By PAKINAM AMER, dpa
Nov 25, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - Khaled Meshaal, head of the Palestinian politburo of Islamic militant group Hamas, on Saturday warned of an intifada (uprising) within six months if the political and especially financial horizon remained dim for Palestinians.
Speaking during a press conference in Cairo, Meshaal also accused the US State Department of attempting with side issues to 'distract' Palestinians away from forming a government.
'We have made good progress so far,' said Meshaal. 'And we do not want to form a weak government just because the Western parties want it this way.'
'However, forming a unity government is dependent on some points that are currently being negotiated: the first and foremost (of these points) is the presence of guarantees that would secure that the (financial) siege on the Palestinians would be lifted soon.'
'Efforts are currently being done in this direction,' said Meshaal who warned of a new 'Palestinian uprising' if a political settlement is not reached for the Palestinians and if the pressure on the country is not lifted within the next six months.
'The lifting of the siege is not a demand that we plead for with others,' added the Hamas supremo, who arrived in Egypt Thursday. 'It is a human right; just like the air we breathe, like water and food.'
'The Palestinians - a great nation like Palestine - should not be punished through the cutting off of aid to employees, women and widows, through cutting off the people's right to live.'
Meshaal called on Arab leaders to put forward 'practical steps' that should be taken towards ending the political and economic siege imposed by the West on the Palestinians after Hamas rose to power last January and refused to lay down its arms or change its charter to recognize Israel.
'We need a programme... to end the siege,' said Meshaal. 'We give the international community, the American state department, the Western countries six months.'
Meshaal added that the Palestinians would be ready in any case. 'We are ready for the choice of war and we are also ready for the choice of peace.'
During his Cairo visit, Meshaal held talks with Egyptian officials - intelligence chief Omar Sulieman topping the list - on the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, whose release Egypt is trying to secure, as well as on problems dogging the formation of a Palestinian national unity government.
So far, the talks have been 'positive and successful,' said Meshaal. The leader said he welcomed the Egyptian mediation, adding that the country is making significant efforts and that the negotiations were moving forward.
But he also warned against linking both the formation of a government and peace in the region to the prisoners-soldier swap, saying that the linkage did injustice to both issues.
Hamas has been constantly accused of hampering talks on the prisoners swap. The militant group has put forth conditions - such as listing the names of the to-be-released prisoners and insisting on an instantaneous swap - and has reportedly refused to compromise.
'I have to point out that this issue has not been delayed because of us,' said Meshaal, referring to discussions over the release of Shalit, captured last June. 'The delay was mainly because of the other party - Israel.'
According to the exiled Hamas chief, the Palestinian side wanted a deal whereby 10,000 Palestinian prisoners - women, children, the sickly as well as top leaders - would be exchanged for Shalit.
'Israel has delayed this (deal),' claimed Meshaal. 'They thought that murders and airstrikes would handicap the Palestinian people and so we would surrender the soldier without a price.'
'And as they were striking the Palestinians, they were (meanwhile) trying to discover where the soldier was hidden through their intelligence and through seeking oracles and fortune-tellers.'
'Israel, which is considered by the West as the civilized part of the Middle East, is seeking spirits and jinn (devils) to find its missing soldier,' added Meshaal in a serious tone.
A day before Meshaal's press conference, Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' politburo, was quoted as saying that Mashaal would only meet Egyptian officials, brushing aside any possible meeting with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abu Marzouk had also said Hamas has accepted Egyptian mediation in the Shalit case on the basis of a simultaneous exchange of prisoners and that Israel, after initially rejecting any such exchange, has agreed to the proposal.
During the press conference, Meshaal also said Hamas would stop firing rockets at Israel if Israel stops its attacks on the Palestinian territories, in a statement carrying rhetoric voiced earlier by Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniya.
'Israel is trying to blackmail us through its own strikes and by bloodshed,' Meshaal said.
'But don't worry,' Meshaal said. 'The Palestinian is always ready for dialogue. But only Palestinian-Arab dialogue (will be tolerated) because the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue has proved to be inadequate and ineffective.'
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2006,2007 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1226005.php/Hamas_chief_warns_of_possible_new_Palestinian_uprising
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Dimensions/AUC: "Freedom lost: Egyptians students struggle for simple dreams"
By: PAKINAM AMER
Special to Dimensions - The American University in Cairo
Cairo (AUC) – “Freedom, where are you… Police stands between us and you,” chanted Ein-Shams University student protestors as police encircled them on campus following their attempts to stage “free union” elections.
Islamist and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students at Ein Shams, Helwan and Al-Azhar universities are currently staging what they call “independent elections,” running for a parallel student body, after their names were crossed out from the university-controlled student union.
On Monday, Helwan university students headed for ballot boxes as security police –present by university gates- and riot police –on standby in truckloads outside campus- waited for violence to break. However, the procedures ran smoothly, perhaps because of the low turnout as reported by newspapers.
Nevertheless, the students’ move came as a challenge to their respective universities’ administration offices. According to Monday’s Egyptian Gazette, “presidents of the government-run universities have warned against creating independent unions,” adding that they could “dismiss students who would not abide by university regulations.”
In Ein-Shams, students were “interrogated” by members of the security as they headed to vote for the “outlawed” candidates.
On the same campus last week, students appointed to the union had engaged in a hand-fight with Islamist candidate-wannabes.
“This is usually the best period in a person’s life; university years. But me –and my colleagues from the Brotherhood- spend it protesting, shouting and struggling for our simplest rights,” said Salah, a Muslim Brotherhood member and a representative of the “free union.”
Salah had refused to disclose his last name in fear of being arrested by security intelligence agents.
According to Salah, across universities, the “Islamist” students are mistreated. During confrontation, the university officials usually step back and let the security police clamp down upon the Muslim-Brotherhood-affiliated students.
In public universities, Islamic activists –particularly those affiliated with the Brotherhood- are banned from founding or participating in activities, from elections and even trips. The government, which has uncontested control over state universities, usually removes names of Islamist candidates from election lists, in many cases refusing to even accept their applications.
Only last week, hundreds of students from across universities –in Cairo and Helwan- demonstrated against what they deemed as “blatant security interference” in school affairs. The original union elections were marred by violence and allegations of fraud and vote-rigging.
Clashes were bloody in Cairo University; some students ended up in hospital beds with fractured knees, or broken arms after the Special Security Forces had beaten them up with their truncheons.
Osama el-Shaeir, a student who was denied candidacy and an eyewitness, was even arrested during a recent union-related protest.
“I don’t understand why this is happening to me, though. And it makes me sad to see my right taken away as such,” el-Saheir said.
*Dimensions is a private weekly publication produced by the American University in Cairo's(AUC) student union. This story was originally done as part of an AUC graduate class assignment. A different version of the story was sold to International Herald Tribune/Daily Star Egypt.
Special to Dimensions - The American University in Cairo
Cairo (AUC) – “Freedom, where are you… Police stands between us and you,” chanted Ein-Shams University student protestors as police encircled them on campus following their attempts to stage “free union” elections.
Islamist and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students at Ein Shams, Helwan and Al-Azhar universities are currently staging what they call “independent elections,” running for a parallel student body, after their names were crossed out from the university-controlled student union.
On Monday, Helwan university students headed for ballot boxes as security police –present by university gates- and riot police –on standby in truckloads outside campus- waited for violence to break. However, the procedures ran smoothly, perhaps because of the low turnout as reported by newspapers.
Nevertheless, the students’ move came as a challenge to their respective universities’ administration offices. According to Monday’s Egyptian Gazette, “presidents of the government-run universities have warned against creating independent unions,” adding that they could “dismiss students who would not abide by university regulations.”
In Ein-Shams, students were “interrogated” by members of the security as they headed to vote for the “outlawed” candidates.
On the same campus last week, students appointed to the union had engaged in a hand-fight with Islamist candidate-wannabes.
“This is usually the best period in a person’s life; university years. But me –and my colleagues from the Brotherhood- spend it protesting, shouting and struggling for our simplest rights,” said Salah, a Muslim Brotherhood member and a representative of the “free union.”
Salah had refused to disclose his last name in fear of being arrested by security intelligence agents.
According to Salah, across universities, the “Islamist” students are mistreated. During confrontation, the university officials usually step back and let the security police clamp down upon the Muslim-Brotherhood-affiliated students.
In public universities, Islamic activists –particularly those affiliated with the Brotherhood- are banned from founding or participating in activities, from elections and even trips. The government, which has uncontested control over state universities, usually removes names of Islamist candidates from election lists, in many cases refusing to even accept their applications.
Only last week, hundreds of students from across universities –in Cairo and Helwan- demonstrated against what they deemed as “blatant security interference” in school affairs. The original union elections were marred by violence and allegations of fraud and vote-rigging.
Clashes were bloody in Cairo University; some students ended up in hospital beds with fractured knees, or broken arms after the Special Security Forces had beaten them up with their truncheons.
Osama el-Shaeir, a student who was denied candidacy and an eyewitness, was even arrested during a recent union-related protest.
“I don’t understand why this is happening to me, though. And it makes me sad to see my right taken away as such,” el-Saheir said.
*Dimensions is a private weekly publication produced by the American University in Cairo's(AUC) student union. This story was originally done as part of an AUC graduate class assignment. A different version of the story was sold to International Herald Tribune/Daily Star Egypt.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
DPA: Al-Jazeera International aims to change news agenda (Analysis)
By Pakinam Amer
Nov 16, 2006, 0:43 GMT
Cairo - 'On Al-Jazeera we'll be setting the news agenda.'
That was one of the first lines spoken by the Al-Jazeera International anchor as the Qatar-based broadcaster hit the airwaves for the first time on Wednesday.
The Arabic network went live at 1200 GMT with its new English service, and says it expects to reach 80 million homes worldwide.
The new service, much-anticipated by media experts especially in the Middle East, is meant to cater to an international audience by giving the news a 'pan-Arab' perspective.
Closely watching the broadcast's first hours, it is apparent that Al-Jazeera is clearly setting what its anchor earlier dubbed 'its news agenda.'
News from the Palestinian Territories and Israel was given by two different correspondents, in an attempt to provide 'the full picture.'
Reporting on Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket attacks launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the new network moved away from its Arabic counterpart by juggling reports from both an Arabic Gaza correspondent and a Jerusalem-based foreign correspondent. Each presented their side of the story and the reaction of the opposing party.
In longer features, the focus could be felt right away. After the live broadcast began with the news of an earthquake off the cost of Japan and the then-expected tsunami, it followed with a feature report about the impact of the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
A baby girl bandaged in a hospital was shown as a victim of an Israeli offensive. Wailing mothers and images of Palestinian children looking through a pile of rubble filled the newly initiated station. This is a side of the story - although a sensationalized side - that many viewers in the United States have not seen (at least not on CNN or Fox News).
Al-Jazeera's Arabic service has attracted as much controversy and criticism as it has viewers. It is expected that the English-language counterpart will provoke similar outbursts of reaction.
Al-Jazeera International anticipated the criticism and even prodded its critics shortly after going on the air. It showed comments about the original network, at one point airing a line from a speech by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, in which he described Al-Jazeera's coverage as 'vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.'
The message here could be understood that Al-Jazeera executives are as proud of the criticism as they are of the praise. And it could also be taken as a hint that the new channel will neither attempt to be politically correct or try to please a Western audience.
Nevertheless, an Al-Jazeera official said in a channel preview that by presenting 'all points of view,' Al-Jazeera strives to bring together people who have otherwise failed to understand each other.
By creating a large staff with members from 40 nationalities 'to set the news agenda,' the network hopes to provide 'accuracy' and 'honesty,' the official said.
The Al-Jazeera International broadcast itself is more colourful and more dynamic than the older Arabic version.
In one segment, two anchors juggle the latest news from Afghanistan as a larger-than-life screen sets the mood, showing a US soldier leaning on a vehicle.
In a live report from Africa on the escalating situation in Darfur, Sudan, a reporter walks between people as the camera follows her - BBC-style.
Immediately before the segment, the studio anchor gave a quick presentation of the crisis in Darfur - with background information and statistics projected on a large screen, similar to those used in weather forecasts. Statistics like '2 million displaced' and '400,000 have lost their lives' were highlighted in large font.
The information could be valuable - no argument there - but the way it was presented could also be seen as being on the edge of sensation. One anchor referred to the Darfur issue as 'one of the worst and the least understood crisis.' The phrase could very easily be taken as a judgment.
The 10-year-old Arabic network is financed by Qatari royalty, as is the new English-language channel.
The new channel, tagged Al-Jazeera International, broadcasts from Al-Jazeera's main headquarters in Doha, Qatar, and has correspondents in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East so far.
Al-Jazeera representatives had earlier called the new network 'the first such international news and current affairs channel with its headquarters in the Middle East.'
'This is unprecedented in the broadcasting industry - no other international news channel has launched with such a high number of homes across the world,' Wadah Khanfar, the director-general of Al- Jazeera was quoted by its website as saying.
Network officials said that the new channel will be made available on cable, satellite, broadband and IPTV and ADSL through the internet.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1222546.php/Al-Jazeera_International_aims_to_change_news_agenda (Monsters and Critics)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=114253 (Bangkok Post)
Nov 16, 2006, 0:43 GMT
Cairo - 'On Al-Jazeera we'll be setting the news agenda.'
That was one of the first lines spoken by the Al-Jazeera International anchor as the Qatar-based broadcaster hit the airwaves for the first time on Wednesday.
The Arabic network went live at 1200 GMT with its new English service, and says it expects to reach 80 million homes worldwide.
The new service, much-anticipated by media experts especially in the Middle East, is meant to cater to an international audience by giving the news a 'pan-Arab' perspective.
Closely watching the broadcast's first hours, it is apparent that Al-Jazeera is clearly setting what its anchor earlier dubbed 'its news agenda.'
News from the Palestinian Territories and Israel was given by two different correspondents, in an attempt to provide 'the full picture.'
Reporting on Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket attacks launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip, the new network moved away from its Arabic counterpart by juggling reports from both an Arabic Gaza correspondent and a Jerusalem-based foreign correspondent. Each presented their side of the story and the reaction of the opposing party.
In longer features, the focus could be felt right away. After the live broadcast began with the news of an earthquake off the cost of Japan and the then-expected tsunami, it followed with a feature report about the impact of the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
A baby girl bandaged in a hospital was shown as a victim of an Israeli offensive. Wailing mothers and images of Palestinian children looking through a pile of rubble filled the newly initiated station. This is a side of the story - although a sensationalized side - that many viewers in the United States have not seen (at least not on CNN or Fox News).
Al-Jazeera's Arabic service has attracted as much controversy and criticism as it has viewers. It is expected that the English-language counterpart will provoke similar outbursts of reaction.
Al-Jazeera International anticipated the criticism and even prodded its critics shortly after going on the air. It showed comments about the original network, at one point airing a line from a speech by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, in which he described Al-Jazeera's coverage as 'vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.'
The message here could be understood that Al-Jazeera executives are as proud of the criticism as they are of the praise. And it could also be taken as a hint that the new channel will neither attempt to be politically correct or try to please a Western audience.
Nevertheless, an Al-Jazeera official said in a channel preview that by presenting 'all points of view,' Al-Jazeera strives to bring together people who have otherwise failed to understand each other.
By creating a large staff with members from 40 nationalities 'to set the news agenda,' the network hopes to provide 'accuracy' and 'honesty,' the official said.
The Al-Jazeera International broadcast itself is more colourful and more dynamic than the older Arabic version.
In one segment, two anchors juggle the latest news from Afghanistan as a larger-than-life screen sets the mood, showing a US soldier leaning on a vehicle.
In a live report from Africa on the escalating situation in Darfur, Sudan, a reporter walks between people as the camera follows her - BBC-style.
Immediately before the segment, the studio anchor gave a quick presentation of the crisis in Darfur - with background information and statistics projected on a large screen, similar to those used in weather forecasts. Statistics like '2 million displaced' and '400,000 have lost their lives' were highlighted in large font.
The information could be valuable - no argument there - but the way it was presented could also be seen as being on the edge of sensation. One anchor referred to the Darfur issue as 'one of the worst and the least understood crisis.' The phrase could very easily be taken as a judgment.
The 10-year-old Arabic network is financed by Qatari royalty, as is the new English-language channel.
The new channel, tagged Al-Jazeera International, broadcasts from Al-Jazeera's main headquarters in Doha, Qatar, and has correspondents in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East so far.
Al-Jazeera representatives had earlier called the new network 'the first such international news and current affairs channel with its headquarters in the Middle East.'
'This is unprecedented in the broadcasting industry - no other international news channel has launched with such a high number of homes across the world,' Wadah Khanfar, the director-general of Al- Jazeera was quoted by its website as saying.
Network officials said that the new channel will be made available on cable, satellite, broadband and IPTV and ADSL through the internet.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1222546.php/Al-Jazeera_International_aims_to_change_news_agenda (Monsters and Critics)
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=114253 (Bangkok Post)
Thursday, November 09, 2006
IHT/DSE: Egypt’s universities brimming with students turned activists
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: November 8, 2006
Muslim Brotherhood’s student members face uphill battle
CAIRO: Salah is a clean-shaven young man dressed in worn-out jeans and a casual beige jacket. His grades imply that he is an above average achiever. He studies trade at Cairo University, regularly pays school fees and dreams of running for student union elections.
