Freedom of the press takes a blow
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 12, 2006
CAIRO: Egyptian police beat up and temporarily held an Al-Jazeera cameraman, among others, while he was covering a protest outside the Judges Club on Thursday.
“A group of police thugs handpicked him from the crowd of journalists, around five or six thugs, and surrounded him,” says Lina Al-Ghadban, Al-Jazeera Cairo correspondent who was present at the scene. “He was badly beaten, punched several times in the face.”
According to Al-Ghadban, the cameraman, Yasser Mohammed, was standing in a group of other journalists and camera crews on the opposite side of the street from where the club was located.
The journalists were not allowed to come close to the gates, according to eyewitnesses, behind which hundreds of judges convened to protest the case of two of their colleagues facing disciplinary hearings for outlining what they called scam and thuggery in last year’s violence-marred presidential elections. The judges were harshly critical of the regime, chanting against Mubarak, and calling the government “tyrants.”
As the anger and the number of protestors mounted, riot police, who cordoned off the club, allegedly treated the journalists more aggressively. Cameramen especially, were pushed away from the club gates whenever they tried to enter.
“It really seemed that they had purposely targeted the Al-Jazeera cameraman,” says Al-Ghadban. After Mohammed was beaten, police detained him for over 20 minutes; policemen shattered his camera and confiscated the tape. Al-Ghadban convinced the police to release her cameraman, but was denied even the broken camera.
“I was not personally harassed … but they shouted at me: ‘Do you want to go home or not,’ which of course was a warning.”
Meanwhile, according to the correspondent, Mohammed sustained minor scars due to the beating. “They were very smart. They meant to beat him in such a way so as not to leave clear marks or scars. His face of course hurts and is swollen, but he is not bleeding,” says Al-Ghadban.
No other injuries were reported, although Al-Ghadban claims that others were later targeted. “I heard that several other journalists were beaten up and two Qatari journalists were arrested. So it seems that they did not want anyone to witness or record the protests, perhaps not just Al-Jazeera.”
Political, human rights activists and Muslim Brotherhood members were also present at the demonstration in support of the judges. According to BBC News, dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members were rounded up during the clashes.
This incident comes less than two weeks after Al-Jazeera Cairo Bureau Chief Hussein Abdel-Ghani was arrested, interrogated for around 40 hours and charged with propagating false information while covering the recent Dahab bombings, which killed 21 people and wounded 85.
Abdel-Ghani was released on LE 10,000 bail but is still on trial. Following Abdel-Ghani’s arrest, Al-Jazeera told Associated Press that his case is "a flagrant violation of freedom of opinion in Egypt and an insult to a journalist whose only fault was trying to ensure the free flow of information."
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1468
Friday, May 12, 2006
DSE: Egyptians in four American states stage protests in support of detained activists
Egyptians in four American states stage protests in support of detained activists
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 11, 2006
CAIRO: In four American states, some 50 U.S. residents of Egyptian origin and American activists protested in support of political and human rights activists recently detained by security forces and held in Tora Mazraa Prison.
“We want to show our support to the activists in Egypt and show that there is mounting international pressure on [President Hosni] Mubarak's regime,” says Shehab Ismail, one protestor who is also in charge of circulating statements and petitions for the activists’ cause.
The protests came after police detained around 90 political activists during the past two weeks for demonstrating in support of two judges who received disciplinary hearings for outlining what they called “fraud” and “thuggery” during last year’s presidential elections. Among the detained were Kefaya (Enough) activists, El-Ghad Party members and two journalists. The detained were transferred to Tora Mazraa Prison, near Cairo.
Forty of the pre-trial detainees in Tora Mazraa went on a hunger strike to protest their prison conditions, where, against human rights laws, they were kept in the same cell with convicted criminals and were denied access to the prison mosque. Most of the detainees face charges such as creating public disorder, insulting the Egyptian president in a public gathering, distributing leaflets and disrupting traffic.
In New York, a dozen Egyptian and American activists picketed the Egyptian consulate. The National Council of Arab Americans and the International Socialist Review, published by the International Socialist Organization, initiated the protests.
The protestors, who were reportedly “loud and chanting,” held signs and banners reading, “This is Mubarak’s democracy… nothing but hypocrisy” and “What do we want: freedom… when do we want it: now.” Some chanted, “Free speech is not a crime… Why are reformers doing time?”
The biggest protest was in Chicago, attracting some 25 activists, who marched in downtown Chicago. “We got lots of notice and we handed out [our] statement to passers-by,” says Sherry Wolf, editor of the International Socialist Review and protest organizer. “Egyptian students held out colorful signs… We all carried signs with slogans like: Free the Egyptian reformers now… that had pictures of Egyptian state repression, with Arabic and English slogans.”
According to Wolf, they received the statement that the 40 detainees on hunger strike had sent out from prison by e-mail. Each picketer took his turn during the marches to read out the mail from the Tora Mazraa Prison.
The protestors then outlined their demands in a statement sent to both the Egyptian prosecutor general, to different Egyptian consulates and to the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States. Their demands included releasing what they called pro-democracy activists, ending the state of emergency, granting the judicial system independence and endorsing press freedom.
“As Egyptians living in the United States, we have been following the alarming setbacks of democratic reforms in Egypt,” reads the New York petition, signed by 30 Egyptian and American citizens. The petition also read that the activists detained “did nothing but exercise their right of publicly expressing their opinion in a peaceful manner.”
“We condemn the actions of the Egyptian police in attacking the protests,” reads the Chicago petition, signed by mostly American activists. “We call upon the Egyptian authorities to show respect for human rights and the independence of the Egyptian judiciary by releasing the detainees without delay.”
According to Wolf, the petitions were delivered to three consulates. However, in “San Francisco, the consulate informed picketers that all arrestees have already been released without bail and there was nothing to protest about.”
However, all the activists detained remain in custody.
“Everywhere else, we were treated coarsely by [Egyptian] officials, though never roughed up. There were no arrests,” Wolf tells The Daily Star Egypt.
Meanwhile, according to Media Line, another group of Egyptian political activists have started a campaign to protest the detention of Alaa Seif Al-Islam, a prominent Egyptian blogger who was also arrested during the protest in support of judges.
Internet Bloggers has also started an e-mail campaign aimed at Egyptian embassies and the U.S. State Department to push for his release. According to the same source, they are also planning protests in the United States, France, Italy and Germany.
“His blog was short-listed by Reporters Without Borders last year, as one of eight nominees for the best blog award in the category of freedom of expression,” reads the Media Line report.
The bloggers established a Web site to promote Seif Al-Islam’s cause, saying that his arrest is not a coincidence and claiming, “Government agents handpicked people to arrest from amongst the protesters,” as quoted in the Media Line report. “They have wanted to get [Seif Al-Islam] for a long time now, precisely because he is high profile, and because he helps organize the protests and spreads the information through the blog aggregator he runs.”
In addition to the activists’ arrest, more than 50 Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested following the renewal of the 25-year-old Emergency Law. Some Brotherhood members were arrested as they hung up wall posters condemning the Emergency Law and criticizing the government.
In response, New York-based Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized the mass arrests in their latest report on Egypt.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1462
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 11, 2006
CAIRO: In four American states, some 50 U.S. residents of Egyptian origin and American activists protested in support of political and human rights activists recently detained by security forces and held in Tora Mazraa Prison.
“We want to show our support to the activists in Egypt and show that there is mounting international pressure on [President Hosni] Mubarak's regime,” says Shehab Ismail, one protestor who is also in charge of circulating statements and petitions for the activists’ cause.
