Proponents of the Presidential Election Commission, established as part of the constitutional amendment that allowed for multi-candidate presidential elections, say it will level the playing field. “Even Hosni Mubarak, if he decides to run for president, will have to go to the commission’s office to register and have his candidacy approved,” Al Ahram editor Ahmed Moussa said. “The committee bows to no one but the law.”
And the law has blessed the 10-member commission—composed of five judges and five public figures—with sweeping powers. It will register candidates, set rules for campaigning and arbitrate disputes. Most significantly, however, the commission will rule on what has become the hot issue of the September election: who will supervise voting?
The government has refused to allow international observers to oversee the process. The commission will be empowered to decide which, if any, local civil society organizations can fill that void.
The commission will also handpick judges to monitor the elections. The judiciary split earlier this year when thousands of judges rebelled against the government, alleging past election fraud and demanding full judicial oversight in future elections. In 2000, the first time judges supervised any election, they were only present in a small percentage of the voting stations. More recently, a report by the Judges’ Club said the 25 May referendum was marred by fraud.
Leading the movement for greater judicial independence is Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) and one of the Commission’s most vocal critics. Amin says that most members of the commission are former high-ranking members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and that they have been appointed as judge, jury and executioner in all matters pertaining to the presidential election.
“Where is the commission’s objectivity?” asked Amin. “Having appointees that favor a certain party means the commission loses its diversity and its sense as a national body. Moreover, by law the commission’s decisions cannot be challenged and its rulings concerning candidate disputes are considered final. This contradicts even the Egyptian constitution. This kind of commission could only exist in an oppressive system.”
Even NDP supporters say that the commission’s influence for now remains largely unknown. “There will not be a big change,” admits NDP member and political analyst Hala Moustafa. “The formation of this committee is like a political experiment, a way to launch the electoral process. It’s a step, but this commission cannot challenge the current political structure.”
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
Cairo Magazine
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1220&format=html
The presidential election commission is launched amid criticism
By Pakinam Amer
NDP bigwigs (from the right) Gamal Mubarak, Ahmed Nazif, Safwat Al Sherif and Kamal Al Shazli are refurbishing the ruling party's house with democratic decor.
MENA
The commission that will supervise the presidential election officially opened for business on 24 July. One of its first pronouncements was to confirm, as presidential chief of staff Zakaria Azmi said several weeks ago, that the presidential election will take place on 7 September.
Proponents of the Presidential Election Commission, established as part of the constitutional amendment that allowed for multi-candidate presidential elections, say it will level the playing field. “Even Hosni Mubarak, if he decides to run for president, will have to go to the commission’s office to register and have his candidacy approved,” Al Ahram editor Ahmed Moussa said. “The committee bows to no one but the law.”
And the law has blessed the 10-member commission—composed of five judges and five public figures—with sweeping powers. It will register candidates, set rules for campaigning and arbitrate disputes. Most significantly, however, the commission will rule on what has become the hot issue of the September election: who will supervise voting?
The government has refused to allow international observers to oversee the process. The commission will be empowered to decide which, if any, local civil society organizations can fill that void.
The commission will also handpick judges to monitor the elections. The judiciary split earlier this year when thousands of judges rebelled against the government, alleging past election fraud and demanding full judicial oversight in future elections. In 2000, the first time judges supervised any election, they were only present in a small percentage of the voting stations. More recently, a report by the Judges’ Club said the 25 May referendum was marred by fraud.
Leading the movement for greater judicial independence is Nasser Amin, director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) and one of the Commission’s most vocal critics. Amin says that most members of the commission are former high-ranking members of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and that they have been appointed as judge, jury and executioner in all matters pertaining to the presidential election.
“Where is the commission’s objectivity?” asked Amin. “Having appointees that favor a certain party means the commission loses its diversity and its sense as a national body. Moreover, by law the commission’s decisions cannot be challenged and its rulings concerning candidate disputes are considered final. This contradicts even the Egyptian constitution. This kind of commission could only exist in an oppressive system.”
Even NDP supporters say that the commission’s influence for now remains largely unknown. “There will not be a big change,” admits NDP member and political analyst Hala Moustafa. “The formation of this committee is like a political experiment, a way to launch the electoral process. It’s a step, but this commission cannot challenge the current political structure.”
Copyright2005 Cairo Magazine
Cairo Magazine
http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1220&format=html
Special to Review: Kingdom of Heaven
‘Kingdom of Heaven’ in the Heart & Mind of Ridley Scott
Pakinam Amer Arab News
Special to Review —
Brought to the Egyptian cinemas on May 4, Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven,” a historical epic about the 12th century crusades, featured the gruesome battles that Christian crusaders fought against Muslims for the right to claim Jerusalem, “God’s Kingdom on Earth.”
The movie tells the story of Balian (Orlando Bloom), a young blacksmith, stricken over the death of his wife and questioning his own faith, who by the twist of fate becomes a knight and the defender of Jerusalem.
In a formidable portrayal of raging battles, human conflicts, the outcries of fanatics, the melancholy of a torn city and a person in search of conscience and justice, Scott — the director of “Gladiator” — tried to give a message of peace. His eyes saw far beyond the holy buildings of stone and focused on the humanity and the drama beyond the walls of Jerusalem.
Trying not to offend any faith or undermine the sanctity of Jerusalem, through the 145-minute picture, Scott gives the audience a depiction — lively, spirited and shocking at times — of this era in history when Christian fanaticism almost destroyed the peaceful kingdom that the Christian King Baldwin IV and Kurdish Muslim leader Salahuddin dreamed of making.
We see crusader kings and priests shouting at cavalry and soldiers “God wills it” every time they wish to strike for their supremacy on Jerusalem, and not for righteousness, igniting a war between the two peoples of faith.
The beauty of the different religious rituals and the unity of believing were not seen by the fanatics. Their prayers “are similar to ours,” Balian, the Christian knight, acknowledged this truth as he witnessed a Muslim prayer at one point. However, the commonness of faith in both religions — Islam and Christianity — was overlooked by the militant crusaders who were blinded by their desire of wealth and power, according to Scott’s representation.
The Egyptian audience, who flocked to movie theaters hoping for an objective Hollywood portrayal of Arabs and Muslims “for a change,” was not disappointed.
Scott showed chivalry, graciousness and courage of most Muslim fighters and the leader Salahuddin. Through Mullah, a small but a important character played by Egyptian actor Khaled Al-Nabawi, Scott implied that a “Jihadist zeal” could be existent on the two sides of the battlefield.
A Christian friend, Peter Magdy, told me after seeing the movie that “it gave all of us Muslims and Christians some sort of a chance to enjoy another blockbuster Hollywood movie and in the meanwhile think about each other’s differences in a positive way.”
Asking a Muslim friend, Jasmine Abul-Khair, to see if she has a different opinion, she said that “not just as a Muslim” but as someone who tries to be objective, “I believe that the movie gives a very fair reflection of this time in history… However, the most important message in the movie was one concerning war… War is never to the benefit of the people, it is never for the people.” War is even worse if people try to misuse religion in order to justify it, she added.
Some historians agree that the movie does not only represent Muslims and Christians reasonably, but also many aspects of history like the advancement of medicine and battle techniques that the Muslim world had ahead of Europe in this period, and that Scott touches upon. The minor historical inaccuracies, on the other hand, could be tolerated since they were complimentary to the whole drama.
Then again, Scott doesn’t need to be apologetic, it is not a documentary… it is a movie and it is Hollywood.
Apart from a picture that overwhelms its audience with beautiful intermixed Arabic and Western music, striking art direction and strapping battle scenes — a marvel for the senses — Scott impresses the audience by his choice of cast.
Ghassan Massoud, a renowned Syrian actor, shows his brilliance in playing Salahuddin, the charismatic leader whose wisdom and allure is shaped by years of hardship, a portrait that Massoud does not fail to deliver.
When he proudly said, “I am Salahuddin… Salahuddin,” we believed him.
Liam Neeson, playing Godfrey of Ibelin, a Christian nobleman and Balian’s father, produced an unforgettable performance in his few but emotionally deep scenes. Bloom’s acting was as deep and moving as the knight he played.
However, one of the smartest and the most impressive performances was given by Edward Norton, who played the rightful Baldwin whose illness with leprosy kept him behind a silver mask throughout the epic. The mask unleashed Norton’s genius. His strong presence, splendid flair and his words remain with the audience beyond the end of the picture.
“It was one grand creation; technically impressive,” Tareq Al-Shinnawi, well-known Egyptian film critic said about the “Kingdom of Heaven.” “I believe that Scott, through this movie, was asking all sides engaging in war on the Holy Land to throw down their weapons… the war on this land stains its sacredness.”
“Unlike Yousef Shahin’s movie ‘Salahuddin the Victorious’… Scott did not give a specific religious identity or a nationality to Jerusalem. He just wanted the clamor of battles to be heard in the Holy Land no more,” Al-Shinnawi said.
Like Balian’s land, that represents Scott’s wishful thinking of the real kingdom of heaven, Jerusalem should be where Muslims, Christians and Jews live side by side.
Like Balian accepting the diversity of families living on his lands, digging along with his people for “water” to make the land prosper, Scott wanted to see Jerusalem and its people working for the same cause and searching for “a life” together. “A kingdom of conscious instead of war, love instead of hate.”
“Peace be with you… Assalamu Alaikum,” the Islamic greeting, that echoed and we heard from different tongues throughout the movie, is the call Scott sent for the ever-suffering Jerusalem and those who fight over it.
Pakinam Amer Arab News
Special to Review —
Brought to the Egyptian cinemas on May 4, Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven,” a historical epic about the 12th century crusades, featured the gruesome battles that Christian crusaders fought against Muslims for the right to claim Jerusalem, “God’s Kingdom on Earth.”
The movie tells the story of Balian (Orlando Bloom), a young blacksmith, stricken over the death of his wife and questioning his own faith, who by the twist of fate becomes a knight and the defender of Jerusalem.
In a formidable portrayal of raging battles, human conflicts, the outcries of fanatics, the melancholy of a torn city and a person in search of conscience and justice, Scott — the director of “Gladiator” — tried to give a message of peace. His eyes saw far beyond the holy buildings of stone and focused on the humanity and the drama beyond the walls of Jerusalem.
Trying not to offend any faith or undermine the sanctity of Jerusalem, through the 145-minute picture, Scott gives the audience a depiction — lively, spirited and shocking at times — of this era in history when Christian fanaticism almost destroyed the peaceful kingdom that the Christian King Baldwin IV and Kurdish Muslim leader Salahuddin dreamed of making.
We see crusader kings and priests shouting at cavalry and soldiers “God wills it” every time they wish to strike for their supremacy on Jerusalem, and not for righteousness, igniting a war between the two peoples of faith.
The beauty of the different religious rituals and the unity of believing were not seen by the fanatics. Their prayers “are similar to ours,” Balian, the Christian knight, acknowledged this truth as he witnessed a Muslim prayer at one point. However, the commonness of faith in both religions — Islam and Christianity — was overlooked by the militant crusaders who were blinded by their desire of wealth and power, according to Scott’s representation.
The Egyptian audience, who flocked to movie theaters hoping for an objective Hollywood portrayal of Arabs and Muslims “for a change,” was not disappointed.
Scott showed chivalry, graciousness and courage of most Muslim fighters and the leader Salahuddin. Through Mullah, a small but a important character played by Egyptian actor Khaled Al-Nabawi, Scott implied that a “Jihadist zeal” could be existent on the two sides of the battlefield.
A Christian friend, Peter Magdy, told me after seeing the movie that “it gave all of us Muslims and Christians some sort of a chance to enjoy another blockbuster Hollywood movie and in the meanwhile think about each other’s differences in a positive way.”
Asking a Muslim friend, Jasmine Abul-Khair, to see if she has a different opinion, she said that “not just as a Muslim” but as someone who tries to be objective, “I believe that the movie gives a very fair reflection of this time in history… However, the most important message in the movie was one concerning war… War is never to the benefit of the people, it is never for the people.” War is even worse if people try to misuse religion in order to justify it, she added.
Some historians agree that the movie does not only represent Muslims and Christians reasonably, but also many aspects of history like the advancement of medicine and battle techniques that the Muslim world had ahead of Europe in this period, and that Scott touches upon. The minor historical inaccuracies, on the other hand, could be tolerated since they were complimentary to the whole drama.
Then again, Scott doesn’t need to be apologetic, it is not a documentary… it is a movie and it is Hollywood.
Apart from a picture that overwhelms its audience with beautiful intermixed Arabic and Western music, striking art direction and strapping battle scenes — a marvel for the senses — Scott impresses the audience by his choice of cast.
Ghassan Massoud, a renowned Syrian actor, shows his brilliance in playing Salahuddin, the charismatic leader whose wisdom and allure is shaped by years of hardship, a portrait that Massoud does not fail to deliver.
When he proudly said, “I am Salahuddin… Salahuddin,” we believed him.
Liam Neeson, playing Godfrey of Ibelin, a Christian nobleman and Balian’s father, produced an unforgettable performance in his few but emotionally deep scenes. Bloom’s acting was as deep and moving as the knight he played.
However, one of the smartest and the most impressive performances was given by Edward Norton, who played the rightful Baldwin whose illness with leprosy kept him behind a silver mask throughout the epic. The mask unleashed Norton’s genius. His strong presence, splendid flair and his words remain with the audience beyond the end of the picture.
“It was one grand creation; technically impressive,” Tareq Al-Shinnawi, well-known Egyptian film critic said about the “Kingdom of Heaven.” “I believe that Scott, through this movie, was asking all sides engaging in war on the Holy Land to throw down their weapons… the war on this land stains its sacredness.”