In so many ways, he is a typical student. But yet again, he is not. Salah is an active member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and this makes all the difference.
"I cannot benefit from the years I spend in university as a student because of my affiliation with the Brotherhood," said Salah, who refused to disclose his last name in fear of being arrested by security intelligence officers.
In public universities, Islamic activists — particularly those affiliated with the Brotherhood — are banned from founding or participating in activities, from student elections and school trips. The government, which has uncontested control over state universities, usually crosses out names of islamist candidates from election lists, in many cases refusing to even accept their applications.
"This is usually the best period in a person's life: university years. But me and my colleagues from the Brotherhood spend it protesting, shouting and struggling for our simplest rights."
According to Salah, the "islamist" students are avoided like the plague by the administration. During confrontations, the university officials, the dean included, step back and let the security police clamp down upon the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students.
"Well, then again the dean of students is as pressured as anyone else. Security police force him to take a passive stand," added Salah, in what appeared to be sympathy for the university official.
Only last week, hundreds of students from across universities in Cairo and Helwan demonstrated against what they deemed "blatant security interference" in school affairs. Union elections, for yet another year, were marred by violence, deprivation and allegations of fraud and vote rigging.
In Cairo University, the protests were the worst. Clashes were bloody; some students ended up in hospital beds with fractured knees or broken arms after the Special Security Forces had beaten them up with their truncheons.
In one incident the heavily armed riot police, who usually cordon off universities during heavy protests, held students on the Cairo University campus until 10 p.m. Faculty members had to negotiate with the dean, who in turn had to "sweet talk" security police in order to set the students free and allow them to go to their homes.
Osama El-Shaeir, eyewitness and a student who was denied candidacy, said that he was arrested during a recent union-related protest. "I don't understand why this is happening to me, though. And it makes me sad to see my rights taken away as such."
"I have not failed a course during my study. I am respected by my fellow students," added El-Shaeir.
El-Shaeir was held in custody for hours. But others have faced worse; one group of 29 Helwan University students is still being held in custody since their arrest on Monday.
The students were arrested in a pre-dawn raid on their houses for charges of belonging to a banned group, and for staging unauthorized elections. The students were trying to form a parallel union after their applications for the regular elections were rejected.
Other Helwan University students threatened to go on a hunger strike if their fellows were not immediately released. In short, union elections became a mini-war between students on one side and government-controlled entities on another.
The scenario was repeated in Ein Shams, where students appointed to the union engaged in a hand-fight with islamists who had aspired to candidacy.
Arguably, the students are fighting "their own battles for democracy."
But still the battles have not been without a price, at least according to these two stricken students.
"Clutching this freedom out of their hands gives us back our dignity, it is true," said El-Shaeir, his voice suddenly breaking. "But it's never the same."
"We lose a lot. Valuable time. People get arrested and our friends get dismissed," added an equally upset Salah. "We pay much to get our simplest rights. But hopefully the next generations will rise on our shoulders."
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3826
First Published: November 8, 2006
Muslim Brotherhood’s student members face uphill battle
CAIRO: Salah is a clean-shaven young man dressed in worn-out jeans and a casual beige jacket. His grades imply that he is an above average achiever. He studies trade at Cairo University, regularly pays school fees and dreams of running for student union elections.
In so many ways, he is a typical student. But yet again, he is not. Salah is an active member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and this makes all the difference.
"I cannot benefit from the years I spend in university as a student because of my affiliation with the Brotherhood," said Salah, who refused to disclose his last name in fear of being arrested by security intelligence officers.
In public universities, Islamic activists — particularly those affiliated with the Brotherhood — are banned from founding or participating in activities, from student elections and school trips. The government, which has uncontested control over state universities, usually crosses out names of islamist candidates from election lists, in many cases refusing to even accept their applications.
"This is usually the best period in a person's life: university years. But me and my colleagues from the Brotherhood spend it protesting, shouting and struggling for our simplest rights."
According to Salah, the "islamist" students are avoided like the plague by the administration. During confrontations, the university officials, the dean included, step back and let the security police clamp down upon the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated students.
"Well, then again the dean of students is as pressured as anyone else. Security police force him to take a passive stand," added Salah, in what appeared to be sympathy for the university official.
Only last week, hundreds of students from across universities in Cairo and Helwan demonstrated against what they deemed "blatant security interference" in school affairs. Union elections, for yet another year, were marred by violence, deprivation and allegations of fraud and vote rigging.
In Cairo University, the protests were the worst. Clashes were bloody; some students ended up in hospital beds with fractured knees or broken arms after the Special Security Forces had beaten them up with their truncheons.
In one incident the heavily armed riot police, who usually cordon off universities during heavy protests, held students on the Cairo University campus until 10 p.m. Faculty members had to negotiate with the dean, who in turn had to "sweet talk" security police in order to set the students free and allow them to go to their homes.
Osama El-Shaeir, eyewitness and a student who was denied candidacy, said that he was arrested during a recent union-related protest. "I don't understand why this is happening to me, though. And it makes me sad to see my rights taken away as such."
"I have not failed a course during my study. I am respected by my fellow students," added El-Shaeir.
El-Shaeir was held in custody for hours. But others have faced worse; one group of 29 Helwan University students is still being held in custody since their arrest on Monday.
The students were arrested in a pre-dawn raid on their houses for charges of belonging to a banned group, and for staging unauthorized elections. The students were trying to form a parallel union after their applications for the regular elections were rejected.
Other Helwan University students threatened to go on a hunger strike if their fellows were not immediately released. In short, union elections became a mini-war between students on one side and government-controlled entities on another.
The scenario was repeated in Ein Shams, where students appointed to the union engaged in a hand-fight with islamists who had aspired to candidacy.
Arguably, the students are fighting "their own battles for democracy."
But still the battles have not been without a price, at least according to these two stricken students.
"Clutching this freedom out of their hands gives us back our dignity, it is true," said El-Shaeir, his voice suddenly breaking. "But it's never the same."
"We lose a lot. Valuable time. People get arrested and our friends get dismissed," added an equally upset Salah. "We pay much to get our simplest rights. But hopefully the next generations will rise on our shoulders."
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3826
DPA: Arab leaders shocked by deadly Israeli shelling, call for action
By Pakinam Amer
Nov 8, 2006, 16:45 GMT
Cairo - Israel's shelling of Palestinian village Beit Hanoun sparked angry reaction from Arab and Muslim leaders Wednesday with voices almost unanimously calling for some kind of action against the Jewish state.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed and 40 injured, ten of them seriously, when three artillery shells struck houses on the eastern outskirts of the northern Gaza town early Wednesday, in Israel's single deadliest strike on civilians in the past six years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The dead included five women and seven children, the youngest being a one-year-old baby girl.
Palestinian leaders across the political spectrum, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, condemned the shelling as an 'awful massacre.'
Haniya headed an emergency cabinet meeting and put talks with Abbas' Fatah party on the formation of a unity government on hold, a statement from his office said. He also called for an urgent session of the United Nations Security Council.
Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered institutions to lower Palestinian flags to half mast.
The Hamas military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, called on Arabs and Muslims to attack American targets in the Middle East because of the United States' 'logistical and political cover for the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation.'
A senior Hamas leader in northern Gaza, Nizar Rayyan, also called for a renewal of suicide bombings in Israel, after a 20-month suspension called because of the group's entry into parliamentary politics.
Hamas cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad called Israel a 'state of gangs and animals' which should be 'erased' from existence.
In other reactions from across the region, the Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said Wednesday that immediate action should be taken 'to guarantee the protection of the Palestinian people from Israel's oppression and State terrorism practised against Palestinian civilians.'
The OIC statement said that the shelling was 'a reaffirmation of Israel's disregard for the international law, its persistence in committing war crimes, and its violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires urgent international action to stop these massacres and violations.'
The Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said that he was filled with 'shock' and 'sorrow' by what he called 'the massacre carried out by the Israeli forces this morning.'
The minister called the act 'inhuman and immoral' and said that the international community - formally represented in the UN Security Council - should take responsibility for maintaining peace and security. 'They should further condemn this criminal act and make sure it is never repeated.'
The Arab League expressed similar condemnation, releasing a statement urging international entities to 'deliver a strong statement to Israel.'
'The situation cannot remain as is. Arabs cannot be treated with such negligence or taken so lightly,' Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, was quoted as saying.
The Arab League, in response to the Israeli attack, said its members will meet on Thursday for 'a brainstorming session' about what could be done to end the Palestinian crisis.
The organization said it is planning to send emergency aid (food, blankets and medicines) to the Palestinian people - Beit Hanoun residents especially - as soon as it possibly can. As a start Moussa said Egypt will send two million pounds as preliminary aid.
On a less formal level, the leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Mohammad Mahdi Akef delivered an outspoken response to the Israeli shelling. Akef, who called the act only part of a series of offences against the Palestinians, said that Arab and Muslim nations should 'show their anger.'
'This silence cannot go on,' said Akef. 'We have to impose total economic boycott in order to try to isolate the Zionist entity, so that this racist occupant and ugly regime would fall.'
'These and similar acts aim at forcing Palestinians down to their knees, at making them surrender their rights and they aim at overthrowing its legitimate self-elected government.'
Akef also called on Arab and Muslim states to 'show their anger', possibly in the form of protests, 'in order to mobilize their leaders' against Israel.
Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip over the past week as an 'ugly massacre.'
He also urged the world community to step in immediately to stop the Israeli incursion and restart the peace process, according to an official statement.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed 'deep concern' over the Israeli shelling. 'Syria is following up with extreme concern the brutal offensive launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip,' a statement said.
'Syria denounces the state-organized terrorism practised by Israel. Israel's brutal aggression poses a defiance to the international community and all international laws, including the international humanitarian law.'
The statement also called on the international community and the UN Security Council to 'live up to their responsibility' on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Damascus-based hardline Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group said the Beit Hanoun incident 'is a new massacre to be added to the record of the brutal massacres committed by the Zionist enemy on the Palestinian people.'
'A suitable response for this massacre is the escalation of the resistance operations ... and to step up suicide operations,' the statement said, calling for an 'overall war' against Israel.
Ahmed Jibril, the secretary general of the Syrian-backed breakaway group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) said the incident was 'clear evidence that the Zionist enemy is an enemy of peace and humanity.'
He pledged that the next few days would be 'full of events and confrontations with Israel.'
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1219707.php/Arab_leaders_shocked_by_deadly_Israeli_shelling_call_for_action
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Arab_leaders_shocked_by_deadly_Isra_11082006.html
Nov 8, 2006, 16:45 GMT
Cairo - Israel's shelling of Palestinian village Beit Hanoun sparked angry reaction from Arab and Muslim leaders Wednesday with voices almost unanimously calling for some kind of action against the Jewish state.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed and 40 injured, ten of them seriously, when three artillery shells struck houses on the eastern outskirts of the northern Gaza town early Wednesday, in Israel's single deadliest strike on civilians in the past six years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The dead included five women and seven children, the youngest being a one-year-old baby girl.
Palestinian leaders across the political spectrum, including President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, condemned the shelling as an 'awful massacre.'
Haniya headed an emergency cabinet meeting and put talks with Abbas' Fatah party on the formation of a unity government on hold, a statement from his office said. He also called for an urgent session of the United Nations Security Council.
Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered institutions to lower Palestinian flags to half mast.
The Hamas military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, called on Arabs and Muslims to attack American targets in the Middle East because of the United States' 'logistical and political cover for the crimes committed by the Zionist occupation.'
A senior Hamas leader in northern Gaza, Nizar Rayyan, also called for a renewal of suicide bombings in Israel, after a 20-month suspension called because of the group's entry into parliamentary politics.
Hamas cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad called Israel a 'state of gangs and animals' which should be 'erased' from existence.
In other reactions from across the region, the Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) said Wednesday that immediate action should be taken 'to guarantee the protection of the Palestinian people from Israel's oppression and State terrorism practised against Palestinian civilians.'
The OIC statement said that the shelling was 'a reaffirmation of Israel's disregard for the international law, its persistence in committing war crimes, and its violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires urgent international action to stop these massacres and violations.'
The Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said that he was filled with 'shock' and 'sorrow' by what he called 'the massacre carried out by the Israeli forces this morning.'
The minister called the act 'inhuman and immoral' and said that the international community - formally represented in the UN Security Council - should take responsibility for maintaining peace and security. 'They should further condemn this criminal act and make sure it is never repeated.'
The Arab League expressed similar condemnation, releasing a statement urging international entities to 'deliver a strong statement to Israel.'
'The situation cannot remain as is. Arabs cannot be treated with such negligence or taken so lightly,' Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, was quoted as saying.
The Arab League, in response to the Israeli attack, said its members will meet on Thursday for 'a brainstorming session' about what could be done to end the Palestinian crisis.
The organization said it is planning to send emergency aid (food, blankets and medicines) to the Palestinian people - Beit Hanoun residents especially - as soon as it possibly can. As a start Moussa said Egypt will send two million pounds as preliminary aid.
On a less formal level, the leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood Mohammad Mahdi Akef delivered an outspoken response to the Israeli shelling. Akef, who called the act only part of a series of offences against the Palestinians, said that Arab and Muslim nations should 'show their anger.'
'This silence cannot go on,' said Akef. 'We have to impose total economic boycott in order to try to isolate the Zionist entity, so that this racist occupant and ugly regime would fall.'
'These and similar acts aim at forcing Palestinians down to their knees, at making them surrender their rights and they aim at overthrowing its legitimate self-elected government.'
Akef also called on Arab and Muslim states to 'show their anger', possibly in the form of protests, 'in order to mobilize their leaders' against Israel.
Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned the killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip over the past week as an 'ugly massacre.'
He also urged the world community to step in immediately to stop the Israeli incursion and restart the peace process, according to an official statement.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry expressed 'deep concern' over the Israeli shelling. 'Syria is following up with extreme concern the brutal offensive launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip,' a statement said.
'Syria denounces the state-organized terrorism practised by Israel. Israel's brutal aggression poses a defiance to the international community and all international laws, including the international humanitarian law.'
The statement also called on the international community and the UN Security Council to 'live up to their responsibility' on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Damascus-based hardline Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) group said the Beit Hanoun incident 'is a new massacre to be added to the record of the brutal massacres committed by the Zionist enemy on the Palestinian people.'
'A suitable response for this massacre is the escalation of the resistance operations ... and to step up suicide operations,' the statement said, calling for an 'overall war' against Israel.
Ahmed Jibril, the secretary general of the Syrian-backed breakaway group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) said the incident was 'clear evidence that the Zionist enemy is an enemy of peace and humanity.'
He pledged that the next few days would be 'full of events and confrontations with Israel.'
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1219707.php/Arab_leaders_shocked_by_deadly_Israeli_shelling_call_for_action
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Arab_leaders_shocked_by_deadly_Isra_11082006.html
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
IHT/DSE: Analyzing a quarter century under Mubarak
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: November 6, 2006
Widely touted 25th anniversary under the microscope
CAIRO: In the wake of celebrations marking the “25th anniversary of Mubarak” (a tag used by national newspapers) last October, analyst and political veteran Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, says President Hosni Mubarak’s “peace years” have saved the country from war and conflict but not from poverty and underdevelopment.
Harb, president of the newly founded Democratic Front Party and editor of International Politics Quarterly is also a former National Democratic Party (NDP) member, who had been invited to join the NDP by the party’s deputy and president’s son Gamal Mubarak.
Harb chose to leave the party after, as he described, he realized that “it’s not the tool for reform.”
“Twenty-five years of Mubarak. These are regarded by Mubarak as peace years. However, generally any society must benefit from this time. We did not,” Harb told The Daily Star Egypt.
“In the early 1980s Egypt was very similar to South Korea in terms of development. Now we have a huge gap. Now they’re a flourishing country and Egypt is very weak.”
Last week, the President embarked upon a multi-leg Asian-European tour to discuss ways of boosting economic trade and oil exchange and to rally support for the newly publicized nuclear energy program, as national newspapers continue to focus on how Egypt is moving toward reform after two and half decades of “trust” in Mubarak.
In Al-Akhbar newspaper, NDP head Safwat Al-Sherif said in reference to Mubarak’s meeting with the NDP leaders on the eve of his trip that “enhancing political and economic reform is high on the [NDP] agenda.” Al-Sherif said that transforming welfare plans into concrete steps is one of the expected outcomes.
The president made a surprise announcement during last week’s high-profile NDP meeting, stating that the much-criticized Article 76 of the constitution will be further amended. The article had been altered to allow multi-candidacy in presidential elections, but opponents still complain that it places tough limitations on independents.
On one hand, the incumbent 78–year-old Egyptian president promised more reform.
On the other, some opposition and veteran analysts insist that reform claims by the NDP are baseless.
“What the president promised is just that: promises,” says Amr Hashem Rabie, senior analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “These [promises] do not change the profile of political life. Article 76’s constitutional amendment will only benefit political parties and squash independents — mainly the Muslim Brotherhood — and even the benefit to the parties will be transient and restricted.”
