Judicial controversy continues to heat up
Riot police’s dispersal of sit-in turns ugly, government denies violence
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 27, 2006
CAIRO: Riot police resorted to violence to disperse protestors sitting-in at the Judges Club on Monday, with one judge allegedly beaten while at least a dozen were arrested. The attorney general’s official report, however, denies the use of force against demonstrating crowds.
“This incident sends a message to the judges … Yet physical abuse will not deter the judges [from doing their jobs]. And the abusers must be punished,” Mahmoud Mekki, deputy to the Cassation Court, told the press on Monday. Makki is one of two prominent judges who were referred to a disciplinary board after they filed an official inquiry demanding an investigation of the 2005 presidential elections.
The two judges reported fraud and thuggery on the part of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the balloting stations, adding that the supervising judicial entities were overshadowed by the government.
The judges allegedly leaked information during the election process to the press, including sightings of irregularities and aggression.
Last March, however, Cairo’s supreme justice council threw out the judges’ allegations, stripping six senior judges of their immunity and calling for an investigation into what had been termed their “false claims.” Before the investigation ended, the Ministry of Justice demanded that the judges apologize and retract their allegations.
The incident sparked shock and criticism in the press, opposition and judicial circles; the council was generally believed to be backed by the NDP. The Judges Syndicate, Kefaya (Enough) movement and Muslim Brotherhood members staged protests in support of the judges who have demanded reform and judicial independence.
Last week, protesters set up a makeshift camp in front of their headquarters, tents and all, in a protest that continued until Monday. The protestors were surrounded by truckloads of security units and riot police in what was a gathering of thousands that overcrowded traffic in the downtown area.
On Monday, the police reportedly blockaded the crowds and started dispersing them, often using batons and force according to some eyewitnesses. One judge, Mohammed Hamza, was surrounded and beaten and transferred to a nearby hospital, where he spoke to the press about the incident.
On the other hand, several security members have reported they were “brutally beaten” by some of the judges. According to the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm, one policeman claimed he was surrounded, beaten and carried away to be locked in the Judges Syndicate by four judges whom he later named and filed a complaint against in the Qasr El-Nil police station.
Ahmad Diaa, a top official in the Ministry of Interior, told TV host Amr Adeeb in his Cairo Today show that force was not used, echoing the report issued earlier by the attorney general almost verbatim. Diaa said that the protest and gathering were not authorized and that “something had to be done to remove the tents and break up the hordes of people.”
“The attorney general has asked all of the officers present that day about the incident; no accusations have been directed at them. The attorney filed a report about this,” said Diaa. “Only one person was arrested and the [protesting] judges were not indicted of anything. There are talks that one judge had a gun, but this claim is still being investigated.”
“This [incident] means the fight will intensify between judges and pro-democracy groups on one side, and the government and interior ministry on the other," Gamal Eid, director of the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo), told Reuters Monday. Eid also told Reuters that out of 15 protestors initially arrested, three were released and 12 remain in police custody.
Meanwhile, workers’ syndicates across Cairo have risen in support of the judges, threatening to carry out a work strike if the judicial system is not given full independence and freedom to investigate election fraud. In a similar stance, Muslim Brotherhood representatives in Egypt’s upper house said they unanimously “withdraw their trust in the minister of justice.”
“The minister of justice has interfered in the affairs of the judicial system, misusing his authority,” Hamdy Hassan, spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood faction in parliament, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Following Monday’s violence, the New York-based Human Rights Watch published a full report on the judges’ case, vehemently condemning the government’s approach to the issue. “The government is punishing judges just for doing their job,” Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying in the report. “It should be investigating the widespread evidence of voter intimidation, not shooting the messengers who reported the fraud.”
“Egyptian authorities should drop threats to dismiss two senior judges protesting election fraud and investigate the violence and fraud that plagued elections last year, Human Rights Watch said today,” read the report.
“The organization also expressed grave concern about a police attack against peaceful demonstrators outside the Judges Club … An eyewitness told Human Rights Watch that a large number of men, apparently plainclothes police, attacked around 40 persons who had been holding a round-the-clock vigil in support of the two judges threatened with dismissal.”
“These crude attempts to intimidate judges underscore the urgent need for judicial reform in Egypt,” Stork was quoted as saying.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1313
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
DSE: Judicial crisis unfolds (Press Round-up)
Press Round-up
Judicial crisis unfolds
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 25, 2006
CAIRO: The crisis overwhelming the Egyptian judicial system continues to unfold, as next Thursday two judges face a disciplinary hearing before Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abul-Leil, national and international newspapers have extensively reported.
Hisham Al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekki, the two high-profile deputies to the Court of Cassation, were referred to a disciplinary board after they filed an inquiry and demanded an investigation of the 2005 presidential elections.
According to the Media Line, which covers the Middle East, “The judges are likely to lose their positions … Talks between the Judges [Syndicate] and the Justice Ministry has so far fallen through.”
According to Media Line, the Judges Club has rejected an offer by Abul-Leil to “end the inquiry of the prosecuted judges, in exchange for the judges ending their protest and apologizing” to the supreme judiciary council.
Last year’s presidential elections witnessed tension between the government and the judges supervising the elections. Some judges, who had promised not to speak to the press during the elections, spoke to the press, allegedly leaking information concerning election fraud and illegalities that they claimed they had witnessed.
According to Al-Jazeera, “the Judges Club, a professional association of Egyptian jurists, rejected last year’s parliamentary election results as riddled with irregularities and influenced by aggression and acts of thuggery by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).”
The judges expressed their desire for reform and judicial independence. Convening in thousands at their headquarters, the judges announced their demands, which included supervision of Egypt’s upcoming elections without interference from the government. In response, the judges threatened to boycott forthcoming elections if they were not given full administration over the election process.
The judges have continued to appeal to the government with the same demands since December last year.
Last March, a government-controlled justice council responded by denying the judges’ allegations, stripping six senior judges of their political immunity. The council also called for an investigation into their claims.
The council’s reaction, commonly believed to be backed by the NDP and blessed by the government, sparked criticism and protests. The Judges Club, the Kefaya (Enough) movement, along with a number of opposition groups have been staging demonstrations ever since in support of the judges.
Meanwhile, opposition newspaper Al-Wafd reports that the Judges Syndicate had scheduled a Cairo street march to take place Thursday in objection to the judges’ hearings, which Al-Wafd has called “decisive” and “crucial.” “The judges will try the government … The reform hearing will become a trial of the government … The scandals and fraud of the elections will be revealed,” read Al-Wafd’s front page headlines.
In the national daily Al-Ahram, President Hosni Mubarak was quoted as saying that he “never interferes between judges,” denying claims that the government supports the investigation of the judges.
“This issue represents a dispute between judges; precisely those of the Judges Syndicate and the supreme council,” said Mubarak, adding that the judicial system is independent and that “the government has nothing to do with this [issue].”
In response to press reports that describe the situation as a “massacre of judges,” Mubarak said, “Such a massacre will never occur. Everyone knows how much esteem and respect I have for the judges … I greatly treasure Egypt’s venerable justice system.”
In their latest Egypt report, the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said they had “started their measures concerning the independence of the judiciary in Egypt, particularly the investigation with” Mekki and Bastawisy.
The organization sent letters to Mubarak and Abul-Leil expressing their concern about the case of the judges and their rights. The letter called for an end to the investigation of the judges and a guarantee of judiciary independence in Egypt.
In the meantime, even as Egyptians celebrate Easter, the judges and their supporters continue to protest Monday in a sit-in in front of the Judges Syndicate. During the hearings, the judges are scheduled to hold an emergency meeting. Their supporters, including the Kefaya (Enough) movement, promised to continue protests until next Thursday.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1295
Judicial crisis unfolds
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 25, 2006
CAIRO: The crisis overwhelming the Egyptian judicial system continues to unfold, as next Thursday two judges face a disciplinary hearing before Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abul-Leil, national and international newspapers have extensively reported.
Hisham Al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Mekki, the two high-profile deputies to the Court of Cassation, were referred to a disciplinary board after they filed an inquiry and demanded an investigation of the 2005 presidential elections.
According to the Media Line, which covers the Middle East, “The judges are likely to lose their positions … Talks between the Judges [Syndicate] and the Justice Ministry has so far fallen through.”
According to Media Line, the Judges Club has rejected an offer by Abul-Leil to “end the inquiry of the prosecuted judges, in exchange for the judges ending their protest and apologizing” to the supreme judiciary council.
Last year’s presidential elections witnessed tension between the government and the judges supervising the elections. Some judges, who had promised not to speak to the press during the elections, spoke to the press, allegedly leaking information concerning election fraud and illegalities that they claimed they had witnessed.
According to Al-Jazeera, “the Judges Club, a professional association of Egyptian jurists, rejected last year’s parliamentary election results as riddled with irregularities and influenced by aggression and acts of thuggery by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).”
The judges expressed their desire for reform and judicial independence. Convening in thousands at their headquarters, the judges announced their demands, which included supervision of Egypt’s upcoming elections without interference from the government. In response, the judges threatened to boycott forthcoming elections if they were not given full administration over the election process.
The judges have continued to appeal to the government with the same demands since December last year.
Last March, a government-controlled justice council responded by denying the judges’ allegations, stripping six senior judges of their political immunity. The council also called for an investigation into their claims.
The council’s reaction, commonly believed to be backed by the NDP and blessed by the government, sparked criticism and protests. The Judges Club, the Kefaya (Enough) movement, along with a number of opposition groups have been staging demonstrations ever since in support of the judges.
Meanwhile, opposition newspaper Al-Wafd reports that the Judges Syndicate had scheduled a Cairo street march to take place Thursday in objection to the judges’ hearings, which Al-Wafd has called “decisive” and “crucial.” “The judges will try the government … The reform hearing will become a trial of the government … The scandals and fraud of the elections will be revealed,” read Al-Wafd’s front page headlines.
In the national daily Al-Ahram, President Hosni Mubarak was quoted as saying that he “never interferes between judges,” denying claims that the government supports the investigation of the judges.
“This issue represents a dispute between judges; precisely those of the Judges Syndicate and the supreme council,” said Mubarak, adding that the judicial system is independent and that “the government has nothing to do with this [issue].”
In response to press reports that describe the situation as a “massacre of judges,” Mubarak said, “Such a massacre will never occur. Everyone knows how much esteem and respect I have for the judges … I greatly treasure Egypt’s venerable justice system.”
In their latest Egypt report, the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said they had “started their measures concerning the independence of the judiciary in Egypt, particularly the investigation with” Mekki and Bastawisy.
The organization sent letters to Mubarak and Abul-Leil expressing their concern about the case of the judges and their rights. The letter called for an end to the investigation of the judges and a guarantee of judiciary independence in Egypt.
In the meantime, even as Egyptians celebrate Easter, the judges and their supporters continue to protest Monday in a sit-in in front of the Judges Syndicate. During the hearings, the judges are scheduled to hold an emergency meeting. Their supporters, including the Kefaya (Enough) movement, promised to continue protests until next Thursday.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1295
Saturday, April 22, 2006
DSE: Islamists recieve mixed signals from government (Analysis)
Islamists receive mixed signals from government
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 22, 2006
CAIRO: The government has been sending mixed signals to Islamist groups, with state security arresting members of the Muslim Brotherhood almost simultaneously with the release of hundreds of members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya. With Islamists caught between random detentions, crackdowns and releases, the state of the emergency law has been vehemently debated, with the government strongly suggesting its extension and the opposition putting forth a united front to oppose the notion.
Earlier this month, security forces arrested around eight Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Essam El-Erian, Brotherhood spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera that the leaders were taken away as they sat eating in a restaurant in Alexandria. Among those arrested, according to El-Erian’s statement, was prominent Brotherhood leader Helmi Al-Gazzar; “a local leader in Cairo who was also picked up during a wave of demonstrations last year and jailed for five months.”
At least 43 students were rounded up in Assiut University for suspected affiliation with the Brotherhood, bringing the number of detained university students to 120.
According to Al-Jazeera’s Web site, another local Brotherhood leader, Hassan Al-Brens, was arrested in the latest sweep. Former crackdowns by security forces in January had included 70-year-old senior member and Cairo university professor Rashad Al-Bayoumi, among 30 others.
Around a month earlier, Abdul Munem Mahmoud, a Brotherhood official was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying that some protest organizers were arrested during a raid on their Cairo apartments. According to Mahmoud, security forces broke into the apartment and arrested some young men who were taken to “an unknown destination." The youth were student activists who had participated in street protests over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner they deemed disrespectful.
In a recent unexpected move, shortly after they had been detained, all university students, including the newly rounded up Assiut students, were freed.
In another turnaround, this Wednesday the government arrested 22 militants suspected of masterminding bomb attacks on “tourist targets, a gas pipeline near Cairo and Muslim and Christian religious leaders,” said Reuters. The militants are reportedly members of a group calling itself The Victorious. According to the Reuters report, the detained include 10 students, an Islamic preacher and the owner of a computer shop.
In response, opposition voices – with the Muslim Brotherhood and Kefaya (Enough) movement topping the list – said the government uses incidents such as Islamic militancy and sectarian violence as an excuse to extend the emergency law, with some calling the proposed anti-terror bill “the emergency law with a new name.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has launched a campaign against the extension of the law, led by its supreme guide and leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef. During a press conference, Akef said that the afflictions the country is passing through are all a result of the lack of freedom. According to the leader, the emergency laws have aggravated the situation by creating and heightening tensions.
Reportedly 114 upper-house members have formed a formal front against the state of emergency, and the parliamentarians called on human rights groups to join them.
The emergency law was enacted in 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat and has been renewed every three years ever since.
Under the emergency law, Egyptian security can carry out arrests without legal permits and hold detainees for as long as six months without trial. Detentions can be renewed every 45 days.
According to the government’s Web site, cases of terrorism and threats to national security are taken to military or state security emergency courts, “in which the accused do not receive all the constitutional protections of the civilian judicial system.” Under the same law, protests, sit-ins and gatherings without state security authorization are prohibited.
According to Ikhwanweb.com, the official Brotherhood Web site, the campaign against the emergency law kicked off on Thursday when 10,000 university students “marked the occasion through a series of coordinated angry demonstrations denouncing emergency laws and rejecting the security apparatus’ meddling in academic affairs.” The protests were reportedly organized by political and national forces from Cairo, Helwan, Alexandria, Assiut and several other governorates.
The Brotherhood has recently been more vocal about their demands in parliament, where they now constitute the bulk of opposition. Several leaders have announced the group’s need for legitimacy in order to be an authorized player in the political arena.
The group calls for a governmental system based on Islamic decree and, according to their published initiative, is “fair” to all members of society; Muslim or non-Muslim. Brotherhood-affiliated upper-house members have often been critical of National Democratic Party policies. In the latest upper-house sessions, movement representatives pressed for the elimination of the decades-long emergency law.
This week President Hosni Mubarak hinted to the press that an extension of the emergency law before it expires next June would be preferable. Mubarak was quoted by Reuters as saying that a nearly two-year gap between the expiration of the emergency laws and new anti-terror bill due to delays in legislation would be a “serious danger."
On another hand, last week, around 900 members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya, including leader Nageh Ibrahim, were released. Several press reports also predicted the release of the famous brothers Aboud El-Zommor and Tarek El-Zommor, indicted for masterminding and carrying out the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat in 1981.
According to Mamdouh Ismail, El-Zommor’s principal lawyer, the two brothers finished their 20-year prison sentence in 2001 and a court order has been issued for their release. However, they are still detained without further charges and their release is dependent on a direct order from the Ministry of Interior.
“It is a matter of time,” Ismail said. “I expect that Aboud and Tarek would be out soon… Hundreds of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members are being released gradually.” The lawyer hinted that the government had been “more lenient” with members of Al-Jamaa as the latter has revised their doctrine. Ismail was previously quoted as saying that the release of the political detainees would be “an act of good will and send a positive message to Islamist groups.”
Nevertheless, around 2,000 Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members are still behind bars. Families of the detained have protested many times claiming their loved ones were being held without charges or trial.
“It is true that some of the detainees are illegally imprisoned. Some were tried, were proven innocent but still remained in jail. Some were held for 10 or 15 years,” said Ismail.
“These people have renounced violence and use of arms… They do not want any more clashes with the government,” added Ismail.
Some detained members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya have written books from jail. The Ministry of Interior published one of their books at their own expense (according to the principal Muslim Brotherhood lawyer).
One of the books called The Strategy of Al-Qaeda Bombings: The Mistakes and Dangers was co-written by eight of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members as they served their sentences. In this book, the authors said that violence, bombings and killing innocents was abhorred by Islam.
“Is it beneficial to anyone to rage a religious war, while the Muslim nation is separated and regressed [in comparison to other nations]?” read one line in the book. “Doesn’t Islamic jurisprudence include more effective, yet less violent ways involving fewer clashes, for reformation and for facing challenges?”
Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya allegedly carried out the assassination of El-Sadat, after merging with the militant Al-Jihad Al-Islami group. The former group was also responsible for triggering terror in the 1990s, in one instance launching an attack against tourists in Luxor in 1997.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1282
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 22, 2006
CAIRO: The government has been sending mixed signals to Islamist groups, with state security arresting members of the Muslim Brotherhood almost simultaneously with the release of hundreds of members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya. With Islamists caught between random detentions, crackdowns and releases, the state of the emergency law has been vehemently debated, with the government strongly suggesting its extension and the opposition putting forth a united front to oppose the notion.
Earlier this month, security forces arrested around eight Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Essam El-Erian, Brotherhood spokesperson, told Al-Jazeera that the leaders were taken away as they sat eating in a restaurant in Alexandria. Among those arrested, according to El-Erian’s statement, was prominent Brotherhood leader Helmi Al-Gazzar; “a local leader in Cairo who was also picked up during a wave of demonstrations last year and jailed for five months.”
At least 43 students were rounded up in Assiut University for suspected affiliation with the Brotherhood, bringing the number of detained university students to 120.
According to Al-Jazeera’s Web site, another local Brotherhood leader, Hassan Al-Brens, was arrested in the latest sweep. Former crackdowns by security forces in January had included 70-year-old senior member and Cairo university professor Rashad Al-Bayoumi, among 30 others.
Around a month earlier, Abdul Munem Mahmoud, a Brotherhood official was quoted by Al-Jazeera as saying that some protest organizers were arrested during a raid on their Cairo apartments. According to Mahmoud, security forces broke into the apartment and arrested some young men who were taken to “an unknown destination." The youth were student activists who had participated in street protests over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner they deemed disrespectful.
In a recent unexpected move, shortly after they had been detained, all university students, including the newly rounded up Assiut students, were freed.
In another turnaround, this Wednesday the government arrested 22 militants suspected of masterminding bomb attacks on “tourist targets, a gas pipeline near Cairo and Muslim and Christian religious leaders,” said Reuters. The militants are reportedly members of a group calling itself The Victorious. According to the Reuters report, the detained include 10 students, an Islamic preacher and the owner of a computer shop.