“Unlike Yousef Shahin’s movie ‘Salahuddin the Victorious’… Scott did not give a specific religious identity or a nationality to Jerusalem. He just wanted the clamor of battles to be heard in the Holy Land no more,” Al-Shinnawi said.
Like Balian’s land, that represents Scott’s wishful thinking of the real kingdom of heaven, Jerusalem should be where Muslims, Christians and Jews live side by side.
Like Balian accepting the diversity of families living on his lands, digging along with his people for “water” to make the land prosper, Scott wanted to see Jerusalem and its people working for the same cause and searching for “a life” together. “A kingdom of conscious instead of war, love instead of hate.”
“Peace be with you… Assalamu Alaikum,” the Islamic greeting, that echoed and we heard from different tongues throughout the movie, is the call Scott sent for the ever-suffering Jerusalem and those who fight over it.
AP: Egypt Replaces Chiefs of Top Newspapers
Egypt replaces chiefs of top newspapers
By Pakinam Amer, Associated Press Writer July 4, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt --The government replaced the top editors of its biggest newspapers Monday, responding to pressure from younger journalists who wanted new blood.
The newly appointed editors supplant an older generation, some of whom have been in their posts for more than a quarter of a century.
Two outgoing editors-in-chief -- Ibrahim Nafie, 74, of Al-Ahram, and Ibrahim Saada, 68, of Akhbar al-Yom -- were appointed by the late President Anwar Sadat in 1979 and 1978 respectively. Both had faced lawsuits for remaining in their posts beyond the retirement age of 60.
Some predicted the replacements may mean tougher criticism of the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak in the state-linked newspapers.
"The old generation used to attack the opposition, but were reserved in their tone. I believe the new leadership will not be as reserved," said Adel Hamouda, a strong critic of Mubarak's government and editor of an independent weekly newspaper, Al-Fagr.
"The appointees will put their utmost effort in managing the presidential battle in the interest of Hosni Mubarak," said Nabil Abdel-Fatah, political analyst from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, a think-tank that is part of the Al-Ahram media conglomerate.
Whether they stay in their new posts, in fact, "will depend on how successful they are in quashing the opposition and promoting the inheritance of power to the president's son," Abdel-Fatah told The Associated Press, referring to Gamal Mubarak, who many believe is being groomed to replace his father.
"The next phase will involve eliminating or oppressing all critics of the government in the (state-linked) media," he said
Mubarak's government has faced unprecedented criticism at home as Egypt approaches presidential elections in September. Reform groups have held a series of protests demanding Mubarak step down, and opposition newspapers have closely covered the demonstrations and echoed the condemnations of his 29-year hold on power.
In contrast, the state-linked papers have largely ignored or trivialized the opposition and dependably portray the government in a positive light, with pictures and headlines on Mubarak's accomplishments splashed across their front pages.
Replacing Nafie as head of Al-Ahram -- Egypt's largest daily -- is Osama Saraya, former editor of the magazine al-Ahram al-Arabi. Momtaz el-Qot, once was Akhbar al-Yom's correspondent at the Cabinet, will take over as that paper's editor-in-chief. Al-Gomhoriyah will be headed by Muhammad Ali Ibrahim.
Also named was a new chief of the state news agency, the Middle East News Agency -- Abdullah Abdel-Fatah.
The Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of parliament, approved the replacements.
Egyptian journalism's past is deep-rooted," Nafie wrote in a farewell editorial, "and its future is broad and blossoming, if we shake off the dust of the past and if the breeze of freedom whose perfume we smell all around us continues."
By Pakinam Amer, Associated Press Writer July 4, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt --The government replaced the top editors of its biggest newspapers Monday, responding to pressure from younger journalists who wanted new blood.
The newly appointed editors supplant an older generation, some of whom have been in their posts for more than a quarter of a century.
Two outgoing editors-in-chief -- Ibrahim Nafie, 74, of Al-Ahram, and Ibrahim Saada, 68, of Akhbar al-Yom -- were appointed by the late President Anwar Sadat in 1979 and 1978 respectively. Both had faced lawsuits for remaining in their posts beyond the retirement age of 60.
Some predicted the replacements may mean tougher criticism of the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak in the state-linked newspapers.
"The old generation used to attack the opposition, but were reserved in their tone. I believe the new leadership will not be as reserved," said Adel Hamouda, a strong critic of Mubarak's government and editor of an independent weekly newspaper, Al-Fagr.
"The appointees will put their utmost effort in managing the presidential battle in the interest of Hosni Mubarak," said Nabil Abdel-Fatah, political analyst from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, a think-tank that is part of the Al-Ahram media conglomerate.
Whether they stay in their new posts, in fact, "will depend on how successful they are in quashing the opposition and promoting the inheritance of power to the president's son," Abdel-Fatah told The Associated Press, referring to Gamal Mubarak, who many believe is being groomed to replace his father.
"The next phase will involve eliminating or oppressing all critics of the government in the (state-linked) media," he said
Mubarak's government has faced unprecedented criticism at home as Egypt approaches presidential elections in September. Reform groups have held a series of protests demanding Mubarak step down, and opposition newspapers have closely covered the demonstrations and echoed the condemnations of his 29-year hold on power.
In contrast, the state-linked papers have largely ignored or trivialized the opposition and dependably portray the government in a positive light, with pictures and headlines on Mubarak's accomplishments splashed across their front pages.
Replacing Nafie as head of Al-Ahram -- Egypt's largest daily -- is Osama Saraya, former editor of the magazine al-Ahram al-Arabi. Momtaz el-Qot, once was Akhbar al-Yom's correspondent at the Cabinet, will take over as that paper's editor-in-chief. Al-Gomhoriyah will be headed by Muhammad Ali Ibrahim.
Also named was a new chief of the state news agency, the Middle East News Agency -- Abdullah Abdel-Fatah.
The Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of parliament, approved the replacements.
Egyptian journalism's past is deep-rooted," Nafie wrote in a farewell editorial, "and its future is broad and blossoming, if we shake off the dust of the past and if the breeze of freedom whose perfume we smell all around us continues."
AP: Egypt-Luxor Airport
Mubarak reopens Luxor airport following renovations
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
The reopening of the Luxor airport South of Cairo after recent renovations sets the initiative for other local projects directed at boosting the tourism industry, said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his opening speech early Sunday.
The airport, which cost around 450 million pounds and covers an area of 50,000 meters, can now accommodate 4000 passenger per hour (as opposed to 800 before the renovation) and has a VIP hall.
In his one-day visit Mubarak held a meeting with members of the Supreme Council for Tourism, after his approval to changes in the council's high board members the day before, along with 200 other tourism experts and tourism company owners.
In his speech, Mubarak said that the Egyptian tourism industry,which harbors 10% of the Egyptian work force, has experienced a"break through" since 1995. He also said that this development will have positive effects in terms of encouraging foreign investment.
Mubarak said that the government is also interested in rediscovering the Egyptian North Coast overlooking the Mediterranean by developing large-scale touristic projects and encouraging investment there.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
The reopening of the Luxor airport South of Cairo after recent renovations sets the initiative for other local projects directed at boosting the tourism industry, said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his opening speech early Sunday.
The airport, which cost around 450 million pounds and covers an area of 50,000 meters, can now accommodate 4000 passenger per hour (as opposed to 800 before the renovation) and has a VIP hall.
In his one-day visit Mubarak held a meeting with members of the Supreme Council for Tourism, after his approval to changes in the council's high board members the day before, along with 200 other tourism experts and tourism company owners.
In his speech, Mubarak said that the Egyptian tourism industry,which harbors 10% of the Egyptian work force, has experienced a"break through" since 1995. He also said that this development will have positive effects in terms of encouraging foreign investment.
Mubarak said that the government is also interested in rediscovering the Egyptian North Coast overlooking the Mediterranean by developing large-scale touristic projects and encouraging investment there.
AP: Riot Police Encircle Anti-Torture Protesters...
Riot police encircle anti-torture protesters and beat back those trying to break through
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Riot police in front of Egypt's state security building on Sunday encircled a group of protesters demanding the trial of security officers accused of torture, beating demonstrators who tried to break through.
About 100 protesters, among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, pro-reform activists and representatives of local human rights organizations, shouted: "Freedom, Freedom," and held banners calling for Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to resign.
They also carried posters of prisoners allegedly killed from being tortured.
Two protesters were injured during the protest and taken to a hospital, but their condition was not immediately known.
International and local human rights groups have accused Egyptian security authorities of illegally detaining and torturing people, saying it is systematic, a charge the government denies.
Susan Nadim from a victims of torture group said her center reported 32 cases of people dying as a result of torture in Egyptian prisons during the last month alone.
Human rights activist and protest organizer Aida Seif el-Dawla said all the cases of torture were reported to the prosecutor-general. "We even held sit-ins at the prosecutor-general's office when they dismissed cases," she said.
"The solution lies in the elimination of the emergency law and putting all those responsible for torture on trial," said one protester, Talaat Fahmy, referring to emergency laws imposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat. The laws give security forces broad powers, including great leeway in making arrests, and critics say they are used to stifle opposition.
©2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Riot police in front of Egypt's state security building on Sunday encircled a group of protesters demanding the trial of security officers accused of torture, beating demonstrators who tried to break through.
About 100 protesters, among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, pro-reform activists and representatives of local human rights organizations, shouted: "Freedom, Freedom," and held banners calling for Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to resign.
They also carried posters of prisoners allegedly killed from being tortured.
Two protesters were injured during the protest and taken to a hospital, but their condition was not immediately known.
International and local human rights groups have accused Egyptian security authorities of illegally detaining and torturing people, saying it is systematic, a charge the government denies.
Susan Nadim from a victims of torture group said her center reported 32 cases of people dying as a result of torture in Egyptian prisons during the last month alone.
Human rights activist and protest organizer Aida Seif el-Dawla said all the cases of torture were reported to the prosecutor-general. "We even held sit-ins at the prosecutor-general's office when they dismissed cases," she said.
"The solution lies in the elimination of the emergency law and putting all those responsible for torture on trial," said one protester, Talaat Fahmy, referring to emergency laws imposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat. The laws give security forces broad powers, including great leeway in making arrests, and critics say they are used to stifle opposition.
©2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP: Egypt's Assaults
Lawyers Vow to Act on 'Gropers'
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt_ Activists are pressing a state prosecutor to file charges against men whom they claim attacked female protesters on the day of a key vote, and say they will file complaints internationally if Egyptian authorities file none.
The women, some of whom were protesting against the referendum vote on May 25, have alleged they were attacked, sexually groped and molested by men who worked for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), while security and riot police looked on.
The government has condemned the attacks on the women, some of which were captured on videotape and broadcast internationally. But the government and the ruling party's top leadership have said they played no role in the attacks.
Lawyers representing the women, a press syndicate group and political activists, including the leader of the opposition group Kifaya, have filed complaints to the prosecutor, alleging the ruling National Democratic Party hired the attackers.
Deciding on the course of action
The prosecutor's office started an investigation, and will decide if the accusations should go to a criminal court or whether any individuals should face legal charges.
Essam al-Islambouli, one of the lawyers, said he expects the prosecutor to say the attackers' identities could not be determined.
"If the general prosecutor disappoints us, we will take our case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) , because the crimes committed are crimes against humanity," said al-Islambouli, who already held talks with the ICC's regional coordinator.
Another attorney representing the women, Montassir el-Zayat, said he also would consider contacting the ICC or a United Nations (UN) human rights committee if the prosecutor's report is inconclusive.
Another attorney, Sayyed Abu Zeid, appointed by the press syndicate, said three videotapes and 12 photographs of the assaults clearly show that security officials and NDP members were to blame. He said witnesses testified to the same.
The evidence was presented last Thursday to the prosecutor's office.
Accused to file libel suits
Several accused security and NDP officials have in turn said they will file libel suits against the women accusers.
In an interview with the state-controlled Al-Ahram newspaper, interior minister Habib el-Adly denied the allegations that the government was involved in last month's violations.
He explained the violence occurred as a result of fights between two groups of protesters, adding some NDP members filed complaints because they were beaten by rival protesters.
Meanwhile, the Arab Centre for Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession said in a report four female victims have been threatened and pressured by state security to withdraw their charges.
The victims, who personally filed complaints to the centre, said they were being monitored and "stalked".
The interior ministry denied the charges.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt_ Activists are pressing a state prosecutor to file charges against men whom they claim attacked female protesters on the day of a key vote, and say they will file complaints internationally if Egyptian authorities file none.
The women, some of whom were protesting against the referendum vote on May 25, have alleged they were attacked, sexually groped and molested by men who worked for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), while security and riot police looked on.
The government has condemned the attacks on the women, some of which were captured on videotape and broadcast internationally. But the government and the ruling party's top leadership have said they played no role in the attacks.
Lawyers representing the women, a press syndicate group and political activists, including the leader of the opposition group Kifaya, have filed complaints to the prosecutor, alleging the ruling National Democratic Party hired the attackers.
Deciding on the course of action
The prosecutor's office started an investigation, and will decide if the accusations should go to a criminal court or whether any individuals should face legal charges.
Essam al-Islambouli, one of the lawyers, said he expects the prosecutor to say the attackers' identities could not be determined.
"If the general prosecutor disappoints us, we will take our case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) , because the crimes committed are crimes against humanity," said al-Islambouli, who already held talks with the ICC's regional coordinator.
Another attorney representing the women, Montassir el-Zayat, said he also would consider contacting the ICC or a United Nations (UN) human rights committee if the prosecutor's report is inconclusive.
Another attorney, Sayyed Abu Zeid, appointed by the press syndicate, said three videotapes and 12 photographs of the assaults clearly show that security officials and NDP members were to blame. He said witnesses testified to the same.