“If there is anything that characterizes the years of Mubarak, then it’s definitely the continuation of totalitarianism and the desire from the side of the current regime to monopolize power,” says Rabie.
“We have setbacks in everything,” adds an equally outspoken Harb, who says that the past three decades have made Egypt “war-free” but not worry-free. “Where is the social development and economic reform? Egyptians are drenched in poverty.”
Harb says that even though Egypt has experienced political mobility in the past few years, the country still suffers extensively from weak political structures.
The NDP itself has become a “government bureaucracy,” says Harb, explaining that in his opinion the establishment continues to ostensibly act like a party but “in essence it is more like a state-owned institution.” According to Harb, those who lash out against the regime are subjected to harsh press campaigns from NDP-backed newspapers.
Rabie credits the government’s attitude to “the fact” that it acquired its legitimacy from military achievements like the 1952 Free Officers’ Revolution, which resulted in a republic and in turn the current regime, and the 1973 October War.
“It’s a military system … that naturally refuses any reform,” he says.
“Our country’s high ranks are dominated by non-civilian [military] big wheels.”
Not everyone paints such a dismal picture of the past 25 years, however. In fact, some experts regard the past decades under Mubarak as a period of level strength and stability. Mona Makram Ebeid, former MP and political science professor, says that “the beginning years of Mubarak were full of hope.”
“He started out as a ruler who was keen on having pluralism established … and there was great hope that Egypt was entering a new era of democratic transformation,” says Ebeid. “Then came the 1990s, an era when there was more emphasis on stability rather than democracy.”
Ebeid regards even the past period, in the 2000s, as a turning point toward more social awareness, where citizens “shed fear and apathy” and took to the streets demanding the lifting of restrictions on civil liberties.
Only in 2006, according to the veteran politician, was there a noticeable setback. “Unfortunately, in 2006 there was a setback; with more stringent restrictions on freedoms in general,” says Ebeid, referring to recent constitutional amendments believed by many to have hindered press freedom and judicial independence.
“On the social side, I don’t think that the majority of Egyptians are better off than they were 25 years ago.”
“In a nutshell, what Egyptians [still] need and have not gotten yet is a voice and a job,” says Ebeid.
According to Ebeid, there’s also been deterioration in party life. “[The political sphere] has been reduced to two main forces: the government party that continues to be reluctant to relinquish control over the political system and the so-called illegal Muslim Brotherhood who is keen on winning the hearts and minds of the majority of Egyptians.”
As the NDP continues to list achievements following 25 years of Mubarak’s reign, some like Harb continue to say Egypt “is now worse than ever.”
“The country is deteriorating in everything. It is now worse than 50 years ago. There is more pollution, no order, the streets are not clean. Cairo is one of the oldest cities in the world and look how it looks now,” says Harb, adding that “what makes matters worse” is the ignorance that is tarnishing political life.
Twenty-five years of NDP, says Harb, has left the country with many scenarios but no clear expectations of the real future of Egypt.
“There are scenarios for what will happen next; inheritance of power, coup d’etat by the armed forces, foreign intervention or perhaps total chaos,” the analyst said. “But in reality, no one really knows what will happen tomorrow. If God forbid something happened to the president, no one knows what will happen.”
Indeed one of the scenarios is that of rising Islamic militancy, a looming threat represented in the Muslim Brotherhood, which some uphold and many vehemently refuse.
Regarding talks of a rising threat of “Islamism” as a reaction to the policies of the current regime, Harb, on a more positive note, said that Islamic militancy is a far-fetched possibility but “Islamic politics” or “politicized Islam” is a potential reality.
“There’s a threat of Islamic politics to take reign; but this is just the product of authoritarian rule. Fanaticism and radical groups are only the outcome of dictatorships.”
“If the undemocratic regime collapses, the Islamic trend will automatically replace it,” said Harb.
He said that Islamic clerics are usually the hardest to crush, shedding light on why a group like the Muslim Brotherhood has survived despite a constant government clampdown over the past 25 years.
“The nature of our cultures, in Muslim societies, enables islamists to be strong under authoritarians. They are entrenched in the roots of the society and when they’re oppressed they gain the sympathy of the people,” said Harb.
In the same context, many of the opposition voices have accused the government of using the Muslim Brotherhood as an “alibi” to stay in power and “scare the US and the West.”
Hamas, came to power, hindering peace talks and engaging in bloody side battles with Fatah before falling again. This Palestinian example and the idea has arguably led the US to loosen its grip on authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, choosing stability over democracy, as some analysts earlier explained to The Daily Star Egypt.
“The main threat to this country is the despotic state; it is undemocratic rule not Islamic rule that is threatening [our stability],” says Harb.
“If worse comes to worse and the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power, they will be forced out by the people. The average Egyptian is not an extremist.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3796
First Published: November 6, 2006
Widely touted 25th anniversary under the microscope
CAIRO: In the wake of celebrations marking the “25th anniversary of Mubarak” (a tag used by national newspapers) last October, analyst and political veteran Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, says President Hosni Mubarak’s “peace years” have saved the country from war and conflict but not from poverty and underdevelopment.
Harb, president of the newly founded Democratic Front Party and editor of International Politics Quarterly is also a former National Democratic Party (NDP) member, who had been invited to join the NDP by the party’s deputy and president’s son Gamal Mubarak.
Harb chose to leave the party after, as he described, he realized that “it’s not the tool for reform.”
“Twenty-five years of Mubarak. These are regarded by Mubarak as peace years. However, generally any society must benefit from this time. We did not,” Harb told The Daily Star Egypt.
“In the early 1980s Egypt was very similar to South Korea in terms of development. Now we have a huge gap. Now they’re a flourishing country and Egypt is very weak.”
Last week, the President embarked upon a multi-leg Asian-European tour to discuss ways of boosting economic trade and oil exchange and to rally support for the newly publicized nuclear energy program, as national newspapers continue to focus on how Egypt is moving toward reform after two and half decades of “trust” in Mubarak.
In Al-Akhbar newspaper, NDP head Safwat Al-Sherif said in reference to Mubarak’s meeting with the NDP leaders on the eve of his trip that “enhancing political and economic reform is high on the [NDP] agenda.” Al-Sherif said that transforming welfare plans into concrete steps is one of the expected outcomes.
The president made a surprise announcement during last week’s high-profile NDP meeting, stating that the much-criticized Article 76 of the constitution will be further amended. The article had been altered to allow multi-candidacy in presidential elections, but opponents still complain that it places tough limitations on independents.
On one hand, the incumbent 78–year-old Egyptian president promised more reform.
On the other, some opposition and veteran analysts insist that reform claims by the NDP are baseless.
“What the president promised is just that: promises,” says Amr Hashem Rabie, senior analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. “These [promises] do not change the profile of political life. Article 76’s constitutional amendment will only benefit political parties and squash independents — mainly the Muslim Brotherhood — and even the benefit to the parties will be transient and restricted.”
“If there is anything that characterizes the years of Mubarak, then it’s definitely the continuation of totalitarianism and the desire from the side of the current regime to monopolize power,” says Rabie.
“We have setbacks in everything,” adds an equally outspoken Harb, who says that the past three decades have made Egypt “war-free” but not worry-free. “Where is the social development and economic reform? Egyptians are drenched in poverty.”
Harb says that even though Egypt has experienced political mobility in the past few years, the country still suffers extensively from weak political structures.
The NDP itself has become a “government bureaucracy,” says Harb, explaining that in his opinion the establishment continues to ostensibly act like a party but “in essence it is more like a state-owned institution.” According to Harb, those who lash out against the regime are subjected to harsh press campaigns from NDP-backed newspapers.
Rabie credits the government’s attitude to “the fact” that it acquired its legitimacy from military achievements like the 1952 Free Officers’ Revolution, which resulted in a republic and in turn the current regime, and the 1973 October War.
“It’s a military system … that naturally refuses any reform,” he says.
“Our country’s high ranks are dominated by non-civilian [military] big wheels.”
Not everyone paints such a dismal picture of the past 25 years, however. In fact, some experts regard the past decades under Mubarak as a period of level strength and stability. Mona Makram Ebeid, former MP and political science professor, says that “the beginning years of Mubarak were full of hope.”
“He started out as a ruler who was keen on having pluralism established … and there was great hope that Egypt was entering a new era of democratic transformation,” says Ebeid. “Then came the 1990s, an era when there was more emphasis on stability rather than democracy.”
Ebeid regards even the past period, in the 2000s, as a turning point toward more social awareness, where citizens “shed fear and apathy” and took to the streets demanding the lifting of restrictions on civil liberties.
Only in 2006, according to the veteran politician, was there a noticeable setback. “Unfortunately, in 2006 there was a setback; with more stringent restrictions on freedoms in general,” says Ebeid, referring to recent constitutional amendments believed by many to have hindered press freedom and judicial independence.
“On the social side, I don’t think that the majority of Egyptians are better off than they were 25 years ago.”
“In a nutshell, what Egyptians [still] need and have not gotten yet is a voice and a job,” says Ebeid.
According to Ebeid, there’s also been deterioration in party life. “[The political sphere] has been reduced to two main forces: the government party that continues to be reluctant to relinquish control over the political system and the so-called illegal Muslim Brotherhood who is keen on winning the hearts and minds of the majority of Egyptians.”
As the NDP continues to list achievements following 25 years of Mubarak’s reign, some like Harb continue to say Egypt “is now worse than ever.”
“The country is deteriorating in everything. It is now worse than 50 years ago. There is more pollution, no order, the streets are not clean. Cairo is one of the oldest cities in the world and look how it looks now,” says Harb, adding that “what makes matters worse” is the ignorance that is tarnishing political life.
Twenty-five years of NDP, says Harb, has left the country with many scenarios but no clear expectations of the real future of Egypt.
“There are scenarios for what will happen next; inheritance of power, coup d’etat by the armed forces, foreign intervention or perhaps total chaos,” the analyst said. “But in reality, no one really knows what will happen tomorrow. If God forbid something happened to the president, no one knows what will happen.”
Indeed one of the scenarios is that of rising Islamic militancy, a looming threat represented in the Muslim Brotherhood, which some uphold and many vehemently refuse.
Regarding talks of a rising threat of “Islamism” as a reaction to the policies of the current regime, Harb, on a more positive note, said that Islamic militancy is a far-fetched possibility but “Islamic politics” or “politicized Islam” is a potential reality.
“There’s a threat of Islamic politics to take reign; but this is just the product of authoritarian rule. Fanaticism and radical groups are only the outcome of dictatorships.”
“If the undemocratic regime collapses, the Islamic trend will automatically replace it,” said Harb.
He said that Islamic clerics are usually the hardest to crush, shedding light on why a group like the Muslim Brotherhood has survived despite a constant government clampdown over the past 25 years.
“The nature of our cultures, in Muslim societies, enables islamists to be strong under authoritarians. They are entrenched in the roots of the society and when they’re oppressed they gain the sympathy of the people,” said Harb.
In the same context, many of the opposition voices have accused the government of using the Muslim Brotherhood as an “alibi” to stay in power and “scare the US and the West.”
Hamas, came to power, hindering peace talks and engaging in bloody side battles with Fatah before falling again. This Palestinian example and the idea has arguably led the US to loosen its grip on authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, choosing stability over democracy, as some analysts earlier explained to The Daily Star Egypt.
“The main threat to this country is the despotic state; it is undemocratic rule not Islamic rule that is threatening [our stability],” says Harb.
“If worse comes to worse and the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power, they will be forced out by the people. The average Egyptian is not an extremist.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3796
Sunday, November 05, 2006
DPA: On Cairo‘s streets, people react to Saddam verdict
By Pakinan Amer
First Published: November 5, 2006
Cairo (dpa) - While political leaders around the world had their
say Sunday about the death sentence against Saddam Hussein, an
initial sampling of sentiment on the so-called "Arab street" - at
least in Cairo - indicated that commonly people opposed the verdict.
"I am against death sentences, regardless of any details," said
Negad al-Borai, lawyer and human rights activist. "It‘s humiliating,
it‘s cruel and its effects can never be retracted.
"How could a democratic state begin its rule by bloodshed, I do
not understand," added al-Borai, who personally wrote against the
death penalty.
Firas al-Atraqchi, a Canadian freelance journalist of Iraqi
background called the verdict "utterly reprehensible."
"There have been 600,000 dead in Iraq in the past three years. If
they really want a fair trial to propel the country into an era of
freedom and civil liberties then they should have Maliki, Jaafari,
Bush, Cheney, Blair, Condi, Wolfowitz, Sadr, Sistani, and the rest of
the pro-war cadre standing trial next to Saddam," said al-Atraqchi.
"So they execute him, do they really think this will end the
valiant resistance?" he added.
On the streets of downtown Cairo, even though many were not aware
of the verdict, when informed they were shaken.
Mohammad Saad, who works in a garage, was "shocked" when he was
told of the verdict.
"I certainly did not see it coming," the young Egyptian said. "The
trial has been going on for so long. I did not think they would
really sentence him."
He added: "This is too harsh a sentence. He was a leader, a
president. It is enough that he is ousted. He should have been forced
out of the country, and guarded for the rest of his life, that‘s
all."
Amr Fawzi, a driver in his 30s, was equally upset.
"All Arab leaders and presidents used force at one point. Saddam
was not the only one. Look at what (Gamal) Abdel-Nasser did here in
Egypt," Fawzi said.
"Of course it is not fair," Fawzi replied immediately when asked
about the verdict. He added: "Those who tried him did so in order to
take power to themselves.
"It‘s the Shiites. They‘re ruining Iraq. They‘re behind every bad
thing," said Fawzi. He then gave a view similar to Saad‘s: "He was a
president. And then he was overthrown. That should have been the end of it."
Links: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1218567.php/On_Cairos_streets_people_react_to_Saddam_verdict
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/On_Cairo_s_streets_people_react_to__11052006.html
First Published: November 5, 2006
Cairo (dpa) - While political leaders around the world had their
say Sunday about the death sentence against Saddam Hussein, an
initial sampling of sentiment on the so-called "Arab street" - at
least in Cairo - indicated that commonly people opposed the verdict.
"I am against death sentences, regardless of any details," said
Negad al-Borai, lawyer and human rights activist. "It‘s humiliating,
it‘s cruel and its effects can never be retracted.
"How could a democratic state begin its rule by bloodshed, I do
not understand," added al-Borai, who personally wrote against the
death penalty.
Firas al-Atraqchi, a Canadian freelance journalist of Iraqi
background called the verdict "utterly reprehensible."
"There have been 600,000 dead in Iraq in the past three years. If
they really want a fair trial to propel the country into an era of
freedom and civil liberties then they should have Maliki, Jaafari,
Bush, Cheney, Blair, Condi, Wolfowitz, Sadr, Sistani, and the rest of
the pro-war cadre standing trial next to Saddam," said al-Atraqchi.
"So they execute him, do they really think this will end the
valiant resistance?" he added.
On the streets of downtown Cairo, even though many were not aware
of the verdict, when informed they were shaken.
Mohammad Saad, who works in a garage, was "shocked" when he was
told of the verdict.
"I certainly did not see it coming," the young Egyptian said. "The
trial has been going on for so long. I did not think they would
really sentence him."
He added: "This is too harsh a sentence. He was a leader, a
president. It is enough that he is ousted. He should have been forced
out of the country, and guarded for the rest of his life, that‘s
all."
Amr Fawzi, a driver in his 30s, was equally upset.
"All Arab leaders and presidents used force at one point. Saddam
was not the only one. Look at what (Gamal) Abdel-Nasser did here in
Egypt," Fawzi said.
"Of course it is not fair," Fawzi replied immediately when asked
about the verdict. He added: "Those who tried him did so in order to
take power to themselves.
"It‘s the Shiites. They‘re ruining Iraq. They‘re behind every bad
thing," said Fawzi. He then gave a view similar to Saad‘s: "He was a
president. And then he was overthrown. That should have been the end of it."
Links: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1218567.php/On_Cairos_streets_people_react_to_Saddam_verdict
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/On_Cairo_s_streets_people_react_to__11052006.html
DPA: Saddam sentenced to death by hanging- PMer (Complete coverage of Saddam's verdict)
Saddam sentenced to death by hanging
Baghdad (dpa) - In a verdict which brought Iraqis out into the streets in celebration, ousted president Saddam Hussein was served a sentence of death by hanging Sunday for crimes against humanity.
The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal found Saddam and six of his former top government aides guilty of ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam‘s life.
In the verdicts, not only Saddam, but also his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, one of Saddam‘s former aides, were also sentenced to death.
Former Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment, while three other co-defendants were served 15-year prison terms.
Mohammad al-Azawy, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of the charges and released.
Defiant to the end as he faced sentencing, Saddam initially refused to stand as the judge issued the verdict.
The former Iraqi dictator then finally took to his feet, shouting repeatedly in a firm level voice: "Long live the Umma (nation). Down with the traitors. Allahu Akbar (God is great)! We are the people of (this country)."
The outburst forced the judge to raise his voice over Saddam‘s in order to continue reading out the numerous points in the verdict.