The protests came after police detained around 90 political activists during the past two weeks for demonstrating in support of two judges who received disciplinary hearings for outlining what they called “fraud” and “thuggery” during last year’s presidential elections. Among the detained were Kefaya (Enough) activists, El-Ghad Party members and two journalists. The detained were transferred to Tora Mazraa Prison, near Cairo.
Forty of the pre-trial detainees in Tora Mazraa went on a hunger strike to protest their prison conditions, where, against human rights laws, they were kept in the same cell with convicted criminals and were denied access to the prison mosque. Most of the detainees face charges such as creating public disorder, insulting the Egyptian president in a public gathering, distributing leaflets and disrupting traffic.
In New York, a dozen Egyptian and American activists picketed the Egyptian consulate. The National Council of Arab Americans and the International Socialist Review, published by the International Socialist Organization, initiated the protests.
The protestors, who were reportedly “loud and chanting,” held signs and banners reading, “This is Mubarak’s democracy… nothing but hypocrisy” and “What do we want: freedom… when do we want it: now.” Some chanted, “Free speech is not a crime… Why are reformers doing time?”
The biggest protest was in Chicago, attracting some 25 activists, who marched in downtown Chicago. “We got lots of notice and we handed out [our] statement to passers-by,” says Sherry Wolf, editor of the International Socialist Review and protest organizer. “Egyptian students held out colorful signs… We all carried signs with slogans like: Free the Egyptian reformers now… that had pictures of Egyptian state repression, with Arabic and English slogans.”
According to Wolf, they received the statement that the 40 detainees on hunger strike had sent out from prison by e-mail. Each picketer took his turn during the marches to read out the mail from the Tora Mazraa Prison.
The protestors then outlined their demands in a statement sent to both the Egyptian prosecutor general, to different Egyptian consulates and to the Egyptian Ambassador to the United States. Their demands included releasing what they called pro-democracy activists, ending the state of emergency, granting the judicial system independence and endorsing press freedom.
“As Egyptians living in the United States, we have been following the alarming setbacks of democratic reforms in Egypt,” reads the New York petition, signed by 30 Egyptian and American citizens. The petition also read that the activists detained “did nothing but exercise their right of publicly expressing their opinion in a peaceful manner.”
“We condemn the actions of the Egyptian police in attacking the protests,” reads the Chicago petition, signed by mostly American activists. “We call upon the Egyptian authorities to show respect for human rights and the independence of the Egyptian judiciary by releasing the detainees without delay.”
According to Wolf, the petitions were delivered to three consulates. However, in “San Francisco, the consulate informed picketers that all arrestees have already been released without bail and there was nothing to protest about.”
However, all the activists detained remain in custody.
“Everywhere else, we were treated coarsely by [Egyptian] officials, though never roughed up. There were no arrests,” Wolf tells The Daily Star Egypt.
Meanwhile, according to Media Line, another group of Egyptian political activists have started a campaign to protest the detention of Alaa Seif Al-Islam, a prominent Egyptian blogger who was also arrested during the protest in support of judges.
Internet Bloggers has also started an e-mail campaign aimed at Egyptian embassies and the U.S. State Department to push for his release. According to the same source, they are also planning protests in the United States, France, Italy and Germany.
“His blog was short-listed by Reporters Without Borders last year, as one of eight nominees for the best blog award in the category of freedom of expression,” reads the Media Line report.
The bloggers established a Web site to promote Seif Al-Islam’s cause, saying that his arrest is not a coincidence and claiming, “Government agents handpicked people to arrest from amongst the protesters,” as quoted in the Media Line report. “They have wanted to get [Seif Al-Islam] for a long time now, precisely because he is high profile, and because he helps organize the protests and spreads the information through the blog aggregator he runs.”
In addition to the activists’ arrest, more than 50 Muslim Brotherhood members were arrested following the renewal of the 25-year-old Emergency Law. Some Brotherhood members were arrested as they hung up wall posters condemning the Emergency Law and criticizing the government.
In response, New York-based Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized the mass arrests in their latest report on Egypt.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1462
DSE: Emergency Law leading to more instability
Emergency Law leading to more instability
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 10, 2006
CAIRO: Opposition forces claim that following the extension of the Emergency Law security forces have been “harsher” and “stricter” in their policy. In response, some political and judicial blocs have organized a conference to combat the law’s “hegemony.”
Following the renewal of the Emergency Law, at least 70 political and human rights activists were arrested; some 20 were rounded up on Monday for protesting in front of Cairo’s Supreme Court.
Monday’s group was charged with insulting the president, demonstrating and distributing leaflets. The police did not hesitate to use force to curb the protestors, according to human rights activist Aida Seif El-Dawla who was present at the scene. Some of the protestors were women, who claimed to have been pushed, shoved and beaten with batons.
Meanwhile, following their conference, the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary (ACIJLP) published reports and recommendations concerning the Emergency Law, deeming the law unconstitutional.
The conference, entitled “The Constitutional and Legislative Organization of the State of Emergency in Egypt” featured the participation of different policymakers and lawmakers, diplomats, journalists and upper house members.
During the conference, the participants expressed their perceptions of the position of Egyptian legislation and international agreements on declaring a state of emergency for an additional two years, despite fierce opposition.
The participants also discussed the regulations governing the law and the constitutional framework that should have guided its extension. The center also attempted to examine whether the reasons for declaring and extending the state of emergency were truly in the interest of public rights and personal freedoms or in fact trampled them.
According to the ACIJLP conference report, extending this “exceptional” law lacks “realistic grounds and misses the reasons stated in the Emergency Law itself.”
The first article of the Emergency Law reads that “a state of emergency may be declared whenever security or public order are threatened in the Republic's territories or parts of it, whether through a war, conditions that threaten with war, internal unrest, natural disasters or an epidemic.”
The participants also argued that extending the Emergency Law had not led to more stability contrary to what the government “envisioned.”
The law in fact reinforces “the international community's view of Egypt as an unstable area … while the state [claims otherwise by trying to] convince the world and investors that Egypt is experiencing real stability.” The law, according to ACIJLP, also enticed negative reactions that “will impact the economy in the coming period,” read their report.
Last week, the U.S. state department strongly criticized the extension of the law, saying that it restrains freedom and reform. International human rights groups, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International topping the list, published reports linking recent violations of human and prisoners’ rights to the state of emergency, calling on President Hosni Mubarak to keep his promises and abolish the much-criticized law.
“The government pledged to refrain from resorting to the Emergency Law against intellectuals, writers and those who express their opinion, emphasizing that the law will only be used to pursue terrorism,” said the law center representatives at the conference. “Daily events affirm the use of the Emergency Law against journalists, union members and human rights activists.”
“Moreover, the provisions of exceptional nature present in the Penal Code, known as the Anti-Terrorism Law, would suffice to pursue terrorists.”
The center has called upon political and civil forces to pressure the government by directly asking the president to immediately “intervene to lift the state of emergency in accordance with the principles of legitimacy and to implement his election program.” Lawmakers also suggested that adequate compensation is essential to rehabilitating what they called the “victims of the Emergency Law” and their families.
“We call upon the media, particularly the independent media, to broadcast the trials, investigations and cases that are based on the state of emergency.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1445
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 10, 2006
CAIRO: Opposition forces claim that following the extension of the Emergency Law security forces have been “harsher” and “stricter” in their policy. In response, some political and judicial blocs have organized a conference to combat the law’s “hegemony.”
Following the renewal of the Emergency Law, at least 70 political and human rights activists were arrested; some 20 were rounded up on Monday for protesting in front of Cairo’s Supreme Court.
Monday’s group was charged with insulting the president, demonstrating and distributing leaflets. The police did not hesitate to use force to curb the protestors, according to human rights activist Aida Seif El-Dawla who was present at the scene. Some of the protestors were women, who claimed to have been pushed, shoved and beaten with batons.