The evidence was presented last Thursday to the prosecutor's office.
Accused to file libel suits
Several accused security and NDP officials have in turn said they will file libel suits against the women accusers.
In an interview with the state-controlled Al-Ahram newspaper, interior minister Habib el-Adly denied the allegations that the government was involved in last month's violations.
He explained the violence occurred as a result of fights between two groups of protesters, adding some NDP members filed complaints because they were beaten by rival protesters.
Meanwhile, the Arab Centre for Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession said in a report four female victims have been threatened and pressured by state security to withdraw their charges.
The victims, who personally filed complaints to the centre, said they were being monitored and "stalked".
The interior ministry denied the charges.
AP: Egyptians Vote On Reform Amid Unrest (Contribution)
Egyptians Vote on Reform Amid Unrest
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Police and plainclothes security men beat and arrested demonstrators calling for a boycott of Wednesday's government-backed referendum on constitutional changes that would clear the way for Egypt's first multicandidate presidential election.
Opponents say the referendum does not go far enough in advancing democracy, contending the rules being laid down ensure that President Hosni Mubarak will have no serious challengers and that his ruling National Democratic Party will keep its grip on power.
It was difficult to find people at the polling stations Wednesday who said they planned to vote "no," but it wasn't clear whether this was in protest or disinterest in voting for a measure widely expected to pass.
"Of course I would say 'yes,' because the president doesn't sleep all night because he is serving us. He looks after our interests," said Saaban Mohammed Ahmed, a 42-year-old shopkeeper among about 15 people waiting for a downtown polling station to open.
Several opposition groups called a boycott of the vote and some planned referendum-day demonstrations despite heavy security.
Scattered anti-Mubarak demonstrations took place in defiance of warnings, some on the margins of pro-Mubarak street rallies, with scattered reports of violence. Many gatherings were broken up by force.
In one, more than a dozen members of the anti-Mubarak movement Kifaya, or "Enough," were beaten by pro-Mubarak gangs in Cairo. The protesters sought police protection but a high-ranking officer ordered lawmen to withdraw and allowed the attackers to set upon the demonstrators.
Elsewhere in the capital, 150 pro-Mubarak protesters attacked Kifaya members, belting them with wooden sticks use to hold Mubarak banners. Demonstrators scattered, with some taking refuge inside the press syndicate building.
One woman trying to leave the building was pounced upon by Mubarak loyalists who punched and pummeled her with batons and tore her clothes. As police looked on, the woman screamed, then vomited and fainted.
Another clash occurred when demonstrators placed Kifaya stickers onto placards emblazoned with Mubarak's face and waved them in the air, chanting, "Leave, leave Mubarak!"
An Associated Press reporter on the scene said plainclothes state security investigators were beating, groping and verbally harassing demonstrators, particularly women.
About a dozen people, mostly women, were violently cornered and surrounded by nightstick-toting plainclothes police. Some began beating demonstrators. The AP reporter was grabbed and pulled by the hair.
Kifaya spokesman Abdel Halim Qandil said two group members were hurt. Police said 10 demonstrators were arrested.
"This is the first time this sort of beating and humiliation has taken place here in Cairo," Qandil said, but added it has been a problem in provincial areas.
In downtown Cairo, about 350 state-run TV workers rallied outside their office building, waving Egyptian flags and carrying banners urging people to vote.
Egyptian television showed video of Mubarak, his wife and his sons Alaa and Gamal, with the president dropping his vote in a ballot box.
Mubarak has led Egypt since soon after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, and he has been reinstalled every six years in "yes" or "no," single-candidate referendums, which he is now trying to end. Mubarak hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Egypt's opposition leaders are relatively unknown, with the exception of the popular Muslim Brotherhood, which favors the establishment of an Islamic state. The Brotherhood, the country's oldest and largest Islamic movement, has urged its supporters to boycott the vote.
The amended article would replace references to presidential referendums with references to elections and stipulate some rules. Most controversially, it requires independent candidates to get 250 recommendations from elected members of parliament and local councils which all are dominated by Mubarak's party before being allowed to enter the race.
The measure needs support from at least 51 percent of voters to pass. If it passes as expected, an election law would need to be crafted laying out specific rules and guidelines for the September election.
------------
Associated Press reporters Maggie Michael, Sarah El Deeb and Pakinam Amer contributed to this report.
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Police and plainclothes security men beat and arrested demonstrators calling for a boycott of Wednesday's government-backed referendum on constitutional changes that would clear the way for Egypt's first multicandidate presidential election.
Opponents say the referendum does not go far enough in advancing democracy, contending the rules being laid down ensure that President Hosni Mubarak will have no serious challengers and that his ruling National Democratic Party will keep its grip on power.
It was difficult to find people at the polling stations Wednesday who said they planned to vote "no," but it wasn't clear whether this was in protest or disinterest in voting for a measure widely expected to pass.
"Of course I would say 'yes,' because the president doesn't sleep all night because he is serving us. He looks after our interests," said Saaban Mohammed Ahmed, a 42-year-old shopkeeper among about 15 people waiting for a downtown polling station to open.
Several opposition groups called a boycott of the vote and some planned referendum-day demonstrations despite heavy security.
Scattered anti-Mubarak demonstrations took place in defiance of warnings, some on the margins of pro-Mubarak street rallies, with scattered reports of violence. Many gatherings were broken up by force.
In one, more than a dozen members of the anti-Mubarak movement Kifaya, or "Enough," were beaten by pro-Mubarak gangs in Cairo. The protesters sought police protection but a high-ranking officer ordered lawmen to withdraw and allowed the attackers to set upon the demonstrators.
Elsewhere in the capital, 150 pro-Mubarak protesters attacked Kifaya members, belting them with wooden sticks use to hold Mubarak banners. Demonstrators scattered, with some taking refuge inside the press syndicate building.
One woman trying to leave the building was pounced upon by Mubarak loyalists who punched and pummeled her with batons and tore her clothes. As police looked on, the woman screamed, then vomited and fainted.
Another clash occurred when demonstrators placed Kifaya stickers onto placards emblazoned with Mubarak's face and waved them in the air, chanting, "Leave, leave Mubarak!"
An Associated Press reporter on the scene said plainclothes state security investigators were beating, groping and verbally harassing demonstrators, particularly women.
About a dozen people, mostly women, were violently cornered and surrounded by nightstick-toting plainclothes police. Some began beating demonstrators. The AP reporter was grabbed and pulled by the hair.
Kifaya spokesman Abdel Halim Qandil said two group members were hurt. Police said 10 demonstrators were arrested.
"This is the first time this sort of beating and humiliation has taken place here in Cairo," Qandil said, but added it has been a problem in provincial areas.
In downtown Cairo, about 350 state-run TV workers rallied outside their office building, waving Egyptian flags and carrying banners urging people to vote.
Egyptian television showed video of Mubarak, his wife and his sons Alaa and Gamal, with the president dropping his vote in a ballot box.
Mubarak has led Egypt since soon after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, and he has been reinstalled every six years in "yes" or "no," single-candidate referendums, which he is now trying to end. Mubarak hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Egypt's opposition leaders are relatively unknown, with the exception of the popular Muslim Brotherhood, which favors the establishment of an Islamic state. The Brotherhood, the country's oldest and largest Islamic movement, has urged its supporters to boycott the vote.
The amended article would replace references to presidential referendums with references to elections and stipulate some rules. Most controversially, it requires independent candidates to get 250 recommendations from elected members of parliament and local councils which all are dominated by Mubarak's party before being allowed to enter the race.
The measure needs support from at least 51 percent of voters to pass. If it passes as expected, an election law would need to be crafted laying out specific rules and guidelines for the September election.
------------
Associated Press reporters Maggie Michael, Sarah El Deeb and Pakinam Amer contributed to this report.
AP: Egypt Chronology (Contribution)
Egyptians take step toward fall presidential election with key referendum
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Egyptians, urged by their president to turn outin force and by his opponents to boycott, decided Wednesday on constitutional changes that would clear the way for the nation's first multi-candidate presidential elections.
Extra security and anti-riot police vehicles were out on capital
president and cast their ballots. Authorities warned ingovernment-guided media that demonstrations _ a few oppositionprotests were planned _ would not be tolerated. Opponents of the referendum were hard to find in the early hours ofpolling, but it wasn't clear whether their absence was due to boycott calls or disinterest in voting for a measure sure to pass.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called for multi-candidate presidential elections as international and domestic demands for political reform have grown. But his critics consider the changes mere window dressing, saying the rules being laid down ensure any serious challengers to Mubarak will be ineligible and that his ruling National Democratic Party won't lose its grip on power.
Supporters, many citing loyalty to Mubarak and far fewer clear on what exactly they were agreeing to, were turning out individually andby bus loads to vote.
"Of course I would say yes, because the president doesn't sleep all night because he is serving us. He looks after our interests," said Saaban Mohammed Ahmed, a 42-year-old shopkeeper among about 15 people waiting for a downtown polling station to open.
One woman, a 22-year-old who would only identify herself as "a daughter of Egypt" wasn't sure what she was waiting to go inside to vote on, but said "I want to say 'yes' to Mubarak" _ picking up the slogan used by Mubarak supporters in street banners to push the referendum.
She left before the station finally opened.
At another downtown polling station, in al-Ataba, about 300 government employees were seen lining up to vote; buses were parking close with more government employees. About 350 state-run television employees rallied outside their Nile-side office building, waving Egyptian flags and carrying banners urging participation before marching to a nearby polling station to vote.
Egyptian television aired live pictures of Mubarak, his wife, hissons Alaa and Gamal, and several ministers heading into a suburban polling station near the presidential palace to cast his ballot. Stepping out from behind the blue curtains, the president dropped hisvote inside the ballot box.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, after casting his ballot, said"All Egypt will say Yes."
Hussein Farid, a marketing executive in 10th of Ramadan City, a newer desert community just outside Cairo, has no illusions passage will create a perfect system. Still, he said he will vote for the changes even though he opposes the restrictions they would place on potential challengers.
"If I say no to change, then there will be no change," said Farid,28. "If people say no this time, then the chance will be missed."
One Cairo voter, Sayyed Ahmed Abdel Osoul, a 58-year-old plumber, voiced a sentiment heard from many Egyptians these days _ he will support the referendum and Mubarak because "the one we know is betterthan the ones we don't know."
Mubarak has led Egypt since soon after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, reinstalled every six years in the yes-no, single-candidate referendums he is asking the constitution to end. Mubarak hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Egypt's opposition leaders are known in certain circles, but with the exception of the popular Muslim Brotherhood, are relatively unknown tomost Egyptians. The Brotherhood, the country's oldest and largest Islamic movement, is believed to have hundreds of thousands of supporters nationwide.
In the days leading up to the vote, opposition parties including the Brotherhood pressed the public to boycott the referendum.
The amended article would replace references to presidential referendums with references to elections and stipulate some rules. Most controversially, it requires independent candidates to get 250 recommendations from elected members of parliament and local councils_ which all are dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party _before being allowed to enter the race.
Egypt's main opposition newspapers urged a boycott on their frontpages, with the liberal al-Wafd running a black front that said inbold, white type, "The day of Mourning: Boycott the referendum..."Al-Ghad, or "Tomorrow" reform party's newspaper called the referenduma "fraud."
Government-leaning newspapers, by contrast, played up Mubarak's referendum-eve speech to the nation calling on Egyptians to cast theirballots.
Cairo's governor granted free public transport Wednesday forEgyptians who presented their voter registration card. Many governmentand private-sector employees received time off to go vote.
The measure needs support from at least 51 percent of voters to pass. If it passes as expected, an election law would need to be craftedlaying out specific rules and guidelines for the September election.
The Interior Ministry has said about 32.5 million registered citizenswere expected to vote and final results were expected Thursday. Egypt's semiofficial Middle East News Agency said preliminary resultsmay be available later Wednesday.
___
Associated Press reporters Pakinam Amer, Sarah El Deeb and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Egyptians, urged by their president to turn outin force and by his opponents to boycott, decided Wednesday on constitutional changes that would clear the way for the nation's first multi-candidate presidential elections.
Extra security and anti-riot police vehicles were out on capital
president and cast their ballots. Authorities warned ingovernment-guided media that demonstrations _ a few oppositionprotests were planned _ would not be tolerated. Opponents of the referendum were hard to find in the early hours ofpolling, but it wasn't clear whether their absence was due to boycott calls or disinterest in voting for a measure sure to pass.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called for multi-candidate presidential elections as international and domestic demands for political reform have grown. But his critics consider the changes mere window dressing, saying the rules being laid down ensure any serious challengers to Mubarak will be ineligible and that his ruling National Democratic Party won't lose its grip on power.
Supporters, many citing loyalty to Mubarak and far fewer clear on what exactly they were agreeing to, were turning out individually andby bus loads to vote.
"Of course I would say yes, because the president doesn't sleep all night because he is serving us. He looks after our interests," said Saaban Mohammed Ahmed, a 42-year-old shopkeeper among about 15 people waiting for a downtown polling station to open.
One woman, a 22-year-old who would only identify herself as "a daughter of Egypt" wasn't sure what she was waiting to go inside to vote on, but said "I want to say 'yes' to Mubarak" _ picking up the slogan used by Mubarak supporters in street banners to push the referendum.
She left before the station finally opened.
At another downtown polling station, in al-Ataba, about 300 government employees were seen lining up to vote; buses were parking close with more government employees. About 350 state-run television employees rallied outside their Nile-side office building, waving Egyptian flags and carrying banners urging participation before marching to a nearby polling station to vote.