Saddam has the right to an appeal, a judicial source had earlier told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. However, if the appellate chamberof the court upholds the verdict, the sentence must then be carried out within 30 days.
As the co-defendants heard their sentences, they also started shouting "Allahu Akbar" in unison, and chanting "God is greater than the people who support injustice."
Sentencing in the first of Saddam‘s criminal trials began earlier Sunday in Baghdad.
During the session - number 41 of the trial which had initially began October 19, 2005 - Saddam‘s lawyers were all present in court. Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, however, was thrown out ofcourt by the head judge, who claimed that Clark had "slammed" the Iraqi people.
Following the session, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawy held apress conference where he declared that in case Saddam‘s verdict is upheld, the prosecution in the al-Anfal trial will automatically be brought to a close.
Also, as to Saddam‘s demand that he be executed by firing squade, al-Mousaway said that "shooting violates Iraq‘s death penalty law."
Kurdish leader Jalal Talibani commented in the wake of the verdict that the sentence is "fair." Talibani refused to give furthercomments to the press.
Addressing the Iraqi nation, however, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was more outspoken. Al-Maliki called the verdict "a victory for the victims of (Saddam‘s) system" and "an end to a black era."
"The sentencing of Saddam is a lesson to all criminals," said al-Maliki. "A lesson to anyone who has violated the rights of the citizens. This humiliating end is (sufficient) for anyone who subjected the country to injustice, dissension and irrational wars."
Al-Maliki added that he was surprised at foreign states which had tried to interfere in order for Saddam to be released. He said that he deemed Saddam "the worst Iraqi president ever" and his former Baath party "responsible for all crimes."
"But now Saddam and his party are things of the past," he said."It is a verdict that all Iraqis are entitled to celebrate," added the premier.
"Now, we carry on in rebuilding an Iraq without mass graveyards, an Iraq where all citizens are equal in rights and where the law is above all," said al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki had on Saturday asked Iraqis to remain calm as Saddam‘s sentence was announced. However, after the trial, pictures of cheering Iraqis flooded pan-Arab TV channels.
In one incident, a group of men and children were seen huddled in a coffee shop glued to a TV screen as they chanted "Allahu Akbar." The moments of hushed silence as the verdict was pronounced were quickly followed by cheering as the men stood up to applaud.
In Baghdad streets, men and women were seen dancing around, and Shiite youth carrying posters of Ayatollah al-Sistani took to the streets in celebration.
A man on the street told Al-Arabiya network that the "execution" of the sentence is a must now. "They have to really execute him," the middle-aged man said.
Hours before the session began, security was heightened in and around the court. A state of emergency was declared in the capital, authorities said. Baghdad‘s airport was also closed soon after dawn, and all flights to and from the city were cancelled during the morning.
Iraqi authorities had imposed a 24-hour blanket curfew over Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul, Baquba, and Saddam‘s hometown Tikrit on Sunday to avoid any violence around the announcement of the trial verdict.
dpa pa ch ds
051429 GMT Nov 06
Reported and Written by PAKINAM AMER, edited by the amazing Cork editors.
** DPA does not byline news spots/stories, only news features but I'm particularly proud of my coverage of Saddam's verdict. That's why I chose to include it here amid my bylined copies.
Baghdad (dpa) - In a verdict which brought Iraqis out into the streets in celebration, ousted president Saddam Hussein was served a sentence of death by hanging Sunday for crimes against humanity.
The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal found Saddam and six of his former top government aides guilty of ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam‘s life.
In the verdicts, not only Saddam, but also his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, one of Saddam‘s former aides, were also sentenced to death.
Former Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment, while three other co-defendants were served 15-year prison terms.
Mohammad al-Azawy, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of the charges and released.
Defiant to the end as he faced sentencing, Saddam initially refused to stand as the judge issued the verdict.
The former Iraqi dictator then finally took to his feet, shouting repeatedly in a firm level voice: "Long live the Umma (nation). Down with the traitors. Allahu Akbar (God is great)! We are the people of (this country)."
The outburst forced the judge to raise his voice over Saddam‘s in order to continue reading out the numerous points in the verdict.
Saddam has the right to an appeal, a judicial source had earlier told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. However, if the appellate chamberof the court upholds the verdict, the sentence must then be carried out within 30 days.
As the co-defendants heard their sentences, they also started shouting "Allahu Akbar" in unison, and chanting "God is greater than the people who support injustice."
Sentencing in the first of Saddam‘s criminal trials began earlier Sunday in Baghdad.
During the session - number 41 of the trial which had initially began October 19, 2005 - Saddam‘s lawyers were all present in court. Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, however, was thrown out ofcourt by the head judge, who claimed that Clark had "slammed" the Iraqi people.
Following the session, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawy held apress conference where he declared that in case Saddam‘s verdict is upheld, the prosecution in the al-Anfal trial will automatically be brought to a close.
Also, as to Saddam‘s demand that he be executed by firing squade, al-Mousaway said that "shooting violates Iraq‘s death penalty law."
Kurdish leader Jalal Talibani commented in the wake of the verdict that the sentence is "fair." Talibani refused to give furthercomments to the press.
Addressing the Iraqi nation, however, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was more outspoken. Al-Maliki called the verdict "a victory for the victims of (Saddam‘s) system" and "an end to a black era."
"The sentencing of Saddam is a lesson to all criminals," said al-Maliki. "A lesson to anyone who has violated the rights of the citizens. This humiliating end is (sufficient) for anyone who subjected the country to injustice, dissension and irrational wars."
Al-Maliki added that he was surprised at foreign states which had tried to interfere in order for Saddam to be released. He said that he deemed Saddam "the worst Iraqi president ever" and his former Baath party "responsible for all crimes."
"But now Saddam and his party are things of the past," he said."It is a verdict that all Iraqis are entitled to celebrate," added the premier.
"Now, we carry on in rebuilding an Iraq without mass graveyards, an Iraq where all citizens are equal in rights and where the law is above all," said al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki had on Saturday asked Iraqis to remain calm as Saddam‘s sentence was announced. However, after the trial, pictures of cheering Iraqis flooded pan-Arab TV channels.
In one incident, a group of men and children were seen huddled in a coffee shop glued to a TV screen as they chanted "Allahu Akbar." The moments of hushed silence as the verdict was pronounced were quickly followed by cheering as the men stood up to applaud.
In Baghdad streets, men and women were seen dancing around, and Shiite youth carrying posters of Ayatollah al-Sistani took to the streets in celebration.
A man on the street told Al-Arabiya network that the "execution" of the sentence is a must now. "They have to really execute him," the middle-aged man said.
Hours before the session began, security was heightened in and around the court. A state of emergency was declared in the capital, authorities said. Baghdad‘s airport was also closed soon after dawn, and all flights to and from the city were cancelled during the morning.
Iraqi authorities had imposed a 24-hour blanket curfew over Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul, Baquba, and Saddam‘s hometown Tikrit on Sunday to avoid any violence around the announcement of the trial verdict.
dpa pa ch ds
051429 GMT Nov 06
Reported and Written by PAKINAM AMER, edited by the amazing Cork editors.
** DPA does not byline news spots/stories, only news features but I'm particularly proud of my coverage of Saddam's verdict. That's why I chose to include it here amid my bylined copies.
DPA: Saddam sentenced to death by hanging- AMer (Complete coverage of Saddam's verdict from Cairo, Egypt)
Saddam sentenced to death by hanging
Baghdad (dpa) - Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging Sunday after being convicted by the Iraqi criminal court of crimes against humanity.
Saddam and six of his former top government aides were found guilty of ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam‘s life.
In the verdicts, not only Saddam, but also his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, one of Saddam‘s former aides, were also sentenced to death.
Former Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment, while three other co-defendants were served 15-year prison terms.
Mohammad al-Azawy, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of the charges and released.
In an act of defiance as he faced sentencing, Saddam refused to stand as the judge issued the verdict.
The former Iraqi dictator then finally took to his feet, shouting repeatedly in a firm level voice: "Long live the Umma (nation). Down with the traitors. Allahu Akbar (God is great)! We are the people of (this country)."
The outburst forced the judge to raise his voice over Saddam‘s in order to continue reading out the numerous points in the verdict.
Saddam has the right to an appeal, a judicial source had earlier told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. However, if the appellate chamber of the court upholds the verdict, the sentence must then be carriedout within 30 days.
As the co-defendants heard their sentences, they also started shouting "Allahu Akbar" in unison, and chanting "God is greater than the people who support injustice."
Sentencing in the first of Saddam‘s criminal trials began earlier Sunday in Baghdad.
During the session - number 41 of the trial which had initially began October 19, 2005 - Saddam‘s lawyers were all present in court. Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, however, was thrown out of court by the head judge, who claimed that Clark had "slammed" the Iraqi people.
Following the session, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawy held a press conference where he declared that in case Saddam‘s verdict is upheld, the prosecution in the al-Anfal trial will automatically be brought to a close.
Also, as to Saddam‘s demand that he be executed by firing squade, al-Mousaway said that "shooting violates Iraq‘s death penalty law."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had on Saturday asked Iraqis to remain calm as Saddam‘s sentence was announced. However, after the trial, pictures of cheering Iraqis flooded pan-Arab TV channels.
In one incident, a group of men and children were seen huddled in a coffee shop glued to a TV screen as they chanted "Allahu Akbar." The moments of hushed silence as the verdict was pronounced were quickly followed by cheering as the men stood up to applaud the sentence.
In Baghdad streets, men and women were seen dancing around, and Shiite youth (with posters of Ayatollah al-Sistani) took to the streets in celebration.
A man on the street told Al-Arabiya network that the "execution" of the sentence is a must now. "They have to really execute him," the middle-aged man said.
Hours before the session began, security was heightened in and around the court. A state of emergency was declared in the capital, authorities said. Baghdad‘s airport was also closed soon after dawn,and all flights to and from the city were cancelled during the morning.
Iraqi authorities had imposed a 24-hour blanket curfew over Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul, Baquba, and Saddam‘s hometown Tikrit on Sunday to avoid any violence around the announcement of the trial verdict.
dpa pa ch ds
051130 GMT Nov 06
Reported and Written by PAKINAM AMER, edited by the amazing Cork editors.
** DPA does not byline news spots/stories, only news features but I'm particularly proud of my coverage of Saddam's verdict. That's why I chose to include it here amid my bylined copies.
Baghdad (dpa) - Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging Sunday after being convicted by the Iraqi criminal court of crimes against humanity.
Saddam and six of his former top government aides were found guilty of ordering the killing of 148 Shiites in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for an attempt on Saddam‘s life.
In the verdicts, not only Saddam, but also his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Ahmed al-Bandar, one of Saddam‘s former aides, were also sentenced to death.
Former Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life imprisonment, while three other co-defendants were served 15-year prison terms.
Mohammad al-Azawy, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of the charges and released.
In an act of defiance as he faced sentencing, Saddam refused to stand as the judge issued the verdict.
The former Iraqi dictator then finally took to his feet, shouting repeatedly in a firm level voice: "Long live the Umma (nation). Down with the traitors. Allahu Akbar (God is great)! We are the people of (this country)."
The outburst forced the judge to raise his voice over Saddam‘s in order to continue reading out the numerous points in the verdict.
Saddam has the right to an appeal, a judicial source had earlier told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. However, if the appellate chamber of the court upholds the verdict, the sentence must then be carriedout within 30 days.
As the co-defendants heard their sentences, they also started shouting "Allahu Akbar" in unison, and chanting "God is greater than the people who support injustice."
Sentencing in the first of Saddam‘s criminal trials began earlier Sunday in Baghdad.
During the session - number 41 of the trial which had initially began October 19, 2005 - Saddam‘s lawyers were all present in court. Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, however, was thrown out of court by the head judge, who claimed that Clark had "slammed" the Iraqi people.
Following the session, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawy held a press conference where he declared that in case Saddam‘s verdict is upheld, the prosecution in the al-Anfal trial will automatically be brought to a close.
Also, as to Saddam‘s demand that he be executed by firing squade, al-Mousaway said that "shooting violates Iraq‘s death penalty law."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had on Saturday asked Iraqis to remain calm as Saddam‘s sentence was announced. However, after the trial, pictures of cheering Iraqis flooded pan-Arab TV channels.
In one incident, a group of men and children were seen huddled in a coffee shop glued to a TV screen as they chanted "Allahu Akbar." The moments of hushed silence as the verdict was pronounced were quickly followed by cheering as the men stood up to applaud the sentence.
In Baghdad streets, men and women were seen dancing around, and Shiite youth (with posters of Ayatollah al-Sistani) took to the streets in celebration.
A man on the street told Al-Arabiya network that the "execution" of the sentence is a must now. "They have to really execute him," the middle-aged man said.
Hours before the session began, security was heightened in and around the court. A state of emergency was declared in the capital, authorities said. Baghdad‘s airport was also closed soon after dawn,and all flights to and from the city were cancelled during the morning.
Iraqi authorities had imposed a 24-hour blanket curfew over Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul, Baquba, and Saddam‘s hometown Tikrit on Sunday to avoid any violence around the announcement of the trial verdict.
dpa pa ch ds
051130 GMT Nov 06
Reported and Written by PAKINAM AMER, edited by the amazing Cork editors.
** DPA does not byline news spots/stories, only news features but I'm particularly proud of my coverage of Saddam's verdict. That's why I chose to include it here amid my bylined copies.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
IHT/DSE: Eid marred by rise in alleged attacks on women
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: October 31, 2006
Alarming accounts of sexual harassment riddle blogs
CAIRO: As Egyptians began their Eid Al-Fitr holidays last week, rumors of a wave of alleged sexual harassment tainted the joy of what is usually a family-oriented festive occasion.
The wave of harassment, manifested by public groping and touching of women accompanied by pushing and shoving and even pulling at headscarves and shirts, has stirred dismay among outspoken young women and men across some popular blogs.
Across these web spaces, which provide a free forum of expression for many, bloggers posted and shared pictures of incidents in which crowds of men harassed women.
In one picture, taken in the downtown area and posted on Misr Digital blog, a sea of men surround a single girl, the caption reading that they were groping her as she tried to squeeze herself free but the picture is inconclusive.
Another picture shows a shop owner blocking the entrance to his store, as dozens of men huddle around, with a caption explaining that the aforementioned girl had to hide in the store to escape harassment.
In another blog, called Stories, a girl named Mona related what she termed an eyewitness account of a similar incident in Alexandria, describing hordes of men encircling girls and groping their bodies with only the constant screaming finally scaring them off.
“These young men do not recognize right from wrong. They do not even distinguish between a respectful woman and one who is not,” comments the female blogger, who reportedly witnessed the incident right at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “I do not think that these men were waiting for Ramadan to end to do all this. Whoever would do what they did would not be bothered by Ramadan in the first place.”
The blogger, who said she panicked when she saw other girls being groped while people stood by helplessly, gave general advice to girls: “Do not leave your homes during the holidays to go to central areas. The [sexual] craze has infected everyone there.”
The relating of this and other such incidents encouraged other female bloggers to boldly expose their own personal experiences. In one blog entitled Qatr Al-Nada, a female blogger encourages other girls to come out with their stories of harassment.
The outspoken blogger on Qatr Al-Nada describes the extent to which incidents of harassment, even if they were verbal and fleeting, can affect her day and her emotional state. When she is bothered by men on the street, the blogger says she “curses them sometimes, or screams or even slaps them. Sometimes I just ignore the whole thing in order not to spoil my day. But other times, I’m taken off guard [by the harassment] and I end up crying.”
Although the reactions are limited to private talks and online discussions, these numerous voices could arguably be deemed representative of many women who are bombarded by comments, name-calling, and sexual remarks (at the least) as they walk the streets of Cairo and use its ever-crowded and sometimes male-dominated public transportation.
And this phenomenon is not limited to Egyptian or Muslim women; it extends across society to include foreign non-Muslim women and girls who are often times shocked when faced with such humiliating experiences.
“Psychologically, harassment puts you in a situation when you’re constantly feeling persecuted, which means that women end up having moments of self-doubt, which could be transient, lasting for a fleeting second, or could last for a few days,” psychology professor and psychotherapist Abier El-Barbary told The Daily Star Egypt.
The victim, according to the psychologist, usually scrutinizes the reasons why the man picked her and what she could have done to avoid it. “It ends up changing the norm of how women look and dress like out there,” said El-Barbary.
A lecturer at the American University in Cairo, El-Barbary works with both local and foreign girls who have experienced on-the-street harassment, both verbal and physical. Although in most, if not all, cases the harassment does not go beyond touching and groping, the reactions to the act are different and harassment can induce trauma.
The reaction of female non-Muslims is usually more intense. “They are the ones who are in the most state of persecution,” said El-Barbary. “It doesn’t just give them a bad day but a traumatic experience.”
According to El-Barbary, some of these girls end up scared to go out on the street and their negative impression of their attackers gets generalized to apply to all Egyptian and Muslim men.
El-Barbary who gives advice to her students on how to avoid being victims of harassment said that the harassment “begins to get women to question their femininity.”
“Psychologically, they question how much femininity they are putting out in public,” said El-Barbary. Over time, negative thoughts kick in and women feel that the more femininity they manifest, the more they present an image of submission and of being a victim, according to her.