Meanwhile, following their conference, the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary (ACIJLP) published reports and recommendations concerning the Emergency Law, deeming the law unconstitutional.
The conference, entitled “The Constitutional and Legislative Organization of the State of Emergency in Egypt” featured the participation of different policymakers and lawmakers, diplomats, journalists and upper house members.
During the conference, the participants expressed their perceptions of the position of Egyptian legislation and international agreements on declaring a state of emergency for an additional two years, despite fierce opposition.
The participants also discussed the regulations governing the law and the constitutional framework that should have guided its extension. The center also attempted to examine whether the reasons for declaring and extending the state of emergency were truly in the interest of public rights and personal freedoms or in fact trampled them.
According to the ACIJLP conference report, extending this “exceptional” law lacks “realistic grounds and misses the reasons stated in the Emergency Law itself.”
The first article of the Emergency Law reads that “a state of emergency may be declared whenever security or public order are threatened in the Republic's territories or parts of it, whether through a war, conditions that threaten with war, internal unrest, natural disasters or an epidemic.”
The participants also argued that extending the Emergency Law had not led to more stability contrary to what the government “envisioned.”
The law in fact reinforces “the international community's view of Egypt as an unstable area … while the state [claims otherwise by trying to] convince the world and investors that Egypt is experiencing real stability.” The law, according to ACIJLP, also enticed negative reactions that “will impact the economy in the coming period,” read their report.
Last week, the U.S. state department strongly criticized the extension of the law, saying that it restrains freedom and reform. International human rights groups, with the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International topping the list, published reports linking recent violations of human and prisoners’ rights to the state of emergency, calling on President Hosni Mubarak to keep his promises and abolish the much-criticized law.
“The government pledged to refrain from resorting to the Emergency Law against intellectuals, writers and those who express their opinion, emphasizing that the law will only be used to pursue terrorism,” said the law center representatives at the conference. “Daily events affirm the use of the Emergency Law against journalists, union members and human rights activists.”
“Moreover, the provisions of exceptional nature present in the Penal Code, known as the Anti-Terrorism Law, would suffice to pursue terrorists.”
The center has called upon political and civil forces to pressure the government by directly asking the president to immediately “intervene to lift the state of emergency in accordance with the principles of legitimacy and to implement his election program.” Lawmakers also suggested that adequate compensation is essential to rehabilitating what they called the “victims of the Emergency Law” and their families.
“We call upon the media, particularly the independent media, to broadcast the trials, investigations and cases that are based on the state of emergency.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1445
DSE: Demands for judiciary independence dominate the news
Demands for judiciary independence dominate the news
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 9, 2006
CAIRO: The Judges Syndicate has decided to discuss the independence of the judiciary in a conference slated for May 17, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm. The conference is scheduled to include Egyptian journalists, parliamentarians, thinkers and law experts.
The judges said they will plan ways to make the judiciary independent from the state, in an attempt to end the crisis facing the judges.
After two high-profile deputies to the Cassation Court, Hisham Al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Makki, were referred to disciplinary hearings before the Ministry of Interior, the judges voiced their protest and filed a court case against the decision in a Cairo cassation court.
The two prosecuted judges had filed an inquiry and demanded investigations into the 2005 presidential elections, calling the elections “corrupt” and marred by “thuggery” and “fraud.”
As the judges sat-in at their club for days, the police cracked down on their protests; dispersing the groups using force and beating one judge with batons and sticks. Although the police deny that violence occurred and the government has separated itself from the crisis, the judges see the policies of the current government as the main stumbling block obstructing reform, according to the independent newspaper.
The judges also vowed to continue to protest, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm, and have already met with around 35 human rights and civil society groups and activists in order to organize a sit-in by the Judges Club compound by the end of this month. This time the protest will fit the high status and reputation of the judges, they said in their statements.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the judges currently carry out their meetings under tight security measures, with truckloads of security police encircling their headquarters to prevent outbreaks of riots or protests.
The judges’ statements coincided with the prosecutor’s order to detain eight pro-reform activists, raising the number of detained activists to 48, some of whom demonstrated for the judges’ cause less than two weeks ago.
"The detained people are charged with disrupting traffic, obstructing the state from carrying out its duties and insulting the president," one of the security officials told Reuters.
“The activists said police encircled and beat them before dragging away specific activists, including Alaa Seif Al-Islam, who maintains a pro-reform Web blog,” said the Reuters report, adding, “security sources also said police had picked up at dawn four members of the Islamist opposition Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria. Brotherhood officials say about 50 of their member’s remains in custody.”
Also in Al-Masry Al-Youm, political analyst and journalist Mohammad Hassanein Heikal voiced his criticism of the current government in an open discussion with the press. “There are few options for this country, we need change on a wider level,” said Heikal. “We need a new constitution.”
“The current [government] does not have a set project, a plan, for reform in politics, economy, or even on the social level,” said Heikal. “It is a disaster. What we see now has only created hope for everybody … but in the end [nothing happens] and we see everyone is fighting one another.”
“[The government] will not willingly accept change. We must unite and exert pressure on the government as groups for change to take place.”
Speaking on the conditions of the press in Egypt, Heikal said that the Egyptian press “is at its worst.” Heikal said that encouragement for reporters in these difficult times is most desperately needed. Donation grants, fellowships and awards for journalists are necessary in order to raise the quality of journalism, said Heikal, and make it more informative on all levels, in terms of both editorials and news.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1436
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 9, 2006
CAIRO: The Judges Syndicate has decided to discuss the independence of the judiciary in a conference slated for May 17, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm. The conference is scheduled to include Egyptian journalists, parliamentarians, thinkers and law experts.
The judges said they will plan ways to make the judiciary independent from the state, in an attempt to end the crisis facing the judges.
After two high-profile deputies to the Cassation Court, Hisham Al-Bastawisy and Mahmoud Makki, were referred to disciplinary hearings before the Ministry of Interior, the judges voiced their protest and filed a court case against the decision in a Cairo cassation court.
The two prosecuted judges had filed an inquiry and demanded investigations into the 2005 presidential elections, calling the elections “corrupt” and marred by “thuggery” and “fraud.”
As the judges sat-in at their club for days, the police cracked down on their protests; dispersing the groups using force and beating one judge with batons and sticks. Although the police deny that violence occurred and the government has separated itself from the crisis, the judges see the policies of the current government as the main stumbling block obstructing reform, according to the independent newspaper.
The judges also vowed to continue to protest, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm, and have already met with around 35 human rights and civil society groups and activists in order to organize a sit-in by the Judges Club compound by the end of this month. This time the protest will fit the high status and reputation of the judges, they said in their statements.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, the judges currently carry out their meetings under tight security measures, with truckloads of security police encircling their headquarters to prevent outbreaks of riots or protests.
The judges’ statements coincided with the prosecutor’s order to detain eight pro-reform activists, raising the number of detained activists to 48, some of whom demonstrated for the judges’ cause less than two weeks ago.
"The detained people are charged with disrupting traffic, obstructing the state from carrying out its duties and insulting the president," one of the security officials told Reuters.
“The activists said police encircled and beat them before dragging away specific activists, including Alaa Seif Al-Islam, who maintains a pro-reform Web blog,” said the Reuters report, adding, “security sources also said police had picked up at dawn four members of the Islamist opposition Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria. Brotherhood officials say about 50 of their member’s remains in custody.”
Also in Al-Masry Al-Youm, political analyst and journalist Mohammad Hassanein Heikal voiced his criticism of the current government in an open discussion with the press. “There are few options for this country, we need change on a wider level,” said Heikal. “We need a new constitution.”