Egyptian television aired live pictures of Mubarak, his wife, hissons Alaa and Gamal, and several ministers heading into a suburban polling station near the presidential palace to cast his ballot. Stepping out from behind the blue curtains, the president dropped hisvote inside the ballot box.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, after casting his ballot, said"All Egypt will say Yes."
Hussein Farid, a marketing executive in 10th of Ramadan City, a newer desert community just outside Cairo, has no illusions passage will create a perfect system. Still, he said he will vote for the changes even though he opposes the restrictions they would place on potential challengers.
"If I say no to change, then there will be no change," said Farid,28. "If people say no this time, then the chance will be missed."
One Cairo voter, Sayyed Ahmed Abdel Osoul, a 58-year-old plumber, voiced a sentiment heard from many Egyptians these days _ he will support the referendum and Mubarak because "the one we know is betterthan the ones we don't know."
Mubarak has led Egypt since soon after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981, reinstalled every six years in the yes-no, single-candidate referendums he is asking the constitution to end. Mubarak hasn't formally announced he will run again but is widely expected to do so.
Egypt's opposition leaders are known in certain circles, but with the exception of the popular Muslim Brotherhood, are relatively unknown tomost Egyptians. The Brotherhood, the country's oldest and largest Islamic movement, is believed to have hundreds of thousands of supporters nationwide.
In the days leading up to the vote, opposition parties including the Brotherhood pressed the public to boycott the referendum.
The amended article would replace references to presidential referendums with references to elections and stipulate some rules. Most controversially, it requires independent candidates to get 250 recommendations from elected members of parliament and local councils_ which all are dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party _before being allowed to enter the race.
Egypt's main opposition newspapers urged a boycott on their frontpages, with the liberal al-Wafd running a black front that said inbold, white type, "The day of Mourning: Boycott the referendum..."Al-Ghad, or "Tomorrow" reform party's newspaper called the referenduma "fraud."
Government-leaning newspapers, by contrast, played up Mubarak's referendum-eve speech to the nation calling on Egyptians to cast theirballots.
Cairo's governor granted free public transport Wednesday forEgyptians who presented their voter registration card. Many governmentand private-sector employees received time off to go vote.
The measure needs support from at least 51 percent of voters to pass. If it passes as expected, an election law would need to be craftedlaying out specific rules and guidelines for the September election.
The Interior Ministry has said about 32.5 million registered citizenswere expected to vote and final results were expected Thursday. Egypt's semiofficial Middle East News Agency said preliminary resultsmay be available later Wednesday.
___
Associated Press reporters Pakinam Amer, Sarah El Deeb and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
AP: Muslims Skeptical of Newsweek Retraction
Muslims Skeptical of Newsweek Retraction of Desecration of Quran Report
By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - The now-retracted report that American interrogators flushed a Quran down a toilet did not spark violent protests in the Middle East as it did in Afghanistan and Pakistan but it added another layer of bitterness among many Arabs who see the United States as anti-Muslim.
Across the Islamic world, many were unconvinced by Newsweek's retraction of the report. From Afghanistan to Egypt, some people believed the U.S. had pressured Newsweek to deny the story, using the magazine as a "scapegoat."
In many countries, politicians skeptical of Newsweek's about-face said the United States should make public the details of its investigation into the reported desecration.
"Although the magazine that published this piece of information has backed off it, we call on the American administration to investigate the incident, which we consider a major crime against more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world," Jassem al-Kharafi, the parliament speaker in Kuwait a top U.S. ally said in the Al-Watan daily Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they found nothing to substantiate the Newsweek report that interrogators at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Quran down the toilet to unnerve an inmate.
But given frequent reports of mistreatment at the camp from released detainees, some Muslims remained convinced the desecration happened.
"In Guantanamo they're throwing Muslims into the garbage. ... To flush their holy book down the toilet is the easy part," said Walid Kazziha, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo.
"It is easy for (the Americans) to humiliate the Quran, for them it is just a book," said Fatma el-Hefny, a student there.
In the Arab World, the street reaction to the Quran desecration was limited to a demonstration by several thousand university students in the Yemeni capital San'a on Saturday and another by several hundred activists from the Islamic militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.
They were nothing on the scale of the three days of rioting in Afghanistan in which 15 people died and protesters threw rocks at police.
Arab television stations and newspapers mentioned the Newsweek report and the U.S. investigation but did not feature it strongly. Even Web forums where Islamic militants post messages hardly mentioned the incident.
In part, the difference in reaction may be political. In Afghanistan, officials accused "foreign" parties of stirring up the trouble to destabilize the government. In the Middle East, few political groups seemed to have much interest in using the report for their ends.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood which is seeking to take a more active role in Egyptian politics issued a statement condemning the desecration if it occurred. But one leader in the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not a cause for great uproar since it was not known if it was true and may have been the act of a single person.
Still, the talk of violating the sanctity of the Quran struck a deep nerve. Muslims revere the Quran as the literal word of God, transmitted to the prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. Some Muslims believe they must be ritually clean before they touch the Quran and often keep it in a high place in the home.
Ajil al-Nashmi, a fundamentalist columnist, wrote in Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper that if "Muslim peoples revolt (against the desecration of their holy book), even mass destruction weapons won't be able to stop them."
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, news coverage of the Newsweek controversy has faded, but questioning of its retraction has not.
"The Newsweek correction didn't calm the anger because many people believe the detention of those suspected of terrorism at Gunatanamo Bay is really unfair," said Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of Indonesian Ullema Council, which represents the country's clerics.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=771515
By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - The now-retracted report that American interrogators flushed a Quran down a toilet did not spark violent protests in the Middle East as it did in Afghanistan and Pakistan but it added another layer of bitterness among many Arabs who see the United States as anti-Muslim.
Across the Islamic world, many were unconvinced by Newsweek's retraction of the report. From Afghanistan to Egypt, some people believed the U.S. had pressured Newsweek to deny the story, using the magazine as a "scapegoat."
In many countries, politicians skeptical of Newsweek's about-face said the United States should make public the details of its investigation into the reported desecration.
"Although the magazine that published this piece of information has backed off it, we call on the American administration to investigate the incident, which we consider a major crime against more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world," Jassem al-Kharafi, the parliament speaker in Kuwait a top U.S. ally said in the Al-Watan daily Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they found nothing to substantiate the Newsweek report that interrogators at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Quran down the toilet to unnerve an inmate.
But given frequent reports of mistreatment at the camp from released detainees, some Muslims remained convinced the desecration happened.
"In Guantanamo they're throwing Muslims into the garbage. ... To flush their holy book down the toilet is the easy part," said Walid Kazziha, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo.
"It is easy for (the Americans) to humiliate the Quran, for them it is just a book," said Fatma el-Hefny, a student there.
In the Arab World, the street reaction to the Quran desecration was limited to a demonstration by several thousand university students in the Yemeni capital San'a on Saturday and another by several hundred activists from the Islamic militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.
They were nothing on the scale of the three days of rioting in Afghanistan in which 15 people died and protesters threw rocks at police.
Arab television stations and newspapers mentioned the Newsweek report and the U.S. investigation but did not feature it strongly. Even Web forums where Islamic militants post messages hardly mentioned the incident.
In part, the difference in reaction may be political. In Afghanistan, officials accused "foreign" parties of stirring up the trouble to destabilize the government. In the Middle East, few political groups seemed to have much interest in using the report for their ends.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood which is seeking to take a more active role in Egyptian politics issued a statement condemning the desecration if it occurred. But one leader in the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not a cause for great uproar since it was not known if it was true and may have been the act of a single person.
Still, the talk of violating the sanctity of the Quran struck a deep nerve. Muslims revere the Quran as the literal word of God, transmitted to the prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. Some Muslims believe they must be ritually clean before they touch the Quran and often keep it in a high place in the home.
Ajil al-Nashmi, a fundamentalist columnist, wrote in Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper that if "Muslim peoples revolt (against the desecration of their holy book), even mass destruction weapons won't be able to stop them."
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, news coverage of the Newsweek controversy has faded, but questioning of its retraction has not.
"The Newsweek correction didn't calm the anger because many people believe the detention of those suspected of terrorism at Gunatanamo Bay is really unfair," said Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of Indonesian Ullema Council, which represents the country's clerics.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=771515
AP: Egypt's Election Amendment
Egypt's Upper House OKs Election Amendment
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, May 8, 2005
(05-08) 14:25 PDT CAIRO, Egypt (AP) --
Egypt's upper house of parliament on Sunday approved guidelines to regulate the first multi-candidate presidential elections but opposition figures criticized the rules, saying they aimed to exclude real competitors to President Hosni Mubarak.
Elsewhere in the Egyptian capital, supporters of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood, some raising Qurans, held a protest demanding political reform and the release of hundreds of the Islamist movement's supporters detained in a crackdown last week.
"Where is freedom? Security stands in the way," the protesters chanted. "The Muslim Brothers are imprisoned because of religion," others claimed.
A catalyst for the demonstrators has been Mubarak's surprise call for the multi-candidate elections to be held for the first time in September. Mubarak, 77, hasn't announced whether he will run for a fifth term, but is widely expected to do so. The president has said no religious-oriented political parties will be allowed to compete.
The suggested constitutional amendment was approved by 241 of the 264-member advisory Shura Council in a vote called "historic" by Speaker Safwat el-Sherif, according to the Middle East News Agency.
The guidelines must now be approved by the lower house, which will review them Tuesday. They will later be put to a public referendum for final approval before September.
Previously, Egyptians cast only a "yes" or "no" vote on a sole candidate nominated by parliament every six years.
"The roots of a new culture are taking hold in the soil of our country, its fruits are awaiting the spring for the democracy flowers to blossom," el-Sherif said. "These are historic and decisive moments in the life of our nation."
The guidelines stipulate that a presidential candidate must either be a member of an official political party or, if running as an independent, get a minimum of 65 recommendations from elected members of the lower house, 25 from the Shura council and 10 from local councils from at least 14 governorates.
The regulations were seen by opposition as putting a gag on serious contenders, as all the elected bodies are dominated by Mubarak's ruling party and its supporters.
"These regulations are utterly disappointing, totally undemocratic," said Hamdeen Sabahi, an independent lawmaker in the lower house. "We will not witness real elections but a crude soap-opera."
Sabahi, who had previously indicated he may run for president, said the new rules deny him the chance. Sabahi has been trying to form a party but it has been rejected by the government-dominated political party committee.
Only "weak" political parties will have the chance to select a candidate, he said, pointing that most Egyptians don't have much faith in political parties and are not members of one.
"Anyone who will run now will be a collaborator with the ruling party in their fraud, against the will of the people," he said. "We all — voters and candidates — should boycott the elections."
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic group, which has been demanding political reforms, says police detained more than 2,000 of its supporters during nationwide protests Wednesday and Friday.
Police said they have arrested only 750, including four leading members, and have ordered 617 of those detained for an additional 15 days without charge for further investigations.
The Brotherhood, banned since 1954, renounced violence years ago. But its leader told reporters at a news conference Sunday that it will keep staging protests to demand political reform from Mubarak's government.
"We are reaching out to oppressed Egyptians who reject the oppressive way in which they are being ruled," Mohammed Mahdi Akef said.
Akef, 77, addressed the media while standing beside large photographs of three Brotherhood members who died during previous protests or in police custody.
"I'm not looking for a clash, not calling for a fight," Akef said. "The ruling elite wants a clash because they don't want any voice to be raised, including ours. We want nothing but freedom, if freedom is absent, everything else is."
Mubarak has been president since 1981, running unopposed for four six-year terms, making him Egypt's longest ruler. His surprise decision was welcomed by most in Egypt, but many feared the suggested amendments will only serve to legitimize his rule. Opposition parties say the short notice before the first-ever elections give them little time to campaign and prepare.
___
Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Nadia Abou El-Magd contributed to this report
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, May 8, 2005
(05-08) 14:25 PDT CAIRO, Egypt (AP) --
Egypt's upper house of parliament on Sunday approved guidelines to regulate the first multi-candidate presidential elections but opposition figures criticized the rules, saying they aimed to exclude real competitors to President Hosni Mubarak.
Elsewhere in the Egyptian capital, supporters of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood, some raising Qurans, held a protest demanding political reform and the release of hundreds of the Islamist movement's supporters detained in a crackdown last week.
"Where is freedom? Security stands in the way," the protesters chanted. "The Muslim Brothers are imprisoned because of religion," others claimed.
A catalyst for the demonstrators has been Mubarak's surprise call for the multi-candidate elections to be held for the first time in September. Mubarak, 77, hasn't announced whether he will run for a fifth term, but is widely expected to do so. The president has said no religious-oriented political parties will be allowed to compete.
The suggested constitutional amendment was approved by 241 of the 264-member advisory Shura Council in a vote called "historic" by Speaker Safwat el-Sherif, according to the Middle East News Agency.
The guidelines must now be approved by the lower house, which will review them Tuesday. They will later be put to a public referendum for final approval before September.
Previously, Egyptians cast only a "yes" or "no" vote on a sole candidate nominated by parliament every six years.
"The roots of a new culture are taking hold in the soil of our country, its fruits are awaiting the spring for the democracy flowers to blossom," el-Sherif said. "These are historic and decisive moments in the life of our nation."
The guidelines stipulate that a presidential candidate must either be a member of an official political party or, if running as an independent, get a minimum of 65 recommendations from elected members of the lower house, 25 from the Shura council and 10 from local councils from at least 14 governorates.
The regulations were seen by opposition as putting a gag on serious contenders, as all the elected bodies are dominated by Mubarak's ruling party and its supporters.