In response, opposition voices – with the Muslim Brotherhood and Kefaya (Enough) movement topping the list – said the government uses incidents such as Islamic militancy and sectarian violence as an excuse to extend the emergency law, with some calling the proposed anti-terror bill “the emergency law with a new name.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has launched a campaign against the extension of the law, led by its supreme guide and leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef. During a press conference, Akef said that the afflictions the country is passing through are all a result of the lack of freedom. According to the leader, the emergency laws have aggravated the situation by creating and heightening tensions.
Reportedly 114 upper-house members have formed a formal front against the state of emergency, and the parliamentarians called on human rights groups to join them.
The emergency law was enacted in 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat and has been renewed every three years ever since.
Under the emergency law, Egyptian security can carry out arrests without legal permits and hold detainees for as long as six months without trial. Detentions can be renewed every 45 days.
According to the government’s Web site, cases of terrorism and threats to national security are taken to military or state security emergency courts, “in which the accused do not receive all the constitutional protections of the civilian judicial system.” Under the same law, protests, sit-ins and gatherings without state security authorization are prohibited.
According to Ikhwanweb.com, the official Brotherhood Web site, the campaign against the emergency law kicked off on Thursday when 10,000 university students “marked the occasion through a series of coordinated angry demonstrations denouncing emergency laws and rejecting the security apparatus’ meddling in academic affairs.” The protests were reportedly organized by political and national forces from Cairo, Helwan, Alexandria, Assiut and several other governorates.
The Brotherhood has recently been more vocal about their demands in parliament, where they now constitute the bulk of opposition. Several leaders have announced the group’s need for legitimacy in order to be an authorized player in the political arena.
The group calls for a governmental system based on Islamic decree and, according to their published initiative, is “fair” to all members of society; Muslim or non-Muslim. Brotherhood-affiliated upper-house members have often been critical of National Democratic Party policies. In the latest upper-house sessions, movement representatives pressed for the elimination of the decades-long emergency law.
This week President Hosni Mubarak hinted to the press that an extension of the emergency law before it expires next June would be preferable. Mubarak was quoted by Reuters as saying that a nearly two-year gap between the expiration of the emergency laws and new anti-terror bill due to delays in legislation would be a “serious danger."
On another hand, last week, around 900 members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya, including leader Nageh Ibrahim, were released. Several press reports also predicted the release of the famous brothers Aboud El-Zommor and Tarek El-Zommor, indicted for masterminding and carrying out the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat in 1981.
According to Mamdouh Ismail, El-Zommor’s principal lawyer, the two brothers finished their 20-year prison sentence in 2001 and a court order has been issued for their release. However, they are still detained without further charges and their release is dependent on a direct order from the Ministry of Interior.
“It is a matter of time,” Ismail said. “I expect that Aboud and Tarek would be out soon… Hundreds of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members are being released gradually.” The lawyer hinted that the government had been “more lenient” with members of Al-Jamaa as the latter has revised their doctrine. Ismail was previously quoted as saying that the release of the political detainees would be “an act of good will and send a positive message to Islamist groups.”
Nevertheless, around 2,000 Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members are still behind bars. Families of the detained have protested many times claiming their loved ones were being held without charges or trial.
“It is true that some of the detainees are illegally imprisoned. Some were tried, were proven innocent but still remained in jail. Some were held for 10 or 15 years,” said Ismail.
“These people have renounced violence and use of arms… They do not want any more clashes with the government,” added Ismail.
Some detained members of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya have written books from jail. The Ministry of Interior published one of their books at their own expense (according to the principal Muslim Brotherhood lawyer).
One of the books called The Strategy of Al-Qaeda Bombings: The Mistakes and Dangers was co-written by eight of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya members as they served their sentences. In this book, the authors said that violence, bombings and killing innocents was abhorred by Islam.
“Is it beneficial to anyone to rage a religious war, while the Muslim nation is separated and regressed [in comparison to other nations]?” read one line in the book. “Doesn’t Islamic jurisprudence include more effective, yet less violent ways involving fewer clashes, for reformation and for facing challenges?”
Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya allegedly carried out the assassination of El-Sadat, after merging with the militant Al-Jihad Al-Islami group. The former group was also responsible for triggering terror in the 1990s, in one instance launching an attack against tourists in Luxor in 1997.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1282
Friday, April 21, 2006
DSE: Analyzing the fallout of the cartoon crisis
Analyzing the fallout of the cartoon crisis
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 20, 2006
CAIRO: After over three months of protesting the publishing of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive, Danish and Muslim youth are trying to reach an understanding through a multitude of dialogues and joint conferences in Denmark and across the Arab world.
Muslims around the globe protested when a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published 12 caricatures; several showing the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, a schoolboy and a bearded man with a bomb for a turban.
Muslims staged worldwide protests that turned violent as other European papers reprinted the cartoons. Danish embassies in some Arab countries were closed down after being attacked.
Islamic scholars called for a boycott of all Danish goods and called on their respective governments to cut all diplomatic and trade ties with the country.
In response, Jyllands-Posten initially refused to issue an apology, saying that the publication of such cartoons was a form of freedom of expression. However, under local and international pressure, the newspaper finally said they were “sorry” for offending.
The long-term damage done by the cartoons have only started to show lately as analysts have started to evaluate the current political and economic situation.
Senior economist Jakob Jakobsen told Xinhua news service earlier this week that the refusal of millions of Muslims to buy Danish products would cost the country at least 1.5 billion crowns in dairy exports, which is around 10 percent of Denmark’s estimated total sales.
According to the news agency, the boycott of Danish goods “has caused an 85 percent drop in Denmark's dairy exports.” The national statistics office also told the agency that “exports of dairy products such as milk, butter and cheese dropped to about 130 million Danish crowns ($34.67 million) in February from 840 million in the same month last year.”
Denmark did, however, reopen its embassy in Syria last week despite verbal threats against Danes. The embassy had been set on fire during rioting over the cartoons. Also in Indonesia, Denmark reportedly reopened its mission.
Although the aftermath of the cartoons is still shaky, youth initiatives, on both sides, are promising. Despite damage, conferences organized by Arab Muslim and Danish youth have become something of a trend; spreading understanding and aiming to shatter misconceptions on both sides.
This week, the Tabah foundation in Abu Dhabi hosted a delegation of Danish and Muslim youth, and the conference, according to their official Web site, was an attempt by Muslims “to facilitate channels of discussion between the Danish and Muslim people in an effort to live and interact with one another based upon mutual respect … despite different perspectives and world views.”
Earlier this month, Al-Jazeera hosted a live conference where Arab youth met with their Danish contemporaries, also over the issue of the cartoons. The conference was aimed at making the Danes understand why Muslims were upset and in some instances violent in reaction to the cartoons.
“According to the Islamic religion, even in times of war … it is forbidden to destroy a church, it is forbidden to attack a religious belief ... Muslims do not interfere in the religious beliefs of others,” Arab Student Union Chairman Ahmad El-Shater was quoted by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as saying.
El-Shater told the Danish representatives that the Arabs' “feelings and emotions” were hurt and that their feelings had to be “taken into consideration [by the Danes], even more than their minds." Sudanese Student Union Chairman Muhammad, whose last name was not disclosed, also added that “in our religion [Islam], harming the Prophet is where we draw the line. We are prepared to die to prevent this."
"Can this Danish newspaper or any other newspaper in the world draw a cartoon similar to the one about the Prophet Mohammed … about a Zionist rabbi?” El-Shater was quoted by MEMRI as saying.
In the wake of the crisis, a daily Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, had published cartoons about the Holocaust in an attempt to “push the limits of freedom of expression called upon by Europe and the West.” Hamshahri had challenged Jyllands-Posten to republish their cartoons.
After initially agreeing to print the Holocaust cartoons, the newspaper retracted their consent, claiming the act would entice more angry reactions and thus more trouble. According to CNN, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said, "In no circumstances will [the paper] publish Holocaust cartoons from an Iranian newspaper."
Also according to The Guardian UK, “sensitive” cartoons were previously rejected by the Jyllands-Posten. Around three years ago editors turned down “Jesus cartoons” on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
Regarded as “the most prominent” conference between Denmark and Muslims was the Amr Khaled-initiated “This is Our Prophet” dialogue. Although not a first, the initiative was widely criticized initially by Muslim scholars for “holding a dialogue in the wake of the Danish cartoons.”
The dialogue, which was held in Copenhagen more than a month ago, was deemed “immature” and “too soon” by some; but not for the youth who attended the almost weeklong event.
Sarah Habibti, a Danish Muslim and a youth representative at the conference said she supported the idea of having a Muslim convoy from the Middle East for a Western-Muslim dialogue.
“It was nice to know that we were remembered in the Middle East,” said Habibti.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1261
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 20, 2006
CAIRO: After over three months of protesting the publishing of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive, Danish and Muslim youth are trying to reach an understanding through a multitude of dialogues and joint conferences in Denmark and across the Arab world.
Muslims around the globe protested when a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published 12 caricatures; several showing the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, a schoolboy and a bearded man with a bomb for a turban.
Muslims staged worldwide protests that turned violent as other European papers reprinted the cartoons. Danish embassies in some Arab countries were closed down after being attacked.
Islamic scholars called for a boycott of all Danish goods and called on their respective governments to cut all diplomatic and trade ties with the country.
In response, Jyllands-Posten initially refused to issue an apology, saying that the publication of such cartoons was a form of freedom of expression. However, under local and international pressure, the newspaper finally said they were “sorry” for offending.
The long-term damage done by the cartoons have only started to show lately as analysts have started to evaluate the current political and economic situation.
Senior economist Jakob Jakobsen told Xinhua news service earlier this week that the refusal of millions of Muslims to buy Danish products would cost the country at least 1.5 billion crowns in dairy exports, which is around 10 percent of Denmark’s estimated total sales.
According to the news agency, the boycott of Danish goods “has caused an 85 percent drop in Denmark's dairy exports.” The national statistics office also told the agency that “exports of dairy products such as milk, butter and cheese dropped to about 130 million Danish crowns ($34.67 million) in February from 840 million in the same month last year.”
Denmark did, however, reopen its embassy in Syria last week despite verbal threats against Danes. The embassy had been set on fire during rioting over the cartoons. Also in Indonesia, Denmark reportedly reopened its mission.
Although the aftermath of the cartoons is still shaky, youth initiatives, on both sides, are promising. Despite damage, conferences organized by Arab Muslim and Danish youth have become something of a trend; spreading understanding and aiming to shatter misconceptions on both sides.
This week, the Tabah foundation in Abu Dhabi hosted a delegation of Danish and Muslim youth, and the conference, according to their official Web site, was an attempt by Muslims “to facilitate channels of discussion between the Danish and Muslim people in an effort to live and interact with one another based upon mutual respect … despite different perspectives and world views.”
Earlier this month, Al-Jazeera hosted a live conference where Arab youth met with their Danish contemporaries, also over the issue of the cartoons. The conference was aimed at making the Danes understand why Muslims were upset and in some instances violent in reaction to the cartoons.
“According to the Islamic religion, even in times of war … it is forbidden to destroy a church, it is forbidden to attack a religious belief ... Muslims do not interfere in the religious beliefs of others,” Arab Student Union Chairman Ahmad El-Shater was quoted by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) as saying.
El-Shater told the Danish representatives that the Arabs' “feelings and emotions” were hurt and that their feelings had to be “taken into consideration [by the Danes], even more than their minds." Sudanese Student Union Chairman Muhammad, whose last name was not disclosed, also added that “in our religion [Islam], harming the Prophet is where we draw the line. We are prepared to die to prevent this."
"Can this Danish newspaper or any other newspaper in the world draw a cartoon similar to the one about the Prophet Mohammed … about a Zionist rabbi?” El-Shater was quoted by MEMRI as saying.
In the wake of the crisis, a daily Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, had published cartoons about the Holocaust in an attempt to “push the limits of freedom of expression called upon by Europe and the West.” Hamshahri had challenged Jyllands-Posten to republish their cartoons.
After initially agreeing to print the Holocaust cartoons, the newspaper retracted their consent, claiming the act would entice more angry reactions and thus more trouble. According to CNN, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said, "In no circumstances will [the paper] publish Holocaust cartoons from an Iranian newspaper."
Also according to The Guardian UK, “sensitive” cartoons were previously rejected by the Jyllands-Posten. Around three years ago editors turned down “Jesus cartoons” on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
Regarded as “the most prominent” conference between Denmark and Muslims was the Amr Khaled-initiated “This is Our Prophet” dialogue. Although not a first, the initiative was widely criticized initially by Muslim scholars for “holding a dialogue in the wake of the Danish cartoons.”
The dialogue, which was held in Copenhagen more than a month ago, was deemed “immature” and “too soon” by some; but not for the youth who attended the almost weeklong event.
Sarah Habibti, a Danish Muslim and a youth representative at the conference said she supported the idea of having a Muslim convoy from the Middle East for a Western-Muslim dialogue.
“It was nice to know that we were remembered in the Middle East,” said Habibti.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1261
DSE: Students speak out against mass arrests
Students speak out against mass arrests
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 19, 2006
CAIRO: Thirty-five more students were arrested in what has been described as a “hostile and aggressive” crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students. The arrests provoked different reactions among students, and many have risen in rowdy protests while others have chosen to be less vocal in their anger.
“No to the emergency law,” one banner read at a Helwan University protest, where hundreds of students staged a demonstration in reaction to last Sunday’s wave of arrests targeting at least 43 of their fellow students at Assiut University “in the absence of charges,” students claim.
However on Monday, the same day of their protest, 35 others were arrested, raising the toll to around 78 in only a few days.
According to press reports, many of the students were arrested at their homes at dawn when security units searched houses and confiscated books and documents.
According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), around 14 were caught “as they gathered outside an Assiut court awaiting news regarding the cases” of other Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested and interrogated since Sunday morning.
Also according to DPA, detained students come from different disciplines including the colleges of engineering, commerce, law, agriculture and even Al-Azhar University.
As much as these arrests have inflamed anger among students of the “Muslim Brotherhood trend,” many others said a crackdown was “somehow expected.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood has always been targeted by the [government], therefore such arrests are not new to us,” said Seif Mohammed, an engineering student and a Brotherhood student leader at Ain Shams University. “However, I have to acknowledge that the timing is strange and the number of those arrested is the most shocking. Never has such a big number of students been arrested in a short period.”
According to Mohammed, each academic year “begins with a minor wave of arrests targeting Brotherhood students.” However, the group was almost never approached at any other time. “We have finals coming up in the next few weeks … the students who were arrested were not taken from Brotherhood camps, but from their own houses, from the streets. It is unusual.”
“Clearly, it is the security units’ way to silence the Brotherhood at a time when we are most active. The [government] can’t eliminate our influence so they start detaining us.”
“However, we will not let such arrests prevent us from activity,” Mohammed told The Daily Star Egypt, adding that most of the students in Cairo have decided not to respond with demonstrations.
According to the young leader, Brotherhood students around Cairo are at a critical moment.
“We will never cease to talk to the press,” said Mohammed. “But our activities as Brothers will continue as always. We have a reform project at Ain Shams and a plan that we intend to follow to the end … the threat of the arrests will not deter or distract us.”
According to Mohammed, most of the younger Brotherhood members realize they are threatened. “We are afraid. But the fear will not paralyze us. We will not even stop protesting and we will concentrate more on our work as a group.”
Brotherhood student arrests were immediately preceded by detentions of some senior members in Alexandria and Cairo, including some Brotherhood leaders. The detentions sparked wide criticism of the government by Brotherhood members.
"The arrests are but an escalation by the Egyptian government [against the Brothers] in response to the Islamist movement's activities in parliament,” said their official Web site.
The banned-but-tolerated group scored a recent success in upper-house elections, where 88 seats out of the assembly’s 454 are claimed by the Brotherhood; who now constitute the bulk of the opposition. In many instances, the members have challenged the government and criticized the National Democratic Party (NDP) policies.
In previous upper-house sessions, the movement’s representatives had exerted pressure on the government on issues like freedom of the press, the release of prisoners of conscience – especially those held without proper trials – and the elimination of the decades-long emergency law.
Emergency law has governed the country since the assassination of former president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. The NDP had initially endorsed the law during the 1967 war with Israel. However, since 1981, the law has been renewed and extended a reported 13 times.
According to the Egyptian Organization of Human Rights, “the state of emergency was due to expire [many times] … However, faced with growing opposition to the law, the government prematurely rushed the extension through [parliament]. The government utilized the international and regional context as justifications for renewing the state of emergency.”
Under the emergency law, cases involving terrorism and threats to national security are usually taken to military or state security emergency courts, “in which the accused do not receive all the constitutional protections of the civilian judicial system,” according to the organization’s Web site. Arrests and detentions are also allowed, without pressing immediate charges.
The government has recently announced its intention of removing the long-criticized emergency law, promising to enact an anti-terror bill to replace it. Critics have said that the new law fighting terrorism is “the emergency law with a new name.” Many have also expressed the opinion that it would be used for the same purpose as its predecessor; to silence or quash government opposition.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1258
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 19, 2006
CAIRO: Thirty-five more students were arrested in what has been described as a “hostile and aggressive” crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students. The arrests provoked different reactions among students, and many have risen in rowdy protests while others have chosen to be less vocal in their anger.
“No to the emergency law,” one banner read at a Helwan University protest, where hundreds of students staged a demonstration in reaction to last Sunday’s wave of arrests targeting at least 43 of their fellow students at Assiut University “in the absence of charges,” students claim.
However on Monday, the same day of their protest, 35 others were arrested, raising the toll to around 78 in only a few days.
According to press reports, many of the students were arrested at their homes at dawn when security units searched houses and confiscated books and documents.
According to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), around 14 were caught “as they gathered outside an Assiut court awaiting news regarding the cases” of other Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested and interrogated since Sunday morning.
Also according to DPA, detained students come from different disciplines including the colleges of engineering, commerce, law, agriculture and even Al-Azhar University.
As much as these arrests have inflamed anger among students of the “Muslim Brotherhood trend,” many others said a crackdown was “somehow expected.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood has always been targeted by the [government], therefore such arrests are not new to us,” said Seif Mohammed, an engineering student and a Brotherhood student leader at Ain Shams University. “However, I have to acknowledge that the timing is strange and the number of those arrested is the most shocking. Never has such a big number of students been arrested in a short period.”
According to Mohammed, each academic year “begins with a minor wave of arrests targeting Brotherhood students.” However, the group was almost never approached at any other time. “We have finals coming up in the next few weeks … the students who were arrested were not taken from Brotherhood camps, but from their own houses, from the streets. It is unusual.”
“Clearly, it is the security units’ way to silence the Brotherhood at a time when we are most active. The [government] can’t eliminate our influence so they start detaining us.”
“However, we will not let such arrests prevent us from activity,” Mohammed told The Daily Star Egypt, adding that most of the students in Cairo have decided not to respond with demonstrations.
According to the young leader, Brotherhood students around Cairo are at a critical moment.