“The current [government] does not have a set project, a plan, for reform in politics, economy, or even on the social level,” said Heikal. “It is a disaster. What we see now has only created hope for everybody … but in the end [nothing happens] and we see everyone is fighting one another.”
“[The government] will not willingly accept change. We must unite and exert pressure on the government as groups for change to take place.”
Speaking on the conditions of the press in Egypt, Heikal said that the Egyptian press “is at its worst.” Heikal said that encouragement for reporters in these difficult times is most desperately needed. Donation grants, fellowships and awards for journalists are necessary in order to raise the quality of journalism, said Heikal, and make it more informative on all levels, in terms of both editorials and news.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1436
Monday, May 08, 2006
DSE: Activists protest pre-trial treatment of detainees
Activists protest pre-trial treatment of detainees
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 8, 2006
CAIRO: Around 30 rights activists and Kefaya movement (Enough) leaders protested Sunday in support of Kefaya members, political activists and two journalists, temporarily detained at Tora Mazraa Prison near Cairo.
The activists, who were encircled and cordoned off by security police in front of the Supreme Court, had initially wanted to attend the detainees’ trial but were denied entry.
Seven of those protesting the detentions have been arrested thus far.
“The police are currently blocking any access to them,” says Aida Seif El-Dawla, human rights activist, as she stood near the court. “They have prevented us from attending their trial. They harassed us … pushed us and encircled us.”
All of the 40 detained activists, some of whom were put on trial Sunday, had started a hunger strike the day before, protesting the conditions of their detention and their treatment at the hands of local prison security.
The political detainees said they were kept in prison cells in a “humiliating” state, along with criminals, some of whom carry knives and other weapons; an act perceived as a threat to their lives. According to Seif El-Dawla, some of the criminals were also in possession of drugs.
The detainees filed complaints with prison authorities but were ignored. They have been reportedly banned from meeting with anyone from outside the prison, including their lawyers, during the past three days.
Sharing a cell with criminal convicts, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, is “in violation of international standards requiring pre-trial detainees to be separated from convicted prisoners.”
Amnesty International has also received reports concerning some of Egypt’s prisons, with Tora Mazraa topping the list. According to Amnesty, “these prisons lack adequate medical care and facilities, that prisoners are detained in cramped and unhygienic conditions that the food provided is inadequate and of poor quality and that, in some prisons, torture and ill-treatment are practiced by security officers on a routine basis.”
“Furthermore, prisoners held in the high security prison in Tora and Istiqbal Tora Prison have been denied the basic right to receive visits from lawyers and family members, following decrees issued by the Ministry of Interior in December 1993 and September 1994, respectively … This ban violates both international human rights standards and national legislation.”
Many of the detained were arrested as they took part in protests supporting two judges who underwent disciplinary hearings earlier for outlining what they called “fraud” in Egypt’s last presidential elections. The group that stood on trial Sunday was accused of humiliating Egypt’s president by shouting slogans against him in public gatherings, and distributing leaflets “in an attempt to create public disorder.”
In a statement allegedly signed and sent by all 40 detainees, available on the Kefaya movement’s official Web site, the pre-trial detainees demanded that an immediate investigation should be launched into the circumstances of their arrest.
The detainees had also accused the state police of “thuggery,” saying that they used “extreme force” in dispersing protests. The detainees also said they were prevented from praying in the prison’s main mosque and were denied access to newspapers.
Press syndicate head, Galal Aref and Gamila Ismail, El-Ghad party spokesperson and Ayman Nour’s wife, reportedly attempted to visit the detained on Saturday, along with lawyers and human rights activists Amir Salem and Ihab El-Khouly.
Ten of the 40 arrested are part of the El-Ghad party, Ismail tells The Daily Star Egypt.
Last month, Nour, Al-Ghad’s jailed leader and one of the president’s principal opponents in last year’s presidential elections, also went on a hunger strike. Nour had demanded that the general prosecution improve the conditions of his detention but was ignored.
Three days later, Nour, a diabetic, was moved to a public hospital as his condition reportedly worsened. Accused of forgery, he is serving a five-year prison sentence in Tora Mazraa.
According to Ismail, Nour has now been on a hunger strike for 20 days and has been moved back into a prison. While he is still banned from writing, Ismail says he has written to those on the hunger strike supporting them.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1416
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 8, 2006
CAIRO: Around 30 rights activists and Kefaya movement (Enough) leaders protested Sunday in support of Kefaya members, political activists and two journalists, temporarily detained at Tora Mazraa Prison near Cairo.
The activists, who were encircled and cordoned off by security police in front of the Supreme Court, had initially wanted to attend the detainees’ trial but were denied entry.
Seven of those protesting the detentions have been arrested thus far.
“The police are currently blocking any access to them,” says Aida Seif El-Dawla, human rights activist, as she stood near the court. “They have prevented us from attending their trial. They harassed us … pushed us and encircled us.”
All of the 40 detained activists, some of whom were put on trial Sunday, had started a hunger strike the day before, protesting the conditions of their detention and their treatment at the hands of local prison security.
The political detainees said they were kept in prison cells in a “humiliating” state, along with criminals, some of whom carry knives and other weapons; an act perceived as a threat to their lives. According to Seif El-Dawla, some of the criminals were also in possession of drugs.
The detainees filed complaints with prison authorities but were ignored. They have been reportedly banned from meeting with anyone from outside the prison, including their lawyers, during the past three days.
Sharing a cell with criminal convicts, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, is “in violation of international standards requiring pre-trial detainees to be separated from convicted prisoners.”
Amnesty International has also received reports concerning some of Egypt’s prisons, with Tora Mazraa topping the list. According to Amnesty, “these prisons lack adequate medical care and facilities, that prisoners are detained in cramped and unhygienic conditions that the food provided is inadequate and of poor quality and that, in some prisons, torture and ill-treatment are practiced by security officers on a routine basis.”
“Furthermore, prisoners held in the high security prison in Tora and Istiqbal Tora Prison have been denied the basic right to receive visits from lawyers and family members, following decrees issued by the Ministry of Interior in December 1993 and September 1994, respectively … This ban violates both international human rights standards and national legislation.”
Many of the detained were arrested as they took part in protests supporting two judges who underwent disciplinary hearings earlier for outlining what they called “fraud” in Egypt’s last presidential elections. The group that stood on trial Sunday was accused of humiliating Egypt’s president by shouting slogans against him in public gatherings, and distributing leaflets “in an attempt to create public disorder.”
In a statement allegedly signed and sent by all 40 detainees, available on the Kefaya movement’s official Web site, the pre-trial detainees demanded that an immediate investigation should be launched into the circumstances of their arrest.
The detainees had also accused the state police of “thuggery,” saying that they used “extreme force” in dispersing protests. The detainees also said they were prevented from praying in the prison’s main mosque and were denied access to newspapers.
Press syndicate head, Galal Aref and Gamila Ismail, El-Ghad party spokesperson and Ayman Nour’s wife, reportedly attempted to visit the detained on Saturday, along with lawyers and human rights activists Amir Salem and Ihab El-Khouly.
Ten of the 40 arrested are part of the El-Ghad party, Ismail tells The Daily Star Egypt.
Last month, Nour, Al-Ghad’s jailed leader and one of the president’s principal opponents in last year’s presidential elections, also went on a hunger strike. Nour had demanded that the general prosecution improve the conditions of his detention but was ignored.
Three days later, Nour, a diabetic, was moved to a public hospital as his condition reportedly worsened. Accused of forgery, he is serving a five-year prison sentence in Tora Mazraa.
