"Egypt’s military prosecutor said yesterday that it has opened an inquiry into a video showing a dozen Egyptian police and military officers beating and giving electric shocks to two detainees while laughing and filming the torture with their cellphones....
The torture is certainly same old, same old for Egyptians.
--more--"
"Egyptian prison guards accused of torture" October 29, 2011|Associated Press
CAIRO - Egyptian rights activists yesterday accused guards at a Cairo prison of torturing an inmate to death in a case that they said shows continued rampant human rights abuse by security forces despite the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
That's why the Egyptian people got back into the streets.
Popular anger over the use of torture was a key grievance behind the mass uprising that toppled Mubarak in February. Activists see the death of Essam Atta, 23, at a Cairo hospital late Thursday as an indication that Egypt’s new rulers have made little effort to reform the security forces. Egyptian authorities denied allegations that the guards had a hand in Atta’s death.
A lawyer for Atta’s family, Malik Adly, said Atta had been arrested while watching a street fight in February, convicted of “thuggery’’ in a military trial, and sentenced to two years in Cairo’s Tora prison. Late Thursday, a prison guard brought Atta to a Cairo hospital, where he was pronounced dead from “unknown poisoning,’’ Adly said.
Atta had told his family that prison guards tortured him by using tubes to inject water into his mouth and anus, Adly said. After his death, other prisoners called Atta’s family to tell them he had died while being tortured, Adly said.
Cairo’s Nadim Center for Victims of Torture also accused guards of killing Atta.
An Egyptian security official denied the allegations, saying prison medics found that Atta had taken drugs and was suffering from exhaustion. When his condition worsened, he was taken to the hospital where he died.
The truth is governments kill people.
--more--"
And then they absolve the killers:
"Egyptian officers’ sentences spark outrage" October 27, 2011|Associated Press
CAIRO - Two policemen convicted of beating a young man to death in a case that inspired Egypt’s uprising were sentenced to seven years in prison yesterday, enraging families of the police who smashed wooden benches in the courtroom and tried to attack the dead man’s lawyers and relatives, the lawyer said.
Khaled Said is seen as Egypt’s Mohammed Bouazizi - the fruit seller whose self-immolation sparked the Tunisian revolution that began the chain of Arab Spring uprisings.
Said’s death became an immediate rallying point for activists campaigning against widespread police brutality and other human rights abuses under former President Hosni Mubarak.
Was never much of a big deal like it is in Syria right now. Oh, right, ally.
A Facebook page created in his memory was used to put out a call for the Jan. 25 protests that grew into the 18-day uprising that would topple Mubarak.
The family said they were shocked by the verdict, adding it shows that the revolution is being “aborted.’’
By the generals that took power.
Egyptian activists immediately took to Twitter to condemn the light sentence, another in a long string of disappointments for the millions who considered this case a test of the extent that the revolution would sweep away deep-seated corruption and widespread injustice.
So the new military regime failed the test, 'eh?
--more--"
"Egyptians protest arrest of blogger" November 01, 2011|Associated Press
CAIRO - More than 3,000 Egyptians marched through downtown Cairo yesterday, protesting the military’s arrest of a prominent blogger-activist in the latest sign of discontent with how the ruling generals are managing the country.
Attacks and arrests on bloggers concerns me.
Thankfully, I live in the United States, the land of free speech, where the government would never shut you down.
Are you telling me the war-promoting, corporate presstitutes are getting a pass as their pages are filled with those who only speak on the condition of anonymity, blah, blah, blah, while those trying to promote truth and justice through attention and research will be denied that cover?
Also see: Judge says blogger is not a journalist
Excuse me?
I am a CITIZEN JOURNALIST, sir, something that has its roots in the American revolution!
Which leads us back to Egypt:
The activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, was ordered held by the military a day earlier for questioning.
That could soon be coming to AmeriKa -- in law if not in practice already.
The military says he is suspected of inciting Christian protesters to attack soldiers during an Oct. 9 protest in Cairo that turned into the bloodiest violence since the February fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
Yeah, NEVER MIND that ARMY VEHICLE that CRASHED INTO the CROWD and STARTED IT ALL!!