“We will never cease to talk to the press,” said Mohammed. “But our activities as Brothers will continue as always. We have a reform project at Ain Shams and a plan that we intend to follow to the end … the threat of the arrests will not deter or distract us.”
According to Mohammed, most of the younger Brotherhood members realize they are threatened. “We are afraid. But the fear will not paralyze us. We will not even stop protesting and we will concentrate more on our work as a group.”
Brotherhood student arrests were immediately preceded by detentions of some senior members in Alexandria and Cairo, including some Brotherhood leaders. The detentions sparked wide criticism of the government by Brotherhood members.
"The arrests are but an escalation by the Egyptian government [against the Brothers] in response to the Islamist movement's activities in parliament,” said their official Web site.
The banned-but-tolerated group scored a recent success in upper-house elections, where 88 seats out of the assembly’s 454 are claimed by the Brotherhood; who now constitute the bulk of the opposition. In many instances, the members have challenged the government and criticized the National Democratic Party (NDP) policies.
In previous upper-house sessions, the movement’s representatives had exerted pressure on the government on issues like freedom of the press, the release of prisoners of conscience – especially those held without proper trials – and the elimination of the decades-long emergency law.
Emergency law has governed the country since the assassination of former president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. The NDP had initially endorsed the law during the 1967 war with Israel. However, since 1981, the law has been renewed and extended a reported 13 times.
According to the Egyptian Organization of Human Rights, “the state of emergency was due to expire [many times] … However, faced with growing opposition to the law, the government prematurely rushed the extension through [parliament]. The government utilized the international and regional context as justifications for renewing the state of emergency.”
Under the emergency law, cases involving terrorism and threats to national security are usually taken to military or state security emergency courts, “in which the accused do not receive all the constitutional protections of the civilian judicial system,” according to the organization’s Web site. Arrests and detentions are also allowed, without pressing immediate charges.
The government has recently announced its intention of removing the long-criticized emergency law, promising to enact an anti-terror bill to replace it. Critics have said that the new law fighting terrorism is “the emergency law with a new name.” Many have also expressed the opinion that it would be used for the same purpose as its predecessor; to silence or quash government opposition.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1258
DSE: Sectarian violence dominates local and international news
Sectarian violence dominates local and international news
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 18, 2006
CAIRO: Sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria and the death of a 24-year-old Muslim man made the headlines in Egypt’s national and independent press, with the incidents also receiving extensive coverage in international media.
Egypt’s second largest city experienced heavy rioting Sunday with police using teargas and live ammunition to disperse groups of Muslims and Christians who attacked one another. Al-Wafd features a picture of a Christian youth armed with thick batons in a face off with police. The ABC News International Web site features a picture of Muslim protestors throwing rocks. On its front page, independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm ran a picture of a youth, sword in hand, standing with the cross engraved on a wall behind him. The caption read, “Anger … a sword and a cross in the background.”
The violence began when Copts in three churches in Alexandria were attacked on Friday. A 78-year-old Copt died as a result of a knife attack outside Saints Church and at least seven others were wounded at the same time.
Following Saturday and Sunday’s clashes, the toll of those hurt and wounded rose to at least 22. According to an Associated Press report, the aforementioned “24-year-old Muslim died Sunday [possibly] after being beaten by Christians a day earlier.”
Mahmoud Abdel-Raziq, a young Muslim man, has been held responsible. An Alexandria court ruled Sunday that Abdel-Raziq was the perpetrator of the three attacks. The attacker, according to official reports, suffers from mental problems (initial reports stated that he is schizophrenic) and is currently being held under observation in a mental hospital according to the AP.
Al-Akhbar says the accused will remain in custody for 24 days. The national newspaper also reports that 67 rioters were arrested and an official investigation is in motion.
Many of the protesting Copts, “the rioters” included, have expressed their disappointment at Egypt’s security; some dismissing the claim that a “mentally ill person” was responsible for the three church attacks.
A dozen parliamentarians have also condemned security forces for their failure to catch the perpetrator of the attacks immediately after they took place, labeling security police “unreliable.”
“It is not to our benefit to jump to conclusions or give immature judgments concerning the accident in Alexandria,’’ said columnist Mohammad Barakat in Al-Akhbar. “We must [not heed] passionate cries, [and] unfounded accusations … the fact remains that national security and stability is the red line that no one must cross whatever happens.”
“We have seen some irresponsible attempts to circulate rumors, unwise claims and hasty judgments in order to create a religious faction and fuel [the anger] leading to it. These attempts, thus, must be faced and immediately stopped … using the force of the law and the sword of justice that all Egyptians must yield in the face of.”
On the other hand, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports a demonstration of a different kind that broke out in Alexandria. This one, however, united Muslims and Christians under the slogan, “Let both the crest [symbol of Islam] and the cross live as one.” The demonstrators stressed the importance of national unity and harmony in face of such tension.
In another development, Egypt arrested 43 students studying at Assiut University for suspected membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood; other charges against them have not yet been revealed. Mahmoud Hussein, the Assiut Muslim Brotherhood leader, told Al-Jazeera that “the arrests were part of the authorities' uninterrupted campaign of detentions.”
A representative of the Brotherhood students at Assiut University, who refused to disclose his name to Al-Jazeera, “fearing police reprisal,” told the network that “security men stormed students' apartments in three residential areas at dawn and confiscated books and papers.” The student also said that demonstrations may take place in the university if the detained are not instantly released.
Al-Jazeera also reports that on Saturday, “police detained 12 suspected members in the Al-Sharqiyya and Behira provinces north of Cairo.”
“The arrests have focused on provinces where support for the group is strongest and in districts that elected group members to parliament in last year's elections,” the network says.
A Muslim Brotherhood insider has told the Save Egypt Front, a London-based opposition Web site, that he considers such arrests “illegitimate” and “impetuous.” According to the Brotherhood member, such attacks on the “Brothers mean to hinder the Muslim Brotherhood’s admirable activities in Egypt’s parliament.”
The latest crackdown on the Brotherhood brings the number arrested, including leaders and students, to at least 100.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s press awaits parliament’s decision concerning the amendment of a press law that allows imprisonment of journalists in libel and slander cases.
Three days ago, Galal Aref, press syndicate chairman, led hundreds of journalists in a demonstration. The demonstrators demanded that parliament pass the amendments recommended by the syndicate for approval; the journalists said they wanted to make sure the new laws do not suppress journalists in any sense and that they revoke imprisonment and arrest “once and for all.”
However, in response, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was quoted in Monday’s papers as saying that the press “syndicate must set an alternative to imprisonment; penalties which reporters must take” in case of libel.
“The fact that we [the government] are negotiating the amendment of the law and the cancellation of the prison sentences for journalists with you [the syndicate and reporters] does not mean that we give up the right to reshape the law in whatever form we see fit … even if the syndicate does not approve of it,” added Nazif.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1248
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 18, 2006
CAIRO: Sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in Alexandria and the death of a 24-year-old Muslim man made the headlines in Egypt’s national and independent press, with the incidents also receiving extensive coverage in international media.
Egypt’s second largest city experienced heavy rioting Sunday with police using teargas and live ammunition to disperse groups of Muslims and Christians who attacked one another. Al-Wafd features a picture of a Christian youth armed with thick batons in a face off with police. The ABC News International Web site features a picture of Muslim protestors throwing rocks. On its front page, independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm ran a picture of a youth, sword in hand, standing with the cross engraved on a wall behind him. The caption read, “Anger … a sword and a cross in the background.”
The violence began when Copts in three churches in Alexandria were attacked on Friday. A 78-year-old Copt died as a result of a knife attack outside Saints Church and at least seven others were wounded at the same time.
Following Saturday and Sunday’s clashes, the toll of those hurt and wounded rose to at least 22. According to an Associated Press report, the aforementioned “24-year-old Muslim died Sunday [possibly] after being beaten by Christians a day earlier.”
Mahmoud Abdel-Raziq, a young Muslim man, has been held responsible. An Alexandria court ruled Sunday that Abdel-Raziq was the perpetrator of the three attacks. The attacker, according to official reports, suffers from mental problems (initial reports stated that he is schizophrenic) and is currently being held under observation in a mental hospital according to the AP.
Al-Akhbar says the accused will remain in custody for 24 days. The national newspaper also reports that 67 rioters were arrested and an official investigation is in motion.
Many of the protesting Copts, “the rioters” included, have expressed their disappointment at Egypt’s security; some dismissing the claim that a “mentally ill person” was responsible for the three church attacks.
A dozen parliamentarians have also condemned security forces for their failure to catch the perpetrator of the attacks immediately after they took place, labeling security police “unreliable.”
“It is not to our benefit to jump to conclusions or give immature judgments concerning the accident in Alexandria,’’ said columnist Mohammad Barakat in Al-Akhbar. “We must [not heed] passionate cries, [and] unfounded accusations … the fact remains that national security and stability is the red line that no one must cross whatever happens.”
“We have seen some irresponsible attempts to circulate rumors, unwise claims and hasty judgments in order to create a religious faction and fuel [the anger] leading to it. These attempts, thus, must be faced and immediately stopped … using the force of the law and the sword of justice that all Egyptians must yield in the face of.”
On the other hand, Al-Masry Al-Youm reports a demonstration of a different kind that broke out in Alexandria. This one, however, united Muslims and Christians under the slogan, “Let both the crest [symbol of Islam] and the cross live as one.” The demonstrators stressed the importance of national unity and harmony in face of such tension.
In another development, Egypt arrested 43 students studying at Assiut University for suspected membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood; other charges against them have not yet been revealed. Mahmoud Hussein, the Assiut Muslim Brotherhood leader, told Al-Jazeera that “the arrests were part of the authorities' uninterrupted campaign of detentions.”
A representative of the Brotherhood students at Assiut University, who refused to disclose his name to Al-Jazeera, “fearing police reprisal,” told the network that “security men stormed students' apartments in three residential areas at dawn and confiscated books and papers.” The student also said that demonstrations may take place in the university if the detained are not instantly released.
Al-Jazeera also reports that on Saturday, “police detained 12 suspected members in the Al-Sharqiyya and Behira provinces north of Cairo.”
“The arrests have focused on provinces where support for the group is strongest and in districts that elected group members to parliament in last year's elections,” the network says.
A Muslim Brotherhood insider has told the Save Egypt Front, a London-based opposition Web site, that he considers such arrests “illegitimate” and “impetuous.” According to the Brotherhood member, such attacks on the “Brothers mean to hinder the Muslim Brotherhood’s admirable activities in Egypt’s parliament.”
The latest crackdown on the Brotherhood brings the number arrested, including leaders and students, to at least 100.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s press awaits parliament’s decision concerning the amendment of a press law that allows imprisonment of journalists in libel and slander cases.
Three days ago, Galal Aref, press syndicate chairman, led hundreds of journalists in a demonstration. The demonstrators demanded that parliament pass the amendments recommended by the syndicate for approval; the journalists said they wanted to make sure the new laws do not suppress journalists in any sense and that they revoke imprisonment and arrest “once and for all.”
However, in response, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was quoted in Monday’s papers as saying that the press “syndicate must set an alternative to imprisonment; penalties which reporters must take” in case of libel.
“The fact that we [the government] are negotiating the amendment of the law and the cancellation of the prison sentences for journalists with you [the syndicate and reporters] does not mean that we give up the right to reshape the law in whatever form we see fit … even if the syndicate does not approve of it,” added Nazif.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1248
Thursday, April 13, 2006
DSE: Mubarak’s comments make headlines around the region
Mubarak’s comments make headlines around the region
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 11, 2006
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak’s comments regarding Shiite Muslims in Iraq sparked region-wide criticism, and independent newspapers around the region have been following up on the issue. A high-profile Shiite Saudi writer, Fouad Ibrahim, told the Associated Press that the president’s remarks are "the engine which drives the whole region towards civil war.”
"Definitely Iran has influence on Shiites. Shiites are 65 percent of the Iraqis… Most of the Shiites are loyal to Iran, and not to the countries they are living in,” Mubarak had told a broadcast show in Al-Arabiya television. “Civil war has almost started among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and those who are coming from Asia… I don't know how Iraq will be brought together. At this moment, Iraq is almost close to destruction."
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mubarak said that “a U.S. withdrawal would hurt the situation and increase the possibility of terrorism beyond Iraq.”
He was also quoted as saying that any troop withdrawal "would be a blow. The war would be inflamed among Iraqis. It would become a theater for a dreadful civil war and then the terrorist operation will be escalated – not only in Iraq.”
Following the interview, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad attempted to stem the tide of criticism over the remarks. The spokesman said that Mubarak only meant to show his "extreme concern for the continuing deterioration of the situation in Iraq."
The Egyptian Al-Wafd, an opposition newspaper, quoted Shiite leaders in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq condemning Mubarak’s comments. A top Iranian leader said that Iran’s influence on the Shiite of Iraq is more spiritual than political, and that they always aim to create harmony and understanding between different religious sects in the war-torn country.
According to the Financial Times (FT), several Iraqi leaders “reacted angrily” following the president’s claims in a joint press conference. Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, told FT that “the Shiite community had been ‘infuriated’ by the comments and that he had demanded an explanation from the Egyptian foreign ministry… ‘There has to be damage limitation,’ he said.” Moreover, the Iraqi prime minister rejected claims of a civil war, saying that Iraqis would never resort to civil wars to solve their disputes and that what the country is passing through is a momentary tension and clashes that are not expected to lead into a civil war.
On another level, Reuters reports that the Egyptian authorities had stopped detained former Al-Ghad chairman Ayman Nour from writing and sending articles to his party’s newspaper. According to Reuters, Nour’s wife and party spokesman Gamilla Ismail said that “the prison authorities said he is not allowed to send written papers outside the prison anymore” and that “there is a decision to stop him from writing.”
This incident is not a first since Ismail was earlier denied visitation rights. In one of her regular visits, Ismail was barred from prison and her requests to see Nour and receive his written work was denied. Following this incident, Nour’s supporters had come to the Tora Mazraa prison, where he is carrying out his sentence, and conducted sat-in in protest.
“They want to bar him for the public life,” Ismail had told The Daily Star Egypt. “They want him to be forgotten.”
Nour, who was one of Mubarak’s principal contestants in last year’s presidential elections, was indicted of forgery last December and was given a five-year prison sentence.
Also in Egypt, after an archeological team made a stunning discovery in Fayyoum around four days ago, Farouk Hosni said that the series of structures discovered include “administrative buildings, granaries and residences believed to have belonged to priests of the temple, and was dedicated to Renenutet, the goddess of harvest, as well as the crocodile-god Sobk and falcon-deity Horus,” Middle East Times reported.
"This find can be considered one of the most important discoveries in Fayyoum, as it unveiled remnants of all architectural elements making up the Medinet Madi temple," Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was quoted as saying. This discovery is expected to give clues of the ancient temple’s secrets.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1171
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 11, 2006
CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak’s comments regarding Shiite Muslims in Iraq sparked region-wide criticism, and independent newspapers around the region have been following up on the issue. A high-profile Shiite Saudi writer, Fouad Ibrahim, told the Associated Press that the president’s remarks are "the engine which drives the whole region towards civil war.”
"Definitely Iran has influence on Shiites. Shiites are 65 percent of the Iraqis… Most of the Shiites are loyal to Iran, and not to the countries they are living in,” Mubarak had told a broadcast show in Al-Arabiya television. “Civil war has almost started among Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and those who are coming from Asia… I don't know how Iraq will be brought together. At this moment, Iraq is almost close to destruction."
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mubarak said that “a U.S. withdrawal would hurt the situation and increase the possibility of terrorism beyond Iraq.”
He was also quoted as saying that any troop withdrawal "would be a blow. The war would be inflamed among Iraqis. It would become a theater for a dreadful civil war and then the terrorist operation will be escalated – not only in Iraq.”
Following the interview, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad attempted to stem the tide of criticism over the remarks. The spokesman said that Mubarak only meant to show his "extreme concern for the continuing deterioration of the situation in Iraq."
The Egyptian Al-Wafd, an opposition newspaper, quoted Shiite leaders in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq condemning Mubarak’s comments. A top Iranian leader said that Iran’s influence on the Shiite of Iraq is more spiritual than political, and that they always aim to create harmony and understanding between different religious sects in the war-torn country.
According to the Financial Times (FT), several Iraqi leaders “reacted angrily” following the president’s claims in a joint press conference. Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, told FT that “the Shiite community had been ‘infuriated’ by the comments and that he had demanded an explanation from the Egyptian foreign ministry… ‘There has to be damage limitation,’ he said.” Moreover, the Iraqi prime minister rejected claims of a civil war, saying that Iraqis would never resort to civil wars to solve their disputes and that what the country is passing through is a momentary tension and clashes that are not expected to lead into a civil war.
On another level, Reuters reports that the Egyptian authorities had stopped detained former Al-Ghad chairman Ayman Nour from writing and sending articles to his party’s newspaper. According to Reuters, Nour’s wife and party spokesman Gamilla Ismail said that “the prison authorities said he is not allowed to send written papers outside the prison anymore” and that “there is a decision to stop him from writing.”
This incident is not a first since Ismail was earlier denied visitation rights. In one of her regular visits, Ismail was barred from prison and her requests to see Nour and receive his written work was denied. Following this incident, Nour’s supporters had come to the Tora Mazraa prison, where he is carrying out his sentence, and conducted sat-in in protest.
“They want to bar him for the public life,” Ismail had told The Daily Star Egypt. “They want him to be forgotten.”
Nour, who was one of Mubarak’s principal contestants in last year’s presidential elections, was indicted of forgery last December and was given a five-year prison sentence.
Also in Egypt, after an archeological team made a stunning discovery in Fayyoum around four days ago, Farouk Hosni said that the series of structures discovered include “administrative buildings, granaries and residences believed to have belonged to priests of the temple, and was dedicated to Renenutet, the goddess of harvest, as well as the crocodile-god Sobk and falcon-deity Horus,” Middle East Times reported.
"This find can be considered one of the most important discoveries in Fayyoum, as it unveiled remnants of all architectural elements making up the Medinet Madi temple," Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was quoted as saying. This discovery is expected to give clues of the ancient temple’s secrets.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1171
DSE: Heavy fine levied in libel case
Heavy fine levied in libel case
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 10, 2006
CAIRO: A Cairo court fined a female reporter from Rose Al-Youssef newspaper LE 20,000 for allegedly writing a libelous story concerning a top official in the Ministry of Culture. The daily sacked the journalist as a result, even though the latter vehemently insists her story was true.
“They say they have protected journalists from imprisonment. But giving me such a fine is as bad as imprisonment,” says Ayat El-Sherbiny, a young reporter. “All the same; if I don’t pay within a few days I will be arrested and I will go to prison.”
“I do not have this kind of money,” adds El-Sherbiny, who was expelled by the newspaper shortly before her indictment. According to the reporter, she was already on probation at the young newspaper when the case was brought against her. Since she wasn’t a permanent employee, the newspaper did not want the trouble of standing by a prosecuted reporter, says El-Sherbiny.