According to Ismail, Nour has now been on a hunger strike for 20 days and has been moved back into a prison. While he is still banned from writing, Ismail says he has written to those on the hunger strike supporting them.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1416
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Emergency Law stifling any hope for change (Opinion/Editorials)
Emergency Law stifling any hope for change
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 5, 2006
CAIRO: An interior ministry spokesman and deputy to the ministry claimed in a live TV show on Tuesday that no violations of human or prisoners’ rights occur under the emergency Law, saying that any incidents of ill-treatment were indeed rare.
When faced with written complaints, the deputy simply said that no investigation was launched into those grievances.
The complaints to the ministry included claims of ill-treatment, unjustified or sudden detention and imprisonment without trial or accusation. “There are no official entities that have looked into these complaints to attest [to] them.” He said, adding that that they do not even “have the means to confirm these complaints.” In short, it was the ministry’s word against their word.
It is surprising that no “official entities” have investigated these claims. However, there is a possibility that these entities were not given the permission, the information or the adequate transparency to even attempt an investigation process in the first place. Local human rights groups are only allowed to file annual reports and comments, mostly through international and independent press, or send complaints to the attorney general, prosecutor, or president. These are often ignored. A different ministry spokesman, in response to questions raised by the press, said that the ministry refuses the term “political prisoners,” adding that there are none in Egypt’s prisons.
Amnesty International, United Nations (UN) Special Reporter on torture, had once said that Egypt had been postponing a request for “prompt and impartial investigations into all torture allegations and the abolition of incommunicado detention.” Investigations into such practices have been systematically blocked. Requests by UN and International human rights organizations have been pending since 1996.
Some official sources in the ministry have denied blocking any organizations, saying that they refused “the exaggeration of cases” that some human rights groups cite. A point to consider, said officials in more than once instance, is “the fact” that many detainees claim they have been tortured to strengthen their cases, or at least reduce the court’s verdict. Reportedly, in the few prove cases of ill-treatment, guilty individuals from the police force received penalties.
In a discussion with Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud more than a year ago, following arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members, Abdel-Maksoud cited incidents that could be considered to imply that detention, ill-treatment and sometimes torture under the Emergency Law are systematic and generally unwarranted. During that time, backed-up by the Emergency Law, not only were more than 50 Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested, but also some of their businesses were shut down, and the Muslim Brotherhood official Web site was deactivated.
Additionally, according to the lawyer, the cases that the Muslim Brotherhood has presented to officials have been ignored. “They remain on the general prosecutor’s desk,” Abdel Maksoud had said. “It’s a complicated problem and a deep issue, one must realize, since the torture is not only applied on the suspects, but also on those cleared by the court and on those proved innocent during the night they spend under investigation.”
Islamist lawyer Montassir Al-Zayat, a veteran who has been defending Islamic activists for over 20 years, had also echoed Abdel-Maksoud’s allegations. “Our cases are ignored by both the Interior Ministry and the government. And although they get alarmed at the reports published by Human Rights group, the alarm is not strong enough to make a change.”
Cases of ill-treatment have lately been openly manifested as Egypt’s opposition movements have become more vocal. The harassment of individuals and violence by state police has also been witnessed in protests, during a key vote day and in various confrontations with demonstrators or “rioters.”
Even as the government formed the National Committee for Human Rights (NCHR) more than two years ago to investigate incidents of ill-treatment, matters did not seem to get any better. The Reform Plan Initiative publicized by the NCHR and endorsed by the government has not yet fulfilled its promises.
According to Abdel-Maksoud, the real change lay in removing repressive regulations; principally, the Emergency Laws.
The Emergency Law, according to Human Rights Watch, gives the right of “arresting suspects at will and detaining them without trial for prolonged periods, referring civilians to military or exceptional state security, prohibiting strikes, demonstrations and public meetings, and censoring or closing down newspapers in the name of national security.”
Based on this, according to many, there is no better “reform plan initiative” than one that includes the elimination of the decades-long law, recently extended to two more years “or until anti-terror measures are enacted.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1397
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 5, 2006
CAIRO: An interior ministry spokesman and deputy to the ministry claimed in a live TV show on Tuesday that no violations of human or prisoners’ rights occur under the emergency Law, saying that any incidents of ill-treatment were indeed rare.
When faced with written complaints, the deputy simply said that no investigation was launched into those grievances.
The complaints to the ministry included claims of ill-treatment, unjustified or sudden detention and imprisonment without trial or accusation. “There are no official entities that have looked into these complaints to attest [to] them.” He said, adding that that they do not even “have the means to confirm these complaints.” In short, it was the ministry’s word against their word.
It is surprising that no “official entities” have investigated these claims. However, there is a possibility that these entities were not given the permission, the information or the adequate transparency to even attempt an investigation process in the first place. Local human rights groups are only allowed to file annual reports and comments, mostly through international and independent press, or send complaints to the attorney general, prosecutor, or president. These are often ignored. A different ministry spokesman, in response to questions raised by the press, said that the ministry refuses the term “political prisoners,” adding that there are none in Egypt’s prisons.
Amnesty International, United Nations (UN) Special Reporter on torture, had once said that Egypt had been postponing a request for “prompt and impartial investigations into all torture allegations and the abolition of incommunicado detention.” Investigations into such practices have been systematically blocked. Requests by UN and International human rights organizations have been pending since 1996.
Some official sources in the ministry have denied blocking any organizations, saying that they refused “the exaggeration of cases” that some human rights groups cite. A point to consider, said officials in more than once instance, is “the fact” that many detainees claim they have been tortured to strengthen their cases, or at least reduce the court’s verdict. Reportedly, in the few prove cases of ill-treatment, guilty individuals from the police force received penalties.
In a discussion with Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud more than a year ago, following arrests of Muslim Brotherhood members, Abdel-Maksoud cited incidents that could be considered to imply that detention, ill-treatment and sometimes torture under the Emergency Law are systematic and generally unwarranted. During that time, backed-up by the Emergency Law, not only were more than 50 Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested, but also some of their businesses were shut down, and the Muslim Brotherhood official Web site was deactivated.
Additionally, according to the lawyer, the cases that the Muslim Brotherhood has presented to officials have been ignored. “They remain on the general prosecutor’s desk,” Abdel Maksoud had said. “It’s a complicated problem and a deep issue, one must realize, since the torture is not only applied on the suspects, but also on those cleared by the court and on those proved innocent during the night they spend under investigation.”
Islamist lawyer Montassir Al-Zayat, a veteran who has been defending Islamic activists for over 20 years, had also echoed Abdel-Maksoud’s allegations. “Our cases are ignored by both the Interior Ministry and the government. And although they get alarmed at the reports published by Human Rights group, the alarm is not strong enough to make a change.”
Cases of ill-treatment have lately been openly manifested as Egypt’s opposition movements have become more vocal. The harassment of individuals and violence by state police has also been witnessed in protests, during a key vote day and in various confrontations with demonstrators or “rioters.”
Even as the government formed the National Committee for Human Rights (NCHR) more than two years ago to investigate incidents of ill-treatment, matters did not seem to get any better. The Reform Plan Initiative publicized by the NCHR and endorsed by the government has not yet fulfilled its promises.
According to Abdel-Maksoud, the real change lay in removing repressive regulations; principally, the Emergency Laws.
The Emergency Law, according to Human Rights Watch, gives the right of “arresting suspects at will and detaining them without trial for prolonged periods, referring civilians to military or exceptional state security, prohibiting strikes, demonstrations and public meetings, and censoring or closing down newspapers in the name of national security.”
Based on this, according to many, there is no better “reform plan initiative” than one that includes the elimination of the decades-long law, recently extended to two more years “or until anti-terror measures are enacted.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1397
Brotherhood speaks out on renewal of Emergency Laws
Brotherhood speaks out on renewal of Emergency Laws
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 4, 2006
CAIRO: Mass arrests targeting Muslim Brotherhood members coupled with the renewal of the Emergency Laws have left Brotherhood leaders angry and speculating on a “conspiracy” against Islamists in general and the Brotherhood in particular.