But his supporters dismiss the allegation, saying the military is trying to silence a prominent critic and to deflect blame on its soldiers in the violence, which left 27 dead - mostly Christians - when troops cracked down on the protest.
The AmeriKan media did not mind it, did they? (Blog editor lets loose a slightly whining sob)
In yesterday evening’s march, the crowd shouted, “Down, down with military rule’’ and “Alaa, we’re behind you, don’t stop,’’ as they moved into central Tahrir Square, then headed toward Cairo’s main police station, where Abdel-Fattah is being held.
About 200 police formed a line around the station, as thousands of protesters chanted slogans against the military and police. There were no clashes.
Abdel-Fattah, who turns 30 this month, was Egypt’s first blogger activist, launching a blog years ago organizing opposition to Mubarak. Since Mubarak’s Feb. 11 ouster, he has been a vocal critic of the military’s rule.
Egyptians have been growing increasingly discontented with the ruling generals, who have been criticized for increasingly using the same heavy-handed methods as Mubarak’s autocratic regime. Thousands of civilians have been put on military trials.
--more--"
"Blogger’s jail time extended in Egypt" November 14, 2011|Associated Press
CAIRO - Egypt’s military ordered a prominent blogger to be held in custody for 15 more days yesterday, a move likely to focus criticism against the country’s ruling generals in the run-up to parliamentary elections, due to begin later this month.
The detention of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a well-known blogger and leader during the 18-day uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, has elicited international condemnation and galvanized those who accuse the army of using Mubarak-era tactics on critics.
Where, because I'm not reading about it in my paper save for that phrase.
His family has used his case to draw attention to the 12,000 Egyptians who have faced military trials this year - one of the key issues that have brought relations between activists and the military to a new low.
Protesters welcomed Egypt’s army when it deployed in the streets during the uprising and praised it for not firing on demonstrators. But months later some fear that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control after Mubarak’s fall, will not willingly give up power to a civilian authority. Others accuse the military of reviving hated practices of the Mubarak era.
You can't blame them; it is the only way they know how to rule.
“Of course we are frustrated,’’ said the blogger’s father, Ahmed Seif al-Islam. “At the same time, this gives us the opportunity to further widen our campaign against military trials of civilians.’’
Military prosecutors summoned Abdel-Fattah and detained him Oct. 30 after he refused to answer questions about his alleged role in sectarian clashes last month that killed 27 people, most of them Christians.
He has not been charged, though the head of the military court, General Adel al-Mursi said in Egyptian state media yesterday that Abdel-Fattah is accused of stealing a military weapon, deliberately destroying military property, and attacking security forces.
Meaning he's being framed.
--more--"
Enough of him, though. Wouldn't you rather look at this blog?
"Activist’s nudity stirs outcry in Egypt" November 18, 2011|By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO - A female activist who posted nude pictures of herself on her blog to protest limits on free expression has triggered an uproar in Egypt, drawing condemnations from conservatives and liberals alike....
At least she brought the country together. Here in AmeriKa I imagine she might be up for some sort of pornography or obscenity charge?
Nudity is strongly frowned upon in Egypt, even as an art form. 20-year-old student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy’s posting is almost unheard of in a country where most women in the Muslim majority wear the headscarf and even those who do not rarely wear clothes exposing the arms or legs in public.
Elmahdy wrote on her blog that the photographs - which show her standing clad in stockings - are “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment, and hypocrisy.’’ The blog has received 1.5 million hits since she posted the photos this week.
Gee, AmeriKan media sure can find the blogs when they want to.
The posting comes at a time when Egypt, a nation of about 85 million people, is polarized between Islamists and liberals before the elections, the first since the February ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak. Members of the most hardline Islamic movement in Egypt, the Salafis, have warned voters that liberals will corrupt Egypt’s morals.
The strategy appears to have worked.
--more--"
Will some lies from the military make you feel better?