“I have been working in the newspaper since its creation, from day one,” says El-Sherbiny. “I remember setting up with them the zero issue. So I do not understand how they could abandon me as such.”
El-Sherbiny’s case first began late last year when she reported a story about Samir Ghareeb, a top official in the Ministry of Culture. The reporter wrote that Ghareeb owed a company more than LE 3 million in a financial deal.
“The story was already published in the [national newspapers] Al-Gomhouriya and Al-Akhbar,” said El-Sherbiny “I used these papers as my main source and changed the wordings of the story.”
According to the reporter, Ghareeb personally called her to protest the story; he was particularly angry over one word she had chosen.
“The word ‘embezzlement’ was not right, he claimed. It was a typo, I had said in defense. But he didn’t believe me,” claims El-Sherbiny. “He then started threatening me; telling me he will put me behind bars and that he will destroy my career.”
Following the alleged phone call, Ghareeb filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office. When the complaint was accepted, Ghareeb pursued the case. The Supreme Court initially rejected the case due to lack of evidence, saying that it was not a libel and slander issue, explains El-Sherbiny.
“My lawyer and I presented my source stories and it was clear that there was [an] absence of malice and not enough evidence to indict me.”
“But Samir Ghareeb did not give up, and he took my case to another court.” The second Cairo court, however, sentenced El-Sherbiny. The reporter said she was “lucky” enough to be sentenced in absentia or else she would have been kept in custody until she paid the fine.
According to El-Sherbiny, the fine that she received in this Cairo court is only the beginning. “The court gives the plaintiff the right to demand the compensation that he or she sees fit … and I would have to pay it then. The LE 20,000 is just the initial fine.”
“My accuser is already disappointed that I was not sentenced to prison,” states El-Sherbiny. “He would do anything to destroy me.”
Although being a junior reporter and not a member of the press syndicate, several journalists have shown sympathy with their fellow journalist. Independent Nahdet Misr and Al-Masry Al-Youm journalists told the reporter that they were willing to stand by her. Nahdet Misr published an article on Sunday supporting El-Sherbiny.
El-Sherbiny’s case follows a series of libel and slander cases raised against Egypt’s journalists. Although similar cases have ended in reconciliation, backed by their respective newspapers and the press syndicate, hopes of reconciliation have already faded says the fined reporter.
“I was offered reconciliation by Ghareeb’s lawyer,” she says. “He told me that I would have to apologize in a four-column front page article admitting that I am a liar and that I had fabricated the whole story.”
“The lawyer added that he wanted me to pay his fees … but of course I refused the whole deal.”
“I have nowhere to turn to now,” says El-Sherbiny. “I am afraid of being arrested; I cannot pay this amount of money. So I will have to stay at home or in hiding. I can’t even walk the streets.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1152
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 10, 2006
CAIRO: A Cairo court fined a female reporter from Rose Al-Youssef newspaper LE 20,000 for allegedly writing a libelous story concerning a top official in the Ministry of Culture. The daily sacked the journalist as a result, even though the latter vehemently insists her story was true.
“They say they have protected journalists from imprisonment. But giving me such a fine is as bad as imprisonment,” says Ayat El-Sherbiny, a young reporter. “All the same; if I don’t pay within a few days I will be arrested and I will go to prison.”
“I do not have this kind of money,” adds El-Sherbiny, who was expelled by the newspaper shortly before her indictment. According to the reporter, she was already on probation at the young newspaper when the case was brought against her. Since she wasn’t a permanent employee, the newspaper did not want the trouble of standing by a prosecuted reporter, says El-Sherbiny.
“I have been working in the newspaper since its creation, from day one,” says El-Sherbiny. “I remember setting up with them the zero issue. So I do not understand how they could abandon me as such.”
El-Sherbiny’s case first began late last year when she reported a story about Samir Ghareeb, a top official in the Ministry of Culture. The reporter wrote that Ghareeb owed a company more than LE 3 million in a financial deal.
“The story was already published in the [national newspapers] Al-Gomhouriya and Al-Akhbar,” said El-Sherbiny “I used these papers as my main source and changed the wordings of the story.”
According to the reporter, Ghareeb personally called her to protest the story; he was particularly angry over one word she had chosen.
“The word ‘embezzlement’ was not right, he claimed. It was a typo, I had said in defense. But he didn’t believe me,” claims El-Sherbiny. “He then started threatening me; telling me he will put me behind bars and that he will destroy my career.”
Following the alleged phone call, Ghareeb filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office. When the complaint was accepted, Ghareeb pursued the case. The Supreme Court initially rejected the case due to lack of evidence, saying that it was not a libel and slander issue, explains El-Sherbiny.
“My lawyer and I presented my source stories and it was clear that there was [an] absence of malice and not enough evidence to indict me.”
“But Samir Ghareeb did not give up, and he took my case to another court.” The second Cairo court, however, sentenced El-Sherbiny. The reporter said she was “lucky” enough to be sentenced in absentia or else she would have been kept in custody until she paid the fine.
According to El-Sherbiny, the fine that she received in this Cairo court is only the beginning. “The court gives the plaintiff the right to demand the compensation that he or she sees fit … and I would have to pay it then. The LE 20,000 is just the initial fine.”
“My accuser is already disappointed that I was not sentenced to prison,” states El-Sherbiny. “He would do anything to destroy me.”
Although being a junior reporter and not a member of the press syndicate, several journalists have shown sympathy with their fellow journalist. Independent Nahdet Misr and Al-Masry Al-Youm journalists told the reporter that they were willing to stand by her. Nahdet Misr published an article on Sunday supporting El-Sherbiny.
El-Sherbiny’s case follows a series of libel and slander cases raised against Egypt’s journalists. Although similar cases have ended in reconciliation, backed by their respective newspapers and the press syndicate, hopes of reconciliation have already faded says the fined reporter.
“I was offered reconciliation by Ghareeb’s lawyer,” she says. “He told me that I would have to apologize in a four-column front page article admitting that I am a liar and that I had fabricated the whole story.”
“The lawyer added that he wanted me to pay his fees … but of course I refused the whole deal.”
“I have nowhere to turn to now,” says El-Sherbiny. “I am afraid of being arrested; I cannot pay this amount of money. So I will have to stay at home or in hiding. I can’t even walk the streets.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1152
DSE: Female journalist willing to apologize
Female journalist willing to apologize
Malash case postponed until May; lawyer says they will attempt reconciliation
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 6, 2006
CAIRO: After successfully appealing her indictment for libel in a Giza court, Amira Malash, a journalist with Al-Fajr, is making an attempt at reconciliation with her accuser to put “an end to this case.”
In Wednesday’s session, the Giza court reviewed the attorney’s request concerning the appeal and accepted a postponement of the case until May. The attorney informed the Giza court judge that the defendant wants to reconcile.
Initially the court sentenced Malash to one year in prison for allegedly printing libelous information about an Egyptian judge who was accused of corruption in an Alexandria court. Malash, who pleaded innocent, said she had obtained the information through official records and court sessions that she had been assigned to cover.
Malash told The Daily Star Egypt earlier that the judge who looked into her case was “hostile” and “apparently angry at reporters.” Malash, who left the Giza courthouse only minutes before the sentence was announced, had said it “was clear from the start” that the judge was biased against Malash and favored the plaintiff, since he was a judge himself.
Malash said her indictment seemed predetermined, adding that her lawyers were not given a chance to defend her case. Press reports at the time reported that it only took the judge “seven minutes” to wrap up the case and pronounce a verdict.
At first refusing to grant her appeal, members of the judiciary deemed Malash’s sentence mandatory. Due to pressure from the media and her attorney’s insistence on taking the court to the cassation court, Malash succeeded in appealing.
“I just want to stay with my family,” Malash had told The Daily Star Egypt prior to the acceptance of appeal. She left home in fear of being arrested and was staying with some distant acquaintances. “I need my family’s support. All I want is my sentence to be frozen so I can walk the streets freely.”
The appeal thus annulled the sentence temporarily and gave Malash the chance to be free to work as long as her case is being reviewed.
Meanwhile, Malash’s plaintiff has asked Al-Fajr newspaper to publish an apology, “One that honors judges and fits the judiciary’s status in society.” The newspaper agreed to print the apology in return for being granted a pardon for their reporter.
Although she insisted that “it is just a news story … not a criminal act” and that her information was accurate, Malash’s attorney told the press that she has resorted to reconciliation and apologizing to avoid imprisonment.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1119
Malash case postponed until May; lawyer says they will attempt reconciliation
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 6, 2006
CAIRO: After successfully appealing her indictment for libel in a Giza court, Amira Malash, a journalist with Al-Fajr, is making an attempt at reconciliation with her accuser to put “an end to this case.”
In Wednesday’s session, the Giza court reviewed the attorney’s request concerning the appeal and accepted a postponement of the case until May. The attorney informed the Giza court judge that the defendant wants to reconcile.
Initially the court sentenced Malash to one year in prison for allegedly printing libelous information about an Egyptian judge who was accused of corruption in an Alexandria court. Malash, who pleaded innocent, said she had obtained the information through official records and court sessions that she had been assigned to cover.
Malash told The Daily Star Egypt earlier that the judge who looked into her case was “hostile” and “apparently angry at reporters.” Malash, who left the Giza courthouse only minutes before the sentence was announced, had said it “was clear from the start” that the judge was biased against Malash and favored the plaintiff, since he was a judge himself.
Malash said her indictment seemed predetermined, adding that her lawyers were not given a chance to defend her case. Press reports at the time reported that it only took the judge “seven minutes” to wrap up the case and pronounce a verdict.
At first refusing to grant her appeal, members of the judiciary deemed Malash’s sentence mandatory. Due to pressure from the media and her attorney’s insistence on taking the court to the cassation court, Malash succeeded in appealing.
“I just want to stay with my family,” Malash had told The Daily Star Egypt prior to the acceptance of appeal. She left home in fear of being arrested and was staying with some distant acquaintances. “I need my family’s support. All I want is my sentence to be frozen so I can walk the streets freely.”
The appeal thus annulled the sentence temporarily and gave Malash the chance to be free to work as long as her case is being reviewed.
Meanwhile, Malash’s plaintiff has asked Al-Fajr newspaper to publish an apology, “One that honors judges and fits the judiciary’s status in society.” The newspaper agreed to print the apology in return for being granted a pardon for their reporter.
Although she insisted that “it is just a news story … not a criminal act” and that her information was accurate, Malash’s attorney told the press that she has resorted to reconciliation and apologizing to avoid imprisonment.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1119
DSE: License for aspiring party delayed
License for aspiring party delayed
The Al-Karama party will have to wait until June to hear the final ruling
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 5, 2006
CAIRO: In yet another setback for opposition groups, the Egyptian Political Parties Court has once again postponed a request by the Al-Karama (Dignity) group to officially form a party.
“We are certainly going to win the case,” a young member of Al-Karama, Mohammad Al-Hameedy, tells The Daily Star Egypt preceding Saturday’s court session. “We will become a party, God willing.”
For some, the postponement until June sounds much like another rejection, and being granted legitimacy is beginning to seem more and more far-fetched.
Hamdeen Sabahi, a journalist, independent legislator in Egypt’s lower house and an opposition leader, founded Al-Karama in 1999, and has for last past six years been trying to officially form the party, with his requests continuously denied.
According to Reuters, the group’s “latest bid for a party license was rejected on grounds that the group advocated ‘a radical ideology’.”
Refusing to give up hope, Sabahi filed a case in the political parties’ court claiming the refusal to grant his group legitimacy was unconstitutional. Sabahi says that his group will aim to reinstate people’s faith in politics.
"The role of legal political parties is ending, and if these parties remain alive, they'll be much weaker than they are now,” Sabahi told the Qatari Al-Jazeera network Sunday.
Originally a loyalist of the Nasserite party, Sabahi left the organization in 1996 to form his own independent group. Still faithful to the Nasserite philosophy, Sabahi based his new constitution on some of the Nasserite principles, but amended, modernized and added to them.
The Al-Karama leader recently told Al-Jazeera that "migrations” from the Nasserite party to Al-Karama are ongoing, as his group’s popularity among the opposition increases. Young as it is, Al-Karama’s short history remains clean, untarnished by factions, defections or inner struggle.
Although lacking official status as a party, Al-Karama functions much like one, with a headquarters and all. They have published a constitution, one which members publicize, and occasionally distribute, at political conferences and assemblies.
The party published its first newspaper last October from their downtown office, after obtaining a license in June. Sabahi told the press at the time that a newspaper is an important tool for freedom of expression and political change.
Reportedly, the paper’s very first headline, in line with its stance as a fierce critic of the government, condemned the supposed hereditary transfer of power from President Hosni Mubarak to his youngest son Gamal. The headline, according to reports, read: "We Vow by God Almighty that Gamal Mubarak will not inherit us."
The group accepts membership and carries out scheduled assemblies, meetings and lectures under its name. During sit-ins and protests, often in conjunction with the Kefaya (Enough) movement, they carry banners with the name “Al-Karama Party” and they refer to their group as such.
Last month, the group’s young representatives set up a table in Cairo’s press syndicate during the third Cairo conference, an annual forum for political parties and various national and international political and opposition groups. The youth presented their party to members of the conference, selling group publications, activity brochures and distributing their contact information and some of their statements concerning current issues on Egypt’s political arena.
Sabahi and some of his followers previously told the press that they believe that the government’s practice of throttling promising political groups could be the reason why Al-Karama is being denied legitimacy. Simultaneously, the government has not left any of Egypt’s political forces with sufficient breathing space to represent their suggestions and recommendations, or to publicize their actions, Sabahi said.
Last year Sabahi had indicated that he might run for the presidency; however, he later changed his mind, saying that Article 76, the amendment to the constitution allowing multiple candidates to run in presidential elections, makes it difficult for independents to run for office.
Collaborating with opposition parties and the Kefaya movement, Sabahi called upon concerned citizens to boycott the presidential elections and on the opposition to form a strong “national opposition front.”
"Anyone who will run will be a collaborator with the ruling party in their fraud against the will of the people," Sabahi told the Associated Press shortly before the presidential elections, adding that they did not witness “real elections but a crude soap opera."
Sabahi remains a strong critic of the current government through his newly founded newspaper. He is backed by the force of his growing organization, even as Al-Karama’s full-license has yet to be obtained.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1103
The Al-Karama party will have to wait until June to hear the final ruling
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 5, 2006
CAIRO: In yet another setback for opposition groups, the Egyptian Political Parties Court has once again postponed a request by the Al-Karama (Dignity) group to officially form a party.
“We are certainly going to win the case,” a young member of Al-Karama, Mohammad Al-Hameedy, tells The Daily Star Egypt preceding Saturday’s court session. “We will become a party, God willing.”
For some, the postponement until June sounds much like another rejection, and being granted legitimacy is beginning to seem more and more far-fetched.
Hamdeen Sabahi, a journalist, independent legislator in Egypt’s lower house and an opposition leader, founded Al-Karama in 1999, and has for last past six years been trying to officially form the party, with his requests continuously denied.
According to Reuters, the group’s “latest bid for a party license was rejected on grounds that the group advocated ‘a radical ideology’.”
Refusing to give up hope, Sabahi filed a case in the political parties’ court claiming the refusal to grant his group legitimacy was unconstitutional. Sabahi says that his group will aim to reinstate people’s faith in politics.
"The role of legal political parties is ending, and if these parties remain alive, they'll be much weaker than they are now,” Sabahi told the Qatari Al-Jazeera network Sunday.
Originally a loyalist of the Nasserite party, Sabahi left the organization in 1996 to form his own independent group. Still faithful to the Nasserite philosophy, Sabahi based his new constitution on some of the Nasserite principles, but amended, modernized and added to them.
The Al-Karama leader recently told Al-Jazeera that "migrations” from the Nasserite party to Al-Karama are ongoing, as his group’s popularity among the opposition increases. Young as it is, Al-Karama’s short history remains clean, untarnished by factions, defections or inner struggle.
Although lacking official status as a party, Al-Karama functions much like one, with a headquarters and all. They have published a constitution, one which members publicize, and occasionally distribute, at political conferences and assemblies.
The party published its first newspaper last October from their downtown office, after obtaining a license in June. Sabahi told the press at the time that a newspaper is an important tool for freedom of expression and political change.
Reportedly, the paper’s very first headline, in line with its stance as a fierce critic of the government, condemned the supposed hereditary transfer of power from President Hosni Mubarak to his youngest son Gamal. The headline, according to reports, read: "We Vow by God Almighty that Gamal Mubarak will not inherit us."
The group accepts membership and carries out scheduled assemblies, meetings and lectures under its name. During sit-ins and protests, often in conjunction with the Kefaya (Enough) movement, they carry banners with the name “Al-Karama Party” and they refer to their group as such.
Last month, the group’s young representatives set up a table in Cairo’s press syndicate during the third Cairo conference, an annual forum for political parties and various national and international political and opposition groups. The youth presented their party to members of the conference, selling group publications, activity brochures and distributing their contact information and some of their statements concerning current issues on Egypt’s political arena.
Sabahi and some of his followers previously told the press that they believe that the government’s practice of throttling promising political groups could be the reason why Al-Karama is being denied legitimacy. Simultaneously, the government has not left any of Egypt’s political forces with sufficient breathing space to represent their suggestions and recommendations, or to publicize their actions, Sabahi said.
Last year Sabahi had indicated that he might run for the presidency; however, he later changed his mind, saying that Article 76, the amendment to the constitution allowing multiple candidates to run in presidential elections, makes it difficult for independents to run for office.
Collaborating with opposition parties and the Kefaya movement, Sabahi called upon concerned citizens to boycott the presidential elections and on the opposition to form a strong “national opposition front.”
"Anyone who will run will be a collaborator with the ruling party in their fraud against the will of the people," Sabahi told the Associated Press shortly before the presidential elections, adding that they did not witness “real elections but a crude soap opera."
Sabahi remains a strong critic of the current government through his newly founded newspaper. He is backed by the force of his growing organization, even as Al-Karama’s full-license has yet to be obtained.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1103
DSE: Al-Wafd bloodshed dominates headlines
Al-Wafd bloodshed dominates headlines
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 4, 2006
CAIRO: The aftermath of Saturday’s bloodshed at Al-Wafd headquarters due to in-fighting between two party factions has not yet faded, with news of the incident still sending shockwaves through media outlets as an official investigation into the incident kicks off.
Noaman Gomaa, recently overthrown party leader, and others, including Ashraf Nasser, son of MP Ahmed Nasser, were arrested by security forces after storming the party’s headquarters in Dokki at an early hour. Gomaa and his supporters were attempting to seize the headquarters after it had fallen under the command of their party rivals Mahmoud Abaza, Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour and newly elected party chairman Mustapha Al-Taweel.
Despite a prosecutor’s order guaranteeing Gomaa his rights to the compound, with the inner party disputes still being investigated by two Cairo courts including the Political Parties Court, the rivals insisted that Gomaa had no claim to the party or its property.
Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that Noaman Gomaa, deemed principally responsible for the violence, is still being held in custody along with 16 other loyalists. The detained are accused of possession of unlicensed firearms, possession of explosives, attempted murder, thuggery, vandalism and arson, unauthorized assemblage with intent of transgressing, disturbing the peace and terrorizing innocents. The detainees denied all accusations, even though field investigations confirmed most of the charges.
The government is responsible for the Al-Wafd party infractions, claimed Mohammad Abdel-Alim, deputy leader of Al-Wafd. “The government fuels conspiracies inside Al-Wafd.”
Abdel-Alim also accused security forces of unreliability, saying that they were responsible for the heightened violence. After the breakout of violence in on Al-Wafd’s premises, security forces arrived on the scene more than eight hours later; a fact extensively criticized by political leaders and by Gomaa’s daughter herself.
In rhetoric similar to Abdel-Alim’s, Abdel-Nour, an Al-Wafd senior member and former parliamentarian, told The Daily Star Egypt that security forces had not moved to stop the fighting, describing them as “passive” forces. Iman Noaman Gomaa also told the press that security forces’ reluctance to interfere and put an early stop to violence shows an unexplained bias against Gomaa and seems to serve “someone’s” interests.
In response to these claims, Shura Council Head and President of the High Council of Journalism Safwat El-Sherif told the press on Sunday that security was not entitled to stop fighting as long as it occurred within the borders of the party’s compound, adding that internal conflicts were not the concern of the government, as long as they occurred on party grounds.
In his daily TV show, Cairo Today, presenter Amr Adib demonstrated surprise at such statements, saying that “apparently” the government considers party grounds and compounds like embassies; “foreign grounds.”
“What if they had killed off each other inside the party? Wouldn’t the security intervene even then?” said Adib.
On another level, Gamal Mubarak’s local TV statements to presenter Lamees El-Hadeedy were shunned as “laughable” and “unbelievable” by opposition and independent media and political veterans. The younger Mubarak insisted on the show that he did not intend to run for the presidency and that the thought had never crossed his mind prior to the press raising the issue.
The younger Mubarak also stated that he does not pay much attention to opposition papers, especially those that attack him and his family, saying he only reads brief reports of what the papers say.
Criticism of the Mubarak government continued. Independent newspaper Sawt-Al-Umma ran a half-page-long report on Hosni Mubarak’s trip to Salum to view the total eclipse of the sun, along with no less than 8,000 tourists and astronomers coming to Egypt from six different countries.
One writer in Sawt-Al-Umma, Gamal Shawki, said that Mubarak should not have taken a trip that cost the country hundreds of thousands of pounds for a 10-minute view of the eclipse. According to the report, Mubarak took his family on a private plane, paid for by the government, to watch the event. Huge numbers of security police, bodyguards, secretaries and ministers, claimed the writer, accompanied the president.
Shawki said he was astonished by Mubarak’s absence from the Khartoum Arab summit on one hand and his presence at such a trivial event, in comparison to the summit.
“Please return the money you have taken to give your family this tourist trip to Salum to the country’s safe-box,” Shawki wrote.
Meanwhile, news wires report that President Mubarak arrived in Algiers on Sunday for joint talks with President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika. The visit was unannounced and is expected to “review the latest developments on the Arab arena in light of the resolutions and recommendations of the 18th Arab summit held in Khartoum last week in addition to regional and international matters of common concern and ways of enhancing relations between the two countries,” reported The Middle East News Agency.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1096
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 4, 2006
CAIRO: The aftermath of Saturday’s bloodshed at Al-Wafd headquarters due to in-fighting between two party factions has not yet faded, with news of the incident still sending shockwaves through media outlets as an official investigation into the incident kicks off.
Noaman Gomaa, recently overthrown party leader, and others, including Ashraf Nasser, son of MP Ahmed Nasser, were arrested by security forces after storming the party’s headquarters in Dokki at an early hour. Gomaa and his supporters were attempting to seize the headquarters after it had fallen under the command of their party rivals Mahmoud Abaza, Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour and newly elected party chairman Mustapha Al-Taweel.
Despite a prosecutor’s order guaranteeing Gomaa his rights to the compound, with the inner party disputes still being investigated by two Cairo courts including the Political Parties Court, the rivals insisted that Gomaa had no claim to the party or its property.
Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that Noaman Gomaa, deemed principally responsible for the violence, is still being held in custody along with 16 other loyalists. The detained are accused of possession of unlicensed firearms, possession of explosives, attempted murder, thuggery, vandalism and arson, unauthorized assemblage with intent of transgressing, disturbing the peace and terrorizing innocents. The detainees denied all accusations, even though field investigations confirmed most of the charges.
The government is responsible for the Al-Wafd party infractions, claimed Mohammad Abdel-Alim, deputy leader of Al-Wafd. “The government fuels conspiracies inside Al-Wafd.”
Abdel-Alim also accused security forces of unreliability, saying that they were responsible for the heightened violence. After the breakout of violence in on Al-Wafd’s premises, security forces arrived on the scene more than eight hours later; a fact extensively criticized by political leaders and by Gomaa’s daughter herself.
In rhetoric similar to Abdel-Alim’s, Abdel-Nour, an Al-Wafd senior member and former parliamentarian, told The Daily Star Egypt that security forces had not moved to stop the fighting, describing them as “passive” forces. Iman Noaman Gomaa also told the press that security forces’ reluctance to interfere and put an early stop to violence shows an unexplained bias against Gomaa and seems to serve “someone’s” interests.
In response to these claims, Shura Council Head and President of the High Council of Journalism Safwat El-Sherif told the press on Sunday that security was not entitled to stop fighting as long as it occurred within the borders of the party’s compound, adding that internal conflicts were not the concern of the government, as long as they occurred on party grounds.
In his daily TV show, Cairo Today, presenter Amr Adib demonstrated surprise at such statements, saying that “apparently” the government considers party grounds and compounds like embassies; “foreign grounds.”
“What if they had killed off each other inside the party? Wouldn’t the security intervene even then?” said Adib.
On another level, Gamal Mubarak’s local TV statements to presenter Lamees El-Hadeedy were shunned as “laughable” and “unbelievable” by opposition and independent media and political veterans. The younger Mubarak insisted on the show that he did not intend to run for the presidency and that the thought had never crossed his mind prior to the press raising the issue.
The younger Mubarak also stated that he does not pay much attention to opposition papers, especially those that attack him and his family, saying he only reads brief reports of what the papers say.
Criticism of the Mubarak government continued. Independent newspaper Sawt-Al-Umma ran a half-page-long report on Hosni Mubarak’s trip to Salum to view the total eclipse of the sun, along with no less than 8,000 tourists and astronomers coming to Egypt from six different countries.
One writer in Sawt-Al-Umma, Gamal Shawki, said that Mubarak should not have taken a trip that cost the country hundreds of thousands of pounds for a 10-minute view of the eclipse. According to the report, Mubarak took his family on a private plane, paid for by the government, to watch the event. Huge numbers of security police, bodyguards, secretaries and ministers, claimed the writer, accompanied the president.
Shawki said he was astonished by Mubarak’s absence from the Khartoum Arab summit on one hand and his presence at such a trivial event, in comparison to the summit.
“Please return the money you have taken to give your family this tourist trip to Salum to the country’s safe-box,” Shawki wrote.
Meanwhile, news wires report that President Mubarak arrived in Algiers on Sunday for joint talks with President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika. The visit was unannounced and is expected to “review the latest developments on the Arab arena in light of the resolutions and recommendations of the 18th Arab summit held in Khartoum last week in addition to regional and international matters of common concern and ways of enhancing relations between the two countries,” reported The Middle East News Agency.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1096
DSE: Al-Wafd party infighting turns bloody
Al-Wafd party infighting turns violent
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 3, 2006
CAIRO: Infighting between different factions within the Al-Wafd party turned violent Saturday, following each side’s failed attempts to reclaim the Dokki headquarters ended in bloodshed; at least 21 (according to Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, although other reports of 23 injured have surfaced) were injured in the violence, including two female journalists (Niveen Yaseen and Sahar Ramadan), and a party hall was burned down.
Supporters of overthrown party leader Noaman Gomaa seized the headquarters early Saturday after an earlier decision was made by the general prosecutor’s office to reinstate Gomaa and give him access to the premises. Party “reformists,” who had revolted against Gomaa and were led by senior Al-Wafd partisan Mahmoud Abaza and former parliamentarian Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, had been in control of the headquarters for weeks.
“Dr. Noaman Gomaa initiated the violence; everyone saw this on TV,” says Mohammad Abu-Seleima, head of the party’s affairs in the Port Said governorate. Abu-Seleima came to Cairo when he was informed of the incident. “I could not believe what I saw at first … Noaman Gomaa evidently lost his temper and made this strange move.”
Gomaa’s supporters reportedly sneaked into the office through a backdoor early Saturday and threw out the young supporters of their opponents. Al-Wafd reporters arriving at the scene were forcefully blocked from the headquarters, which included the main office of the Al-Wafd newspaper. Violent clashes occurred when a group of young reformists attempted to penetrate Gomaa’s cordon and re-claim the party office.
Some of the “reformists” who were present at the site claimed they were beaten and shot at by Gomaa’s supporters; a claim denied by Gomaa’s followers and his daughter.
Iman Noaman Gomaa told the press on Saturday that Gomaa’s reclamation of the quarters was civilized and nonviolent, although his rivals’ reaction led to the bloodshed.
“Dr. Noaman Gomaa is a peaceful man,” she says. “He never began by violence. All along, he resorted to law to get his right back. He raised court cases and filed complaints.”
Gomaa’s daughter also blamed security officials for failing to interfere before the violence escalated. “Where was the government all along? Where was the police?” she asks.
Truckloads of security and riot police arrived on the site at 5:00 p.m. This was more than eight hours after the violence occurred.
The younger Gomaa believes that the security’s reluctance to interfere revealed a form of hostility or bias against Gomaa and his cause. “This chaos was meant to happen. The security [officials] meant to leave the situation as is … because the headquarters should have been closed down earlier until the rival groups reconcile or their disputes are solved through court.”
“Even the media is supporting Abaza and his followers. They give a distorted picture of what happened. One wonders about who this situation really serves,” says Gomaa’s daughter.
She insists that the gunfire was started by Gomaa’s opponents and not Gomaa himself.
“Some reporters had guns, they came with guns,” claims Gomaa’s daughter, who spoke on air to TV show host Amr Adib during his popular Cairo Today show.
In its report, Agence-France Presse said that to reclaim control of the compound, “Abaza supporters… were breaking the gates and throwing Molotov cocktails into the old palace, one wing of which was destroyed by the flames.”
“We had no firearms whatsoever. We did not even have batons or sticks to defend ourselves … let alone guns and weaponry,” says Abdel-Nour, one of Gomaa’s principal challengers and an eyewitness. “Those who were with Noaman Gomaa were not even supporters. They were thugs; around 60 thugs who were paid LE 50 each to storm into the quarters and shoot people.”
“Noaman did not enter through a backdoor as some of the press reported… He stormed the place through the front door,” Abdel-Nour tells The Daily Star Egypt. “He went in from the front door and shot at youth convening at the offices. The thugs even stole their mobile phones.”
“Our supporters were defenseless and [Gomaa] is also the one responsible for the room that burned down,” adds Abdel-Nour. “All those who fell and were injured were our people; Al-Wafd reporters … our supporters … who shot at them? Who, then, had the guns? Us or Gomaa?”
According to AFP, some Al-Wafd members had claimed that Gomaa and his men might have seized archives and computer hard drives before they were forced to leave the compound.
The struggle between the two factions initially unfolded when a shift of power led by Abaza and Abdel-Nour removed Gomaa from office. Many of the party’s younger generation, calling themselves “the reformists,” seized the party’s headquarters, overthrowing Gomaa and all those who supported him. The reformists claimed Gomaa was an authoritarian and a “dictator who endorsed his absolute control over party policies.”
Gomaa, deeming the move “unconstitutional,” publicly protested what he called “an inner revolution.” In turn, party rivals took over the Dokki headquarters, holding press conferences and issuing different and sometimes conflicting statements and insider reports. Two months following the overthrow, the reformists elected a new party leader, Mustapha Al-Taweel.
Gomaa, insisting that he is “the one and only chairman” of Al-Wafd, filed two court cases against Abaza and his group. After seizing the headquarters during one instance, he fired the top newspaper editors and terminated its publication.
During the strife, the interference of the High Council of Journalism, headed by Safwat Al-Sherif, was minimal. The High Council’s role was restricted to issuing reports and warnings; however neither side was fully endorsed as the rivals contested for rights to the paper. The prosecutor general’s decision initially supported Gomaa, giving him forced access through security forces.
Nevertheless, when minor clashes re-occurred, the prosecution remained neutral and uninvolved, until Saturday’s violent clashes, when they called upon forces to interfere.
After hours of clashes, riot police encircled the quarters. According to Abdel-Nour, the police were initially passive and did not attempt to stop the violence.
Later, a convoy of security personnel managed to enter the quarters and convince Gomaa to leave.
“They lied to him,” Gomaa’s daughter said. “They told him they were taking him home but instead they took him to the Dokki prosecution office. He was tricked into leaving.”
Gomaa left the headquarters in an armored police vehicle.
Those that were injured on Saturday are currently hospitalized; two cases are reportedly critical. One victim suffering a gunshot wound was a pedestrian who happened to pass by the quarters during gunfire.
Gomaa and five other senior Al-Wafd members are currently being held in Cairo’s attorney general’s office, along with at least 60 other men. Among the accusations brought against Gomaa and his cohorts are attempted manslaughter and damage to public property.
“Dr. Noaman put all his legacy and history on stake. He’s supposedly a law expert,” says Abu-Seleima. “But his attitude was that of a gangster; using thugs and arms was just too much.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1075
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: April 3, 2006
CAIRO: Infighting between different factions within the Al-Wafd party turned violent Saturday, following each side’s failed attempts to reclaim the Dokki headquarters ended in bloodshed; at least 21 (according to Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, although other reports of 23 injured have surfaced) were injured in the violence, including two female journalists (Niveen Yaseen and Sahar Ramadan), and a party hall was burned down.
Supporters of overthrown party leader Noaman Gomaa seized the headquarters early Saturday after an earlier decision was made by the general prosecutor’s office to reinstate Gomaa and give him access to the premises. Party “reformists,” who had revolted against Gomaa and were led by senior Al-Wafd partisan Mahmoud Abaza and former parliamentarian Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, had been in control of the headquarters for weeks.
“Dr. Noaman Gomaa initiated the violence; everyone saw this on TV,” says Mohammad Abu-Seleima, head of the party’s affairs in the Port Said governorate. Abu-Seleima came to Cairo when he was informed of the incident. “I could not believe what I saw at first … Noaman Gomaa evidently lost his temper and made this strange move.”
Gomaa’s supporters reportedly sneaked into the office through a backdoor early Saturday and threw out the young supporters of their opponents. Al-Wafd reporters arriving at the scene were forcefully blocked from the headquarters, which included the main office of the Al-Wafd newspaper. Violent clashes occurred when a group of young reformists attempted to penetrate Gomaa’s cordon and re-claim the party office.
Some of the “reformists” who were present at the site claimed they were beaten and shot at by Gomaa’s supporters; a claim denied by Gomaa’s followers and his daughter.
Iman Noaman Gomaa told the press on Saturday that Gomaa’s reclamation of the quarters was civilized and nonviolent, although his rivals’ reaction led to the bloodshed.
“Dr. Noaman Gomaa is a peaceful man,” she says. “He never began by violence. All along, he resorted to law to get his right back. He raised court cases and filed complaints.”
Gomaa’s daughter also blamed security officials for failing to interfere before the violence escalated. “Where was the government all along? Where was the police?” she asks.
Truckloads of security and riot police arrived on the site at 5:00 p.m. This was more than eight hours after the violence occurred.
The younger Gomaa believes that the security’s reluctance to interfere revealed a form of hostility or bias against Gomaa and his cause. “This chaos was meant to happen. The security [officials] meant to leave the situation as is … because the headquarters should have been closed down earlier until the rival groups reconcile or their disputes are solved through court.”
“Even the media is supporting Abaza and his followers. They give a distorted picture of what happened. One wonders about who this situation really serves,” says Gomaa’s daughter.
She insists that the gunfire was started by Gomaa’s opponents and not Gomaa himself.
“Some reporters had guns, they came with guns,” claims Gomaa’s daughter, who spoke on air to TV show host Amr Adib during his popular Cairo Today show.
In its report, Agence-France Presse said that to reclaim control of the compound, “Abaza supporters… were breaking the gates and throwing Molotov cocktails into the old palace, one wing of which was destroyed by the flames.”
“We had no firearms whatsoever. We did not even have batons or sticks to defend ourselves … let alone guns and weaponry,” says Abdel-Nour, one of Gomaa’s principal challengers and an eyewitness. “Those who were with Noaman Gomaa were not even supporters. They were thugs; around 60 thugs who were paid LE 50 each to storm into the quarters and shoot people.”
“Noaman did not enter through a backdoor as some of the press reported… He stormed the place through the front door,” Abdel-Nour tells The Daily Star Egypt. “He went in from the front door and shot at youth convening at the offices. The thugs even stole their mobile phones.”
“Our supporters were defenseless and [Gomaa] is also the one responsible for the room that burned down,” adds Abdel-Nour. “All those who fell and were injured were our people; Al-Wafd reporters … our supporters … who shot at them? Who, then, had the guns? Us or Gomaa?”
According to AFP, some Al-Wafd members had claimed that Gomaa and his men might have seized archives and computer hard drives before they were forced to leave the compound.
The struggle between the two factions initially unfolded when a shift of power led by Abaza and Abdel-Nour removed Gomaa from office. Many of the party’s younger generation, calling themselves “the reformists,” seized the party’s headquarters, overthrowing Gomaa and all those who supported him. The reformists claimed Gomaa was an authoritarian and a “dictator who endorsed his absolute control over party policies.”
Gomaa, deeming the move “unconstitutional,” publicly protested what he called “an inner revolution.” In turn, party rivals took over the Dokki headquarters, holding press conferences and issuing different and sometimes conflicting statements and insider reports. Two months following the overthrow, the reformists elected a new party leader, Mustapha Al-Taweel.
Gomaa, insisting that he is “the one and only chairman” of Al-Wafd, filed two court cases against Abaza and his group. After seizing the headquarters during one instance, he fired the top newspaper editors and terminated its publication.
During the strife, the interference of the High Council of Journalism, headed by Safwat Al-Sherif, was minimal. The High Council’s role was restricted to issuing reports and warnings; however neither side was fully endorsed as the rivals contested for rights to the paper. The prosecutor general’s decision initially supported Gomaa, giving him forced access through security forces.
Nevertheless, when minor clashes re-occurred, the prosecution remained neutral and uninvolved, until Saturday’s violent clashes, when they called upon forces to interfere.
After hours of clashes, riot police encircled the quarters. According to Abdel-Nour, the police were initially passive and did not attempt to stop the violence.