“All hopes for reform have totally vanished,” declare Muslim Brotherhood leaders on their official Web site, with spokesman Essam Al-Arian vocal in his criticism of the Emergency Laws and the government.
“No one understands why the arrests are taking place. It’s a right outlined for the state, so it is constantly used,” adds El-Erian.
The 25-year-old Emergency Law was extended two more years or “until anti-terrorism measures are passed and enacted,” according to Egypt’s upper house, a stipulation giving the state the right to renew the law beyond the two-year period suggested by President Hosni Mubarak. The law has been in force since the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat, and has been renewed every three years since.
Last Friday, police arrested 18 members of the Muslim Brotherhood for marching in the Judges Club’s demonstrations in support of two judges who were disciplined for criticizing last year’s presidential elections. Early this week, at least a dozen members were also rounded-up for allegedly distributing leaflets and hanging up wall posters condemning the state of emergency.
The members, still being held in custody, were accused of “affiliation with a banned group.” The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned but has been tolerated recently, with hundreds of members actively engaging in politics and 88 Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated seats in Egypt’s parliament, allowing them to form an opposition bloc and informally appoint a spokesperson.
Under the Emergency Law, however, in the past few years such mass arrests have generally been random and prior permissiveness has not meant protection from arrest.
The Emergency Law guarantees the police’s right to hold detainees for up to six months without trial, with the possibility of renewal. Ill-treatment and illegal interrogation of those arrested in the absence of lawyers has been widely reported. Those detained under the Emergency Law have included journalists, Islamic activists, those suspected of crimes and even homeless children.
International human rights group Amnesty International once reported a case in an article entitled “Stories of Torture in the 21st Century,” where an active member of a Palestinian sympathizer group was tortured, electrocuted and, according to the report, “blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and surrounded by four officers who punched and kicked him … a dirty sock was placed in his mouth and bottles of freezing water [were] poured over him.”
One 2003 case, famous among the Muslim Brotherhood community in Egypt and reported by their official Web site as well as by several rights groups, involved a Brotherhood member named Mossad Kutb, who was allegedly tortured to death while in custody. Both a briefing paper done by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and the U.S. Department of State’s Egypt report for the year 2003 documented his case. According to EOHR, Kutb was arrested by state police and kept in custody for five days “until he died of torture.”
The Emergency Law has also given the police the right to carry out unjustified detentions, even in the presence of a court ruling decreeing the detainee’s innocence. Under the law, people have been detained for crimes for which a court has already acquitted them. In some cases, as in the case of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya’s Aboud and Tarek El-Zommor, a court ruling is not sufficient to obtain release; instead, the interior minister’s pardon is necessary.
“Despite statements and several promises by President Mubarak during his election campaign, the political reality totally contradicts the presidential vows and statements,” says Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Ali in a column published on the group’s official Web site. “The number of political detainees according to the human rights organizations reaches more than 16,000. Detentions are continuous and the interior minister, [despite] this number, denies that there is something called ‘political prisoners’.”
Ali went on, saying “The Emergency Law is only supposed to prevail in times of wars, disasters or exceptional conditions. [However], the interior minister's authorities given to him by the military ruler restrict the political parties and ban peaceful power rotation by imposing restrictions on the political party’s activities.”
According to Voice of America News, in response to recent events, “U.S. officials have indicated that Washington is displeased by the lack of progress in Egypt toward more democracy.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1372
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 4, 2006
CAIRO: Mass arrests targeting Muslim Brotherhood members coupled with the renewal of the Emergency Laws have left Brotherhood leaders angry and speculating on a “conspiracy” against Islamists in general and the Brotherhood in particular.
“All hopes for reform have totally vanished,” declare Muslim Brotherhood leaders on their official Web site, with spokesman Essam Al-Arian vocal in his criticism of the Emergency Laws and the government.
“No one understands why the arrests are taking place. It’s a right outlined for the state, so it is constantly used,” adds El-Erian.
The 25-year-old Emergency Law was extended two more years or “until anti-terrorism measures are passed and enacted,” according to Egypt’s upper house, a stipulation giving the state the right to renew the law beyond the two-year period suggested by President Hosni Mubarak. The law has been in force since the assassination of former President Anwar El-Sadat, and has been renewed every three years since.
Last Friday, police arrested 18 members of the Muslim Brotherhood for marching in the Judges Club’s demonstrations in support of two judges who were disciplined for criticizing last year’s presidential elections. Early this week, at least a dozen members were also rounded-up for allegedly distributing leaflets and hanging up wall posters condemning the state of emergency.
The members, still being held in custody, were accused of “affiliation with a banned group.” The Muslim Brotherhood is officially banned but has been tolerated recently, with hundreds of members actively engaging in politics and 88 Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated seats in Egypt’s parliament, allowing them to form an opposition bloc and informally appoint a spokesperson.
Under the Emergency Law, however, in the past few years such mass arrests have generally been random and prior permissiveness has not meant protection from arrest.
The Emergency Law guarantees the police’s right to hold detainees for up to six months without trial, with the possibility of renewal. Ill-treatment and illegal interrogation of those arrested in the absence of lawyers has been widely reported. Those detained under the Emergency Law have included journalists, Islamic activists, those suspected of crimes and even homeless children.
International human rights group Amnesty International once reported a case in an article entitled “Stories of Torture in the 21st Century,” where an active member of a Palestinian sympathizer group was tortured, electrocuted and, according to the report, “blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and surrounded by four officers who punched and kicked him … a dirty sock was placed in his mouth and bottles of freezing water [were] poured over him.”
One 2003 case, famous among the Muslim Brotherhood community in Egypt and reported by their official Web site as well as by several rights groups, involved a Brotherhood member named Mossad Kutb, who was allegedly tortured to death while in custody. Both a briefing paper done by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and the U.S. Department of State’s Egypt report for the year 2003 documented his case. According to EOHR, Kutb was arrested by state police and kept in custody for five days “until he died of torture.”
The Emergency Law has also given the police the right to carry out unjustified detentions, even in the presence of a court ruling decreeing the detainee’s innocence. Under the law, people have been detained for crimes for which a court has already acquitted them. In some cases, as in the case of Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya’s Aboud and Tarek El-Zommor, a court ruling is not sufficient to obtain release; instead, the interior minister’s pardon is necessary.
“Despite statements and several promises by President Mubarak during his election campaign, the political reality totally contradicts the presidential vows and statements,” says Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Ali in a column published on the group’s official Web site. “The number of political detainees according to the human rights organizations reaches more than 16,000. Detentions are continuous and the interior minister, [despite] this number, denies that there is something called ‘political prisoners’.”
Ali went on, saying “The Emergency Law is only supposed to prevail in times of wars, disasters or exceptional conditions. [However], the interior minister's authorities given to him by the military ruler restrict the political parties and ban peaceful power rotation by imposing restrictions on the political party’s activities.”
According to Voice of America News, in response to recent events, “U.S. officials have indicated that Washington is displeased by the lack of progress in Egypt toward more democracy.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1372
Boycott Vs. Dialogue
Boycott vs. dialogue
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 3, 2006
CAIRO: After protesting relentlessly for months, vociferously declaring a boycott of all Danish products, Muslims are divided over “what to do next.”
With some Muslims insisting on continuing the economic boycott and refusing to forget their perceived humiliation, others are calling for cultural exchange and dialogue between Danes and Muslims – in particular, youth. Islamic scholars, who had issued strong fatwas in the wake of the crisis, are not making the division easier. Some stand firm in their stances, while others have ruled it permissible for Muslims to buy Danish goods.