"Egypt’s military leader vows to cede power" October 06, 2011|By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press
CAIRO - The leader of Egypt’s ruling generals said yesterday the army has no interest in staying in power for a long time but insisted the military council will not step down until it has fulfilled its commitments.
Pffft!
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi’s comments appeared designed to rebut assertions by some politicians that he and the generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces do not intend to hand over power to a democratic government as they promised when they took over from President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled nearly eight months ago after an 18-day uprising.
“We will not abandon Egypt before we finish what we pledged to do and committed ourselves to before the people,’’ Tantawi told reporters in comments shown on state television and carried by the country’s official news agency. “The military council has no interest in staying in power for a long time. Given the chance, the military council will step down tomorrow.’’
Many activists in the youth groups that engineered the Egyptian uprising have accused Tantawi, Mubarak’s defense minister for 20 years, of being slow in dismantling the legacy of his former patron’s 29-year rule and of not doing enough to stop the torture of detainees by the military.
They also accuse him of to steal credit for the uprising from the hundreds of thousands of men and women who took to the streets across the nation during the revolt.
Yup, moderate Muslim, conservative Muslim, Christian, secular, all of 'em. And then we are told they are at each others throats, cui bono?
Last week, state television broadcast footage of Tantawi walking around downtown Cairo in civilian attire, giving rise to speculation that he might be considering a run for the country’s top job. The military has given Egypt all of its four presidents since young officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the country’s monarchy. It has since been Egypt’s most powerful and secretive institution.
Tantawi denied that the military intended to nominate one of its own for the president’s job.
“These are rumors that are not worthy of stopping to consider, and neither should we spend time talking about them,’’ he said.
However, there are lucrative benefits the military could gain by holding onto power. There has been intense speculation that a civilian with a military background, like a retired general, would be the army’s preferred choice for president. Such a figure would be loyal to the military, foiling, for example, any attempt to bring the armed forces and its budget under parliamentary scrutiny.
Three Egyptian columnists and a film critic, meanwhile, withheld their regular commentaries in an independent daily yesterday to protest what they said was censorship by the country’s military rulers.
Belal Fadl, Omer Taher, Nagla Bedir, and Tareq el-Shinawy left their columns blank, publishing only a few words explaining their decision.
I've been known to do that when the Globe ignores certain stories.
--more--"
"ElBaradei speaks up against Egypt’s rulers" October 17, 2011|Associated Press
Egypt’s top reform leader criticized the country’s military rulers yesterday as having too much power and no experience governing, expressing the frustration of many, a week after more than 20 Christians were killed when the military broke up their protest in Cairo with force.
Mohamed ElBaradei also criticized Egyptian state TV’s role in the deadly clashes on Oct. 9, saying it lied and instigated violence....
TV lied and instigated violence? Yer kidding!!
The violence last week was the worst since Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. It stunned Egyptians and shook their confidence in the military council’s management of the country. Already critical of the council’s handling of the transitional period, prodemocracy activists are now calling for the council to step aside....
ElBaradei said he is not going to blame one side or the other for last week’s clashes without a proper investigation. But he took issue with the military rulers’ reference to “hidden’’ or “foreign hands.’’ ElBaradei called for an independent investigation and appealed to the ruling council to hand over any suspects for prosecution in the civil justice system.
--more--"
"Islamists challenge Egyptian military rule; Thousands jam Tahrir Square to demonstrate" November 19, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - Tens of thousands of Islamists jammed Tahrir Square yesterday in the most significant challenge yet to the authority of Egypt’s military council that seized power nine months ago with the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
The demonstration ended an uneasy truce between Egypt’s Islamists and its military, which had prevailed since Mubarak’s exit. The truce reached a breaking point after the military council spelled out for the first time its intention to claim a decisive role in Egyptian politics far into the future, even after parliamentary elections scheduled to begin later this month or a final handover of power to constitutional authorities some time in 2013 or beyond.
It begins a face-off between Egypt’s two most powerful institutions, its army and the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. It leaves Egyptian liberals anxious and divided on the sidelines....
The spark for the protest was a recent set of declarations issued by the military-led government as ground rules for the drafting of a new constitution. Many of its provisions sought to enshrine protections of individual liberties and minority rights that liberals have sought.