El-Barbary advises young women to carry a whistle when they walk the streets, walk straight, without smiling and without looking down — powerful body language that speaks surrender, says the psychologist. “Use the whistle. Instead of cursing, blow on it. This way you bring the public eye onto these men. Once they feel the shame of being under the spotlight, they will stop.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3704
First Published: October 31, 2006
Alarming accounts of sexual harassment riddle blogs
CAIRO: As Egyptians began their Eid Al-Fitr holidays last week, rumors of a wave of alleged sexual harassment tainted the joy of what is usually a family-oriented festive occasion.
The wave of harassment, manifested by public groping and touching of women accompanied by pushing and shoving and even pulling at headscarves and shirts, has stirred dismay among outspoken young women and men across some popular blogs.
Across these web spaces, which provide a free forum of expression for many, bloggers posted and shared pictures of incidents in which crowds of men harassed women.
In one picture, taken in the downtown area and posted on Misr Digital blog, a sea of men surround a single girl, the caption reading that they were groping her as she tried to squeeze herself free but the picture is inconclusive.
Another picture shows a shop owner blocking the entrance to his store, as dozens of men huddle around, with a caption explaining that the aforementioned girl had to hide in the store to escape harassment.
In another blog, called Stories, a girl named Mona related what she termed an eyewitness account of a similar incident in Alexandria, describing hordes of men encircling girls and groping their bodies with only the constant screaming finally scaring them off.
“These young men do not recognize right from wrong. They do not even distinguish between a respectful woman and one who is not,” comments the female blogger, who reportedly witnessed the incident right at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “I do not think that these men were waiting for Ramadan to end to do all this. Whoever would do what they did would not be bothered by Ramadan in the first place.”
The blogger, who said she panicked when she saw other girls being groped while people stood by helplessly, gave general advice to girls: “Do not leave your homes during the holidays to go to central areas. The [sexual] craze has infected everyone there.”
The relating of this and other such incidents encouraged other female bloggers to boldly expose their own personal experiences. In one blog entitled Qatr Al-Nada, a female blogger encourages other girls to come out with their stories of harassment.
The outspoken blogger on Qatr Al-Nada describes the extent to which incidents of harassment, even if they were verbal and fleeting, can affect her day and her emotional state. When she is bothered by men on the street, the blogger says she “curses them sometimes, or screams or even slaps them. Sometimes I just ignore the whole thing in order not to spoil my day. But other times, I’m taken off guard [by the harassment] and I end up crying.”
Although the reactions are limited to private talks and online discussions, these numerous voices could arguably be deemed representative of many women who are bombarded by comments, name-calling, and sexual remarks (at the least) as they walk the streets of Cairo and use its ever-crowded and sometimes male-dominated public transportation.
And this phenomenon is not limited to Egyptian or Muslim women; it extends across society to include foreign non-Muslim women and girls who are often times shocked when faced with such humiliating experiences.
“Psychologically, harassment puts you in a situation when you’re constantly feeling persecuted, which means that women end up having moments of self-doubt, which could be transient, lasting for a fleeting second, or could last for a few days,” psychology professor and psychotherapist Abier El-Barbary told The Daily Star Egypt.
The victim, according to the psychologist, usually scrutinizes the reasons why the man picked her and what she could have done to avoid it. “It ends up changing the norm of how women look and dress like out there,” said El-Barbary.
A lecturer at the American University in Cairo, El-Barbary works with both local and foreign girls who have experienced on-the-street harassment, both verbal and physical. Although in most, if not all, cases the harassment does not go beyond touching and groping, the reactions to the act are different and harassment can induce trauma.
The reaction of female non-Muslims is usually more intense. “They are the ones who are in the most state of persecution,” said El-Barbary. “It doesn’t just give them a bad day but a traumatic experience.”
According to El-Barbary, some of these girls end up scared to go out on the street and their negative impression of their attackers gets generalized to apply to all Egyptian and Muslim men.
El-Barbary who gives advice to her students on how to avoid being victims of harassment said that the harassment “begins to get women to question their femininity.”
“Psychologically, they question how much femininity they are putting out in public,” said El-Barbary. Over time, negative thoughts kick in and women feel that the more femininity they manifest, the more they present an image of submission and of being a victim, according to her.
El-Barbary advises young women to carry a whistle when they walk the streets, walk straight, without smiling and without looking down — powerful body language that speaks surrender, says the psychologist. “Use the whistle. Instead of cursing, blow on it. This way you bring the public eye onto these men. Once they feel the shame of being under the spotlight, they will stop.”
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3704
DPA: Harassment persists on Cairo's all-women metro cars
By Pakinam Amer
Oct 31, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - Silvy Ramzi - her hair long, usually in tight jeans and sleeveless shirts on hot summer days - stands out amid the crowds of veiled women, often also clad in long Islamic black robes.
Ramzi, a young Copt, has been riding the metro to school for over a year. But even here in the all-women carriages of Cairo's metro the stares of commuters and the occasional comments on her dress have not stopped.
In highly conservative Egypt, women usually prefer the one or two carriages reserved for female commuters located at one end of the metro trains.
In the mixed ones, recently called 'the men's carriages,' harassment is reportedly common as men and women crowd in during rush hour.
'In the men's carriage,' says Ramzi, 'everyone is squashed in, men and women together, and you often get comments and stares from men. Guys often touch, grope and push against other women. It's really bad there.'
The 19-year-old student of international trade explains that it is only safe to ride 'the men's carriage' when accompanied by her male colleagues. Otherwise 'everyone else reacts like nothing has happened when a woman or a girl is harassed.'
Egypt's women seem to have made a unanimous decision to squeeze themselves in the separate women's carriages, leaving the rest of metro space for men, even in quiet hours.
Nevertheless, there is a different kind of harassment in the women's compartments.
'Sometimes I hear (the veiled Muslim) women talking about the way I'm dressed,' Ramzi says. 'They speak in a loud voice, intentionally so I can hear them and take the hint.'
Coloured and all-black veils, long robes, long sleeves and long dresses and even niqab (face-scarves) dominate the women's society in the metro. Being veiled is the norm.
So is reciting duaa al-rukoub (the Muslim prayer for the riders), something else which Ramzi does not do.
Often as a Muslim commuter steps into the car, she will greet the rest of the women and asks her 'Muslim sisters' to recite a short prayer, marking a long-standing tradition that Muslims follow while travelling, whether riding a horse or camel, or a vehicle.
The prayer is meant to protect the rider from harm and remind them of God's blessing on them.
'When I don't join in, some women come to me and enquire,' says Ramzi, who wears a gold cross around her neck and has another cross tattooed on her wrist.
'I just tell them that I am a Christian, they look at me and just go,' says Ramzi. 'It bothers me. I think a prayer is something that you whisper to yourself, instead of declaring out loud.'
Some women who do not recite the prayer, or are too shy to approach people, still deem it a duty.
'I know I should do it, I'd say it but I'm too shy,' says a 29- year-old Duaa Abdel-Moneim, as she leans on a metro door, dressed in black robes and thick black shades that cover most of her face.
Religious activity is manifested in so many ways in the metro lines. Prayer beads, Islamic literature, and even women's prayer suits (an outfit covering her body from head to toe except for her face and hands) are sold on metros.
Women and especially young girls reading the Koran as they ride is also a familiar sight.
All over the metro, stickers urging Muslims to remember God or to quit smoking, reminiscent from the holy fasting month of Ramadan, are visible around the walls.
Women with a different dress code are advised to follow the right dress, and when they are not directly addressed they are often followed by steely gazes.
In this microcosmic community, marked by observance of long-held Islamic traditions, outsiders are rarely welcomed.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1216669.php/Harassment_persists_on_Cairos_all-women_metro_cars
Oct 31, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - Silvy Ramzi - her hair long, usually in tight jeans and sleeveless shirts on hot summer days - stands out amid the crowds of veiled women, often also clad in long Islamic black robes.
Ramzi, a young Copt, has been riding the metro to school for over a year. But even here in the all-women carriages of Cairo's metro the stares of commuters and the occasional comments on her dress have not stopped.
In highly conservative Egypt, women usually prefer the one or two carriages reserved for female commuters located at one end of the metro trains.
In the mixed ones, recently called 'the men's carriages,' harassment is reportedly common as men and women crowd in during rush hour.
'In the men's carriage,' says Ramzi, 'everyone is squashed in, men and women together, and you often get comments and stares from men. Guys often touch, grope and push against other women. It's really bad there.'
The 19-year-old student of international trade explains that it is only safe to ride 'the men's carriage' when accompanied by her male colleagues. Otherwise 'everyone else reacts like nothing has happened when a woman or a girl is harassed.'
Egypt's women seem to have made a unanimous decision to squeeze themselves in the separate women's carriages, leaving the rest of metro space for men, even in quiet hours.
Nevertheless, there is a different kind of harassment in the women's compartments.
'Sometimes I hear (the veiled Muslim) women talking about the way I'm dressed,' Ramzi says. 'They speak in a loud voice, intentionally so I can hear them and take the hint.'
Coloured and all-black veils, long robes, long sleeves and long dresses and even niqab (face-scarves) dominate the women's society in the metro. Being veiled is the norm.
So is reciting duaa al-rukoub (the Muslim prayer for the riders), something else which Ramzi does not do.
Often as a Muslim commuter steps into the car, she will greet the rest of the women and asks her 'Muslim sisters' to recite a short prayer, marking a long-standing tradition that Muslims follow while travelling, whether riding a horse or camel, or a vehicle.
The prayer is meant to protect the rider from harm and remind them of God's blessing on them.
'When I don't join in, some women come to me and enquire,' says Ramzi, who wears a gold cross around her neck and has another cross tattooed on her wrist.
'I just tell them that I am a Christian, they look at me and just go,' says Ramzi. 'It bothers me. I think a prayer is something that you whisper to yourself, instead of declaring out loud.'
Some women who do not recite the prayer, or are too shy to approach people, still deem it a duty.
'I know I should do it, I'd say it but I'm too shy,' says a 29- year-old Duaa Abdel-Moneim, as she leans on a metro door, dressed in black robes and thick black shades that cover most of her face.
Religious activity is manifested in so many ways in the metro lines. Prayer beads, Islamic literature, and even women's prayer suits (an outfit covering her body from head to toe except for her face and hands) are sold on metros.
Women and especially young girls reading the Koran as they ride is also a familiar sight.
All over the metro, stickers urging Muslims to remember God or to quit smoking, reminiscent from the holy fasting month of Ramadan, are visible around the walls.
Women with a different dress code are advised to follow the right dress, and when they are not directly addressed they are often followed by steely gazes.
In this microcosmic community, marked by observance of long-held Islamic traditions, outsiders are rarely welcomed.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1216669.php/Harassment_persists_on_Cairos_all-women_metro_cars
DPA: Egypt's Muslims prepare for Eid al-Fitr feast
By Pakinam Amer
Oct 22, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - Ahmed Abdel-Azim usually breaks his fast, in the last days of the holy month of Ramadan, in his house. A little later however you would find him roaming the streets of Cairo, children in toe, as the wife sits at home baking.
For an outsider, it might seem like a mystery that people - both buyers and sellers - in Egypt take extensively to the streets at the end of the holy month.
The streets of Cairo are usually beyond busy and it seems like a shopping season has begun.
It is no mystery if you are an Egyptian. It is simple: This is a 'wild time' as some say. It is the time of 'Eid'.
Shopping for clothes and accessories, shopping for sweets, and shopping for decorations for the Eid al-Fitr or Lesser Bairum festival which marks the end of Ramadan seem to be all Muslims do during the end days of Ramadan in Cairo.
'The clothes-hunt begins in the last days of Ramadan, where everybody else in this country seem to be also shopping,' says a smiling Ahmed, referring to a ritual, outlined by Islamic tradition, of wearing at least one piece of new clothing to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the three-day Eid feast that follows.
'It's hectic, but the children enjoy it. They love buying new clothes,' says the middle-aged father of three. 'So naturally, I'm happy that my children are happy.'
Like many other Egyptian Muslims, Ahmed takes on the routine in expectance of the Eid, where Muslims celebrate the conclusion of 30 days of piety, fasting and praying.
The men, and sometimes the women, have the sole duty of buying the new clothes for the family and especially the children. Shops stay open late, and Muslims usually arrive after the iftar fast-breaking meal to buy the best and the most colourful of clothes - those, at least, that they can afford.
It is generally a spending period.
Besides clothes, Muslims are also obliged to spend on alms - Zakat - to the poor during these days. Charity organizations use the donations they receive to buy new clothes and food for the orphaned and homeless so that they, too, may enjoy the Eid festivities.
As the Eid approaches, yet more family visits are expected as Muslims wrap up their spiritual and religious duties in Ramadan.
Between praying and reading the Koran, women cook meals, prepare dessert and bake the famous fattening Eid cookies (Kahk) which are served with sugar, dates, nuts and honey.
Some women make the baking and cooking a social event. They gather in a house and bake as they talk and engage in friendly gossip, exchanging tips on how to make the cookies crunchier, or softer, depending on taste.
They also decorate the cookies in different ways, and give them different shapes apart from the standard round-shape that the Egyptian Kahk is famous for. Some shape the Kahk like a crescent, with white crushed sugar on top, to resemble the symbol of Ramadan and Islam.
Often, the women will use a nearby baker's oven to heat their goodies, baking up to 30 tray loads of mouth-watering cookies, sweet biscuits and other oriental delicacies at once.
Other women - especially working women - choose to buy the famous dessert ready-made from local patisseries, where boxes of cookies are displayed on top of each other.
Bargaining takes place as the prices of tasty Kahks increase every year. In some affluent parts of town, a kilogramme of cookies are sold for up to 50 Egyptian pounds, while the same amount of homemade cookies would cost around five pounds.
Meanwhile, children and teens, who also receive monetary presents from their family, celebrate the coming of Eid with fireworks. Boys and girls meet after iftar and compete on who can fire the loudest and flashiest cracker. Despite the hazards and public media campaigns against it, the traditions is encouraged by some Egyptian parents.
As the Eid nears, people exchange calls and phone messages, and family visits are a must.
The Eid itself begins by a congregational ceremonial prayer that takes place right after dawn. People gather in this prayer to thank God for Ramadan - deemed a month of blessings and mercy - and ask that their good deeds be accepted.
As men, women and children walk or drive to the mosques, they usually chant prayers in unison - like pilgrims in Mecca often do.
After the prayer, the first breakfast, now during the day, is another family event often also including neighbours and relatives. People gather around the table and enjoy a morning meal - for a change, one that is light and small.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1213351.php/Egypts_Muslims_prepare_for_Eid_al-Fitr_feast
Oct 22, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - Ahmed Abdel-Azim usually breaks his fast, in the last days of the holy month of Ramadan, in his house. A little later however you would find him roaming the streets of Cairo, children in toe, as the wife sits at home baking.
For an outsider, it might seem like a mystery that people - both buyers and sellers - in Egypt take extensively to the streets at the end of the holy month.
The streets of Cairo are usually beyond busy and it seems like a shopping season has begun.
It is no mystery if you are an Egyptian. It is simple: This is a 'wild time' as some say. It is the time of 'Eid'.
Shopping for clothes and accessories, shopping for sweets, and shopping for decorations for the Eid al-Fitr or Lesser Bairum festival which marks the end of Ramadan seem to be all Muslims do during the end days of Ramadan in Cairo.
'The clothes-hunt begins in the last days of Ramadan, where everybody else in this country seem to be also shopping,' says a smiling Ahmed, referring to a ritual, outlined by Islamic tradition, of wearing at least one piece of new clothing to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the three-day Eid feast that follows.
'It's hectic, but the children enjoy it. They love buying new clothes,' says the middle-aged father of three. 'So naturally, I'm happy that my children are happy.'
Like many other Egyptian Muslims, Ahmed takes on the routine in expectance of the Eid, where Muslims celebrate the conclusion of 30 days of piety, fasting and praying.
The men, and sometimes the women, have the sole duty of buying the new clothes for the family and especially the children. Shops stay open late, and Muslims usually arrive after the iftar fast-breaking meal to buy the best and the most colourful of clothes - those, at least, that they can afford.
It is generally a spending period.
Besides clothes, Muslims are also obliged to spend on alms - Zakat - to the poor during these days. Charity organizations use the donations they receive to buy new clothes and food for the orphaned and homeless so that they, too, may enjoy the Eid festivities.
As the Eid approaches, yet more family visits are expected as Muslims wrap up their spiritual and religious duties in Ramadan.
Between praying and reading the Koran, women cook meals, prepare dessert and bake the famous fattening Eid cookies (Kahk) which are served with sugar, dates, nuts and honey.
Some women make the baking and cooking a social event. They gather in a house and bake as they talk and engage in friendly gossip, exchanging tips on how to make the cookies crunchier, or softer, depending on taste.
They also decorate the cookies in different ways, and give them different shapes apart from the standard round-shape that the Egyptian Kahk is famous for. Some shape the Kahk like a crescent, with white crushed sugar on top, to resemble the symbol of Ramadan and Islam.