"These regulations are utterly disappointing, totally undemocratic," said Hamdeen Sabahi, an independent lawmaker in the lower house. "We will not witness real elections but a crude soap-opera."
Sabahi, who had previously indicated he may run for president, said the new rules deny him the chance. Sabahi has been trying to form a party but it has been rejected by the government-dominated political party committee.
Only "weak" political parties will have the chance to select a candidate, he said, pointing that most Egyptians don't have much faith in political parties and are not members of one.
"Anyone who will run now will be a collaborator with the ruling party in their fraud, against the will of the people," he said. "We all — voters and candidates — should boycott the elections."
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic group, which has been demanding political reforms, says police detained more than 2,000 of its supporters during nationwide protests Wednesday and Friday.
Police said they have arrested only 750, including four leading members, and have ordered 617 of those detained for an additional 15 days without charge for further investigations.
The Brotherhood, banned since 1954, renounced violence years ago. But its leader told reporters at a news conference Sunday that it will keep staging protests to demand political reform from Mubarak's government.
"We are reaching out to oppressed Egyptians who reject the oppressive way in which they are being ruled," Mohammed Mahdi Akef said.
Akef, 77, addressed the media while standing beside large photographs of three Brotherhood members who died during previous protests or in police custody.
"I'm not looking for a clash, not calling for a fight," Akef said. "The ruling elite wants a clash because they don't want any voice to be raised, including ours. We want nothing but freedom, if freedom is absent, everything else is."
Mubarak has been president since 1981, running unopposed for four six-year terms, making him Egypt's longest ruler. His surprise decision was welcomed by most in Egypt, but many feared the suggested amendments will only serve to legitimize his rule. Opposition parties say the short notice before the first-ever elections give them little time to campaign and prepare.
___
Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Nadia Abou El-Magd contributed to this report
AP: Insight into Egypt Terrorist (Contribution)
Locals Offer Insight Into Egypt Terrorist
Sunday, May. 1, 2005 - 9:41 PM
Associated Press
SHUBRA EL-KHEIMA, Egypt (AP) - Once the cheerful leader of a school singing group, Ehab Yousri Yassin underwent a drastic change a few years ago, mingling with Islamic extremists, talking only about religion and forcing his sisters to wear head-to-toe veils.
Residents of this impoverished city on Cairo's northern outskirts provided insights into the 24-year-old's life Sunday, a day after security officials said he blew himself up while jumping from a bridge in central Cairo during a police chase.
The explosion killed Yassin _ suspected of involvement in an April 7 suicide bombing in a crowded Cairo bazaar _ and injured seven others, including four foreigners.
Less than two hours later, police claim, one of Yassin's sisters and his fiancee, enraged by his death, opened fire on a tourist bus carrying Austrians before killing themselves. The tourists escaped injury, but two Egyptians in the area were wounded.
Police cracked down hard, arresting 200 people in massive security sweeps Saturday and Sunday in two areas just north of Cairo, including the neighborhood in Shubra el-Kheima where Yassin and his sisters grew up.
Yassin's friends and relatives were held for questioning in Saturday's violence and suspected connections to local terror networks.
Police played down the attacks as the work of amateurish militants, but opposition groups and security experts blamed Egypt's controversial decades-old emergency laws, which give security forces broad powers, including great leeway in carrying out arrests. They say the laws create an oppressive environment that breeds violence and extremists like Yassin.
Yassin grew up in the crowded streets of Ezbet al-Gabalawi, a Shubra el-Kheima district. People said he was a polite and happy leader of a school singing group before adopting hard-line Islamic views about four years ago.
"He forced his sisters to wear the Islamic veil and had gone too far into Islamic extremism," said one of Yassin's friends, Tamer Sayyed. "Yassin started to quarrel with his father and criticize others for subjects they used to talk about, instead of speaking about Islam. That made his friends decide to distance themselves from him."
Muna Rashad, a pharmacist who worked for 16 years close to the apartment building in which Yassin's family lived, said her initial surprise at hearing the news faded when she recalled how Yassin and his sisters had changed.
"(Yassin) was good, smiling and behaved well when he used to come to buy medicine and talk to me, but he changed later when he used to mingle with Islamic fundamentalists coming to visit him from the other neighborhood," Rashad said.
Asked why Yassin turned to extremism, Rashad blamed the death of his mother a few years ago and the city's poverty.
"Poverty kills the brain," she added.
Yassin and fugitives Ashraf Saeed Youssef, 27, and Gamal Ahmed Abdel Aal, 35, were sought for planning the April 7 suicide bombing that killed two French tourists and an American.
Police said they captured Youssef and Abdel Aal on Saturday before chasing Yassin onto a highway overpass, where he jumped off, detonating the bomb that injured seven people, including an Israeli couple, a Swedish man and his Italian girlfriend.
Some witnesses reported seeing a bomb or a bag being thrown from above before the explosion occurred.
Soon after, police said Yassin's veil-wearing sister, Negat Yassin, and fiancee, Iman Ibrahim Khamis, shot at a bus carrying tourists near the historic Citadel site in retaliation for Yassin's death.
Police and the government-guided Al-Ahram newspaper had said the bus was carrying Israeli tourists, but Austrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Silvia Neureiter confirmed Sunday that 44 Austrians were on board.
Yassin's sister then shot and fatally wounded her companion before killing herself, police said.
At the shooting scene, bystanders said police killed at least one of the armed women, conflicting with accounts they committed suicide. Many were shocked by the involvement of women, who are not known to have carried out past attacks in Egypt.
Two militant groups claimed responsibility _ the Mujahedeen of Egypt and the al-Qaida influenced Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Neither claim's authenticity could be verified.
In response to the attacks, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning on its Web site Sunday advising American citizens "to avoid tourist areas in Cairo until the threat environment becomes clearer."
Authorities said they do not regard the spike in terror attacks as a return to the violence that plagued Egypt during the 1990s. Saturday's drama, they said, resulted from the government crackdown on a small militant cell it says carried out the April 7 attack.
But the opposition Al-Ghad Party said the violence was the result of the "environment of oppression and depression," a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981. Opposition groups are demanding President Hosni Mubarak revoke the laws, which he claims are in place to fight terrorism.
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the attacks but said they were a "reaction to the injustice" Egyptians are suffering under a heavy-handed government empowered by emergency laws.
Egyptian security experts urged the government to dispose of its emergency laws and draft specific anti-terrorism measures.
"The core of the problem (prompting the violence) is political, therefore, keeping the emergency law active for security reasons yields negative results on the political scale," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic groups.
___
Associated Press reporter Pakinam Amer in Cairo contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Sunday, May. 1, 2005 - 9:41 PM
Associated Press
SHUBRA EL-KHEIMA, Egypt (AP) - Once the cheerful leader of a school singing group, Ehab Yousri Yassin underwent a drastic change a few years ago, mingling with Islamic extremists, talking only about religion and forcing his sisters to wear head-to-toe veils.
Residents of this impoverished city on Cairo's northern outskirts provided insights into the 24-year-old's life Sunday, a day after security officials said he blew himself up while jumping from a bridge in central Cairo during a police chase.
The explosion killed Yassin _ suspected of involvement in an April 7 suicide bombing in a crowded Cairo bazaar _ and injured seven others, including four foreigners.
Less than two hours later, police claim, one of Yassin's sisters and his fiancee, enraged by his death, opened fire on a tourist bus carrying Austrians before killing themselves. The tourists escaped injury, but two Egyptians in the area were wounded.
Police cracked down hard, arresting 200 people in massive security sweeps Saturday and Sunday in two areas just north of Cairo, including the neighborhood in Shubra el-Kheima where Yassin and his sisters grew up.
Yassin's friends and relatives were held for questioning in Saturday's violence and suspected connections to local terror networks.
Police played down the attacks as the work of amateurish militants, but opposition groups and security experts blamed Egypt's controversial decades-old emergency laws, which give security forces broad powers, including great leeway in carrying out arrests. They say the laws create an oppressive environment that breeds violence and extremists like Yassin.
Yassin grew up in the crowded streets of Ezbet al-Gabalawi, a Shubra el-Kheima district. People said he was a polite and happy leader of a school singing group before adopting hard-line Islamic views about four years ago.
"He forced his sisters to wear the Islamic veil and had gone too far into Islamic extremism," said one of Yassin's friends, Tamer Sayyed. "Yassin started to quarrel with his father and criticize others for subjects they used to talk about, instead of speaking about Islam. That made his friends decide to distance themselves from him."
Muna Rashad, a pharmacist who worked for 16 years close to the apartment building in which Yassin's family lived, said her initial surprise at hearing the news faded when she recalled how Yassin and his sisters had changed.
"(Yassin) was good, smiling and behaved well when he used to come to buy medicine and talk to me, but he changed later when he used to mingle with Islamic fundamentalists coming to visit him from the other neighborhood," Rashad said.
Asked why Yassin turned to extremism, Rashad blamed the death of his mother a few years ago and the city's poverty.
"Poverty kills the brain," she added.
Yassin and fugitives Ashraf Saeed Youssef, 27, and Gamal Ahmed Abdel Aal, 35, were sought for planning the April 7 suicide bombing that killed two French tourists and an American.
Police said they captured Youssef and Abdel Aal on Saturday before chasing Yassin onto a highway overpass, where he jumped off, detonating the bomb that injured seven people, including an Israeli couple, a Swedish man and his Italian girlfriend.
Some witnesses reported seeing a bomb or a bag being thrown from above before the explosion occurred.
Soon after, police said Yassin's veil-wearing sister, Negat Yassin, and fiancee, Iman Ibrahim Khamis, shot at a bus carrying tourists near the historic Citadel site in retaliation for Yassin's death.
Police and the government-guided Al-Ahram newspaper had said the bus was carrying Israeli tourists, but Austrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Silvia Neureiter confirmed Sunday that 44 Austrians were on board.
Yassin's sister then shot and fatally wounded her companion before killing herself, police said.
At the shooting scene, bystanders said police killed at least one of the armed women, conflicting with accounts they committed suicide. Many were shocked by the involvement of women, who are not known to have carried out past attacks in Egypt.
Two militant groups claimed responsibility _ the Mujahedeen of Egypt and the al-Qaida influenced Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Neither claim's authenticity could be verified.
In response to the attacks, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning on its Web site Sunday advising American citizens "to avoid tourist areas in Cairo until the threat environment becomes clearer."
Authorities said they do not regard the spike in terror attacks as a return to the violence that plagued Egypt during the 1990s. Saturday's drama, they said, resulted from the government crackdown on a small militant cell it says carried out the April 7 attack.
But the opposition Al-Ghad Party said the violence was the result of the "environment of oppression and depression," a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981. Opposition groups are demanding President Hosni Mubarak revoke the laws, which he claims are in place to fight terrorism.
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the attacks but said they were a "reaction to the injustice" Egyptians are suffering under a heavy-handed government empowered by emergency laws.
Egyptian security experts urged the government to dispose of its emergency laws and draft specific anti-terrorism measures.
"The core of the problem (prompting the violence) is political, therefore, keeping the emergency law active for security reasons yields negative results on the political scale," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic groups.
___
Associated Press reporter Pakinam Amer in Cairo contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
AP: 200 Detained After Violence in Cairo
About 200 People Detained for Questioning in Cairo Violence; Opposition Condemns Attacks
By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Police on Sunday detained about 200 people from the home villages of the three attackers responsible for a bomb blast and tour bus shooting near Cairo tourist sites the day before, authorities said.
The records of the detainees, from the villages of al-Ammar and Ezbet al-Gabalawi north of Cairo, are being examined for any connections with local terror networks, police said.
On Saturday afternoon, a man identified as a suspect in an April 7 bombing blew himself up as he leapt off a bridge during a police chase, officials said. Less than two hours later, two veiled women reportedly the man's sister and fiancee attacked a tour bus. Egyptian police officials and the government-guided Al-Ahram newspaper said the bus was carrying Israeli tourists.
Nine people, four of them foreigners, were wounded in the apparent revival of violence against Egypt's vital tourism industry.
Egyptian authorities denied major militant groups have returned to the violence that plagued the country during a bloody campaign by Islamic extremists in the 1990s. They said Saturday's violence was a result of the government crackdown on a small militant cell it says carried out the April 7 suicide bombing near a Cairo tourist bazaar that killed two French tourists and an American.
Tourism is Egypt's biggest foreign currency earner, and the industry had made a strong recovery after the 1990s violence.
In an official statement Sunday, the opposition Al-Ghad Party said the violence was the result of the "environment of oppression and depression," a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981. Opposition groups have repeatedly called on President Hosni Mubarak to revoke the laws.
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said the attacks were "illogical and irresponsible" and condemned by tradition and religion.
"We only hope that these attacks do not stand in the way of political reform," he said in a statement, acknowledging that Mubarak had no plans to end emergency law "whether these attacks take place or they don't."
"The country is in a state of anger and the people are suffering and these individual attacks are a reaction to the injustice," Akef said.
Saturday's attacks occurred within two hours and at locations just 2 1/2 miles apart.
The Interior Ministry said the bombing was a result of the police roundup of those behind the bazaar bombing in early April. It said police earlier in the day captured two suspects Ashraf Saeed Youssef and Gamal Ahmed Abdel Aal in connection with that attack and were chasing a third, Ehab Yousri Yassin, on a highway overpass when he jumped off, setting off the nail-filled bomb.
The explosion in the center of Cairo, near the Egyptian Museum, included three Egyptians, an Israeli couple, a Swedish man and an Italian woman.
The two women who carried out the later shooting attack near the prominent historic Citadel site were identified as Negat Yassin, the bomber's sister, and Iman Ibrahim Khamis, his fiancee, both in their 20s. After firing on the tour bus, Negat Yassin then shot and wounded her companion before killing herself. Khamis died later of her wounds. Officials said they acted in revenge for Yassin's death.