After a dozen Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive to Islam were published in the now infamous Jyllands-Posten, the Muslim world was furious. Many primarily Muslim countries, with the blessings of their respective Islamic clerics, backed a boycott. In Egypt, chain supermarkets such as Metro withdrew all Danish dairy products from their stores and many Muslims staged loud protests. Around the Middle East, the spirit and the attitude toward Denmark were no different.
Jyllands-Posten refused to apologize; however, as violence surged in some Muslim countries against Danish embassies, the newspaper finally said they had never meant to offend.
A great deal of damage had already been done and Muslims continued to boycott. A senior economist told Xinhua that Muslims have cost the country at least 1.5 billion crowns in dairy exports, which is around 10 percent of Denmark’s estimated sales.
Figures in some Arab countries are not any better. Metro supermarkets, in the wake of the boycott, reported a LE 1 million loss after they withdrew Danish products.
“I did support the boycotting of Danish products and I think it should go on until they actually realize how much harm they caused to Muslims,” says Maram Said, a graduate student at the American University in Cairo. “Boycotting is very civilized, peaceful, and [it shows] our felt humiliation.”
For Said, the damage caused by the boycott yielded some benefit on a more general level. “It made some of the companies realize the harm and show some respect by apologizing. Once they apologize, I believe that boycotting their products should stop.”
Others disagree. “The boycott has achieved the hoped-for goal,” says Dina Hamdi, a Muslim affairs writer at IslamOnline.net. “Through the boycott we managed to attract the world's attention and to voice our grievance … The aim was not to harm the Danish people, but rather to make it clear that we Muslims are offended.”
The 22-year-old has been chosen to attend an upcoming workshop in Lebanon aimed at promoting tolerance between Danish and Middle Eastern youth entitled: “I see myself through you.”
“I feel we have fallen prey to dirty fingers whose aim it is to cause a big gap between Islam and the West,” says Yasmine Farouk, a 24-year-old Egyptian.
“We must stop the boycott now; enough is enough, the losses have gone [too] far … As [Egyptian preacher] Amr Khaled puts it, it gave a warning sign but the warning’s effect will fade away if we continue [the boycott] aimlessly.” Farouk recently took part in an Abu Dhabi-based conference, where Danes were invited to talk with Muslim youth about the cartoon crisis.
According to Farouk, this is a time when Muslims and Danes should initiate joint humanitarian projects, aimed at creating understanding and cooperation between Muslims and the West. “We should also invite more Danes to our countries; we should learn more about the ideologies and the beliefs of others. Only then will we understand their standpoints and their views.”
Some Danish and Muslim youth (especially those who do not believe in the continuation of the boycott) are already carrying out a multitude of talks and joint conferences, which included one initiated by Khaled in Copenhagen more than a month ago. Many young participants concluded that violent reactions and stern stances were not the solution.
“In the context [of these dialogues], instead of looking at who is Western and who is Muslim, we focused on the fact that we are all humans and we all deserve respect,” says Sarah Habibti, a Danish Muslim and a youth representative. Young people should “go out and do something … so that the wall of prejudice can be broken.”
In the conference, which was led by Khaled and a group of scholars, more focus was put on explaining Islam. The conference included more youth in their early twenties than preachers and official representatives. The 25 participating from the younger generation were given intensive training on how to present the Prophet and his life to the West, and were present mainly to give Danes a chance to be exposed to Arab Muslims “as they are,” the scholars were there to answer theological questions on Islam; giving detailed presentation of the “often misinterpreted” religion.
For some Muslims and Danes, the dialogue was a much more effective tool than a boycott. “When I was in Denmark, one Dane asked me: Are the Muslims punishing millions of Danes for one racist newspaper who offended them?” says Darah Rateb, a participant in the Amr Khaled Conference. “I was moderately aware of the damage caused by a boycott … and I did support it … however, going to Denmark and hearing stories with my own ears was quite a different matter.”
Rateb is one Muslim who had initially believed the boycott a “peaceful yet powerful means” to express Muslim anger. However, she said she wished the conflict had been resolved sooner. “Western societies know the value of money, and so far 1.3 billion crowns have been supposedly lost … The boycott simply aggravated others who claimed that freedom of speech was a value of much greater importance.”
“We need each other economically and politically, and I think a little respect for your partners never hurt anyone,” added Rateb.
“The publishing of the cartoons was a mistake, but let us turn this into a success of mutual understanding and respect for our different cultures. After all we have more in common than we have differences,” says Christopher Trier Lind, a Danish 26-year-old psychology student and a participant in Khaled’s conference.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1370
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 3, 2006
CAIRO: After protesting relentlessly for months, vociferously declaring a boycott of all Danish products, Muslims are divided over “what to do next.”
With some Muslims insisting on continuing the economic boycott and refusing to forget their perceived humiliation, others are calling for cultural exchange and dialogue between Danes and Muslims – in particular, youth. Islamic scholars, who had issued strong fatwas in the wake of the crisis, are not making the division easier. Some stand firm in their stances, while others have ruled it permissible for Muslims to buy Danish goods.
After a dozen Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a manner deemed offensive to Islam were published in the now infamous Jyllands-Posten, the Muslim world was furious. Many primarily Muslim countries, with the blessings of their respective Islamic clerics, backed a boycott. In Egypt, chain supermarkets such as Metro withdrew all Danish dairy products from their stores and many Muslims staged loud protests. Around the Middle East, the spirit and the attitude toward Denmark were no different.
Jyllands-Posten refused to apologize; however, as violence surged in some Muslim countries against Danish embassies, the newspaper finally said they had never meant to offend.
A great deal of damage had already been done and Muslims continued to boycott. A senior economist told Xinhua that Muslims have cost the country at least 1.5 billion crowns in dairy exports, which is around 10 percent of Denmark’s estimated sales.
Figures in some Arab countries are not any better. Metro supermarkets, in the wake of the boycott, reported a LE 1 million loss after they withdrew Danish products.
“I did support the boycotting of Danish products and I think it should go on until they actually realize how much harm they caused to Muslims,” says Maram Said, a graduate student at the American University in Cairo. “Boycotting is very civilized, peaceful, and [it shows] our felt humiliation.”
For Said, the damage caused by the boycott yielded some benefit on a more general level. “It made some of the companies realize the harm and show some respect by apologizing. Once they apologize, I believe that boycotting their products should stop.”
Others disagree. “The boycott has achieved the hoped-for goal,” says Dina Hamdi, a Muslim affairs writer at IslamOnline.net. “Through the boycott we managed to attract the world's attention and to voice our grievance … The aim was not to harm the Danish people, but rather to make it clear that we Muslims are offended.”
The 22-year-old has been chosen to attend an upcoming workshop in Lebanon aimed at promoting tolerance between Danish and Middle Eastern youth entitled: “I see myself through you.”
“I feel we have fallen prey to dirty fingers whose aim it is to cause a big gap between Islam and the West,” says Yasmine Farouk, a 24-year-old Egyptian.
“We must stop the boycott now; enough is enough, the losses have gone [too] far … As [Egyptian preacher] Amr Khaled puts it, it gave a warning sign but the warning’s effect will fade away if we continue [the boycott] aimlessly.” Farouk recently took part in an Abu Dhabi-based conference, where Danes were invited to talk with Muslim youth about the cartoon crisis.
According to Farouk, this is a time when Muslims and Danes should initiate joint humanitarian projects, aimed at creating understanding and cooperation between Muslims and the West. “We should also invite more Danes to our countries; we should learn more about the ideologies and the beliefs of others. Only then will we understand their standpoints and their views.”
Some Danish and Muslim youth (especially those who do not believe in the continuation of the boycott) are already carrying out a multitude of talks and joint conferences, which included one initiated by Khaled in Copenhagen more than a month ago. Many young participants concluded that violent reactions and stern stances were not the solution.