Often, the women will use a nearby baker's oven to heat their goodies, baking up to 30 tray loads of mouth-watering cookies, sweet biscuits and other oriental delicacies at once.
Other women - especially working women - choose to buy the famous dessert ready-made from local patisseries, where boxes of cookies are displayed on top of each other.
Bargaining takes place as the prices of tasty Kahks increase every year. In some affluent parts of town, a kilogramme of cookies are sold for up to 50 Egyptian pounds, while the same amount of homemade cookies would cost around five pounds.
Meanwhile, children and teens, who also receive monetary presents from their family, celebrate the coming of Eid with fireworks. Boys and girls meet after iftar and compete on who can fire the loudest and flashiest cracker. Despite the hazards and public media campaigns against it, the traditions is encouraged by some Egyptian parents.
As the Eid nears, people exchange calls and phone messages, and family visits are a must.
The Eid itself begins by a congregational ceremonial prayer that takes place right after dawn. People gather in this prayer to thank God for Ramadan - deemed a month of blessings and mercy - and ask that their good deeds be accepted.
As men, women and children walk or drive to the mosques, they usually chant prayers in unison - like pilgrims in Mecca often do.
After the prayer, the first breakfast, now during the day, is another family event often also including neighbours and relatives. People gather around the table and enjoy a morning meal - for a change, one that is light and small.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1213351.php/Egypts_Muslims_prepare_for_Eid_al-Fitr_feast
IHT/DSE: Talaat El-Sadat: Chip of the old block
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: September 28, 2006
Outspoken government critic to run for top parliamentary position
CAIRO: In a brazen move by any independent or opposition politician, controversial Member of Parliament (MP) Talaat El-Sadat announced Wednesday that he will run for parliament's top position.
El-Sadat, a controversial lawyer, nephew of former president Anwar El-Sadat and a fierce critic of the government, claims he was urged by National Democratic Party (NDP) members to contest Fathi Sorour over head-of-parliament candidacy. Sorour has been heading the People's Assembly (lower-house of parliament) for more than a decade, holding on to his seat despite harsh criticism and accusations of corruption.
El-Sadat's statement, which implies NDP support for his unexpected decision, sounds conflicting to the usual NDP stance toward El-Sadat, who, in many occasions, bad-mouthed the ruling party and accused it of corruption.
"National Democratic Party members contacted me and encouraged me to run against Fathi Sorour," El-Sadat told the press. "They believe that the parliament has lost its executive and legal authority."
El-Sadat, in Wednesday’s statements to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, said that his move aims to limit the government's control and monopoly in parliament, which is currently the norm, according to him. The MP also added that his campaign to run for the head position will start next November, as the new parliamentary session kicks off.
Notably, the parliament's agenda is full, as a list of much-debated constitutional amendments top the assembly's priorities.
"A full-fledged change is needed so that people would put their trust again in the assembly," said the outspoken El-Sadat.
El-Sadat has been in the limelight lately, often issuing shocking, and sometimes comical, statements against the government and its policies. El-Sadat is also a strong supporter of jailed politician and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour.
El-Sadat had a recent row with MP and NDP big-wig Ahmed Ezz, who works closely with politician, deputy secretary general of the party and President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal Mubarak. The conflict between Ezz and El-Sadat reached its peak in parliament when the latter took off one of his shoes and threatened to hit Ezz – an act which was widely circulated in the press and much-criticized for its lack of decency.
El-Sadat had raised questions about Ezz's fortune – reported to exceed LE 40 billion and had doubted the integrity of the relatively young NDP leader.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3170
First Published: September 28, 2006
Outspoken government critic to run for top parliamentary position
CAIRO: In a brazen move by any independent or opposition politician, controversial Member of Parliament (MP) Talaat El-Sadat announced Wednesday that he will run for parliament's top position.
El-Sadat, a controversial lawyer, nephew of former president Anwar El-Sadat and a fierce critic of the government, claims he was urged by National Democratic Party (NDP) members to contest Fathi Sorour over head-of-parliament candidacy. Sorour has been heading the People's Assembly (lower-house of parliament) for more than a decade, holding on to his seat despite harsh criticism and accusations of corruption.
El-Sadat's statement, which implies NDP support for his unexpected decision, sounds conflicting to the usual NDP stance toward El-Sadat, who, in many occasions, bad-mouthed the ruling party and accused it of corruption.
"National Democratic Party members contacted me and encouraged me to run against Fathi Sorour," El-Sadat told the press. "They believe that the parliament has lost its executive and legal authority."
El-Sadat, in Wednesday’s statements to independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, said that his move aims to limit the government's control and monopoly in parliament, which is currently the norm, according to him. The MP also added that his campaign to run for the head position will start next November, as the new parliamentary session kicks off.
Notably, the parliament's agenda is full, as a list of much-debated constitutional amendments top the assembly's priorities.
"A full-fledged change is needed so that people would put their trust again in the assembly," said the outspoken El-Sadat.
El-Sadat has been in the limelight lately, often issuing shocking, and sometimes comical, statements against the government and its policies. El-Sadat is also a strong supporter of jailed politician and former presidential candidate Ayman Nour.
El-Sadat had a recent row with MP and NDP big-wig Ahmed Ezz, who works closely with politician, deputy secretary general of the party and President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal Mubarak. The conflict between Ezz and El-Sadat reached its peak in parliament when the latter took off one of his shoes and threatened to hit Ezz – an act which was widely circulated in the press and much-criticized for its lack of decency.
El-Sadat had raised questions about Ezz's fortune – reported to exceed LE 40 billion and had doubted the integrity of the relatively young NDP leader.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3170
DPA: Rice rallies support for Palestinian President Abbas
By Pakinam Amer
Oct 4, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met Tuesday with foreign ministers from eight Arab countries, said she was trying to rally support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and urged jump-starting the peace process with Israel.
She said she was greatly concerned for innocent Palestinians caught in continuing violence.
Rice arrived Tuesday in Cairo on a planned five-day tour of the Middle East, including stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
'I would hope that (Abbas) knows that he is admired and respected, and there is a great desire to help him to help the Palestinian people, who need a government who can respect the Palestinian people and be committed to their well-being,' Rice told reporters.
She met for two-and-a-half hours with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and the foreign ministers of Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council members - Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Rice said that they discussed ways to support Abbas.
The selection of countries raised eyebrows among the Egyptian press, with critics charging that the US was trying to form a 'coalition of states' to stand up to Iran.
During the news conference, Abul-Gheit insisted that there were 'no coalition groups or alliances here. This a meeting between friends. It is not the first and will not be the last.' He said the intent was to establish 'peace and stability.'
Rice said the meeting was not a 'new coalition.'
'We add the voices of the states that have a lot to say about how to resolve the problems in the region,' she said.
Rice pointed out that Egypt and Jordan had 'themselves resolved their differences with Israel, and they are models of how peace can be brought' between adversaries.
Facing intense pressure from the Hamas-led Cabinet elected earlier this year, Abbas has been riding a rising wave of tensions between Palestinian factions, with 11 people killed over the last two days and 122 wounded.
Abbas, who leads the Fatah faction, and Hamas have been deadlocked over Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, stalling a planned Palestinian national unity government.
Conditions have worsened in the Palestinian territories since the United Sates and European Union cut their economic aid in an attempt to pressure Hamas into a settlement. Although the US and EU continue to funnel humanitarian and medical aid through non-governmental organizations, public employee wages have gone unpaid for six months, adding to the tension between Fatah and Hamas.
On a separate issue, Rice answered questions about Egypt's intention to develop civilian nuclear energy, saying that US President George W Bush supports 'access to civilian nuclear power' for the diversification of energy resources.
'We are supporting states that may wish to go this way, and we would be pleased to discuss this with Egypt,' added Rice. 'But I don't want to get ahead of the Egyptian government.'
The international community is currently wrestling with oil-rich Iran over its civilian nuclear programme and has demanded that Tehran stop enriching uranium - a process that can lead to weapons-grade material.
Iran insists it only wants a civilian energy programme and has repeatedly defied international deadlines. It could face UN Security Council sanctions.
Iran tops Rice's agenda during her Mideast tour, which will also address 'possible threats to stability' in the region and Hezbollah militancy in Lebanon. The US and Israel charge that Iran has supported Hezbollah, the Shiite militia that dominates southern Lebanon.
Rice met Monday with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, where she accused Syria of bolstering Palestinian militants and smuggling weapons to Hezbollah.
Rice is due to meet early Wednesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1208016.php/Rice_rallies_support_for_Palestinian_President_Abbas
Oct 4, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met Tuesday with foreign ministers from eight Arab countries, said she was trying to rally support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and urged jump-starting the peace process with Israel.
She said she was greatly concerned for innocent Palestinians caught in continuing violence.
Rice arrived Tuesday in Cairo on a planned five-day tour of the Middle East, including stops in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
'I would hope that (Abbas) knows that he is admired and respected, and there is a great desire to help him to help the Palestinian people, who need a government who can respect the Palestinian people and be committed to their well-being,' Rice told reporters.
She met for two-and-a-half hours with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and the foreign ministers of Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council members - Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Rice said that they discussed ways to support Abbas.
The selection of countries raised eyebrows among the Egyptian press, with critics charging that the US was trying to form a 'coalition of states' to stand up to Iran.
During the news conference, Abul-Gheit insisted that there were 'no coalition groups or alliances here. This a meeting between friends. It is not the first and will not be the last.' He said the intent was to establish 'peace and stability.'
Rice said the meeting was not a 'new coalition.'
'We add the voices of the states that have a lot to say about how to resolve the problems in the region,' she said.
Rice pointed out that Egypt and Jordan had 'themselves resolved their differences with Israel, and they are models of how peace can be brought' between adversaries.
Facing intense pressure from the Hamas-led Cabinet elected earlier this year, Abbas has been riding a rising wave of tensions between Palestinian factions, with 11 people killed over the last two days and 122 wounded.
Abbas, who leads the Fatah faction, and Hamas have been deadlocked over Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel, stalling a planned Palestinian national unity government.
Conditions have worsened in the Palestinian territories since the United Sates and European Union cut their economic aid in an attempt to pressure Hamas into a settlement. Although the US and EU continue to funnel humanitarian and medical aid through non-governmental organizations, public employee wages have gone unpaid for six months, adding to the tension between Fatah and Hamas.
On a separate issue, Rice answered questions about Egypt's intention to develop civilian nuclear energy, saying that US President George W Bush supports 'access to civilian nuclear power' for the diversification of energy resources.
'We are supporting states that may wish to go this way, and we would be pleased to discuss this with Egypt,' added Rice. 'But I don't want to get ahead of the Egyptian government.'
The international community is currently wrestling with oil-rich Iran over its civilian nuclear programme and has demanded that Tehran stop enriching uranium - a process that can lead to weapons-grade material.
Iran insists it only wants a civilian energy programme and has repeatedly defied international deadlines. It could face UN Security Council sanctions.
Iran tops Rice's agenda during her Mideast tour, which will also address 'possible threats to stability' in the region and Hezbollah militancy in Lebanon. The US and Israel charge that Iran has supported Hezbollah, the Shiite militia that dominates southern Lebanon.
Rice met Monday with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, where she accused Syria of bolstering Palestinian militants and smuggling weapons to Hezbollah.
Rice is due to meet early Wednesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1208016.php/Rice_rallies_support_for_Palestinian_President_Abbas
IHT/DSE: Nour objects to "democracy" letter
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: September 26, 2006
Wife says Interior Ministry "is trying to defame him"
CAIRO: Jailed politician Ayman Nour, his wife and supporters from El-Ghad party are furious about a letter that urges U.S. President George Bush to take action to free Nour. The letter, allegedly sent by activists living in various foreign and Arab countries, is meant “to defame Nour and destroy him morally,” comments Gameela Ismail, Nour’s wife and El-Ghad party spokesperson.
“As Arab and Muslim intellectuals and activists concerned about the promotion of democracy in our region, we urge you to reaffirm – in words and actions – America’s commitment to sustained democratic reform in the Arab world,” began the controversial letter sent out by the U.S.-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).
The letter asked Bush to fulfill his promise during an earlier speech when he said “the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressor,” and that the United States will stand with those who stand for their liberty.
Notably, the letter contains the signatures of many high-profile activists and politicians, including some high profile El-Ghad members who vehemently deny ever seeing the letter.
El-Ghad published an official statement Sunday deeming the letter a “hoax” sent out by the Interior Ministry to defame Nour’s image and make him look like he was backed by the United States – backing negatively regarded by many political forces in Egypt and the Arab world.
On numerous occasions, opposition forces in Egypt have rejected what they saw as “foreign intervention” from the United States. The opposition heads said that even “goodwill” acts like imposing democracy or bolstering a political figure from their ranks were unacceptable, when done by a foreign country. Nour, himself, has publicly rejected any form of intervention as he himself was quoted as saying in a recent hearing held by the prosecution last Saturday.
The politician's “supporters,” on the other hand, stated in their letter that even though they realize that democracy "must ultimately come from within," they believe that encouragement and support from Western states is "badly need[ed]" in the Arab world.
"The minimum support the people of the region yearn for is … to break with 60 years of U.S. support for non-democratic regimes in the region, and to make that known to the world in unequivocal terms," read the letter. "This would be more consistent with the principles of the United States."
Nour's apparent “enthusiasts” urged the United States not to be affected by other countries’ experiments, and not to ignore the government’s crackdown on the opposition. The letter said that “some autocrats have recently intensified repression,” under the impression that U.S. support for democracy is wavering.
“This is a kind of political fraud,” said Amir Salem, Nour’s lawyer, in a published statement from El-Ghad headquarters. “I call this moral assassination, a personal injury to a figure [Nour] who in the first place refuses to go into discussion [about his case] with any foreign country, especially the United States.”
Strangely enough, the letter features the signature of Salem himself, who strongly denies knowing about the letter before it began circulating in the press and on the Internet. Salem said that he would never send a letter to Bush, since he regards the American leader as “another face of the coin of state terrorism.”
“The idea of contacting Bush has never crossed our minds during the past two years; not me, not Ayman Nour and not even El-Ghad party,” adds Salem.
Salem, backed by El-Ghad and Ismail, filed two complaints to the general prosecutor about the letter. Salem said he would sue the president of the center who had sent the letter in court for “stealing their names.”
In addition to El-Ghad members, the letter features names of political figures from top organizations inside Egypt, including Saad-Eddin Ibrahim’s Ibn Khaldun Center, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Sawasiya Center for Human Rights, the American University in Cairo and the Kenana Center for Research and Studies to name a few.
“This is a conspiracy,” comments Gameela Ismail in El-Ghad’s official statement in response to the letter. “Whoever is doing this is targeting Nour’s popularity and credibility among his supporters.”
“Our party believes in Nour’s innocence and in divine justice, we would never direct any calls to President Bush, or any other leader for that matter,” Ismail adds. Ismail was quoted by Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper as saying that she accuses the Ministry of the Interior of “masterminding such incidents” to defame her jailed husband and destroy him politically and morally.
Ismail had told The Daily Star Egypt last week that she does not measure American support for Nour anyway, and any statements made by President Bush, or the U.S. State Department are “all diplomatic statements, and they do not mean more than that.”
Ismail added that it is not the support of the United States that her husband awaits. "We never really gave that much attention to American support,” she said.
Nour was indicted in a forgery case in December of last year, following a fierce political battle against presidential candidates in Egypt’s first multi-candidate elections. The politician was sentenced to five years in prison, which he is currently serving in the ill-reputed Tora Mazraa Prison.
Nour was accused of faking member signatures needed to register and legitimize his liberal El-Ghad party. More charges were later added to the list. The politician was indicted with "assaulting and injuring members of the ruling party on the day of the presidential elections, insulting and distorting the image of Egypt's regime symbols and president of the state, [and name-calling] President Mubarak.”
The court of cassation had refused his lawyers’ successive requests for appeal. It has also refused to give the leader a pardon based on his medical condition, even though he suffers from diabetes and needs heart surgery.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3141
First Published: September 26, 2006
Wife says Interior Ministry "is trying to defame him"
CAIRO: Jailed politician Ayman Nour, his wife and supporters from El-Ghad party are furious about a letter that urges U.S. President George Bush to take action to free Nour. The letter, allegedly sent by activists living in various foreign and Arab countries, is meant “to defame Nour and destroy him morally,” comments Gameela Ismail, Nour’s wife and El-Ghad party spokesperson.
“As Arab and Muslim intellectuals and activists concerned about the promotion of democracy in our region, we urge you to reaffirm – in words and actions – America’s commitment to sustained democratic reform in the Arab world,” began the controversial letter sent out by the U.S.-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).
The letter asked Bush to fulfill his promise during an earlier speech when he said “the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressor,” and that the United States will stand with those who stand for their liberty.
Notably, the letter contains the signatures of many high-profile activists and politicians, including some high profile El-Ghad members who vehemently deny ever seeing the letter.
El-Ghad published an official statement Sunday deeming the letter a “hoax” sent out by the Interior Ministry to defame Nour’s image and make him look like he was backed by the United States – backing negatively regarded by many political forces in Egypt and the Arab world.