Police officials said the women were waiting for any tourist bus to attack and did not know that Israeli tourists were on board.
Witnesses said police opened fire on the women. Two other Egyptians were wounded in the shooting, and none of the tourists on the bus was hurt, police said.
Women are not known to have carried out past attacks in Egypt.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council denounced the "criminal, un-Islamic acts that target innocent souls" and offered the alliance's support to any measures taken by Egypt to stand up to these "cowardly terrorist operations."
Two militant groups posted Web statements claiming responsibility for the twin attacks the Mujahedeen of Egypt and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Neither claim's authenticity could be verified.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades said Saturday's violence was in revenge for the arrests of thousands of people in Sinai after bombings at two resorts there killed 34 people last October. The group claimed responsibility for those attacks as well. Egyptian authorities have said the October attack was connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not domestic politics.
Fouad Allam, a retired general in Egypt's anti-terrorism security apparatus, said there is no way to compare the recent attacks with those in the 1990s, which were led by larger, more organized groups that have since been marginalized by a protracted, harsh government crackdown.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Police on Sunday detained about 200 people from the home villages of the three attackers responsible for a bomb blast and tour bus shooting near Cairo tourist sites the day before, authorities said.
The records of the detainees, from the villages of al-Ammar and Ezbet al-Gabalawi north of Cairo, are being examined for any connections with local terror networks, police said.
On Saturday afternoon, a man identified as a suspect in an April 7 bombing blew himself up as he leapt off a bridge during a police chase, officials said. Less than two hours later, two veiled women reportedly the man's sister and fiancee attacked a tour bus. Egyptian police officials and the government-guided Al-Ahram newspaper said the bus was carrying Israeli tourists.
Nine people, four of them foreigners, were wounded in the apparent revival of violence against Egypt's vital tourism industry.
Egyptian authorities denied major militant groups have returned to the violence that plagued the country during a bloody campaign by Islamic extremists in the 1990s. They said Saturday's violence was a result of the government crackdown on a small militant cell it says carried out the April 7 suicide bombing near a Cairo tourist bazaar that killed two French tourists and an American.
Tourism is Egypt's biggest foreign currency earner, and the industry had made a strong recovery after the 1990s violence.
In an official statement Sunday, the opposition Al-Ghad Party said the violence was the result of the "environment of oppression and depression," a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981. Opposition groups have repeatedly called on President Hosni Mubarak to revoke the laws.
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said the attacks were "illogical and irresponsible" and condemned by tradition and religion.
"We only hope that these attacks do not stand in the way of political reform," he said in a statement, acknowledging that Mubarak had no plans to end emergency law "whether these attacks take place or they don't."
"The country is in a state of anger and the people are suffering and these individual attacks are a reaction to the injustice," Akef said.
Saturday's attacks occurred within two hours and at locations just 2 1/2 miles apart.
The Interior Ministry said the bombing was a result of the police roundup of those behind the bazaar bombing in early April. It said police earlier in the day captured two suspects Ashraf Saeed Youssef and Gamal Ahmed Abdel Aal in connection with that attack and were chasing a third, Ehab Yousri Yassin, on a highway overpass when he jumped off, setting off the nail-filled bomb.
The explosion in the center of Cairo, near the Egyptian Museum, included three Egyptians, an Israeli couple, a Swedish man and an Italian woman.
The two women who carried out the later shooting attack near the prominent historic Citadel site were identified as Negat Yassin, the bomber's sister, and Iman Ibrahim Khamis, his fiancee, both in their 20s. After firing on the tour bus, Negat Yassin then shot and wounded her companion before killing herself. Khamis died later of her wounds. Officials said they acted in revenge for Yassin's death.
Police officials said the women were waiting for any tourist bus to attack and did not know that Israeli tourists were on board.
Witnesses said police opened fire on the women. Two other Egyptians were wounded in the shooting, and none of the tourists on the bus was hurt, police said.
Women are not known to have carried out past attacks in Egypt.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council denounced the "criminal, un-Islamic acts that target innocent souls" and offered the alliance's support to any measures taken by Egypt to stand up to these "cowardly terrorist operations."
Two militant groups posted Web statements claiming responsibility for the twin attacks the Mujahedeen of Egypt and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades. Neither claim's authenticity could be verified.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades said Saturday's violence was in revenge for the arrests of thousands of people in Sinai after bombings at two resorts there killed 34 people last October. The group claimed responsibility for those attacks as well. Egyptian authorities have said the October attack was connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not domestic politics.
Fouad Allam, a retired general in Egypt's anti-terrorism security apparatus, said there is no way to compare the recent attacks with those in the 1990s, which were led by larger, more organized groups that have since been marginalized by a protracted, harsh government crackdown.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP: Egypt Democracy Rallies (Contribution)
Pro-reform activists hold rallies across Egypt amid huge security presence
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Supporters of a growing pro-democracy movement on Wednesday faced off against riot police in cities across Egypt, demanding political reforms and shouting slogans against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders of the "Kifaya," or Enough, movement reported that up to 75 activists had been detained across the country. Protesters in Cairo said they would stage an overnight sit-in if necessary until all were released.
By late afternoon, all the detainees had been released but Adel Mahmoud, a Kifaya leader in Alexandria, who had been detained Tuesday night and questioned by the prosecutor-general, group officials and police said on condition of anonymity.
The group, officially known as the Egyptian Movement for Change, had called for peaceful rallies in 15 cities Wednesday. Riot police turned out in full force and security officers turned protesters away at many of the venues. Witnesses in some cities, including Suez in theeast and Benha in the Nile Delta, reported that police beat protesters with batons to disperse them.
In Cairo, riot police barred the nearly 300 protesters from the downtown Supreme Court where they had planned to demonstrate, and so they instead gathered on the steps of the nearby journalists syndicate.
"Down with Mubarak! Down with Suleiman!" the demonstrators chanted, referring to the president and his chief of intelligence,Omar Suleiman. Many of them carried the movement's distinctive round yellow stickers with the word "Kifaya" written in red.
"Whoever wants to rule Egypt should come here and hear Egypt!" they shouted.
The road leading to the syndicate building was completely blocked to traffic by rows of riot police in full gear and trucks carrying even more police.
But the protesters were undeterred.
"Send us a hundred cars, send us a hundred soldiers, you dirty government who has no shame," they yelled.
Several young people moved among the crowd collecting signatures for membership in a Kifaya youth group.
"We're trying to make a group for younger people in order to address issues of unemployment and such ... under the slogans ofKifaya," Sarah Naguib, a member of the youth movement, said.
In a statement Wednesday, Kifaya said "breaking the shackles offear and resisting autocracy by silent peaceful protests is our way tobuild a real democracy."
The movement has held a series of protests since December _ each garnering several hundred people _ calling for an end to Mubarak's rule and ending emergency laws that give security forces broad powersand other reforms.
About 1,200 people rallied in the southern city of Luxor, including lawyers and Islamists. Hundreds also gathered in the southern cities of Aswan, Minya and Qena, and at venues in northern Egypt including Alexandria, Suez and Benha.
Salem Salam, one of those briefly detained in Minya, said police picked him up with others as they were walking toward the rally site.
"We were picked up in a very humiliating way," he said. "They haven't told us why we were arrested."
Security was tightened early in the day in southern Egypt, with police searching all vehicles to block Kifaya members from joining the demonstrations and courthouses _ the planned venues _ surrounded by riot police, witnesses said.
In the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Cairo, police beat protesters with batons, a member said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said they had reported the violence to the central police station.
In Suez, protesters were beaten and 20 Kifaya members were arrested amid the protests, according to Ahmed el-Kilani, Kifaya leader and protest coordinator. The remaining 100 demonstrators movedto the Nasserite Party headquarters, where they organized a sit-in protesting the arrests.
In the north Sinai town of el-Arish, approximately 1,000 riotpolice were on hand, some of them pushing about 50 protesters into a shop and locking them in, activists said.
Nearby, about 50 members of the ruling National Democratic Partystaged their own demonstration, carrying banners supporting the government and hoisting pictures of Mubarak.
Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Supporters of a growing pro-democracy movement on Wednesday faced off against riot police in cities across Egypt, demanding political reforms and shouting slogans against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders of the "Kifaya," or Enough, movement reported that up to 75 activists had been detained across the country. Protesters in Cairo said they would stage an overnight sit-in if necessary until all were released.
By late afternoon, all the detainees had been released but Adel Mahmoud, a Kifaya leader in Alexandria, who had been detained Tuesday night and questioned by the prosecutor-general, group officials and police said on condition of anonymity.
The group, officially known as the Egyptian Movement for Change, had called for peaceful rallies in 15 cities Wednesday. Riot police turned out in full force and security officers turned protesters away at many of the venues. Witnesses in some cities, including Suez in theeast and Benha in the Nile Delta, reported that police beat protesters with batons to disperse them.
In Cairo, riot police barred the nearly 300 protesters from the downtown Supreme Court where they had planned to demonstrate, and so they instead gathered on the steps of the nearby journalists syndicate.
"Down with Mubarak! Down with Suleiman!" the demonstrators chanted, referring to the president and his chief of intelligence,Omar Suleiman. Many of them carried the movement's distinctive round yellow stickers with the word "Kifaya" written in red.
"Whoever wants to rule Egypt should come here and hear Egypt!" they shouted.
The road leading to the syndicate building was completely blocked to traffic by rows of riot police in full gear and trucks carrying even more police.
But the protesters were undeterred.
"Send us a hundred cars, send us a hundred soldiers, you dirty government who has no shame," they yelled.
Several young people moved among the crowd collecting signatures for membership in a Kifaya youth group.
"We're trying to make a group for younger people in order to address issues of unemployment and such ... under the slogans ofKifaya," Sarah Naguib, a member of the youth movement, said.
In a statement Wednesday, Kifaya said "breaking the shackles offear and resisting autocracy by silent peaceful protests is our way tobuild a real democracy."
The movement has held a series of protests since December _ each garnering several hundred people _ calling for an end to Mubarak's rule and ending emergency laws that give security forces broad powersand other reforms.
About 1,200 people rallied in the southern city of Luxor, including lawyers and Islamists. Hundreds also gathered in the southern cities of Aswan, Minya and Qena, and at venues in northern Egypt including Alexandria, Suez and Benha.
Salem Salam, one of those briefly detained in Minya, said police picked him up with others as they were walking toward the rally site.
"We were picked up in a very humiliating way," he said. "They haven't told us why we were arrested."
Security was tightened early in the day in southern Egypt, with police searching all vehicles to block Kifaya members from joining the demonstrations and courthouses _ the planned venues _ surrounded by riot police, witnesses said.
In the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Cairo, police beat protesters with batons, a member said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said they had reported the violence to the central police station.
In Suez, protesters were beaten and 20 Kifaya members were arrested amid the protests, according to Ahmed el-Kilani, Kifaya leader and protest coordinator. The remaining 100 demonstrators movedto the Nasserite Party headquarters, where they organized a sit-in protesting the arrests.
In the north Sinai town of el-Arish, approximately 1,000 riotpolice were on hand, some of them pushing about 50 protesters into a shop and locking them in, activists said.
Nearby, about 50 members of the ruling National Democratic Partystaged their own demonstration, carrying banners supporting the government and hoisting pictures of Mubarak.
Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
AP: Egypt Democracy Rallies (Contribution)
Pro-reform activists hold rallies across Egypt amid huge security presence
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Supporters of a growing pro-democracy movement on Wednesday faced off against riot police in cities across Egypt, demanding political reforms and shouting slogans against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders of the "Kifaya," or Enough, movement reported that up to 75 activists had been detained across the country. Protesters in Cairo said they would stage an overnight sit-in if necessary until all were released.
By late afternoon, all the detainees had been released but Adel Mahmoud, a Kifaya leader in Alexandria, who had been detained Tuesday night and questioned by the prosecutor-general, group officials and police said on condition of anonymity.
The group, officially known as the Egyptian Movement for Change, had called for peaceful rallies in 15 cities Wednesday. Riot police turned out in full force and security officers turned protesters away at many of the venues. Witnesses in some cities, including Suez in theeast and Benha in the Nile Delta, reported that police beat protesters with batons to disperse them.
In Cairo, riot police barred the nearly 300 protesters from the downtown Supreme Court where they had planned to demonstrate, and so they instead gathered on the steps of the nearby journalists syndicate.
"Down with Mubarak! Down with Suleiman!" the demonstrators chanted, referring to the president and his chief of intelligence,Omar Suleiman. Many of them carried the movement's distinctive round yellow stickers with the word "Kifaya" written in red.
"Whoever wants to rule Egypt should come here and hear Egypt!" they shouted.
The road leading to the syndicate building was completely blocked to traffic by rows of riot police in full gear and trucks carrying even more police.
But the protesters were undeterred.
"Send us a hundred cars, send us a hundred soldiers, you dirty government who has no shame," they yelled.
Several young people moved among the crowd collecting signatures for membership in a Kifaya youth group.
"We're trying to make a group for younger people in order to address issues of unemployment and such ... under the slogans ofKifaya," Sarah Naguib, a member of the youth movement, said.
In a statement Wednesday, Kifaya said "breaking the shackles offear and resisting autocracy by silent peaceful protests is our way tobuild a real democracy."
The movement has held a series of protests since December _ each garnering several hundred people _ calling for an end to Mubarak's rule and ending emergency laws that give security forces broad powersand other reforms.
About 1,200 people rallied in the southern city of Luxor, including lawyers and Islamists. Hundreds also gathered in the southern cities of Aswan, Minya and Qena, and at venues in northern Egypt including Alexandria, Suez and Benha.