But another provision granted the military a long-term political role as guardian of “constitutional legitimacy,’’ which many Islamists suspect is a reference to the secular character of the state and could give the military an excuse to intervene at will.
But stepping aside as soon as possi....
I'm sorry, readers, I thought I could get through typing it without laughing.
The protesters also criticized provisions that would protect the military from civilian scrutiny of its budget and give the military veto power over certain foreign policy decisions....
I read that last bit to mean the generals are still friends with Israel.
--more--"
"Energized protesters repel troops in Egypt; Revolt against military rule gains steam" November 21, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - Egypt’s interim military rulers battled a reinvigorated protest movement calling for its ouster yesterday, as thousands of demonstrators forced troops to retreat from Tahrir Square for a second night in a row.
At least 11 protesters were killed, and more than 900 were seriously injured.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square - the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring - to the early days of the uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Attempts by the military-led government to turn back the protests appeared to only redouble the demonstrators’ strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets, and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., driving thousands of protesters out.
U.S. and U.N. criticism coming soon.
But after less than a half-hour they retreated, having succeeded in burning down only a few tents in the middle of the square. After another half-hour the protesters had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The call went out.
The protests against military rule spread to at least six other cities, including Alexandria, Suez, Port Said, the coastal city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, and Qena and Assiut in southern Egypt.
The 11 people killed yesterday brought the toll from two days of violence in Egypt to at least 13, according to the Associated Press.
A makeshift field hospital the protesters had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by bird shot and rubber bullets, and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Despite the chaos, the military-led government said it intends to go forward with parliamentary elections scheduled to begin in stages next Monday. The elections will not be complete until March, however, and the military has said it intends to hold power until long after they are finished.
Canceling or postponing the elections probably would ignite an even larger revolt, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that is Egypt’s largest and most disciplined political force, taking to the streets.
A spectrum of political organizations, including the Brotherhood and the young liberal leaders of the original revolt against Mubarak, called yesterday for the military to commit to an accelerated schedule for handing power to civilians....
“I saw the revolution being slain, so I had to come,’’ said Ahmed Hamza, 41, a lawyer. Like many in the square, he vowed to stay not only until the ruling military council committed to a swift exit from power, but also because he feared the generals welcomed the chaos as a pretext to cancel elections.
Americans abandoned theirs.
In a television interview Saturday, General Mohsen Fangary, a spokesman for the ruling military council, promised a formal response the next day. He blamed demonstrators for igniting the violence, suggested protesters were “enemies’’ of Egypt, and hinted that unnamed satellite news channels - presumably Al-Jazeera - had played a role. “The youth are blinded to the reality of the situation,’’ he said.
It's the same with every crap government wherever you look.
An Interior Ministry statement said some of the protesters were using firearms, firebombs, and knifes to attack security forces.
Coming two days after a huge Islamist demonstration and just more than a week before the first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections, the outpouring of anger was the strongest rebuke of the military’s attempts to grant itself permanent governmental powers. And it was a reuniting of Islamist and liberal protest movements that had drifted apart since the early days of the uprising.
Ooooops! Military manipulation backfired!!
This time, instead of chanting for the fall of Mubarak, the demonstrators were chanting for the fall of the ruling military council that initially presented itself as the revolution’s savior.
After pledging to turn over power to civilians by September, the military postponed the handover until after the ratification of a constitution and election of a president, in 2013 or later.
Then this month the government put in writing a set of ground rules for a constitution that would have given the military authority to intervene in civilian politics while protecting it from civilian oversight. That drew wide opposition and brought the Muslim Brotherhood back to the streets in force.
In response, the government announced today that its constitutional guidelines would no longer be binding, only advisory.
--more--"
It looks like Egyptians are tired of empty gestures:
"Egypt’s civilian government resigns; Deadly clashes continue to rage in Tahrir Square" November 22, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - After three days of increasingly violent demonstrations, Egypt’s interim civilian government submitted its resignation to the country’s ruling military council yesterday, bowing to the demands of the protesters and marking a crisis of legitimacy for the military-led government....