On numerous occasions, opposition forces in Egypt have rejected what they saw as “foreign intervention” from the United States. The opposition heads said that even “goodwill” acts like imposing democracy or bolstering a political figure from their ranks were unacceptable, when done by a foreign country. Nour, himself, has publicly rejected any form of intervention as he himself was quoted as saying in a recent hearing held by the prosecution last Saturday.
The politician's “supporters,” on the other hand, stated in their letter that even though they realize that democracy "must ultimately come from within," they believe that encouragement and support from Western states is "badly need[ed]" in the Arab world.
"The minimum support the people of the region yearn for is … to break with 60 years of U.S. support for non-democratic regimes in the region, and to make that known to the world in unequivocal terms," read the letter. "This would be more consistent with the principles of the United States."
Nour's apparent “enthusiasts” urged the United States not to be affected by other countries’ experiments, and not to ignore the government’s crackdown on the opposition. The letter said that “some autocrats have recently intensified repression,” under the impression that U.S. support for democracy is wavering.
“This is a kind of political fraud,” said Amir Salem, Nour’s lawyer, in a published statement from El-Ghad headquarters. “I call this moral assassination, a personal injury to a figure [Nour] who in the first place refuses to go into discussion [about his case] with any foreign country, especially the United States.”
Strangely enough, the letter features the signature of Salem himself, who strongly denies knowing about the letter before it began circulating in the press and on the Internet. Salem said that he would never send a letter to Bush, since he regards the American leader as “another face of the coin of state terrorism.”
“The idea of contacting Bush has never crossed our minds during the past two years; not me, not Ayman Nour and not even El-Ghad party,” adds Salem.
Salem, backed by El-Ghad and Ismail, filed two complaints to the general prosecutor about the letter. Salem said he would sue the president of the center who had sent the letter in court for “stealing their names.”
In addition to El-Ghad members, the letter features names of political figures from top organizations inside Egypt, including Saad-Eddin Ibrahim’s Ibn Khaldun Center, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Sawasiya Center for Human Rights, the American University in Cairo and the Kenana Center for Research and Studies to name a few.
“This is a conspiracy,” comments Gameela Ismail in El-Ghad’s official statement in response to the letter. “Whoever is doing this is targeting Nour’s popularity and credibility among his supporters.”
“Our party believes in Nour’s innocence and in divine justice, we would never direct any calls to President Bush, or any other leader for that matter,” Ismail adds. Ismail was quoted by Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper as saying that she accuses the Ministry of the Interior of “masterminding such incidents” to defame her jailed husband and destroy him politically and morally.
Ismail had told The Daily Star Egypt last week that she does not measure American support for Nour anyway, and any statements made by President Bush, or the U.S. State Department are “all diplomatic statements, and they do not mean more than that.”
Ismail added that it is not the support of the United States that her husband awaits. "We never really gave that much attention to American support,” she said.
Nour was indicted in a forgery case in December of last year, following a fierce political battle against presidential candidates in Egypt’s first multi-candidate elections. The politician was sentenced to five years in prison, which he is currently serving in the ill-reputed Tora Mazraa Prison.
Nour was accused of faking member signatures needed to register and legitimize his liberal El-Ghad party. More charges were later added to the list. The politician was indicted with "assaulting and injuring members of the ruling party on the day of the presidential elections, insulting and distorting the image of Egypt's regime symbols and president of the state, [and name-calling] President Mubarak.”
The court of cassation had refused his lawyers’ successive requests for appeal. It has also refused to give the leader a pardon based on his medical condition, even though he suffers from diabetes and needs heart surgery.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3141
DPA: Women juggle all and more during holy month of Ramadan
By Pakinam Amer
Sep 27, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - When Omniyah Mohammed comes home from her day job as a teacher in Cairo during Ramadan, she is glad that at least the school day is over early.
Still ahead of the middle-aged mother of four is the job of cooking the sumptuous evening feast which ensures much of the fun spirit of the Islamic holy month. Following Muslim tradition, her family often invites relatives, neighbours and friends to share it.
For Mohammed, as for many Muslim women across the world, Ramadan means not just a month of spirituality but also a lot of extra work - with constant juggling between day job, household, preparing the feasts, and observing the religious rituals which include fasting during the day and praying all through the night.
The challenge for Mohammed, she explains, is to get closer to God during Ramadan amid all this clamour.
'I love reading Koran, it really raises my spirit. I really love going to the Tarawih prayers (prayers of comfort) every night,' she says. But throughout the month, she has to struggle to pray as much as she wants or take 'spiritual quality time' for herself, she adds.
'I really wish they would give us a break during the month, so we (women) can fully abide by the religious ritual,' she says.
During Ramadan, the woman is usually the unsung hero. And cooking for the whole family is often not even her only concern. Doing good for others - for Muslims an act greatly rewarded by God especially during Ramadan - is usually a task also handled mostly by women.
Many women, often with their children in tow, attend to visitors in mosques in poor areas. Others enlist in charity activities and community work in hope 'of gaining more thawab', the reward of blessing' for doing good.
Noora Khorshid has both a day job and a community service duty during Ramadan. Together with her friends - also in their early twenties - and relatives they have set up what they call a 'food bank for the poor.'
Beginning weeks before Ramadan, they first visited poor areas to do a rough social assessment, and then set up a plan for the holy month and began to collect money and other donations.
'We distribute food everyday among the fasters in these poor areas, and in the streets. We do it ourselves, sometimes we have men to help. Sometimes, we have to rent a small truck to carry the food for us,' Khorshid says. 'We also buy water dispensers and set them in different places.'
Despite the vast amount of pressure, juggling work, worship and charity efforts, there usually is 'a beautiful spirit', Korshid says: 'We laugh as we work together. It's fun.'
Basma, who did not want to disclose her family name, is another example. A mother of two, a pharmacy owner who gets no help during Ramadan, she manages to cook for everyone including several of the poor in her area.
'I start preparing before Ramadan, because for me what is important is not just to feed those close to me but also to feed the needy and the poor,' she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
By contrast, Heba Hassan, a 23-year-old stay-at-home wife, says she decided not to follow her family's tradition and hold grand feasts. She doesn't even want to be invited herself, she said. Her husband also has no time to help her because of his work as a medical doctor, she said.
'I choose to enjoy Ramadan instead. In general, there is more religious awareness now. I don't waste Ramadan in setting up meals, but in getting closer to God,' she says.
Nevertheless, Hassan says her duties during Ramadan have changed dramatically since she got married less than a year ago. Before, she would spend most of her day studying, watching television and occasionally helping with setting the Ramadan table.
'Now my day routine is different. I am in charge of a household, so I take care of everything,' says Hassan. Being on her own most of the day, Hassan gave more attention to worship and to the kitchen.
'I would wake up at noon, after spending most of the night and dawn praying and reading Koran, and go straight to the kitchen,' the young woman tells dpa as she sits with her legs crossed on the floor of one of Cairo's biggest mosques.
She also has become more observant of Ramadan. 'During Ramadan, I have the Koran on all the time (on radio) especially while I'm working? Either this or I open an Islamic channel to listen to religious sermon.'
Many women agree that - despite the extra commitments, the running-around, and also the sleepless nights - Ramadan is a unique experience for them.
'Despite the endless work, no one can imagine how thrilled I am during Ramadan,' says Khorshid, the active charity volunteer. 'I feel peaceful. With what I am doing, I'm not focusing on me, for once, but on the people and on making them feel good during Ramadan.'
'The worship of Ramadan is what gives me the spiritual push for the months to come,' says Hassan.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/printer_1205409.php (w/o picture)
or http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2006/September/todaysfeatures_September57.xml§ion=todaysfeatures (with picture)
Sep 27, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - When Omniyah Mohammed comes home from her day job as a teacher in Cairo during Ramadan, she is glad that at least the school day is over early.
Still ahead of the middle-aged mother of four is the job of cooking the sumptuous evening feast which ensures much of the fun spirit of the Islamic holy month. Following Muslim tradition, her family often invites relatives, neighbours and friends to share it.
For Mohammed, as for many Muslim women across the world, Ramadan means not just a month of spirituality but also a lot of extra work - with constant juggling between day job, household, preparing the feasts, and observing the religious rituals which include fasting during the day and praying all through the night.
The challenge for Mohammed, she explains, is to get closer to God during Ramadan amid all this clamour.
'I love reading Koran, it really raises my spirit. I really love going to the Tarawih prayers (prayers of comfort) every night,' she says. But throughout the month, she has to struggle to pray as much as she wants or take 'spiritual quality time' for herself, she adds.
'I really wish they would give us a break during the month, so we (women) can fully abide by the religious ritual,' she says.
During Ramadan, the woman is usually the unsung hero. And cooking for the whole family is often not even her only concern. Doing good for others - for Muslims an act greatly rewarded by God especially during Ramadan - is usually a task also handled mostly by women.
Many women, often with their children in tow, attend to visitors in mosques in poor areas. Others enlist in charity activities and community work in hope 'of gaining more thawab', the reward of blessing' for doing good.
Noora Khorshid has both a day job and a community service duty during Ramadan. Together with her friends - also in their early twenties - and relatives they have set up what they call a 'food bank for the poor.'
Beginning weeks before Ramadan, they first visited poor areas to do a rough social assessment, and then set up a plan for the holy month and began to collect money and other donations.
'We distribute food everyday among the fasters in these poor areas, and in the streets. We do it ourselves, sometimes we have men to help. Sometimes, we have to rent a small truck to carry the food for us,' Khorshid says. 'We also buy water dispensers and set them in different places.'
Despite the vast amount of pressure, juggling work, worship and charity efforts, there usually is 'a beautiful spirit', Korshid says: 'We laugh as we work together. It's fun.'
Basma, who did not want to disclose her family name, is another example. A mother of two, a pharmacy owner who gets no help during Ramadan, she manages to cook for everyone including several of the poor in her area.
'I start preparing before Ramadan, because for me what is important is not just to feed those close to me but also to feed the needy and the poor,' she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
By contrast, Heba Hassan, a 23-year-old stay-at-home wife, says she decided not to follow her family's tradition and hold grand feasts. She doesn't even want to be invited herself, she said. Her husband also has no time to help her because of his work as a medical doctor, she said.
'I choose to enjoy Ramadan instead. In general, there is more religious awareness now. I don't waste Ramadan in setting up meals, but in getting closer to God,' she says.
Nevertheless, Hassan says her duties during Ramadan have changed dramatically since she got married less than a year ago. Before, she would spend most of her day studying, watching television and occasionally helping with setting the Ramadan table.
'Now my day routine is different. I am in charge of a household, so I take care of everything,' says Hassan. Being on her own most of the day, Hassan gave more attention to worship and to the kitchen.
'I would wake up at noon, after spending most of the night and dawn praying and reading Koran, and go straight to the kitchen,' the young woman tells dpa as she sits with her legs crossed on the floor of one of Cairo's biggest mosques.
She also has become more observant of Ramadan. 'During Ramadan, I have the Koran on all the time (on radio) especially while I'm working? Either this or I open an Islamic channel to listen to religious sermon.'
Many women agree that - despite the extra commitments, the running-around, and also the sleepless nights - Ramadan is a unique experience for them.
'Despite the endless work, no one can imagine how thrilled I am during Ramadan,' says Khorshid, the active charity volunteer. 'I feel peaceful. With what I am doing, I'm not focusing on me, for once, but on the people and on making them feel good during Ramadan.'
'The worship of Ramadan is what gives me the spiritual push for the months to come,' says Hassan.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/printer_1205409.php (w/o picture)
or http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2006/September/todaysfeatures_September57.xml§ion=todaysfeatures (with picture)
IHT/DSE: Human rights group reports widespread torture in Egypt’s prisons and police stations
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: September 26, 2006
CAIRO: Torture in Egypt’s prisons and police stations is almost systematic, claims the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) in its recent report on conditions in Egyptian prisons. With dozens dead as a result of torture, the report claims, the organization has asked for a full and independent investigation into such reports.
EOHR cited more than 150 torture cases, in which at least 80 resulted in death between the years 2000 and 2005. Degrading, inhumane and illegal treatment of prisoners was first and foremost in written complaints sent to officials and human rights groups by the prisoners themselves, their lawyers or their families.
The written petitions do not count as evidence. However, the failure of the authorities to follow up an investigation based on these complaints by performing a medical examination on the prisoners in order to confirm or disprove these allegations has led many human rights groups to believe the allegations are true.
On numerous occasions, prisons have rejected requests by international and local prisoners’ rights groups to visit their facilities and examine the conditions of the prisoners, or the prisons themselves.
“Torture continued to be used systematically in detention centers throughout the country,” read a recent Amnesty International Egypt report. “Several people died in custody in circumstances suggesting that torture or ill-treatment may have caused or contributed to their deaths.”
Both EOHR and Amnesty recounted examples of such treatment. According to EOHR, in 38 reported cases – inside police stations and detention centers – “these people were hand-beaten, punched, [and] kicked … had cigarette burns … their clothes were removed, were tied up and were beaten by water hosepipes and were dragged on the ground.”
In some cases detention is illegitimate, abrupt and secret, followed by inadequate investigation, says EOHR in its almost 50 page report published last week. “The secret detention normally leads to torture and then to death [inside the facility].”
Most of the torture victims are political prisoners, cites EOHR, supported by international organizations such as Amnesty and Committee Against Torture (CAT). Many cases are reported in prisons outside Cairo, such as the Tora Mazra Prison, where prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders and politicians like Ayman Nour are currently held.
Amnesty, in its latest report on systematic torture in prison said that many members of the Muslim Brotherhood were reportedly “tortured for several days after being taken from Mazra’at Tora Prison (Tora Mazra), where they were held in preventive detention to the State Security Intelligence branch in Madinat Nasr (Nasr City), Cairo.”
According to Amnesty, these members were “beaten, suspended by the wrists or ankles and given electric shocks; some of them reportedly sustained broken bones and ribs as a result.”
This group of 60 members was arrested in run-up elections of the Shura Council (upper house of parliament). In this and other such cases, the members are usually initially accused of affiliation with or membership in a banned group and possession and distribution of anti-regime leaflets and flyers.
“Several others were also apparently denied medical attention in prison; one prisoner reportedly died as a result,” read Amnesty’s report. “Following his death, members of a parliamentary committee visited the detainees to investigate allegations of torture and later confirmed these allegations. The detention order for the group was renewed several times before all of them were released without charge.”
Officials in Egypt, mainly Interior Ministry spokesmen, have denied the occurrence of any acts of torture, saying that some reports are exaggerated and that many prisoners claim torture to obtain a pardon in court.
The Interior Ministry, however, often refuses to call for an immediate investigation to assess prisoners’ allegations.
In Act I in the Convention Against Torture put down by CAT, torture is defined as “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person…”
At the end of the report, EOHR issued recommendations on how to end what they referred to as “a phenomenon” that has plagued Egypt’s detention system. One of the main demands of the report was to abolish the decades-long Emergency Law, by which sudden and arbitrary detention is justified and sanctioned. Notably, the law is to be replaced in the course of the next two years by an anti-terror bill, which the opposition often claims is the old law “featuring a different name.”
EOHR also called upon the authorities to issue a law under which the executive authority, including police forces, would answer to the Ministry of Justice, and such an authority should agree to and abide by international prisoners’ rights laws. The prosecution should also perform methodical inquisition at the prisons and detention facilities on a periodical basis and in the presence of a committee that includes judiciary members, lawyers and a professional and independent medical team. Human rights groups should also be allowed to make their own inquiries, suggested the report.
The report published by EOHR has spurred political forces and Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to re-open what they have called “the file of prisoners of conscience,” where according to the Brotherhood their members have been discriminated against, ill treated and harassed for the past 25 years.
Mohammad Mahdi Akef, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the press this week that they would re-investigate their cases and present them openly in the People’s Assembly through Brotherhood-affiliated MPs.
According to Akef, this report marks the time when the group and these “repressed” members would ask for justice and for their rights, and start questioning the Interior Ministry’s conduct towards detainees.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3135
First Published: September 26, 2006
CAIRO: Torture in Egypt’s prisons and police stations is almost systematic, claims the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) in its recent report on conditions in Egyptian prisons. With dozens dead as a result of torture, the report claims, the organization has asked for a full and independent investigation into such reports.
EOHR cited more than 150 torture cases, in which at least 80 resulted in death between the years 2000 and 2005. Degrading, inhumane and illegal treatment of prisoners was first and foremost in written complaints sent to officials and human rights groups by the prisoners themselves, their lawyers or their families.
The written petitions do not count as evidence. However, the failure of the authorities to follow up an investigation based on these complaints by performing a medical examination on the prisoners in order to confirm or disprove these allegations has led many human rights groups to believe the allegations are true.
On numerous occasions, prisons have rejected requests by international and local prisoners’ rights groups to visit their facilities and examine the conditions of the prisoners, or the prisons themselves.
“Torture continued to be used systematically in detention centers throughout the country,” read a recent Amnesty International Egypt report. “Several people died in custody in circumstances suggesting that torture or ill-treatment may have caused or contributed to their deaths.”
Both EOHR and Amnesty recounted examples of such treatment. According to EOHR, in 38 reported cases – inside police stations and detention centers – “these people were hand-beaten, punched, [and] kicked … had cigarette burns … their clothes were removed, were tied up and were beaten by water hosepipes and were dragged on the ground.”