Salem Salam, one of those briefly detained in Minya, said police picked him up with others as they were walking toward the rally site.
"We were picked up in a very humiliating way," he said. "They haven't told us why we were arrested."
Security was tightened early in the day in southern Egypt, with police searching all vehicles to block Kifaya members from joining the demonstrations and courthouses _ the planned venues _ surrounded by riot police, witnesses said.
In the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Cairo, police beat protesters with batons, a member said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said they had reported the violence to the central police station.
In Suez, protesters were beaten and 20 Kifaya members were arrested amid the protests, according to Ahmed el-Kilani, Kifaya leader and protest coordinator. The remaining 100 demonstrators movedto the Nasserite Party headquarters, where they organized a sit-in protesting the arrests.
In the north Sinai town of el-Arish, approximately 1,000 riotpolice were on hand, some of them pushing about 50 protesters into a shop and locking them in, activists said.
Nearby, about 50 members of the ruling National Democratic Partystaged their own demonstration, carrying banners supporting the government and hoisting pictures of Mubarak.
Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Supporters of a growing pro-democracy movement on Wednesday faced off against riot police in cities across Egypt, demanding political reforms and shouting slogans against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders of the "Kifaya," or Enough, movement reported that up to 75 activists had been detained across the country. Protesters in Cairo said they would stage an overnight sit-in if necessary until all were released.
By late afternoon, all the detainees had been released but Adel Mahmoud, a Kifaya leader in Alexandria, who had been detained Tuesday night and questioned by the prosecutor-general, group officials and police said on condition of anonymity.
The group, officially known as the Egyptian Movement for Change, had called for peaceful rallies in 15 cities Wednesday. Riot police turned out in full force and security officers turned protesters away at many of the venues. Witnesses in some cities, including Suez in theeast and Benha in the Nile Delta, reported that police beat protesters with batons to disperse them.
In Cairo, riot police barred the nearly 300 protesters from the downtown Supreme Court where they had planned to demonstrate, and so they instead gathered on the steps of the nearby journalists syndicate.
"Down with Mubarak! Down with Suleiman!" the demonstrators chanted, referring to the president and his chief of intelligence,Omar Suleiman. Many of them carried the movement's distinctive round yellow stickers with the word "Kifaya" written in red.
"Whoever wants to rule Egypt should come here and hear Egypt!" they shouted.
The road leading to the syndicate building was completely blocked to traffic by rows of riot police in full gear and trucks carrying even more police.
But the protesters were undeterred.
"Send us a hundred cars, send us a hundred soldiers, you dirty government who has no shame," they yelled.
Several young people moved among the crowd collecting signatures for membership in a Kifaya youth group.
"We're trying to make a group for younger people in order to address issues of unemployment and such ... under the slogans ofKifaya," Sarah Naguib, a member of the youth movement, said.
In a statement Wednesday, Kifaya said "breaking the shackles offear and resisting autocracy by silent peaceful protests is our way tobuild a real democracy."
The movement has held a series of protests since December _ each garnering several hundred people _ calling for an end to Mubarak's rule and ending emergency laws that give security forces broad powersand other reforms.
About 1,200 people rallied in the southern city of Luxor, including lawyers and Islamists. Hundreds also gathered in the southern cities of Aswan, Minya and Qena, and at venues in northern Egypt including Alexandria, Suez and Benha.
Salem Salam, one of those briefly detained in Minya, said police picked him up with others as they were walking toward the rally site.
"We were picked up in a very humiliating way," he said. "They haven't told us why we were arrested."
Security was tightened early in the day in southern Egypt, with police searching all vehicles to block Kifaya members from joining the demonstrations and courthouses _ the planned venues _ surrounded by riot police, witnesses said.
In the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Cairo, police beat protesters with batons, a member said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said they had reported the violence to the central police station.
In Suez, protesters were beaten and 20 Kifaya members were arrested amid the protests, according to Ahmed el-Kilani, Kifaya leader and protest coordinator. The remaining 100 demonstrators movedto the Nasserite Party headquarters, where they organized a sit-in protesting the arrests.
In the north Sinai town of el-Arish, approximately 1,000 riotpolice were on hand, some of them pushing about 50 protesters into a shop and locking them in, activists said.
Nearby, about 50 members of the ruling National Democratic Partystaged their own demonstration, carrying banners supporting the government and hoisting pictures of Mubarak.
Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer and Maggie Michael contributed to this report.
AP: Egypt Terror Plot...
Egypt- Terror Plot
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A group of 16 Azhar and college students were arrested in Minya, Suhag and Asiut. The students were accused of manufacturing bombs and explosives to be used in a suicide bombing, police said.
Meanwhile, Wednesday, police arrested three people in connection to a suicide bombing last month in al-Azhar area in old Cairo.
The trainer of the arrested Islamist students is believed to be Ali Othman Tammam, an Asiut resident and an Azhar school secondarystudent.
Tammam, who escaped from his house earlier, was arrested alongwith his father, who confirmed the allegations of his son's involvement in the plotting of a terrorist attack in southern Egypt, police said.
Their leader Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Salama, who is still on the run, was previously accused of designing the 1995 attacks against police stations in Kafu.
The Azhar blast, where a bomb packed with nails exploded in a bazaar area, killed two french tourists and an American one, and injured 18 people, including Egyptians, Americans and French.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A group of 16 Azhar and college students were arrested in Minya, Suhag and Asiut. The students were accused of manufacturing bombs and explosives to be used in a suicide bombing, police said.
Meanwhile, Wednesday, police arrested three people in connection to a suicide bombing last month in al-Azhar area in old Cairo.
The trainer of the arrested Islamist students is believed to be Ali Othman Tammam, an Asiut resident and an Azhar school secondarystudent.
Tammam, who escaped from his house earlier, was arrested alongwith his father, who confirmed the allegations of his son's involvement in the plotting of a terrorist attack in southern Egypt, police said.
Their leader Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Salama, who is still on the run, was previously accused of designing the 1995 attacks against police stations in Kafu.
The Azhar blast, where a bomb packed with nails exploded in a bazaar area, killed two french tourists and an American one, and injured 18 people, including Egyptians, Americans and French.
AP: Russian Accident...
PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _Two Russians were killed Wednesday and 20 people were hurt when a bus carrying Russian tourists from a Red Sea resortto the capital rolled over, police said.
The Egyptian driver was among the injured, according to a police official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The rest ofthose hurt were believed to be Russian.
The injured were taken to hospitals in the resort city ofHurghada, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away where the bus ride had originated, and in nearby Ras Ghareb. Circumstances of the accident weren't clear, but police said they suspected the driver had fallen asleep. No other vehicles were involved.
Hurghada is about 500 kilometers (311 miles) southeast of Cairo.
The accident happened while Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Cairo, the first state visit by a Russian or Soviet leader in four decades.
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _Two Russians were killed Wednesday and 20 people were hurt when a bus carrying Russian tourists from a Red Sea resortto the capital rolled over, police said.
The Egyptian driver was among the injured, according to a police official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The rest ofthose hurt were believed to be Russian.
The injured were taken to hospitals in the resort city ofHurghada, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away where the bus ride had originated, and in nearby Ras Ghareb. Circumstances of the accident weren't clear, but police said they suspected the driver had fallen asleep. No other vehicles were involved.
Hurghada is about 500 kilometers (311 miles) southeast of Cairo.
The accident happened while Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Cairo, the first state visit by a Russian or Soviet leader in four decades.
AP: Egyptian Journalists Protest Court Ruling...
Headline: Egyptian journalists protest court ruling against fellow scribes
PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ More than 50 journalists and regime opponents
protested in front of Cairo's press syndicate Monday, calling for the
annulment of a one-year libel sentence against three fellow reporters.
Al-Masri al-Youm's journalists Alaa al-Ghatrifi, Abdel Nasser
al-Zoheiry and Youssef al-Oumy, who wrote stories critical of Egypt's
housing minister, were sentenced in absentia and fined 10,000 Egyptian
pounds (about $1,700; euro1,321) each.
The court ruling contradicts President Hosni Mubarak's recent
statement calling for press laws to be revised to prevent jailing of
journalists on charges related to what they write.
"I could be arrested at any time now," said al-Ghatrifi, one of
the sentenced reporters, speaking at the protest.
He said he and his fellow journalists were "appalled" by the ruling.
"I never expected so cruel a ruling against people of thought and
opinion," al-Ghatrifi said. "This contradicts what the president has
said about reform and change."
The Paris-based press advocacy group, Reporters Sans Frontiers,
issued a statement Monday saying the sentence runs counter to Egyptian
constitution and international agreements Cairo has ratified.
"Egypt cannot throw journalists in prison and at the same time
hope to demonstrate its will to advance the human rights situation. We
therefore call on the Cairo criminal court to quash the prison
sentences passed on these three journalists," the statement said.
Protesters, led by journalism syndicate member Mohammed
Abdel-Qodous, held banners and distributed fliers condemning the
court's ruling.
Members of the opposition Kifaya group and Egypt's socialist
movement passed out leaflets linking the journalists' case to
Mubarak's "corrupt regime."
Nearby, eight truckloads of riot police and two dozen security men
kept an eye on the demonstrators.
"This ruling humiliates the president and defames the reputation
of Egypt," said Abdel-Qodous, who heads the syndicate's Freedom
Committee.
A statement issued by the group offered full support for the three
reporters and warned that arresting the journalists could lead to an
"unwanted clash between Egyptian press and the ruling regime."
PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ More than 50 journalists and regime opponents
protested in front of Cairo's press syndicate Monday, calling for the
annulment of a one-year libel sentence against three fellow reporters.
Al-Masri al-Youm's journalists Alaa al-Ghatrifi, Abdel Nasser
al-Zoheiry and Youssef al-Oumy, who wrote stories critical of Egypt's
housing minister, were sentenced in absentia and fined 10,000 Egyptian
pounds (about $1,700; euro1,321) each.
The court ruling contradicts President Hosni Mubarak's recent
statement calling for press laws to be revised to prevent jailing of
journalists on charges related to what they write.
"I could be arrested at any time now," said al-Ghatrifi, one of
the sentenced reporters, speaking at the protest.
He said he and his fellow journalists were "appalled" by the ruling.
"I never expected so cruel a ruling against people of thought and
opinion," al-Ghatrifi said. "This contradicts what the president has
said about reform and change."
The Paris-based press advocacy group, Reporters Sans Frontiers,
issued a statement Monday saying the sentence runs counter to Egyptian
constitution and international agreements Cairo has ratified.
"Egypt cannot throw journalists in prison and at the same time
hope to demonstrate its will to advance the human rights situation. We
therefore call on the Cairo criminal court to quash the prison
sentences passed on these three journalists," the statement said.
Protesters, led by journalism syndicate member Mohammed
Abdel-Qodous, held banners and distributed fliers condemning the
court's ruling.
Members of the opposition Kifaya group and Egypt's socialist
movement passed out leaflets linking the journalists' case to
Mubarak's "corrupt regime."
Nearby, eight truckloads of riot police and two dozen security men
kept an eye on the demonstrators.
"This ruling humiliates the president and defames the reputation
of Egypt," said Abdel-Qodous, who heads the syndicate's Freedom
Committee.
A statement issued by the group offered full support for the three
reporters and warned that arresting the journalists could lead to an
"unwanted clash between Egyptian press and the ruling regime."
AP: 150 Egyptian Illegal Immigrants...
Headline: 150 Egyptian illegal immigrants deported from Italy and Greece
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A group of 150 Egyptians were flown home Wednesday after being deported by Italian and Greek authorities for attempting to enter the countries illegally, a Cairo airport official said.
A senior airport security official said the Egyptians were arrested by coast guards after trying to enter Italian and Greek waters from Libya and Egypt on fishing boats. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deportees claimed they were conned by gangs of smugglers in Egypt and Libya to pay 5,000 Egyptian pounds (US$865 or euro669.4) for aplace on a fishing boat sailing to Europe.
Italian security accompanied 50 deported men on a private jet. The other group _ flown on a private Egyptian plane from Athens _ was accompanied by Egyptian security.
Egyptian police said about 10 to 15 illegal deportees are returned toCairo every week.
Italian officials have blamed illegal immigration on the lack ofcooperation from southern Mediterranean nations, particularly Libya.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A group of 150 Egyptians were flown home Wednesday after being deported by Italian and Greek authorities for attempting to enter the countries illegally, a Cairo airport official said.
A senior airport security official said the Egyptians were arrested by coast guards after trying to enter Italian and Greek waters from Libya and Egypt on fishing boats. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The deportees claimed they were conned by gangs of smugglers in Egypt and Libya to pay 5,000 Egyptian pounds (US$865 or euro669.4) for aplace on a fishing boat sailing to Europe.
Italian security accompanied 50 deported men on a private jet. The other group _ flown on a private Egyptian plane from Athens _ was accompanied by Egyptian security.
Egyptian police said about 10 to 15 illegal deportees are returned toCairo every week.
Italian officials have blamed illegal immigration on the lack ofcooperation from southern Mediterranean nations, particularly Libya.
AP: Egypt Students Demonstrate for Democracy
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
April 4, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ About 300 university students staged a rowdy protest in downtown Cairo on Monday calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and further democratic reforms.
The protest, held on the grounds of the American University in Cairo, was the latest in a series of demonstrations aimed at increasing political freedoms in Egypt, the Arab world's largest country which Mubarak has ruled since 1981.
Truckloads of police cordoned off the university during the protest, which comes ahead of planned September presidential elections in which more than one candidate _ other than the president _ will be able to stand.