Later, a convoy of security personnel managed to enter the quarters and convince Gomaa to leave.
“They lied to him,” Gomaa’s daughter said. “They told him they were taking him home but instead they took him to the Dokki prosecution office. He was tricked into leaving.”
Gomaa left the headquarters in an armored police vehicle.
Those that were injured on Saturday are currently hospitalized; two cases are reportedly critical. One victim suffering a gunshot wound was a pedestrian who happened to pass by the quarters during gunfire.
Gomaa and five other senior Al-Wafd members are currently being held in Cairo’s attorney general’s office, along with at least 60 other men. Among the accusations brought against Gomaa and his cohorts are attempted manslaughter and damage to public property.
“Dr. Noaman put all his legacy and history on stake. He’s supposedly a law expert,” says Abu-Seleima. “But his attitude was that of a gangster; using thugs and arms was just too much.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1075
DSE: Opposition takes to the net
Opposition takes to the net
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 30, 2006
CAIRO: A “free opinion” Web site launched by a group of Islamists and political activists who are seeking sanctuary in London and who were allegedly persecuted in Egypt has become a subject of controversy in the Egyptian political scene.
Shunned by government supporters and popular among the opposition, the London-based Save Egypt Front presents its unconventional side of the story when it comes to Egyptian politics. More often than not, the articles and news pieces included in the Web site are highly critical of the Egyptian government’s policies, particularly those policies initiated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
The Web site publishes regular news and updates of Egypt’s opposition forces and parties, posting images of their protests and conferences. Though compiled by the Save Egypt Front group, the articles feature news from reliable sources, and often publish opinions of opposition leaders and well-trusted political, economic and social analysts.
The Web site has used its presence in London to gain supporters from Egyptian and Arab residents, creating a “front of opposition” against the Egyptian government in the British capital. Over the past year, the group has risen in protest several times in support of the Kefaya (Enough) movement and now-imprisoned political figure and former El-Ghad leader, Ayman Nour. The groups have organized street marches and sit-ins, with the pictures reportedly published on their websites.
Following Nour’s indictment for fraud, the Save Egypt Front London group had organized a conference in support of Nour. Gamilla Ismail, Nour’s wife and El-Ghad party spokeswoman, has personally met the Save Egypt Front founders and praised their support for her husband.
“They helped me organize a press conference for Ayman’s cause in London,” Ismail told The Daily Star Egypt. According to Ismail, 10 members of the Save Egypt Front were present along with journalists.
“They regularly send us opinions and articles to publish in the El-Ghad newspaper and sometimes they republish some of Ayman Nour’s articles ... articles he files from prison,” said Ismail, who added that the Front constitutes a strong pillar in the case of Ayman Nour; numerously calling for his and other political activists’ release.
Aside from their calls that the government release Nour and endorse true democracy, the Web site demands that all Islamists and prisoners of conscience be pardoned and immediately released. The Save Egypt Front deems this demand a priority, side-by-side with the abolishment of the decades-long Emergency Law, calling their claim “The National Patriotic Initiative.”
“Because of [the sites] name, it attracts many people … It is very popular and the site is visited by a huge number of people,” said Ismail. “Maybe this is why it is effective … It also includes in its founders and supporters an interesting diversity of Egyptians who were either deported from Egypt or left willingly for political reasons.”
Save Egypt Front spokesman and principal founder, Osama Roushdy, is an Islamist who left Egypt after he was accused in a terror case. Roushdy, a former member of Al-Gamaa Al-Ismaliyya (Islamic Group), had reportedly mediated between the Ministry of Interior and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in an attempt to impede the wave of violence and terror that Egypt experienced in the early 90’s. In return, he allegedly demanded the release of hundreds of Islamists, detained for security reasons.
Roushdy has a personalized column published regularly on the Front’s Web site titled “Oh my country!” In his column, he discusses controversial issues in Egypt. Recently, he had been posting columns commenting on the recent ferry tragedy and freedom of expression. In many cases, Roushdy’s tone is often accusatory of the NDP and Egypt’s upper-house.
The Front, however, includes other high-profile activists, including figures like former Muslim Brotherhood leader Kamal Al-Hilbawy, who also has a regular column on the site’s homepage.
In one of his recent columns, Al-Hilbawy warmly congratulated political analyst Osama Ghazali Harb for leaving the NDP; Al-Hilbawy had called the move one of “honor.”
Many of the NDP supporters have labeled the Web site slanderous and defamatory to Egypt’s image, and those who founded it as unpatriotic.
In addition to opinion columns, the Web site features an online radio channel and an archive of news, opinions, feature articles and radio broadcasts. It has special sections for Human Rights issues, reports and groups, and another for the Egyptian national and independent press. The Web site also welcomes readers to submit and publish their own opinions and columns in an attempt to give Egyptians a free space to publish their thoughts on government-related issues.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1043
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 30, 2006
CAIRO: A “free opinion” Web site launched by a group of Islamists and political activists who are seeking sanctuary in London and who were allegedly persecuted in Egypt has become a subject of controversy in the Egyptian political scene.
Shunned by government supporters and popular among the opposition, the London-based Save Egypt Front presents its unconventional side of the story when it comes to Egyptian politics. More often than not, the articles and news pieces included in the Web site are highly critical of the Egyptian government’s policies, particularly those policies initiated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
The Web site publishes regular news and updates of Egypt’s opposition forces and parties, posting images of their protests and conferences. Though compiled by the Save Egypt Front group, the articles feature news from reliable sources, and often publish opinions of opposition leaders and well-trusted political, economic and social analysts.
The Web site has used its presence in London to gain supporters from Egyptian and Arab residents, creating a “front of opposition” against the Egyptian government in the British capital. Over the past year, the group has risen in protest several times in support of the Kefaya (Enough) movement and now-imprisoned political figure and former El-Ghad leader, Ayman Nour. The groups have organized street marches and sit-ins, with the pictures reportedly published on their websites.
Following Nour’s indictment for fraud, the Save Egypt Front London group had organized a conference in support of Nour. Gamilla Ismail, Nour’s wife and El-Ghad party spokeswoman, has personally met the Save Egypt Front founders and praised their support for her husband.
“They helped me organize a press conference for Ayman’s cause in London,” Ismail told The Daily Star Egypt. According to Ismail, 10 members of the Save Egypt Front were present along with journalists.
“They regularly send us opinions and articles to publish in the El-Ghad newspaper and sometimes they republish some of Ayman Nour’s articles ... articles he files from prison,” said Ismail, who added that the Front constitutes a strong pillar in the case of Ayman Nour; numerously calling for his and other political activists’ release.
Aside from their calls that the government release Nour and endorse true democracy, the Web site demands that all Islamists and prisoners of conscience be pardoned and immediately released. The Save Egypt Front deems this demand a priority, side-by-side with the abolishment of the decades-long Emergency Law, calling their claim “The National Patriotic Initiative.”
“Because of [the sites] name, it attracts many people … It is very popular and the site is visited by a huge number of people,” said Ismail. “Maybe this is why it is effective … It also includes in its founders and supporters an interesting diversity of Egyptians who were either deported from Egypt or left willingly for political reasons.”
Save Egypt Front spokesman and principal founder, Osama Roushdy, is an Islamist who left Egypt after he was accused in a terror case. Roushdy, a former member of Al-Gamaa Al-Ismaliyya (Islamic Group), had reportedly mediated between the Ministry of Interior and Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in an attempt to impede the wave of violence and terror that Egypt experienced in the early 90’s. In return, he allegedly demanded the release of hundreds of Islamists, detained for security reasons.
Roushdy has a personalized column published regularly on the Front’s Web site titled “Oh my country!” In his column, he discusses controversial issues in Egypt. Recently, he had been posting columns commenting on the recent ferry tragedy and freedom of expression. In many cases, Roushdy’s tone is often accusatory of the NDP and Egypt’s upper-house.
The Front, however, includes other high-profile activists, including figures like former Muslim Brotherhood leader Kamal Al-Hilbawy, who also has a regular column on the site’s homepage.
In one of his recent columns, Al-Hilbawy warmly congratulated political analyst Osama Ghazali Harb for leaving the NDP; Al-Hilbawy had called the move one of “honor.”
Many of the NDP supporters have labeled the Web site slanderous and defamatory to Egypt’s image, and those who founded it as unpatriotic.
In addition to opinion columns, the Web site features an online radio channel and an archive of news, opinions, feature articles and radio broadcasts. It has special sections for Human Rights issues, reports and groups, and another for the Egyptian national and independent press. The Web site also welcomes readers to submit and publish their own opinions and columns in an attempt to give Egyptians a free space to publish their thoughts on government-related issues.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1043
DSE: Press Round-up
Press Round-up
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 28, 2006
CAIRO: The outcome of President Hosni Mubarak’s talks with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dominated the national newspaper headlines, along with other government-related news. Meanwhile, while the prime minister’s upcoming visit to Washington and the absence of Mubarak from the Khartoum-based Arab summit raised speculations in the independent press.
The talks, held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, addressed regional developments, including agenda discussions of the approaching Arab summit due Tuesday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, according to Al-Ahram. The summit coincides with the commencement of the Israeli general elections.
“The [recent] Israeli actions have breached international laws and the Road Map,” Mubarak told the press following talks with Abbas. Commentators suggested that Mubarak was referring to a recent attack by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, where warplanes carried out several air strikes. In addition, F-16 fighter jets fired a warning missile on an uninhabited area near the Israeli border.
According to Deutsche-Presse-Agentur, Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz told the Israeli media on Saturday that “the army would open fire at any Palestinian that approaches the border area between Israel and Gaza Strip.”
Concerning the Khartoum summit, Mubarak did not respond to claims that security fears are the main reason behind the Egyptian president’s decision to cancel his participation in the summit, sending a high-profile convoy in his stead.
Commenting on the summit, Mubarak said that he and the Palestinian leader expected that the boosting of economic aid and the increase of financial support in the form of funds for Palestine would be the main effects of the summit. Of note is that Hamas, which dominated the recent Palestinian elections, called on Arab countries to increase their financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to $170 million per month, according to an AFP report Sunday.
“Monthly expenditure of the country amounts to $170 million, as $115 million of it is intended for salaries of administrative bodies,” prominent Hamas leader Khaled Mashall said in the AFP report.
Meanwhile, on Monday the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm published a preview of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s diplomatic visit to Washington, due next May. According to preliminary official reports, the talks between the two countries will center on free trade and economic exchange. However, the newspaper predicts that more “hot issues” will be awaiting the prime minister.
“Discussions of many [sensitive] issues are yet to be expected; issues like freedom of expression, the amendment of the Egyptian constitution and the elimination of the emergency law.”
On another level, the international press reported the latest unfolding events in an investigation into terror attacks carried out in Sinai two years ago, killing at least 100 people and wounding many. “[These] terror attacks … were carried out by a militant group calling itself ‘Tawhid and Jihad,’ a name used by Al-Qaeda-linked groups elsewhere, Egyptian prosecutors said [on] Sunday,” read an Associated Press report.
Prosecutor Hisham Badawi told AP that the militants "formed a terrorist organization ... which carried out the explosions."
According to the report, the Egyptian government claimed the suicide bombers “were locals without international connections.” The name of the terrorist group, read the report, suggests that the group had “sympathies” with Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1025
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 28, 2006
CAIRO: The outcome of President Hosni Mubarak’s talks with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas dominated the national newspaper headlines, along with other government-related news. Meanwhile, while the prime minister’s upcoming visit to Washington and the absence of Mubarak from the Khartoum-based Arab summit raised speculations in the independent press.
The talks, held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, addressed regional developments, including agenda discussions of the approaching Arab summit due Tuesday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, according to Al-Ahram. The summit coincides with the commencement of the Israeli general elections.
“The [recent] Israeli actions have breached international laws and the Road Map,” Mubarak told the press following talks with Abbas. Commentators suggested that Mubarak was referring to a recent attack by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip, where warplanes carried out several air strikes. In addition, F-16 fighter jets fired a warning missile on an uninhabited area near the Israeli border.
According to Deutsche-Presse-Agentur, Israeli Defense Minister Shaoul Mofaz told the Israeli media on Saturday that “the army would open fire at any Palestinian that approaches the border area between Israel and Gaza Strip.”
Concerning the Khartoum summit, Mubarak did not respond to claims that security fears are the main reason behind the Egyptian president’s decision to cancel his participation in the summit, sending a high-profile convoy in his stead.
Commenting on the summit, Mubarak said that he and the Palestinian leader expected that the boosting of economic aid and the increase of financial support in the form of funds for Palestine would be the main effects of the summit. Of note is that Hamas, which dominated the recent Palestinian elections, called on Arab countries to increase their financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to $170 million per month, according to an AFP report Sunday.
“Monthly expenditure of the country amounts to $170 million, as $115 million of it is intended for salaries of administrative bodies,” prominent Hamas leader Khaled Mashall said in the AFP report.
Meanwhile, on Monday the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm published a preview of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s diplomatic visit to Washington, due next May. According to preliminary official reports, the talks between the two countries will center on free trade and economic exchange. However, the newspaper predicts that more “hot issues” will be awaiting the prime minister.
“Discussions of many [sensitive] issues are yet to be expected; issues like freedom of expression, the amendment of the Egyptian constitution and the elimination of the emergency law.”
On another level, the international press reported the latest unfolding events in an investigation into terror attacks carried out in Sinai two years ago, killing at least 100 people and wounding many. “[These] terror attacks … were carried out by a militant group calling itself ‘Tawhid and Jihad,’ a name used by Al-Qaeda-linked groups elsewhere, Egyptian prosecutors said [on] Sunday,” read an Associated Press report.
Prosecutor Hisham Badawi told AP that the militants "formed a terrorist organization ... which carried out the explosions."
According to the report, the Egyptian government claimed the suicide bombers “were locals without international connections.” The name of the terrorist group, read the report, suggests that the group had “sympathies” with Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1025
DSE: A chance to speak out
A chance to speak out
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 28, 2006
CAIRO: During Egypt’s Fourth Annual Cairo Conference, a meeting place for a diverse group of political parties and movements, delegates vowed on Sunday during its closing session to continue their struggle against imperialism, lack of press freedom, the ruling party’s monopoly and the powerlessness of the people.
The conference, held on the grounds of the press syndicate and the Bar Association, attracted as many political groups as some of Egypt’s first protests for change. The Kefaya (Enough) movement, Al-Karama political group, the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, the labor party, the socialist party, the Nasserites and various human rights groups all sent delegations. In addition to the local groups and organizations sending representatives, British and international groups such as the London-based Stop the War Coalition, the International Campaign against Aggression and the Canadian Workers Union were also heavily involved.
The range of political and social groups turned the conference into a haven for free expression, tackling current local problems like freedom of the press in Egypt, repression of blue collar workers, speculations concerning power and international issues like the war on Iraq, the hegemony of the United States and the occupation of Palestine with equal intensity.
More importantly for some of Egypt’s underrepresented groups, the conference served as a discussion forum and a space for group orientation and one-on-one presentations.
One of the press syndicate’s floors was dedicated to offering political forces, like legally unrecognized and independent student groups, a chance to present their ideas, distribute publications and establish contacts. Small booths, each representing a different group, carried signs and logos of their respective organizations. Some of the booths sold T-shirts with either logos or slogans supporting a certain cause, like “Free Palestine … Tear down the Wall” shirts. Others gave away Palestinian flags, stickers and badges against the use of violence and war.
Muslim Brotherhood members distributed copies of their reform initiative, a booklet that had previously led to turmoil on the political arena and caused some Muslim Brotherhood members to be shunned or detained. The initiative, including what the Brotherhood sees as the general principles of reform, concentrates on seeing Islamic sharia (law) as “the real effective way out of all sufferings and problems, both on the internal front and the external one, be these political, economic, social or cultural.” The initiative, however, said the Muslim Brotherhood, refused all violent means or dominion of power and authority.
In the syndicate, some of the walls and bulletin boards were used by groups to post announcements, recently published organization reports, comic strips and even pictures taken during demonstrations or confrontations with the police; some featured captions noting that the pictures were unseen and withheld from the press.
During lectures and discussions, the forces were given room to present their demands and opinions concerning the political and social status in Egypt and the Arab world. On the international level, the anti-war Greek section of the Stop the War Coalition group said that they hoped to put an end to Greek participation in “Bush’s War” on Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We want to get the Greek troops out of Afghanistan and shut down the Greek Guantanamo military base in Souda,” their demands read. “We [also] oppose Islamophobia and the new crusades.”
The Stop the War Coalition and other Palestinian and Iraqi sympathizers called on conference participants, “in cooperation with other forums, bodies and non-governmental international personages resisting hegemony, racism and hostile wars,” to take part in the Palestine International Conference for Resistance of Racial Zionism and American Hegemony, held annually in Beirut.
On the local level, the issue of freedom of expression took utmost priority. Afaq Arabiya journalists, whose newspaper has been barred for weeks as a result of inner conflicts, were given a hall to present their case.
The journalists, mostly Muslim Brotherhood members, said that they did not understand how the dominion of one editor could result in a halt in the paper’s publication, consequently threatening the journalists’ careers without any legal or official interference from the state.
The crisis of Afaq Arabiya newspaper, published by Al-Ahrar Party, intensified when the newspaper’s current managing director and editor decided to cut back on the involvement of Muslim Brotherhood writers in the newspaper. The decision contradicted a deal the Brotherhood had previously cut with the party allowing the former to have dominion over writing and editing in return for Brotherhood support of the paper, which had boosted its distribution.
During the conference, journalists and sympathizers with Afaq Arabiya signed a petition asking all concerned organizations to interfere and reinstate the “unwanted” Muslim Brotherhood journalists.
On another level, Labor Party demands centered on forming an active bulk of opposition groups; a force whose main objective would be to limit the presidents rule. According to party representatives, one of their main demands and objectives is to legalize and legitimize protests and demonstrations since they are an accurate reflection of grassroots sentiment concerning Egypt’s status quo. Under Egyptian law, protests and demonstrations, without prior permission from the police are illegal.
In the Bar Association, blue collar workers convened to present their problems. The former workers of Oramisr Company gave a statement on behalf of 5,000 workers, saying that many of them had suffered from health hazards as a result of years of exposure to deadly asbestos dust. According to the workers, many of their colleagues suffer from lung or pleural cancer and blood pressure irregularities.
The workers, who had previously sat-in in front of their factories and the Worker’s Union, were denied even the minimum legal compensation for these occupational diseases after what they called “an abusive dismissal” from their company. Egypt’s courts repeatedly postponed their cases and a medical examination ordered by the minister of health in similar cases was never carried out.
During the busy conference, around a dozen Kefaya members sat-in at the press syndicate gate to protest what they saw as another governmental violation against the people. On Friday, Kefaya called for protests against the demolishing of houses in Port Said governorate. According to a statement by Kefaya, “The houses were destroyed so that rich business men can build high buildings and tourist resorts on the same places where the houses stood.”
The statement read that although inhabitants of the demolished houses were promised compensations, none were given any. “They said they would give the 30 families that were affected 30 apartments … They will not receive these until they pay bribes to the social workers looking at their cases.” Kefaya claimed that the former inhabitants had protested, although they were harassed each time.