By yesterday evening the crowd in Tahrir Square, the symbolic epicenter of the Arab Spring uprisings, had swelled to a size even larger than the night before....
Older professionals and young women again mingled in the background while the predominantly young and male crowd continued to battle security forces guarding the Ministry of Interior or pushing forward toward the square. But people in the square reported a coarser atmosphere than on previous days, with more harassment of women and foreigners.
At dusk young men in the center of the square were seen preparing what appeared to be Molotov cocktails for use against security forces in the long night ahead.
Yesterday morning, the thoroughfares of downtown Cairo were littered with stones and other debris from the fighting, and witnesses said they had seen the bodies of three protesters wrapped in blankets carried away after they had been shot overnight.
An apartment building near Tahrir Square was damaged by a fire sparked when a tear gas canister landed on a third-floor balcony, protesters said.
A representative of the ruling military council, General Said Abbas, visited Tahrir Square yesterday and spoke in a brief news conference, saying the council respected the protesters’ right to peaceful demonstrations.
He declared that the security forces had not initiated any violence but only defended themselves, and he insisted - despite a sweep of the square Sunday evening by hundreds of soldiers and police in riot gear - that the security forces had not entered the square.
Incredible.
Asked about the reports of protesters injured by gunfire from security forces, he said the victims were “thugs,’’ not peaceful demonstrators.
I'm convinced the thugs are agent provocateurs working for police.
The representative told the crowd to consider the economic cost of shutting the central square to traffic, reminding them of losses this week in the Egyptian stock market.
Pfffffffffftttt!
“There is an invisible hand in the square causing a rift between the army and the people,’’ he said.
Yeah, there sure is!
Is that how the APC was driven into the crowd of Christians (and Muslims)?
The violence has seemed to reinforce the revolutionary urgency that had returned to the square, and when the army moved to push out the thousands of protesters on Sunday, more than twice as many quickly flooded back....
I think the Egyptians are trying to set an example for you, 'murkns.
The crackdown, including the reported use of live ammunition by troops, elicited condemnation across the political spectrum, joined by voices who had previously taken a more restrained tone toward the military council, including the liberal former diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood....
But while unity reappeared in the square, where Coptic Christians once again stood guard as their Muslim compatriots bowed to pray, the political class remained deeply polarized over what sort of civilian government might succeed the military.
I just thought that phrase was VERY IMPORTANT!
And that LAST BIT shows you the ELITE that have RUN EGYPT all these years WANT TO KEEP MILITARY RULE!
Liberals and Islamists continued to battle each other in back-room arguments over the question of what rules the military might set for the selection of a constitutional convention, even as the street protesters demanded that the military give up such authority.
That is another lie because both want the military out of the room.
Then again, what else would one expect from the AmeriKan media these days?
--more--"
"Egypt questions 3 students held at protest" November 23, 2011|Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - A teenager who was one of three US college students arrested during massive protests in Cairo is an idealist who got caught up in the pro-democracy movement sweeping Egypt, his mother said yesterday.
My first thought was non-official spy cover. Otherwise, they wouldn't be making the intelligence agency mouthpiece.
Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo., was arrested along with Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind., and Gregory Porter, a 19-year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa.
An Egyptian official said the students were arrested on the roof of a university building where they were throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters near Tahrir Square. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to speak to the news media.
Morgan Roth, spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo, said the three were questioned yesterday by an Egyptian prosecutor with a US Embassy official present. Roth said the students have been held by Egyptian authorities since their arrest Monday but she did not know whether they had been formally charged.
Sweeney’s mother, Joy Sweeney, described him as a principled person who stands up for his beliefs. He attended previous protests but stopped after a demonstration where dozens were killed, she said.
“He got caught up in the whole college-change-the-world mentality, and he believes in democracy strongly,’’ she said.
Good over there, bad over here.
--more--"
"Egypt’s military agrees to swift transition of rule; Deal calls for election, new constitution" November 23, 2011|By Alan Cowell and David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - Egypt’s ruling military council agreed yesterday to speed up the transition to civilian rule in a deal made with Islamist groups that seemed unlikely to satisfy the demands of liberal parties and the protesters who have gathered daily in the center of the capital to demand an immediate transfer of power.