"Change for Change ... Not for Bush," said one student banner in reference to contentious Middle East reform calls by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Another said: "No more extensions. No to Succession," displaying opposition to Mubarak continuing as president or handing power to his youngest son, Gamal.
"One of our main demands would be the immediate seizure of emergency law, limitation of how many terms a president can be in office, and free elections observed by UN personals," said Ahmed el-Droubi, one of the protest organizers.
Egyptians enjoyed a brief period of protest following Mubarak's surprise Feb. 26 call on the parliament, which his National Democratic Party dominates, to amend the constitution to allow for open presidential elections.
But security officials have since cracked down, arresting members of Egypt's largest Islamic movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and banning protests. Officials have been particularly angered by criticism of Mubarak and his family.
Associated Press Writer
April 4, 2005
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ About 300 university students staged a rowdy protest in downtown Cairo on Monday calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down and further democratic reforms.
The protest, held on the grounds of the American University in Cairo, was the latest in a series of demonstrations aimed at increasing political freedoms in Egypt, the Arab world's largest country which Mubarak has ruled since 1981.
Truckloads of police cordoned off the university during the protest, which comes ahead of planned September presidential elections in which more than one candidate _ other than the president _ will be able to stand.
"Change for Change ... Not for Bush," said one student banner in reference to contentious Middle East reform calls by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Another said: "No more extensions. No to Succession," displaying opposition to Mubarak continuing as president or handing power to his youngest son, Gamal.
"One of our main demands would be the immediate seizure of emergency law, limitation of how many terms a president can be in office, and free elections observed by UN personals," said Ahmed el-Droubi, one of the protest organizers.
Egyptians enjoyed a brief period of protest following Mubarak's surprise Feb. 26 call on the parliament, which his National Democratic Party dominates, to amend the constitution to allow for open presidential elections.
But security officials have since cracked down, arresting members of Egypt's largest Islamic movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, and banning protests. Officials have been particularly angered by criticism of Mubarak and his family.
AP: Egyptian Journalists Protest Colleague's Detention
Headline: Egyptian journalists protest colleague's detention
PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Journalists and pro-reform activists demonstrated in front of Cairo's Press Syndicate Thursday, calling for authoritiesto release a fellow journalist held in detention.
Press Syndicate head Yahya Qalash said journalist Adel al-Ansary was arrested on Sunday, "taken from his home at dawn, about three in themorning, in a humiliating way. The police terrorized his children andhis family."
The press committee sent the State Prosecutor a petition calling foral-Ansary's release, and organized a sit-in as well.
The reason al-Ansary was detained was not clear.
"We do not just protest the unrightful imprisonment of one person,but we protest the political system as a whole," Qalash said.
Demonstrators held al-Ansary's picture and signs saying "Free Adelal-Ansary." They shouted: "Enough to jailing writers, enough tojailing readers, enough to jailing people."
Kifaya members distributed flyers attacking the government policies and the detainment of both al-Ansary and Muslim Brotherhood members. They also gave protestors handcuffs made of black paper to wear, shouting in microphones that they want Interior Minister Habib al-Adlyto resign.
The syndicate gave out copies of a book titled "Our Nation and theGreater Middle East" that al-Ansary had written.
"Al-Ansary is an editor for IslamOnline and my colleague, I do notconsider him an extremist," said Dalia Youssef, a fellow journalist."He uses legal channels to express his views, but here in Egypt anyIslamist activist faces problems."
pa
PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Journalists and pro-reform activists demonstrated in front of Cairo's Press Syndicate Thursday, calling for authoritiesto release a fellow journalist held in detention.
Press Syndicate head Yahya Qalash said journalist Adel al-Ansary was arrested on Sunday, "taken from his home at dawn, about three in themorning, in a humiliating way. The police terrorized his children andhis family."
The press committee sent the State Prosecutor a petition calling foral-Ansary's release, and organized a sit-in as well.
The reason al-Ansary was detained was not clear.
"We do not just protest the unrightful imprisonment of one person,but we protest the political system as a whole," Qalash said.
Demonstrators held al-Ansary's picture and signs saying "Free Adelal-Ansary." They shouted: "Enough to jailing writers, enough tojailing readers, enough to jailing people."
Kifaya members distributed flyers attacking the government policies and the detainment of both al-Ansary and Muslim Brotherhood members. They also gave protestors handcuffs made of black paper to wear, shouting in microphones that they want Interior Minister Habib al-Adlyto resign.
The syndicate gave out copies of a book titled "Our Nation and theGreater Middle East" that al-Ansary had written.
"Al-Ansary is an editor for IslamOnline and my colleague, I do notconsider him an extremist," said Dalia Youssef, a fellow journalist."He uses legal channels to express his views, but here in Egypt anyIslamist activist faces problems."
pa
AP: Interview with the Egyptian mother of an alleged terrorist
Interview details...
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP)_ In a five-floor building in the popular Sayyeda Zeinab neighborhood ofCairo, Kawthar el-Sayyed was visited by relatives who rushed to her door after hearing that her son Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali was accused of bombing a Qatari theater, killing one British man and wounding several people.
According to el-Sayyed, who was dressed in black, she was onlyinformed of the attack through the newspapers. Her relatives said theydid not want her to know.
"We heard of the attack yesterday, we came to see her but we did nottell her what happened since she has high-blood pressure. We did not know what it would do to her," said her veiled sister, who would notgive her name and who, like almost everyone in the apartment, was dressed all in black.
After word of the attack, el-Sayyed and other relatives said theytried to reach Ali or his Qatari wife, but failed. "All the cellularphones are switched off," one of his female relatives said.
Abdullah, who left Egypt 12 years ago, first moved to Saudi Arabia where his sister and her husband lived. After spending a year in Saudi, where he tried to set up a small business but his computer store failed, he went to Qatar to stay with an older brother who works in the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television station. He did not visit Egypt after leaving in 1992.
After his father's death five years ago, his mother lived alone, occassionaly visiting her sons in Qatar. "I used to go to Omar during Ramadan and I would stay with him and his family ... for about two months. He would take me to Omra (minor pilgrimage) during that time," el-Sayyed said, her eyes welling with tears.
She said her son had three children, whom he loved and would not abandon by carrying out such an attack. She said he never spoke about holy war or suicide. "He prays and fasts just like any regular Muslim. He didn't even have a beard as the newspapers said," she added.
El-Sayyed held out hope her son's name had come up by mistake. She said four Egyptian police officers searched her apartment on Sunday,leaving without taking anything away.
"I do not believe he did it," she said. "Whoever did the attack mighthave stolen his car or stolen his name."
The sound of Quran filled El-Sayyed's apartment. Her neighbors occassionaly passed by or came for a short visit expressing their compassion, while wearing black dresses and scarves. The smallbuilding was quiet and nothing could be heard from the otherapartments.
As more reporters came to talk to El-Sayyed, she became moreemotional. She refused to speak any more words, her last were "God will get us back our right". She slammed the door shut, while her crying and screaming echoed in the building.
Associated Press writer Nadia Aboulmagd contributed to this report.
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt (AP)_ In a five-floor building in the popular Sayyeda Zeinab neighborhood ofCairo, Kawthar el-Sayyed was visited by relatives who rushed to her door after hearing that her son Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali was accused of bombing a Qatari theater, killing one British man and wounding several people.
According to el-Sayyed, who was dressed in black, she was onlyinformed of the attack through the newspapers. Her relatives said theydid not want her to know.
"We heard of the attack yesterday, we came to see her but we did nottell her what happened since she has high-blood pressure. We did not know what it would do to her," said her veiled sister, who would notgive her name and who, like almost everyone in the apartment, was dressed all in black.
After word of the attack, el-Sayyed and other relatives said theytried to reach Ali or his Qatari wife, but failed. "All the cellularphones are switched off," one of his female relatives said.
Abdullah, who left Egypt 12 years ago, first moved to Saudi Arabia where his sister and her husband lived. After spending a year in Saudi, where he tried to set up a small business but his computer store failed, he went to Qatar to stay with an older brother who works in the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera television station. He did not visit Egypt after leaving in 1992.
After his father's death five years ago, his mother lived alone, occassionaly visiting her sons in Qatar. "I used to go to Omar during Ramadan and I would stay with him and his family ... for about two months. He would take me to Omra (minor pilgrimage) during that time," el-Sayyed said, her eyes welling with tears.
She said her son had three children, whom he loved and would not abandon by carrying out such an attack. She said he never spoke about holy war or suicide. "He prays and fasts just like any regular Muslim. He didn't even have a beard as the newspapers said," she added.
El-Sayyed held out hope her son's name had come up by mistake. She said four Egyptian police officers searched her apartment on Sunday,leaving without taking anything away.
"I do not believe he did it," she said. "Whoever did the attack mighthave stolen his car or stolen his name."
The sound of Quran filled El-Sayyed's apartment. Her neighbors occassionaly passed by or came for a short visit expressing their compassion, while wearing black dresses and scarves. The smallbuilding was quiet and nothing could be heard from the otherapartments.
As more reporters came to talk to El-Sayyed, she became moreemotional. She refused to speak any more words, her last were "God will get us back our right". She slammed the door shut, while her crying and screaming echoed in the building.
Associated Press writer Nadia Aboulmagd contributed to this report.
AP: Egyptian police clash with dozens of people protesting eviction...
Egyptian police clash with dozens of people protesting eviction from
land, alleged torture death of woman
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
03-17-2005 13:31
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Riot police clashed with about 40 people who
gathered at the Supreme Court in downtown Cairo on Thursday to protest
the eviction of farmers from their land in the Nile Delta and the death
the day before of a woman they allege was tortured by police.
Nearly 100 policemen pushed the protesters from the gates and at one
point began hitting people with their batons before their officers
ordered them to stop.
"We were so few and they started beating us," said parliament member
Hamdeen Sabahi, who had joined the small protest. He immediately took
his complaint to the prosecutor-general, who agreed to order an
investigation into the farmers' allegations.
The protest followed weeks of clashes between rice and wheat farmers
and police in the Delta province of Damanhur, about 150 kilometers (93
miles) northeast of Cairo.
The farmers claim they were evicted from their land in early January by
a man who claimed to own the property.
According to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, 150 families
were "violently" evicted from their homes and "random arrests" were
carried out. Five children under the age of 9 were briefly detained, a
statement said.
Clashes ensued between the farmers and the landlords' supporters,
leading to a number of injuries and destroyed vehicles, according to the
EOHR statement.
At least 22 farmers, including six women, were arrested after the
clashes, and some of them were tortured, EOHR said. One woman, Nafeesa
Zakariya Muhammad Al-Marakbi, 40, died Wednesday of "torture, beating
and ill-treatment," the statement said.
Al-Marakbi's death was the catalyst for the protest in Cairo. The
demonstrators, many of them farmers from the Nile Delta, chanted slogans
against President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a tyrant.
"Let Hosni Mubarak fall!" some yelled. "It's enough! Twenty-four years
of injustice!"
"The land is for the peasants, the land is for the people who plant
these plants!" others shouted.
Three farmers were briefly detained but released after Sabahi spoke to
the prosecutor-general.
"We have the right to demonstrate and express our opinions," Sabahi
said. "We were treated in an uncivilized and unlawful way."
He said the prosecutor-general was "very understanding of the issue"
and would investigate who actually owned the land, as well as the
reports of torture and ill treatment.
"It's the farmers of Egypt who feed us and this is what the authorities
are doing to them," complained human rights activist Suheir Morsi at the
protest. "They (the farmers) have only weak voices."
land, alleged torture death of woman
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
03-17-2005 13:31
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ Riot police clashed with about 40 people who
gathered at the Supreme Court in downtown Cairo on Thursday to protest
the eviction of farmers from their land in the Nile Delta and the death
the day before of a woman they allege was tortured by police.
Nearly 100 policemen pushed the protesters from the gates and at one
point began hitting people with their batons before their officers
ordered them to stop.
"We were so few and they started beating us," said parliament member
Hamdeen Sabahi, who had joined the small protest. He immediately took
his complaint to the prosecutor-general, who agreed to order an
investigation into the farmers' allegations.
The protest followed weeks of clashes between rice and wheat farmers
and police in the Delta province of Damanhur, about 150 kilometers (93
miles) northeast of Cairo.
The farmers claim they were evicted from their land in early January by
a man who claimed to own the property.
According to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, 150 families
were "violently" evicted from their homes and "random arrests" were
carried out. Five children under the age of 9 were briefly detained, a
statement said.
Clashes ensued between the farmers and the landlords' supporters,
leading to a number of injuries and destroyed vehicles, according to the
EOHR statement.
At least 22 farmers, including six women, were arrested after the
clashes, and some of them were tortured, EOHR said. One woman, Nafeesa
Zakariya Muhammad Al-Marakbi, 40, died Wednesday of "torture, beating
and ill-treatment," the statement said.
Al-Marakbi's death was the catalyst for the protest in Cairo. The
demonstrators, many of them farmers from the Nile Delta, chanted slogans
against President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a tyrant.
"Let Hosni Mubarak fall!" some yelled. "It's enough! Twenty-four years
of injustice!"
"The land is for the peasants, the land is for the people who plant
these plants!" others shouted.
Three farmers were briefly detained but released after Sabahi spoke to
the prosecutor-general.
"We have the right to demonstrate and express our opinions," Sabahi
said. "We were treated in an uncivilized and unlawful way."
He said the prosecutor-general was "very understanding of the issue"
and would investigate who actually owned the land, as well as the
reports of torture and ill treatment.
"It's the farmers of Egypt who feed us and this is what the authorities
are doing to them," complained human rights activist Suheir Morsi at the
protest. "They (the farmers) have only weak voices."
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