“In the context [of these dialogues], instead of looking at who is Western and who is Muslim, we focused on the fact that we are all humans and we all deserve respect,” says Sarah Habibti, a Danish Muslim and a youth representative. Young people should “go out and do something … so that the wall of prejudice can be broken.”
In the conference, which was led by Khaled and a group of scholars, more focus was put on explaining Islam. The conference included more youth in their early twenties than preachers and official representatives. The 25 participating from the younger generation were given intensive training on how to present the Prophet and his life to the West, and were present mainly to give Danes a chance to be exposed to Arab Muslims “as they are,” the scholars were there to answer theological questions on Islam; giving detailed presentation of the “often misinterpreted” religion.
For some Muslims and Danes, the dialogue was a much more effective tool than a boycott. “When I was in Denmark, one Dane asked me: Are the Muslims punishing millions of Danes for one racist newspaper who offended them?” says Darah Rateb, a participant in the Amr Khaled Conference. “I was moderately aware of the damage caused by a boycott … and I did support it … however, going to Denmark and hearing stories with my own ears was quite a different matter.”
Rateb is one Muslim who had initially believed the boycott a “peaceful yet powerful means” to express Muslim anger. However, she said she wished the conflict had been resolved sooner. “Western societies know the value of money, and so far 1.3 billion crowns have been supposedly lost … The boycott simply aggravated others who claimed that freedom of speech was a value of much greater importance.”
“We need each other economically and politically, and I think a little respect for your partners never hurt anyone,” added Rateb.
“The publishing of the cartoons was a mistake, but let us turn this into a success of mutual understanding and respect for our different cultures. After all we have more in common than we have differences,” says Christopher Trier Lind, a Danish 26-year-old psychology student and a participant in Khaled’s conference.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1370
Proposed extension of Emergency Law widely debated (Press Round-up)
Press Round-up
Proposed extension of Emergency Law widely debated
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 2, 2006
CAIRO: After the upper house agreed to President Hosni Mubarak’s proposal to extend the Emergency Law for two years, criticism of the decision has been non-stop.
National newspapers published few reactions, focusing instead on Mubarak’s announcements, while the independent press launched a campaign against the much-criticized law.
According to Al Ahram, “the Emergency Law would be extended for two years or until anti-terrorism laws are passed,” a notion that suggests that the law may be further extended even though it has been in force in Egypt for 25 years.
Less than two weeks ago, 114 upper house members who were mostly Muslim Brotherhood representatives, formed an opposition front against the laws, calling on local human rights groups to support their cause. The members have said that violence or the threat of violence should not be used as an excuse to “stifle” people’s freedom. However, when Mubarak suggested the extension, the majority of parliament complied.
The Emergency Law was enacted in 1981 after a group of Islamists assassinated former President Anwar El-Sadat, and has been renewed every three years since.
It allows security to carry out mass arrests without permits, holding detainees for as long as six months without trial. Any other perceived threat to national security by a group or an individual are taken to military or state security emergency courts. The law also puts restrictions on freedom of speech, sit-ins and gatherings, if the latter are without prior authorization from state security.
According to the Washington Post, the president renewed the law “despite his promise that it would be canceled and replaced with specific anti-terrorism measures.”
“Egyptian officials signaled in recent weeks that the U.S. pressure had eased and that recent reforms had gone far enough. Mubarak heralded the status quo two weeks ago, telling reporters that a new law would take 18 months to two years to formulate,” added the newspaper.
“The Emergency [Law] is for the protection of the state and the confrontation of terror,” Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told Al-Akhbar. “We are committed to plans of political and constitutional reforms, and democracy outlined by the president.”
The same newspaper carried the picture of Nasr Khamis, deemed principally responsible for the three Dahab Red Sea resort bombings that killed 18 and wounded at least 90.
“Intensive efforts to catch the fugitive are underway,” explained Al-Akhbar after it reported an “exchange of fire between Khamis, his supporters on one side and security police on the other in the Sinai Mountains on Sunday.”
Also, according to Reuters’ police sources, police shot dead two other men suspected of belonging to the group of Sinai Bedouins who carried out the Dahab attacks.
“A police patrol came across two of the men in the Mount Hilal area of northeastern Sinai. The men threw two hand grenades at them but the grenades did not explode, they said. Police opened fire in response and killed them both,” read a Reuters report.
A day before the gunfire battle, police said they had detained two men suspected of plotting the attacks.
Coinciding with the renewal of the law, security police have also rounded-up at least 18 members of the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Al-Sharqiya governorate. The members were reportedly hanging up posters condemning the Emergency Laws and distributing leaflets.
According to Reuters, “The Brotherhood has launched a campaign against extending the laws, including blacklisting politicians who support it, and has said the state is cracking down on the group in response.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1355
Proposed extension of Emergency Law widely debated
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: May 2, 2006
CAIRO: After the upper house agreed to President Hosni Mubarak’s proposal to extend the Emergency Law for two years, criticism of the decision has been non-stop.
National newspapers published few reactions, focusing instead on Mubarak’s announcements, while the independent press launched a campaign against the much-criticized law.
According to Al Ahram, “the Emergency Law would be extended for two years or until anti-terrorism laws are passed,” a notion that suggests that the law may be further extended even though it has been in force in Egypt for 25 years.
Less than two weeks ago, 114 upper house members who were mostly Muslim Brotherhood representatives, formed an opposition front against the laws, calling on local human rights groups to support their cause. The members have said that violence or the threat of violence should not be used as an excuse to “stifle” people’s freedom. However, when Mubarak suggested the extension, the majority of parliament complied.
The Emergency Law was enacted in 1981 after a group of Islamists assassinated former President Anwar El-Sadat, and has been renewed every three years since.
It allows security to carry out mass arrests without permits, holding detainees for as long as six months without trial. Any other perceived threat to national security by a group or an individual are taken to military or state security emergency courts. The law also puts restrictions on freedom of speech, sit-ins and gatherings, if the latter are without prior authorization from state security.
According to the Washington Post, the president renewed the law “despite his promise that it would be canceled and replaced with specific anti-terrorism measures.”
“Egyptian officials signaled in recent weeks that the U.S. pressure had eased and that recent reforms had gone far enough. Mubarak heralded the status quo two weeks ago, telling reporters that a new law would take 18 months to two years to formulate,” added the newspaper.
“The Emergency [Law] is for the protection of the state and the confrontation of terror,” Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif told Al-Akhbar. “We are committed to plans of political and constitutional reforms, and democracy outlined by the president.”
The same newspaper carried the picture of Nasr Khamis, deemed principally responsible for the three Dahab Red Sea resort bombings that killed 18 and wounded at least 90.
“Intensive efforts to catch the fugitive are underway,” explained Al-Akhbar after it reported an “exchange of fire between Khamis, his supporters on one side and security police on the other in the Sinai Mountains on Sunday.”
Also, according to Reuters’ police sources, police shot dead two other men suspected of belonging to the group of Sinai Bedouins who carried out the Dahab attacks.
“A police patrol came across two of the men in the Mount Hilal area of northeastern Sinai. The men threw two hand grenades at them but the grenades did not explode, they said. Police opened fire in response and killed them both,” read a Reuters report.
A day before the gunfire battle, police said they had detained two men suspected of plotting the attacks.
Coinciding with the renewal of the law, security police have also rounded-up at least 18 members of the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Al-Sharqiya governorate. The members were reportedly hanging up posters condemning the Emergency Laws and distributing leaflets.
According to Reuters, “The Brotherhood has launched a campaign against extending the laws, including blacklisting politicians who support it, and has said the state is cracking down on the group in response.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1355
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