The agreement came after the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces met with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in a session boycotted by most other political parties. The deal called for a new constitution and a presidential election no later than June, as well as a new civilian cabinet to be led by a technocrat prime minister rather than a politician.
Under the agreement, the first round of elections for a national assembly would go ahead as scheduled Monday, a major goal of the Brotherhood, which stands to win a large share of the seats. But it would also leave the civilian government reporting to the military - effectively a continuation of what amounts to martial law in civilian clothes - until June.
Shortly after the Islamist parties emerged from talks with the military to announce a deal for the generals’ full exit from power in June, the military’s top officer, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, gave a televised address in which he declared that the army did not seek power.
“The armed forces, represented in its Supreme Council, do not covet power and they put the country’s best interest above all other considerations,’’ he said. “The armed forces are ready to give up power immediately if the people wanted that through a national referendum if it was necessary.’’
Can you stand any more of it because I can't.
The protesters in Tahrir Square in central Cairo jeered and booed the speech. Yesterday they continued to battle with the police in nearby streets for the fourth straight day, braving an increasingly lethal crackdown in what seemed to be a leaderless expression of rage.
I'm also sick of subtle elitist insults.
With the police crackdown galvanizing popular anger at the military council, one problem with the deal announced yesterday was whether any credible civilian leader would take the job of prime minister if the government remained subordinate to the military.
“No one is going to accept another civilian government micromanaged’’ by the military commanders, said Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
Referring to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces by its initials, Islam Lotfy, a onetime leader of the Muslim Brotherhood youth movement, said, “The people will not be happy if the SCAF just gives them some painkillers.’’
Lotfy was among the instigators of the revolution; he was later expelled from the Brotherhood for starting a more centrist breakaway political party with other young Brothers....
Each day since Saturday the crowds have grown at Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egyptian resistance - first to the former president, Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February, and now to the military commanders who replaced him.
By midday, the crowd in Tahrir Square had swelled to many tens of thousands - far larger than at the same time on previous days. A new banner across the center of the square declared, “This land is owned by the Egyptian people.’’ Tents and a field clinic to treat injured protesters were being set up nearby.
The fighting yesterday came as criticism of the military spread beyond Egypt’s borders. In a prepared statement, Amnesty International said the ruling commanders had “been responsible for a catalog of abuses that in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak.’’
Like I said with my lead: in some ways worse
The military had been seen as the linchpin of the political transition after the enforced departure of Mubarak.
By who?
It was the institution Islamists hoped would steer the country to early elections that they were poised to dominate. Liberals regarded it as a hedge against Islamist power. And the Obama administration considered it a partner that it hoped would help secure US interests.
No change.
--more--"
"Egypt’s leaders criticized over repression of protest; UN and others consider use of force excessive" November 24, 2011|By Aya Batrawy, Associated Press
CAIRO - International criticism of Egypt’s military rulers mounted yesterday as police clashed for a fifth day with protesters demanding the generals relinquish power immediately. A rights group raised the death toll in the violence to at least 38.
The United Nations condemned authorities for what it deemed excessive force. Germany, one of Egypt’s top trading partners, called for a quick transfer of power to a civilian government. The United States and the UN secretary general have already expressed concern over the use of violence against mostly peaceful protesters.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, deplored the role of Egypt’s security forces in attempting to suppress protesters.
“Some of the images coming out of Tahrir, including the brutal beating of already subdued protesters, are deeply shocking, as are the reports of unarmed protesters being shot in the head,’’ Pillay said. “There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured.’’
Egypt is obviously not Syria.
Clashes resumed for a fifth day despite a promise by the head of the ruling military council on Tuesday to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year, a concession swiftly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square. The military previously floated late next year or early 2013 as the likely date for the vote, the last step in the process of transferring power to a civilian government.
The clashes are the longest spate of uninterrupted violence since the 18-day uprising that toppled the former regime in February.