In some cases detention is illegitimate, abrupt and secret, followed by inadequate investigation, says EOHR in its almost 50 page report published last week. “The secret detention normally leads to torture and then to death [inside the facility].”
Most of the torture victims are political prisoners, cites EOHR, supported by international organizations such as Amnesty and Committee Against Torture (CAT). Many cases are reported in prisons outside Cairo, such as the Tora Mazra Prison, where prominent Muslim Brotherhood leaders and politicians like Ayman Nour are currently held.
Amnesty, in its latest report on systematic torture in prison said that many members of the Muslim Brotherhood were reportedly “tortured for several days after being taken from Mazra’at Tora Prison (Tora Mazra), where they were held in preventive detention to the State Security Intelligence branch in Madinat Nasr (Nasr City), Cairo.”
According to Amnesty, these members were “beaten, suspended by the wrists or ankles and given electric shocks; some of them reportedly sustained broken bones and ribs as a result.”
This group of 60 members was arrested in run-up elections of the Shura Council (upper house of parliament). In this and other such cases, the members are usually initially accused of affiliation with or membership in a banned group and possession and distribution of anti-regime leaflets and flyers.
“Several others were also apparently denied medical attention in prison; one prisoner reportedly died as a result,” read Amnesty’s report. “Following his death, members of a parliamentary committee visited the detainees to investigate allegations of torture and later confirmed these allegations. The detention order for the group was renewed several times before all of them were released without charge.”
Officials in Egypt, mainly Interior Ministry spokesmen, have denied the occurrence of any acts of torture, saying that some reports are exaggerated and that many prisoners claim torture to obtain a pardon in court.
The Interior Ministry, however, often refuses to call for an immediate investigation to assess prisoners’ allegations.
In Act I in the Convention Against Torture put down by CAT, torture is defined as “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person…”
At the end of the report, EOHR issued recommendations on how to end what they referred to as “a phenomenon” that has plagued Egypt’s detention system. One of the main demands of the report was to abolish the decades-long Emergency Law, by which sudden and arbitrary detention is justified and sanctioned. Notably, the law is to be replaced in the course of the next two years by an anti-terror bill, which the opposition often claims is the old law “featuring a different name.”
EOHR also called upon the authorities to issue a law under which the executive authority, including police forces, would answer to the Ministry of Justice, and such an authority should agree to and abide by international prisoners’ rights laws. The prosecution should also perform methodical inquisition at the prisons and detention facilities on a periodical basis and in the presence of a committee that includes judiciary members, lawyers and a professional and independent medical team. Human rights groups should also be allowed to make their own inquiries, suggested the report.
The report published by EOHR has spurred political forces and Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood to re-open what they have called “the file of prisoners of conscience,” where according to the Brotherhood their members have been discriminated against, ill treated and harassed for the past 25 years.
Mohammad Mahdi Akef, supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the press this week that they would re-investigate their cases and present them openly in the People’s Assembly through Brotherhood-affiliated MPs.
According to Akef, this report marks the time when the group and these “repressed” members would ask for justice and for their rights, and start questioning the Interior Ministry’s conduct towards detainees.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3135
IHT/DSE: Al-Karama rouses anger and debate
By Pakinam Amer
First Published: September 25, 2006
CAIRO: Cairo-based Al-Karama newspaper, published by Al-Karama political group – functioning much as a party and referring to itself as one – has stirred up anger and debate as it published a series of features about the "achievements" of Moamar Al-Gaddafi, revolutionary leader of neighboring Libya.
Al-Gaddafi, who has been in power for 37 years and shows no signs of being ready to leave office, is regarded by many as an eccentric individual.
From shocking statements, politically incorrect comments about Middle East affairs to a rather distinctive manner of dress – often donning robes, thick glasses and a turban and wearing high heels – Al-Gaddafi has often turned heads and raised eyebrows at Arab summits and high-profile meetings.
Nevertheless, Al-Karama (Dignity), a socialist, Nasserite party-like group, has chosen to sing his praises on the pages of their newly founded newspaper. The paper dedicated a full-fledged supplement to Libyan accomplishments, focusing on Al-Gaddafi's “legacy” and featuring the headline "37 years of achievement."
Al-Karama paper and party-to-be was founded by lower house MP Hamdein Sabahi and is renowned for advocating socialist ideas and denouncing internal government policies. One of its top members is Kefaya (Enough) movement co-founder Abdel-Halim Qandil.
In its headlines, the Egyptian "nationalist" newspaper has often been a fierce critic of the ruling government for "monopolizing" the ruling position for more than 25 years.
The newspaper has often accused the government of oppressing opposition and stamping out political diversity, to the point where the High Council for Journalism has questioned its conduct.
Libya, being an extremely closed country closely controlled by Al-Gaddafi and his council, features no political diversity. Democracy is not appropriately endorsed. Political parties are constitutionally banned.
Although civil societies and non-governmental organizations are permitted, their number is small, their activities are largely monitored and they are strictly required to follow national goals, outlined by the revolutionary committees.
In short, the Libyan regime is considered highly authoritarian, leaving little, if no, space for the opposition to express its opinion freely. Laws practically criminalize peaceful exercises of expression.
The media in Libya is mostly owned by the state. Censorship is systematic in the private media, which has very few outlets. Libya's foreign policies are waning; its relationship to the West is impaired and tarnished by recently-removed sanctions that had been placed on it by the United States.
Human rights abuses have been reported by international human rights groups throughout the country. Arbitrary and secret detention, torture and death in custody have also occurred periodically.
"Unfair trials, particularly before People’s Courts established in 1988, continue to be reported," said Amnesty International in its latest country report on Libya. "Legislation remained in force that provides for the death penalty for activities which solely amount to the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch also deemed the country "abusive" and published a report last week condemning Libya's conduct toward migrants and asylum seekers.
"The Libyan government subjects migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to serious human rights abuses," read the report, "including beatings, arbitrary arrests and forced return."
In June, the same human rights group had published a report about possible "killings" inside Tripoli's prisons. "Stories began to filter out of Libya about a mass killing in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison … Libyan groups outside the country said up to 1,200 prisoners had died."
Arguably, it is no surprise that political activists are "shocked" over Al-Karama's praise of the country. Some of Egypt’s top political bloggers have even accused Al-Karama of taking funds from the neighboring Arab state.
"The matter is clear, no documents are needed … photographs or videos … the supplement was printed, distributed and sold. People have in their hands material evidence of [Al-Karama's] crime," wrote Wael Abbas, political writer, Kefaya member and owner of Misr Digital blogspot. Abbas added that there is no justification for their "betrayal and receipt of funding."
Another political blogger and activist, nicknamed Assad, said that such behavior from Al-Karama implies "a double standard," where the group seems to fight an internal battle against what they deem a repressive government in Egypt while supporting yet another "abusive" regime in Libya.
"How could you swear that you will never allow succession of power from [Hosni] Mubarak to his son, while you politically campaign for the succession of Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi [Al-Gaddafi's son]?" asked Assad, under the title "Pity Al-Karama."
Al-Karama has been denied a party license by the Political Parties Court for several years. The group, however, has been allowed to publish a “partisan newspaper.” They have also established an official headquarters, where they recruit members.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3120
First Published: September 25, 2006
CAIRO: Cairo-based Al-Karama newspaper, published by Al-Karama political group – functioning much as a party and referring to itself as one – has stirred up anger and debate as it published a series of features about the "achievements" of Moamar Al-Gaddafi, revolutionary leader of neighboring Libya.
Al-Gaddafi, who has been in power for 37 years and shows no signs of being ready to leave office, is regarded by many as an eccentric individual.
From shocking statements, politically incorrect comments about Middle East affairs to a rather distinctive manner of dress – often donning robes, thick glasses and a turban and wearing high heels – Al-Gaddafi has often turned heads and raised eyebrows at Arab summits and high-profile meetings.
Nevertheless, Al-Karama (Dignity), a socialist, Nasserite party-like group, has chosen to sing his praises on the pages of their newly founded newspaper. The paper dedicated a full-fledged supplement to Libyan accomplishments, focusing on Al-Gaddafi's “legacy” and featuring the headline "37 years of achievement."
Al-Karama paper and party-to-be was founded by lower house MP Hamdein Sabahi and is renowned for advocating socialist ideas and denouncing internal government policies. One of its top members is Kefaya (Enough) movement co-founder Abdel-Halim Qandil.
In its headlines, the Egyptian "nationalist" newspaper has often been a fierce critic of the ruling government for "monopolizing" the ruling position for more than 25 years.
The newspaper has often accused the government of oppressing opposition and stamping out political diversity, to the point where the High Council for Journalism has questioned its conduct.
Libya, being an extremely closed country closely controlled by Al-Gaddafi and his council, features no political diversity. Democracy is not appropriately endorsed. Political parties are constitutionally banned.
Although civil societies and non-governmental organizations are permitted, their number is small, their activities are largely monitored and they are strictly required to follow national goals, outlined by the revolutionary committees.
In short, the Libyan regime is considered highly authoritarian, leaving little, if no, space for the opposition to express its opinion freely. Laws practically criminalize peaceful exercises of expression.
The media in Libya is mostly owned by the state. Censorship is systematic in the private media, which has very few outlets. Libya's foreign policies are waning; its relationship to the West is impaired and tarnished by recently-removed sanctions that had been placed on it by the United States.
Human rights abuses have been reported by international human rights groups throughout the country. Arbitrary and secret detention, torture and death in custody have also occurred periodically.
"Unfair trials, particularly before People’s Courts established in 1988, continue to be reported," said Amnesty International in its latest country report on Libya. "Legislation remained in force that provides for the death penalty for activities which solely amount to the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch also deemed the country "abusive" and published a report last week condemning Libya's conduct toward migrants and asylum seekers.
"The Libyan government subjects migrants, asylum seekers and refugees to serious human rights abuses," read the report, "including beatings, arbitrary arrests and forced return."
In June, the same human rights group had published a report about possible "killings" inside Tripoli's prisons. "Stories began to filter out of Libya about a mass killing in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison … Libyan groups outside the country said up to 1,200 prisoners had died."
Arguably, it is no surprise that political activists are "shocked" over Al-Karama's praise of the country. Some of Egypt’s top political bloggers have even accused Al-Karama of taking funds from the neighboring Arab state.
"The matter is clear, no documents are needed … photographs or videos … the supplement was printed, distributed and sold. People have in their hands material evidence of [Al-Karama's] crime," wrote Wael Abbas, political writer, Kefaya member and owner of Misr Digital blogspot. Abbas added that there is no justification for their "betrayal and receipt of funding."
Another political blogger and activist, nicknamed Assad, said that such behavior from Al-Karama implies "a double standard," where the group seems to fight an internal battle against what they deem a repressive government in Egypt while supporting yet another "abusive" regime in Libya.
"How could you swear that you will never allow succession of power from [Hosni] Mubarak to his son, while you politically campaign for the succession of Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi [Al-Gaddafi's son]?" asked Assad, under the title "Pity Al-Karama."
Al-Karama has been denied a party license by the Political Parties Court for several years. The group, however, has been allowed to publish a “partisan newspaper.” They have also established an official headquarters, where they recruit members.
Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3120
DPA: Muslims await beginning of Ramadan
By Pakinam Amer
Sep 23, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - The new moon was finally sighted in Egypt indicating the beginning of Ramadan, Muslims' holy month of fasting as a struggle for spiritual transcendence.
Starting Sunday, practicing Muslims around the world are asked under Islam to to refrain from eating and drinking during daylight along with other restrictions and prayers in a long list of religious rituals.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is what Muslims deem the holiest month of the year. It is believed to be the month when the Koran was first revealed in fragments to Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, through the Angel Gabriel.
Marking this event Muslims strive to get closer to the Divine throughout Ramadan by good deeds, fasting and paying alms to the poor. Amongst other restrictions, inappropriate manners, bad language, and sex during the day are also regarded as spoiling the ritual of Ramadan.
For most Muslims, it is also regarded as a months of connecting with people and the daily fast-breaking meal is oftena major social event. Phone calls, greetings, messages and warm hellos fly around as the month approaches.
Advice, Islamic teachings and fervent sermons could be heard throughout different media and in mosques as Islamic communities were preparing for the holy month.
Many television programmes in Islamic countries offer a wave of entertainment shows, talk shows and serials, designed to amuse the Muslim during and after his fast.
Muslims in Arab countries work only for six hours during Ramadan, as opposed to eight. During the day, many Muslims are usually pre-occupied with getting home as early as they can, before the rush hour where traffic, one or two hours before the evening prayer, is almost unbearable.
However, tlthough the month of Ramadan is theoretically based on the three foundations of worship, spending on the needy and observance of principal Muslim duties such as work, many Muslims seem to ignore the third base and take fasting as an excuse to tone down their day labor.
Some complain about having to give up their daily intake of coffee or cigarettes, which in the absence of they often become edgy and tense.
In Cairo, families and friends traditionally gather around the table close to sunset, usually listening to Koran verses or a prayer read out on television as they wait for the evening call to prayer, which is when they can break their fast.
In the streets, the 'Rahman (merciful God) feasts', where tables of free food and drink are set for the poor and the needy, are also filled with Muslim fasters who are as eagerly waiting for the same sign.
Muslims of Egypt are especially used to breaking their fast, not only when they hear the call to prayer cutting throughout the silent streets, but also at the firing of the Salahuddin Citadel's cannon, an Egyptian tradition of many decades.
The streets are usually decorated; colored tin lanterns - an equivalent to the Christian Christmas tree - adorning shops and supermarkets. Cart sellers of oriental sweets, dates, and cold drinks such as hibiscus, fill the streets.
Shisha Cafés are usually swarming with people; young and old enjoying the festive spirit of oriental Ramadan nights. Celebrations and feasts carry on until dawn.
Mosques around Cairo usually hold evening and late night prayers - the so-called prayers of comfort (Taraweeh), which last for hours. Carpets and mats are laid in the streets infront of mosques that rarely accommodate the number of worshippers coming for the prayers; which take place only during Ramadan and whose reward is considered to be immeasurable.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
© Copyright 2003 - 2005 by monstersandcritics.com.
This notice cannot be removed without permission.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/printer_1204116.php
Sep 23, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Cairo - The new moon was finally sighted in Egypt indicating the beginning of Ramadan, Muslims' holy month of fasting as a struggle for spiritual transcendence.
Starting Sunday, practicing Muslims around the world are asked under Islam to to refrain from eating and drinking during daylight along with other restrictions and prayers in a long list of religious rituals.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is what Muslims deem the holiest month of the year. It is believed to be the month when the Koran was first revealed in fragments to Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam, through the Angel Gabriel.
Marking this event Muslims strive to get closer to the Divine throughout Ramadan by good deeds, fasting and paying alms to the poor. Amongst other restrictions, inappropriate manners, bad language, and sex during the day are also regarded as spoiling the ritual of Ramadan.
For most Muslims, it is also regarded as a months of connecting with people and the daily fast-breaking meal is oftena major social event. Phone calls, greetings, messages and warm hellos fly around as the month approaches.
Advice, Islamic teachings and fervent sermons could be heard throughout different media and in mosques as Islamic communities were preparing for the holy month.
Many television programmes in Islamic countries offer a wave of entertainment shows, talk shows and serials, designed to amuse the Muslim during and after his fast.
Muslims in Arab countries work only for six hours during Ramadan, as opposed to eight. During the day, many Muslims are usually pre-occupied with getting home as early as they can, before the rush hour where traffic, one or two hours before the evening prayer, is almost unbearable.
However, tlthough the month of Ramadan is theoretically based on the three foundations of worship, spending on the needy and observance of principal Muslim duties such as work, many Muslims seem to ignore the third base and take fasting as an excuse to tone down their day labor.
Some complain about having to give up their daily intake of coffee or cigarettes, which in the absence of they often become edgy and tense.
In Cairo, families and friends traditionally gather around the table close to sunset, usually listening to Koran verses or a prayer read out on television as they wait for the evening call to prayer, which is when they can break their fast.
In the streets, the 'Rahman (merciful God) feasts', where tables of free food and drink are set for the poor and the needy, are also filled with Muslim fasters who are as eagerly waiting for the same sign.
Muslims of Egypt are especially used to breaking their fast, not only when they hear the call to prayer cutting throughout the silent streets, but also at the firing of the Salahuddin Citadel's cannon, an Egyptian tradition of many decades.
The streets are usually decorated; colored tin lanterns - an equivalent to the Christian Christmas tree - adorning shops and supermarkets. Cart sellers of oriental sweets, dates, and cold drinks such as hibiscus, fill the streets.
Shisha Cafés are usually swarming with people; young and old enjoying the festive spirit of oriental Ramadan nights. Celebrations and feasts carry on until dawn.
Mosques around Cairo usually hold evening and late night prayers - the so-called prayers of comfort (Taraweeh), which last for hours. Carpets and mats are laid in the streets infront of mosques that rarely accommodate the number of worshippers coming for the prayers; which take place only during Ramadan and whose reward is considered to be immeasurable.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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