The sit-in, which lasted no more than 20 minutes, did not attract many of the conference’s participants, who were busy with presentations and lectures; however Kefaya members distributed hundreds of copies of their Port Said statement to the delegations. The Kefaya statements explained the recent event, while providing contact information for the now homeless Port Said families.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1023
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 28, 2006
CAIRO: During Egypt’s Fourth Annual Cairo Conference, a meeting place for a diverse group of political parties and movements, delegates vowed on Sunday during its closing session to continue their struggle against imperialism, lack of press freedom, the ruling party’s monopoly and the powerlessness of the people.
The conference, held on the grounds of the press syndicate and the Bar Association, attracted as many political groups as some of Egypt’s first protests for change. The Kefaya (Enough) movement, Al-Karama political group, the banned-but-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, the labor party, the socialist party, the Nasserites and various human rights groups all sent delegations. In addition to the local groups and organizations sending representatives, British and international groups such as the London-based Stop the War Coalition, the International Campaign against Aggression and the Canadian Workers Union were also heavily involved.
The range of political and social groups turned the conference into a haven for free expression, tackling current local problems like freedom of the press in Egypt, repression of blue collar workers, speculations concerning power and international issues like the war on Iraq, the hegemony of the United States and the occupation of Palestine with equal intensity.
More importantly for some of Egypt’s underrepresented groups, the conference served as a discussion forum and a space for group orientation and one-on-one presentations.
One of the press syndicate’s floors was dedicated to offering political forces, like legally unrecognized and independent student groups, a chance to present their ideas, distribute publications and establish contacts. Small booths, each representing a different group, carried signs and logos of their respective organizations. Some of the booths sold T-shirts with either logos or slogans supporting a certain cause, like “Free Palestine … Tear down the Wall” shirts. Others gave away Palestinian flags, stickers and badges against the use of violence and war.
Muslim Brotherhood members distributed copies of their reform initiative, a booklet that had previously led to turmoil on the political arena and caused some Muslim Brotherhood members to be shunned or detained. The initiative, including what the Brotherhood sees as the general principles of reform, concentrates on seeing Islamic sharia (law) as “the real effective way out of all sufferings and problems, both on the internal front and the external one, be these political, economic, social or cultural.” The initiative, however, said the Muslim Brotherhood, refused all violent means or dominion of power and authority.
In the syndicate, some of the walls and bulletin boards were used by groups to post announcements, recently published organization reports, comic strips and even pictures taken during demonstrations or confrontations with the police; some featured captions noting that the pictures were unseen and withheld from the press.
During lectures and discussions, the forces were given room to present their demands and opinions concerning the political and social status in Egypt and the Arab world. On the international level, the anti-war Greek section of the Stop the War Coalition group said that they hoped to put an end to Greek participation in “Bush’s War” on Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We want to get the Greek troops out of Afghanistan and shut down the Greek Guantanamo military base in Souda,” their demands read. “We [also] oppose Islamophobia and the new crusades.”
The Stop the War Coalition and other Palestinian and Iraqi sympathizers called on conference participants, “in cooperation with other forums, bodies and non-governmental international personages resisting hegemony, racism and hostile wars,” to take part in the Palestine International Conference for Resistance of Racial Zionism and American Hegemony, held annually in Beirut.
On the local level, the issue of freedom of expression took utmost priority. Afaq Arabiya journalists, whose newspaper has been barred for weeks as a result of inner conflicts, were given a hall to present their case.
The journalists, mostly Muslim Brotherhood members, said that they did not understand how the dominion of one editor could result in a halt in the paper’s publication, consequently threatening the journalists’ careers without any legal or official interference from the state.
The crisis of Afaq Arabiya newspaper, published by Al-Ahrar Party, intensified when the newspaper’s current managing director and editor decided to cut back on the involvement of Muslim Brotherhood writers in the newspaper. The decision contradicted a deal the Brotherhood had previously cut with the party allowing the former to have dominion over writing and editing in return for Brotherhood support of the paper, which had boosted its distribution.
During the conference, journalists and sympathizers with Afaq Arabiya signed a petition asking all concerned organizations to interfere and reinstate the “unwanted” Muslim Brotherhood journalists.
On another level, Labor Party demands centered on forming an active bulk of opposition groups; a force whose main objective would be to limit the presidents rule. According to party representatives, one of their main demands and objectives is to legalize and legitimize protests and demonstrations since they are an accurate reflection of grassroots sentiment concerning Egypt’s status quo. Under Egyptian law, protests and demonstrations, without prior permission from the police are illegal.
In the Bar Association, blue collar workers convened to present their problems. The former workers of Oramisr Company gave a statement on behalf of 5,000 workers, saying that many of them had suffered from health hazards as a result of years of exposure to deadly asbestos dust. According to the workers, many of their colleagues suffer from lung or pleural cancer and blood pressure irregularities.
The workers, who had previously sat-in in front of their factories and the Worker’s Union, were denied even the minimum legal compensation for these occupational diseases after what they called “an abusive dismissal” from their company. Egypt’s courts repeatedly postponed their cases and a medical examination ordered by the minister of health in similar cases was never carried out.
During the busy conference, around a dozen Kefaya members sat-in at the press syndicate gate to protest what they saw as another governmental violation against the people. On Friday, Kefaya called for protests against the demolishing of houses in Port Said governorate. According to a statement by Kefaya, “The houses were destroyed so that rich business men can build high buildings and tourist resorts on the same places where the houses stood.”
The statement read that although inhabitants of the demolished houses were promised compensations, none were given any. “They said they would give the 30 families that were affected 30 apartments … They will not receive these until they pay bribes to the social workers looking at their cases.” Kefaya claimed that the former inhabitants had protested, although they were harassed each time.
The sit-in, which lasted no more than 20 minutes, did not attract many of the conference’s participants, who were busy with presentations and lectures; however Kefaya members distributed hundreds of copies of their Port Said statement to the delegations. The Kefaya statements explained the recent event, while providing contact information for the now homeless Port Said families.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1023
DSE: Breathing space
Breathing space
Egypt’s journalists use the Internet as a safe haven for expression
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 24, 2006
CAIRO: With freedom of speech more an idea floated around rather than a reality in Egypt, with journalists sentenced to prison and fined for writing, some of Egypt’s journalists have resorted to the Internet to publish their controversial opinions, including commentaries on news, politics and the government.
Sowtona.com is a Cairo-based Web site offering a free haven for Arab and Egyptian journalists to submit their articles and opinion pieces.
The Web site, originally a Web blog space, was initially created to serve as a “medium for the average Egyptian citizen to voice his or her problems during the period of presidential elections.” During that time, the space was used extensively by young Egyptian journalists to express their views, without fear or political boundaries, space constraints, editing or censorship.
When the portal was first launched and run by journalists, it seemed to be addressing Egyptian citizens at large, although the slightly limited service that it offered mainly catered to other journalists. Occasionally offering announcements of journalist training and posting in-depth coverage of the elections, at the time the blog spot was only considered a small information bank for journalists during the elections.
It was also useful for human rights activists, members of the media and judiciary monitors following the elections, since some of the posts summed up the election updates and media announcements, and also listed the widely reported election violations.
The narrow range of topics that the site had been designed to cover and the highly specialized content of the Web site apparently caused its moderators to believe that it would be difficult to maintain their audience at its previous status, especially after the presidential campaigns were over and people might have started to lose interest.
Consequently, it evolved recently with a new perspective to attract a larger audience and even involve Arab journalists. The first step began when the portal turned into the full-blown Web site Sowtona (Our Voice); simple, yet full of information and larger than its older version.
Multiple sections were added, with more links, journalism tips and educational resources, information of interest to journalists concerned with politics and society. The Web site has also featured membership where a person registers for free in order to be able to post comments and personalize his or her online web browsing. The comments are sorted by date and topic, and a search box makes it easy to drag out old information or to look for previous comments on a certain topic.
The Web site has an English version, with the same contents and posts. It also features legal documents, laws and charters concerning journalist’s rights, ethical issues in journalism (shedding light on libel and slander as a problem facing Arab journalists) and freedom of expression.
Sowtona has an extensive message board, where the journalists who created the portal can post messages, pictures, opinion pieces, human rights reports and news clippings that currently center on the governments conduct toward journalists and the status of freedom of expression in journalism and broadcast outlets in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. The messages in general do not express support for a particular candidate, party, government or country; nevertheless, Egyptian journalists in particular are highly critical of the current government, Egypt’s upper house and National Democratic Party.
They often cite cases of oppression of Egypt’s journalists. In one post, a journalist said that the government had driven reporters and writers to the Internet where it has become their sanctuary and their only breathing space.
“The blogs and Web sites are now the new alternative press,” said the post.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=989
Egypt’s journalists use the Internet as a safe haven for expression
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 24, 2006
CAIRO: With freedom of speech more an idea floated around rather than a reality in Egypt, with journalists sentenced to prison and fined for writing, some of Egypt’s journalists have resorted to the Internet to publish their controversial opinions, including commentaries on news, politics and the government.
Sowtona.com is a Cairo-based Web site offering a free haven for Arab and Egyptian journalists to submit their articles and opinion pieces.
The Web site, originally a Web blog space, was initially created to serve as a “medium for the average Egyptian citizen to voice his or her problems during the period of presidential elections.” During that time, the space was used extensively by young Egyptian journalists to express their views, without fear or political boundaries, space constraints, editing or censorship.
When the portal was first launched and run by journalists, it seemed to be addressing Egyptian citizens at large, although the slightly limited service that it offered mainly catered to other journalists. Occasionally offering announcements of journalist training and posting in-depth coverage of the elections, at the time the blog spot was only considered a small information bank for journalists during the elections.
It was also useful for human rights activists, members of the media and judiciary monitors following the elections, since some of the posts summed up the election updates and media announcements, and also listed the widely reported election violations.
The narrow range of topics that the site had been designed to cover and the highly specialized content of the Web site apparently caused its moderators to believe that it would be difficult to maintain their audience at its previous status, especially after the presidential campaigns were over and people might have started to lose interest.
Consequently, it evolved recently with a new perspective to attract a larger audience and even involve Arab journalists. The first step began when the portal turned into the full-blown Web site Sowtona (Our Voice); simple, yet full of information and larger than its older version.
Multiple sections were added, with more links, journalism tips and educational resources, information of interest to journalists concerned with politics and society. The Web site has also featured membership where a person registers for free in order to be able to post comments and personalize his or her online web browsing. The comments are sorted by date and topic, and a search box makes it easy to drag out old information or to look for previous comments on a certain topic.
The Web site has an English version, with the same contents and posts. It also features legal documents, laws and charters concerning journalist’s rights, ethical issues in journalism (shedding light on libel and slander as a problem facing Arab journalists) and freedom of expression.
Sowtona has an extensive message board, where the journalists who created the portal can post messages, pictures, opinion pieces, human rights reports and news clippings that currently center on the governments conduct toward journalists and the status of freedom of expression in journalism and broadcast outlets in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. The messages in general do not express support for a particular candidate, party, government or country; nevertheless, Egyptian journalists in particular are highly critical of the current government, Egypt’s upper house and National Democratic Party.
They often cite cases of oppression of Egypt’s journalists. In one post, a journalist said that the government had driven reporters and writers to the Internet where it has become their sanctuary and their only breathing space.
“The blogs and Web sites are now the new alternative press,” said the post.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=989
DSE: Publication of Afaq Arabiya still on hold
Publication of Afaq Arabiya still on hold
Brotherhood position in Al Ahrar party’s paper under fire
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 22, 2006
CAIRO: The inner conflicts apparent in party newspaper Afaq Arabiya have heightened as journalists continue to protest the halt of the papers publication, endorsed by Managing Director and Editor Mahmoud Atiyya in his attempt to throttle the Muslim Brotherhood’s control over the paper.
“I refuse having the newspaper turn into a sectarian newspaper because of the presence of the Muslim Brothers,” Atiyya tells The Daily Star Egypt. “I haven’t asked anyone to leave, but a new system will be applied.”
“Whoever supports the new system is welcome to stay; whoever wants to leave should leave. It will be their choice, not mine,” he adds.
The new system, setting boundaries on the Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in the newspaper and threatening their autonomy, is already in motion, according to Atiyya. The newspaper is due to be published in less than 10 days, should no more conflicts arise.
The newspaper, officially owned by the Al-Ahrar party, had previously cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, giving the banned-but-tolerated group’s journalists room for free expression. According to Brotherhood sources, the party was to finance and manage the newspaper, while the Muslim Brotherhood was to contribute senior writers and journalists in the hope of attracting a new audience to the newspaper and increasing distribution based on the group’s grassroots popularity.
The voice of the newspaper had grown more Islamic, and many now refer to the publication as the “Brotherhood’s newspaper.”
Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have not objected to Atiyya’s “new system,” saying that they are ready to “step out” at any time. However, Muslim Brotherhood journalists who have worked for Afaq Arabiya for a long time beg to differ.
Many of the “unwanted” journalists are now saying that Atiyya’s halt of the newspaper and the new system are devastating to their careers, and for weeks they have been protesting the ban in front of the press syndicate, submitting petitions to the High Council of Journalism and to press syndicate heads along the way.
However, contrary to many reports, the halt was not originally initiated by Atiyya in order to get rid of the Brotherhood. “At the beginning, the halt was due to a conflict between me on one side and the former party leader on another.”
For months the Al-Ahrar party, like many similar parties, had been experiencing in-party conflict and strife over leadership. The in-fighters had taken their cases to a Cairo court, where months of arguments ended when the court chose Helmy Salem, former curator of Al-Ahrar, as president.
But for the party, the arguments did not stop. On Feb. 23, shortly following the court’s decision, the Political Parties Commission annulled the decision and canceled the appointment, leaving the party without a chairman.
Confusion followed the commission’s decision, according to Abdel-Hakim Al-Shamy, managing editor of Afaq Arabiya and Muslim Brotherhood member. “We did not know whether the new decision canceled the appointment of Helmy only as party leader or not … Did the decision include his position [as managing director] in the paper as well? We were puzzled,” says Al-Shamy.
This confusion has lead to conflicts between editor Atiyya and former party leader Helmy over the position of managing director of the newspaper. Both sides had sent requests to the newspaper’s distribution company asking the latter for a publication halt until matters were settled. Both also sent petitions to the High Council of Journalism, asking the organization to interfere.
Shortly afterwards, the council made their decision to reinstate Atiyya. The newspaper, however, remained unpublished.
“I sent convoys representing the Muslim Brothers to Atiyya in order to solve the crisis the paper is facing and to ask him to re-publish it,” says Al-Shamy. “He told them that he never liked the way the paper was managed.”
“’I was just a name,’ he had told them and the Muslim Brotherhood were the real editors and managers of the paper,” adds Al-Shamy.
Al-Shamy, however, says that the decision to stifle the Muslim Brotherhood’s powers inside the newspaper was not solely Atiyya’s.
“It is what the government wants. Atiyya and some other editors had previously said that they face security problems because of the presence of the Brothers inside the paper … For the paper to be republished, the Brothers must be shunned,” he says.
“Our leaders are ready to give up the paper to Atiyya,” says Al-Shamy. “He is now free to reshuffle the paper’s staff and even expel the Brothers if he chooses to. However, he must be ready to lose the paper’s popularity … Without the Brothers, distribution will be low.”
“Then again it’s a game … the government plays this game,” he says.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=967
Brotherhood position in Al Ahrar party’s paper under fire
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 22, 2006
CAIRO: The inner conflicts apparent in party newspaper Afaq Arabiya have heightened as journalists continue to protest the halt of the papers publication, endorsed by Managing Director and Editor Mahmoud Atiyya in his attempt to throttle the Muslim Brotherhood’s control over the paper.
“I refuse having the newspaper turn into a sectarian newspaper because of the presence of the Muslim Brothers,” Atiyya tells The Daily Star Egypt. “I haven’t asked anyone to leave, but a new system will be applied.”
“Whoever supports the new system is welcome to stay; whoever wants to leave should leave. It will be their choice, not mine,” he adds.
The new system, setting boundaries on the Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in the newspaper and threatening their autonomy, is already in motion, according to Atiyya. The newspaper is due to be published in less than 10 days, should no more conflicts arise.
The newspaper, officially owned by the Al-Ahrar party, had previously cut a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood, giving the banned-but-tolerated group’s journalists room for free expression. According to Brotherhood sources, the party was to finance and manage the newspaper, while the Muslim Brotherhood was to contribute senior writers and journalists in the hope of attracting a new audience to the newspaper and increasing distribution based on the group’s grassroots popularity.
The voice of the newspaper had grown more Islamic, and many now refer to the publication as the “Brotherhood’s newspaper.”
Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have not objected to Atiyya’s “new system,” saying that they are ready to “step out” at any time. However, Muslim Brotherhood journalists who have worked for Afaq Arabiya for a long time beg to differ.
Many of the “unwanted” journalists are now saying that Atiyya’s halt of the newspaper and the new system are devastating to their careers, and for weeks they have been protesting the ban in front of the press syndicate, submitting petitions to the High Council of Journalism and to press syndicate heads along the way.
However, contrary to many reports, the halt was not originally initiated by Atiyya in order to get rid of the Brotherhood. “At the beginning, the halt was due to a conflict between me on one side and the former party leader on another.”
For months the Al-Ahrar party, like many similar parties, had been experiencing in-party conflict and strife over leadership. The in-fighters had taken their cases to a Cairo court, where months of arguments ended when the court chose Helmy Salem, former curator of Al-Ahrar, as president.
But for the party, the arguments did not stop. On Feb. 23, shortly following the court’s decision, the Political Parties Commission annulled the decision and canceled the appointment, leaving the party without a chairman.
Confusion followed the commission’s decision, according to Abdel-Hakim Al-Shamy, managing editor of Afaq Arabiya and Muslim Brotherhood member. “We did not know whether the new decision canceled the appointment of Helmy only as party leader or not … Did the decision include his position [as managing director] in the paper as well? We were puzzled,” says Al-Shamy.
This confusion has lead to conflicts between editor Atiyya and former party leader Helmy over the position of managing director of the newspaper. Both sides had sent requests to the newspaper’s distribution company asking the latter for a publication halt until matters were settled. Both also sent petitions to the High Council of Journalism, asking the organization to interfere.
Shortly afterwards, the council made their decision to reinstate Atiyya. The newspaper, however, remained unpublished.
“I sent convoys representing the Muslim Brothers to Atiyya in order to solve the crisis the paper is facing and to ask him to re-publish it,” says Al-Shamy. “He told them that he never liked the way the paper was managed.”
“’I was just a name,’ he had told them and the Muslim Brotherhood were the real editors and managers of the paper,” adds Al-Shamy.
Al-Shamy, however, says that the decision to stifle the Muslim Brotherhood’s powers inside the newspaper was not solely Atiyya’s.