The standoff at Tahrir and in other major cities such as Alexandria and Assiut has deepened the country’s economic and security crisis less than a week before the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak....
The government offered more concessions yesterday, ordering the release of 312 protesters who had been detained and instructing civilian prosecutors to take over a probe the military started into the death of 27 people, mostly Christians, in a protest on Oct. 9. The army is accused of involvement in the killings.
Why is the AmeriKan media soft-selling that army provocation?
--more--"
"Egyptian protesters, military at odds over vote; Major party to boycott election set for Monday" November 25, 2011|By David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times
CAIRO - Egypt’s interim military rulers and the masses of protesters demanding their exit dug in yesterday for a prolonged standoff as the generals vowed to forge ahead with parliamentary elections despite a week of violence that is certain to tarnish the vote. I was told they were the freest and fairest ever.
State news organizations reported that at least one political party - the Social Democrats, perhaps the best established of the liberal parties founded in the burst of hope after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago - would boycott the elections as a sham intended to prop up military rule.
That was the conclusion I came to, and the unexpectedly large win by the Islamists confirmed it.
By day’s end, even the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful Islamist group that stands to gain the most from early elections and that for the moment had stepped to the sidelines of the protests, appeared to distance itself from the military council.
As clashes with the security police stopped for the first time this week, the crowd in Tahrir Square grew larger yesterday than the day before, reaching tens of thousands, and a broad spectrum of civilian leaders - excluding the Brotherhood - joined calls for a “million man march’’ today.
The generals were unmoved.
“Egypt is not Tahrir Square,’’ Major General Mukhtar el-Mallah, a member of the military council, declared early yesterday at a news conference, claiming an open-ended mandate to hold power long after Monday’s parliamentary vote. “We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd.’’
The declaration, after six days of violent confrontation in the capital and around the country, shifted the political struggle to a new and murkier phase.
Fulfilling a promise made in negotiations with political parties earlier in the week, the military pulled back the security forces that had battled protesters and constructed a concrete wall bisecting the street where most of the clashes had taken place.
The generals, meanwhile, issued an unusual apology for the deaths of at least 38 people during the week of unrest and the injuries of more than 2,000. But even as they hailed the dead as “martyrs,’’ the generals also appeared to justify killing them as criminals who had attacked the Interior Ministry.
Then it WAS NOT A REAL APOLOGY!
What is with the INEXACTITUDE from the AmeriKan media anyway?
And they denied - despite the statements of many witnesses, doctors, and even the health ministry - that security forces had fired live ammunition or birdshot in their clashes with protesters, further inflaming anger....
I suppose military men know how to do nothing but lie. In-f***ing-credible.
Then, late in the day, the generals announced over the state news media that they would name a 77-year-old former Mubarak lieutenant, Kamel el-Ganzoury, as their new prime minister, though many Egyptians mocked him as “a dinosaur.’’
The selection of Ganzoury may also have provoked the Muslim Brotherhood, the one major political force that had agreed to a deal with the military council for it to retain full power until early elections.
As prime minister in the late 1990s, Ganzoury presided over the incarceration or torture of scores of Islamists who now lead the movement....
That's the "new" prim minister appointed by the military?
A Brotherhood spokesman had previously said it would not join the street protests demanding the immediate transfer of power because it had agreed with the council on a timetable that all should accept.
But the group was pilloried for appearing to trade its support to the council in exchange for holding elections on a favorable timetable, and it faced internal divisions on the issue as well.
--more--"
"Egypt court orders release of 3 US students" November 25, 2011|Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - A court in Egypt has ordered the release of three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo, a lawyer in Philadelphia confirmed yesterday.
Derrik Sweeney, Luke Gates, and Gregory Porter, who attend American University in Cairo, were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square on Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
Attorney Theodore Simon, who represents Porter, a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said his client remained in custody at a police station as of yesterday afternoon.
But Simon said he was able to speak by phone with Porter, describing the student’s demeanor as “calm and measured, demonstrating a maturity well beyond his 19 years.’’