“It is what the government wants. Atiyya and some other editors had previously said that they face security problems because of the presence of the Brothers inside the paper … For the paper to be republished, the Brothers must be shunned,” he says.
“Our leaders are ready to give up the paper to Atiyya,” says Al-Shamy. “He is now free to reshuffle the paper’s staff and even expel the Brothers if he chooses to. However, he must be ready to lose the paper’s popularity … Without the Brothers, distribution will be low.”
“Then again it’s a game … the government plays this game,” he says.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=967
DSE: Human case of bird flu dominates headlines
Press Round-up
Bird flu dominates headlines
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 21, 2006
CAIRO: Taking priority on the front pages of all newspapers, both national and independent, is the breaking news of a second human bird flu case discovered in the city of Banha (in the Qalyoubiya governorate); most reports including the picture of the patient lying in a hospital bed.
In Al-Ahram, the latest news of Hosni Mubarak’s negotiations with Sudan stole the main headlines, along with the opening of the annual Cairo International Fair; an event coupled with promises of Egyptian economic reform. According to a top official, Egypt has experienced rapid economic progress over the last year, progress that promises further economic improvement and discipline in trade deals.
With regard to bird flu, as the case of a man suspected of being infected with the avian flu H5N1 virus was being uncovered, national reports insisted that the young man was recovering. The man, working on a chicken farm, naturally came into close contact with birds and later suffered a sore throat and a fever; symptoms associated with the bird flu. In response, a health ministry statement states that finding a human case was “of course expected” and that Egypt is not the only country that has discovered human cases.
According to an Associated Press report, authorities might have previously ignored calls of citizens suspecting that their birds were infected with the deadly flu. The AP report featured Um Mohammed, 35, a widow and mother who “complained that although she had told authorities that her birds were dying, ‘They did nothing to help me,’” read the report.
"Day after day, I watched my chickens die. I felt as though I was handcuffed," she told the Associated Press.
In the Arab political arena, Amr Moussa’s candidacy to head the Arab League for a second term has been well received by Arab leaders. According to press reports, some of the leaders said that Moussa’s intensive efforts were “undeniable and greatly appreciated.” The second term continues until 2011.
Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm is reporting strife between veteran writer and journalist Ahmed Ragab and Al-Akhbar editor Momtaz Al-Qot. According to reports, a controversial cartoon by Ragab caused the tension.
Al-Qot had asked Ragab to edit a line in his piece that the former had deemed politically incorrect and possibly offensive to the president. Ragab refused, saying that Mubarak treasures freedom of expression; when a conflict of opinions occurred, Ragab refrained from writing his two first and last page columns for the day. Rumor had it that Ragab had left Al-Akhbar for good.
According to the latest Al-Masry Al-Youm report, Al-Qot publicly apologized to Ragab, calling the latter “his teacher.” “It was my mistake and I am your student,” Al-Qot had reportedly told Ragab. “You have the right to [scold me], but please do not leave Al-Akhbar.”
Ragab did not directly respond to Al-Qot. However in a published letter, Ragab announced that he had stopped writing due to exhaustion, hinting that the halt might be only temporary.
On the international level, the Independent online (IOL) is reporting on Prince Charles and wife Camilla’s visit to Cairo. According to the news source, Prince Charles is due to face “controversy at Cairo's most renowned Islamic institution over the awarding of an honorary degree to the heir to the British throne.”
According to IOL, the prince’s stance toward the latest controversy over Danish cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive by Muslims “has divided directors at Al-Azhar, some of whom feel he doesn't deserve the honor.”
"All that Charles did is to say that Islam is the most widespread religion in the world, and that's a reality, not a discovery made by the prince," Al-Azhar lecturer in Arab literature Abdel-Azim Al-Mataanni told IOL. "That is not enough for him to receive such a reward from Al-Azhar University, well known in the Muslim world."
On the other hand, voices that support the prince claimed his stance was not only appeasing but also influential. The prince had taken "positions close to Islam and Muslims, something no one else of his importance has done,” Islamic scholar Abdel-Sabour Shahin told IOL.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=958
Bird flu dominates headlines
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 21, 2006
CAIRO: Taking priority on the front pages of all newspapers, both national and independent, is the breaking news of a second human bird flu case discovered in the city of Banha (in the Qalyoubiya governorate); most reports including the picture of the patient lying in a hospital bed.
In Al-Ahram, the latest news of Hosni Mubarak’s negotiations with Sudan stole the main headlines, along with the opening of the annual Cairo International Fair; an event coupled with promises of Egyptian economic reform. According to a top official, Egypt has experienced rapid economic progress over the last year, progress that promises further economic improvement and discipline in trade deals.
With regard to bird flu, as the case of a man suspected of being infected with the avian flu H5N1 virus was being uncovered, national reports insisted that the young man was recovering. The man, working on a chicken farm, naturally came into close contact with birds and later suffered a sore throat and a fever; symptoms associated with the bird flu. In response, a health ministry statement states that finding a human case was “of course expected” and that Egypt is not the only country that has discovered human cases.
According to an Associated Press report, authorities might have previously ignored calls of citizens suspecting that their birds were infected with the deadly flu. The AP report featured Um Mohammed, 35, a widow and mother who “complained that although she had told authorities that her birds were dying, ‘They did nothing to help me,’” read the report.
"Day after day, I watched my chickens die. I felt as though I was handcuffed," she told the Associated Press.
In the Arab political arena, Amr Moussa’s candidacy to head the Arab League for a second term has been well received by Arab leaders. According to press reports, some of the leaders said that Moussa’s intensive efforts were “undeniable and greatly appreciated.” The second term continues until 2011.
Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm is reporting strife between veteran writer and journalist Ahmed Ragab and Al-Akhbar editor Momtaz Al-Qot. According to reports, a controversial cartoon by Ragab caused the tension.
Al-Qot had asked Ragab to edit a line in his piece that the former had deemed politically incorrect and possibly offensive to the president. Ragab refused, saying that Mubarak treasures freedom of expression; when a conflict of opinions occurred, Ragab refrained from writing his two first and last page columns for the day. Rumor had it that Ragab had left Al-Akhbar for good.
According to the latest Al-Masry Al-Youm report, Al-Qot publicly apologized to Ragab, calling the latter “his teacher.” “It was my mistake and I am your student,” Al-Qot had reportedly told Ragab. “You have the right to [scold me], but please do not leave Al-Akhbar.”
Ragab did not directly respond to Al-Qot. However in a published letter, Ragab announced that he had stopped writing due to exhaustion, hinting that the halt might be only temporary.
On the international level, the Independent online (IOL) is reporting on Prince Charles and wife Camilla’s visit to Cairo. According to the news source, Prince Charles is due to face “controversy at Cairo's most renowned Islamic institution over the awarding of an honorary degree to the heir to the British throne.”
According to IOL, the prince’s stance toward the latest controversy over Danish cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive by Muslims “has divided directors at Al-Azhar, some of whom feel he doesn't deserve the honor.”
"All that Charles did is to say that Islam is the most widespread religion in the world, and that's a reality, not a discovery made by the prince," Al-Azhar lecturer in Arab literature Abdel-Azim Al-Mataanni told IOL. "That is not enough for him to receive such a reward from Al-Azhar University, well known in the Muslim world."
On the other hand, voices that support the prince claimed his stance was not only appeasing but also influential. The prince had taken "positions close to Islam and Muslims, something no one else of his importance has done,” Islamic scholar Abdel-Sabour Shahin told IOL.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=958
DSE: Osama Ghazali Harb discusses Egypt's future
Osama Ghazali Harb discusses Egypt’s future
Former prominent NDP member speaks about democracy and the future of reform under the current government
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 15, 2006
CAIRO: With his resignation from the National Democratic Party (NDP) still sending shockwaves through the political scene, Osama Ghazali Harb spoke to The Daily Star Egypt about his reasons for abandoning the party, his plans for founding a new one and what he sees as the future of democracy in Egypt.
“The so-called political reform process was never really taking place in [the] NDP,” says Harb, who is currently a Shura council member and political analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “Democracy was never taken seriously.”
Harb submitted his resignation last week after spending more than three years as a member of the policies committee, headed by Gamal Mubarak. For many, the move was a “shocker,” but for Harb, it was a well-planned and thought-out decision.
Harb, who had been an independent before joining the NDP, said the monopoly by the government became clear when the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution, which allows multi-candidate presidential elections was put in motion. According to the veteran politician, the constitutional change appeared to have given parties leeway to run a candidate for presidency, when in fact it repressed parties even more.
“According to this new article, only the NDP, really, could submit a candidate in the president elections,” says Harb. “I opposed the amendment and I had a good argument for refusing it … but the Policies Committee never really uses the [consultancy of] experienced [leaders].”
Reportedly, Harb explained to Gamal Mubarak his reasoning for challenging the effect of the amendment as a real step toward democracy. The young leader, however, and his NDP associates stood firm.
According to Harb, the NDP’s inner policies only reflect the bigger scope of how matters are run in Egypt. “Like in the NDP, in Egypt nobody really utilizes the skills and opinions of the qualified and experienced … I felt imprisoned inside the NDP.”
The hegemony of the government, according to Harb, is what has led to Egypt’s division between the only two strong political forces: the Muslim Brotherhood and the state-financed NDP. “Egypt is not just Islamists and NDP; the country has other political trends … socialist, national, liberal, etc.”
“One cannot deny that the Muslim Brotherhood has popularity among the grassroots … However, many who voted for the Muslim Brothers did that out of spite for the NDP.”
“The NDP’s presence is actually complimentary for the Muslim Brothers,” says Harb. “Their constant failures and flaws have led the people to support the Brothers.”
The government is using the Muslim Brotherhood group as a weapon to convince the West that Islamists are the only alternative to the current government, explains Harb. “The Brothers are strong. The West is ready to negotiate with Islamists … The weapon will eventually turn against the [government].”
The NDP has created what Harb calls a “political void,” where legitimate parties are too weak to make a stand or provide an alternative for leadership. “This political void is scary … If, God forbid, something happens to Mubarak, no one knows what will become of us.”
“If an emergency happens, no one knows who will lead the country,” says Harb. “It will be total chaos… The poor might attack rich neighborhoods; the sectarian strife, strong now in Egypt, might be augmented.”
“The problems in Egypt and the strife are beyond our thoughts. When I think about the prospect, I get scared,” adds Harb. “If anything sudden happens to the president, all systems in Egypt will collapse. No exaggeration… anything could happen.”
Unfortunately, according to Harb, society’s elite are not aware of such possibilities. “No leader is being prepared to handle authority, if necessary … except for Gamal Mubarak who, despite denials, is being apparently pushed … and prepared [for presidency].”
“However, this is not the solution,” says Harb. “How could we assume that if Gamal Mubarak takes over power that other political forces will accept it? What about the Muslim Brothers? Will they ever accept it? It will be a disaster.”
Harb, who was initially invited by the younger Mubarak to join the party, said he did not believe that the party was perfect when he first joined. However, he had trusted in its “potential” for change and reform. “I thought that I, along with other veterans, could make a real change.”
“There was no democracy in the NDP … So Egypt is now one of the few countries in the world where absolute powers are granted to certain organizations and where dominion of [the political] authority is possible.”
Following his resignation, NDP leaders announced their intention to talk with Harb and possibly re-invite him to the party. Harb, however, however, affirms that his resignation is final. The politician was also bombarded by invitations from the Al-Wafd party, although “following the tragic strife among their ranks,” Harb has quietly refused.
“In order to regain political stability, we must have strong political forces that are clear about their goals and intentions,” explains Harb. “The country is scattered and we need new blood, new parties, in order for change to be effective. The political arena can, certainly, accommodate new forces based on serious dedication to democracy.”
Harb’s future plans are now centered on a new political party; one which he aims to found and invite the elite of the political community and intellects to join. Harb says that unlike other parties, his will not be centered on one leader or one individual dominating power. It will be based on democracy and justice “inside out.”
“A sound political process is a result of a collaborative effort … all those who said they would join me are leaders and people of experience,” says Harb. “Yehya El Gamal [political analyst] is one of those who is enthusiastic about the new party.” Other names of potential leaders include poet and writer Farouk Goweida, former Housing Minister Hassaballah El Kafrawy, and Mohammed Abul-Ghar.
Harb adds that different political forces are welcome to join, including Islamists, “as long as they endorse true democracy and liberalism.”
“Transparency, fighting corruption, giving freedom to the press, equal opportunities [and] acknowledging people’s right to rise to high-status positions if they have what it takes,” is on the top of Harb’s party-to-be agenda.
While Harb is dissatisfied with the current government, he does not believe in revolution. “However, it is essential for those political forces who have failed to give breathing space for others ... without any malice. If the NDP cannot solve people’s problems, then they should step aside and let others lead instead of overpowering people for 30 years.”
Harb denies that there is systematic political strife inside the NDP between reformists on one hand and conservatives on another. “However, there are strong conflicts between smaller groups and an individual … strife is there. Each group has its own agenda [and] there are conflicts of interest between members.”
Although Harb says he “knows” that there are other NDP leaders who wish to resign from the NDP, he still doubts that they will ever take the step he has just taken. “They have other calculations. Some have fears … Even though many are not happy and some have even ceased to be active, I doubt they will ever quit.”
“All in all, the NDP has more major problems at its core. It is enough that it has failed to change the status quo.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=913
Former prominent NDP member speaks about democracy and the future of reform under the current government
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: March 15, 2006
CAIRO: With his resignation from the National Democratic Party (NDP) still sending shockwaves through the political scene, Osama Ghazali Harb spoke to The Daily Star Egypt about his reasons for abandoning the party, his plans for founding a new one and what he sees as the future of democracy in Egypt.
“The so-called political reform process was never really taking place in [the] NDP,” says Harb, who is currently a Shura council member and political analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “Democracy was never taken seriously.”
Harb submitted his resignation last week after spending more than three years as a member of the policies committee, headed by Gamal Mubarak. For many, the move was a “shocker,” but for Harb, it was a well-planned and thought-out decision.
Harb, who had been an independent before joining the NDP, said the monopoly by the government became clear when the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution, which allows multi-candidate presidential elections was put in motion. According to the veteran politician, the constitutional change appeared to have given parties leeway to run a candidate for presidency, when in fact it repressed parties even more.
“According to this new article, only the NDP, really, could submit a candidate in the president elections,” says Harb. “I opposed the amendment and I had a good argument for refusing it … but the Policies Committee never really uses the [consultancy of] experienced [leaders].”
Reportedly, Harb explained to Gamal Mubarak his reasoning for challenging the effect of the amendment as a real step toward democracy. The young leader, however, and his NDP associates stood firm.
According to Harb, the NDP’s inner policies only reflect the bigger scope of how matters are run in Egypt. “Like in the NDP, in Egypt nobody really utilizes the skills and opinions of the qualified and experienced … I felt imprisoned inside the NDP.”
The hegemony of the government, according to Harb, is what has led to Egypt’s division between the only two strong political forces: the Muslim Brotherhood and the state-financed NDP. “Egypt is not just Islamists and NDP; the country has other political trends … socialist, national, liberal, etc.”
“One cannot deny that the Muslim Brotherhood has popularity among the grassroots … However, many who voted for the Muslim Brothers did that out of spite for the NDP.”
“The NDP’s presence is actually complimentary for the Muslim Brothers,” says Harb. “Their constant failures and flaws have led the people to support the Brothers.”
The government is using the Muslim Brotherhood group as a weapon to convince the West that Islamists are the only alternative to the current government, explains Harb. “The Brothers are strong. The West is ready to negotiate with Islamists … The weapon will eventually turn against the [government].”
The NDP has created what Harb calls a “political void,” where legitimate parties are too weak to make a stand or provide an alternative for leadership. “This political void is scary … If, God forbid, something happens to Mubarak, no one knows what will become of us.”
“If an emergency happens, no one knows who will lead the country,” says Harb. “It will be total chaos… The poor might attack rich neighborhoods; the sectarian strife, strong now in Egypt, might be augmented.”
“The problems in Egypt and the strife are beyond our thoughts. When I think about the prospect, I get scared,” adds Harb. “If anything sudden happens to the president, all systems in Egypt will collapse. No exaggeration… anything could happen.”
Unfortunately, according to Harb, society’s elite are not aware of such possibilities. “No leader is being prepared to handle authority, if necessary … except for Gamal Mubarak who, despite denials, is being apparently pushed … and prepared [for presidency].”
“However, this is not the solution,” says Harb. “How could we assume that if Gamal Mubarak takes over power that other political forces will accept it? What about the Muslim Brothers? Will they ever accept it? It will be a disaster.”
Harb, who was initially invited by the younger Mubarak to join the party, said he did not believe that the party was perfect when he first joined. However, he had trusted in its “potential” for change and reform. “I thought that I, along with other veterans, could make a real change.”
“There was no democracy in the NDP … So Egypt is now one of the few countries in the world where absolute powers are granted to certain organizations and where dominion of [the political] authority is possible.”
Following his resignation, NDP leaders announced their intention to talk with Harb and possibly re-invite him to the party. Harb, however, however, affirms that his resignation is final. The politician was also bombarded by invitations from the Al-Wafd party, although “following the tragic strife among their ranks,” Harb has quietly refused.
“In order to regain political stability, we must have strong political forces that are clear about their goals and intentions,” explains Harb. “The country is scattered and we need new blood, new parties, in order for change to be effective. The political arena can, certainly, accommodate new forces based on serious dedication to democracy.”
Harb’s future plans are now centered on a new political party; one which he aims to found and invite the elite of the political community and intellects to join. Harb says that unlike other parties, his will not be centered on one leader or one individual dominating power. It will be based on democracy and justice “inside out.”
“A sound political process is a result of a collaborative effort … all those who said they would join me are leaders and people of experience,” says Harb. “Yehya El Gamal [political analyst] is one of those who is enthusiastic about the new party.” Other names of potential leaders include poet and writer Farouk Goweida, former Housing Minister Hassaballah El Kafrawy, and Mohammed Abul-Ghar.
Harb adds that different political forces are welcome to join, including Islamists, “as long as they endorse true democracy and liberalism.”
“Transparency, fighting corruption, giving freedom to the press, equal opportunities [and] acknowledging people’s right to rise to high-status positions if they have what it takes,” is on the top of Harb’s party-to-be agenda.
While Harb is dissatisfied with the current government, he does not believe in revolution. “However, it is essential for those political forces who have failed to give breathing space for others ... without any malice. If the NDP cannot solve people’s problems, then they should step aside and let others lead instead of overpowering people for 30 years.”
Harb denies that there is systematic political strife inside the NDP between reformists on one hand and conservatives on another. “However, there are strong conflicts between smaller groups and an individual … strife is there. Each group has its own agenda [and] there are conflicts of interest between members.”
Although Harb says he “knows” that there are other NDP leaders who wish to resign from the NDP, he still doubts that they will ever take the step he has just taken. “They have other calculations. Some have fears … Even though many are not happy and some have even ceased to be active, I doubt they will ever quit.”
“All in all, the NDP has more major problems at its core. It is enough that it has failed to change the status quo.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=913
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