Sweeney’s mother, Joy Sweeney, said she was “absolutely elated’’ at the news of the court ordering release of her 19-year-old son, who is a student at Georgetown University in Washington.
“I can’t wait to give him a huge hug and tell him how much I love him,’’ she said.
The 21-year-old Gates is a student at Indiana University.
The State Department released a statement saying it was trying to independently confirm the reports of the students’ release.
Earlier yesterday, Egyptian officials said the Abdeen Court in Cairo had ordered their release, but did not say when they would be released.
--more--"
"Obama backs civilians in Egypt; He urges military to transfer rule" November 26, 2011|By Helene Cooper, New York Times
WASHINGTON - Ever since tens of thousands of protesters converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo for the first Day of Revolution exactly 10 months ago, the Obama administration has struggled to strike the right balance between democracy and stability. In the early morning yesterday, President Obama came out on the side of the Arab street, issuing a call for the Egyptian military to quickly hand over power to a civilian, democratically elected government.
In so doing, the president opened up a litany of risks, exposing a fault line between the US and the Egyptian military which, perhaps more than any other entity in the region, has for 30 years served as the bulwark protecting a critical US concern in the Middle East: the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
In explicitly warning the military to begin a “full transfer of power’’ swiftly to a civilian government in a “just and inclusive manner,’’ the White House served notice that the army in Egypt would continue to receive the Obama administration’s support only if it, in turn, supported a real democratic transition.
The statement, issued at 3:03 a.m. in Washington, was timed to greet the news of the military’s selection of a new prime minister in Egypt and to get in front of protests in Cairo that drew hundreds of thousands, the largest turnout of a tumultuous week.
I've also had it with meaningless political manipulation.
It signaled, foreign policy experts said, the beginning of a shift in how the US deals with a fast-changing Arab region and tries to preserve the Egypt-Israel peace accords.
“What we’re now doing is saying to the military that if you think you’re going to maintain military power, we’re not going to support that,’’ said Martin S. Indyk, director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and the former US ambassador to Israel. “We want you to play the role of midwife to democracy, not the role of military junta.’’
But the strategy “is a high-risk one, because the ones who benefit most from it are the people who don’t necessarily have our best interests in mind - the Islamists - who might not be as wedded to the peace treaty as the military,’’ Indyk said. “We are essentially coming down on the side of democracy.’’
The strategy risks straining Washington’s deep ties with Egypt’s military, as well as a potential backlash in Egypt if the United States, which is not popular from a long history of supporting the former president, Hosni Mubarak, is seen to be meddling.
But administration officials were apparently judging that the bigger risk may be to the Egyptian public, which will need to be won over if Egypt becomes fully democratic, as the administration says it hopes.
The Obama administration appears now to be openly hedging its bets, trying to position the United States in such a way that regardless of who comes out on top - the army or the protesters - it will still maintain some credibility, and ability, to influence the government and ensure a level of stability in Egypt, and to continue to uphold the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal, which the United States views as central to stability in the region as a whole.
I don't think the U.S. has credibility left, especially when it acts out of realpolitik rather principle.
Obama administration officials said yesterday that the United States would continue to work closely with the Egyptian military, which receives more than $1.3 billion a year in US aid.
Good thing the AmeriKan budget is in such good shape and social service programs are not being cut.
But US diplomats said there had been increasing concern over how the military had handled the latest demonstrations, and in particular over the tactics of the security forces in confrontations with protesters this week that killed at least 41 civilians and injured more than 1,000.
Meanwhile, a Cairo airport official said the first of three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo has left Egypt....
--more--"
"Clashes reignite in Egypt over military rule; One man killed as violence rises" November 27, 2011|By Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Associated Press
CAIRO - Fresh clashes between security forces and Egyptian protesters demanding the military step down broke out yesterday in front of the Cabinet building, leaving one man dead, as violence threatened to overshadow next week’s parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council that took power after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, met separately with opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and presidential hopeful Amr Moussa, who was the former head of the Arab League. Egyptian state TV reported the meetings but gave no details.
The new prime minister, whose appointment by the military on Friday touched off a wave of anger among protesters accusing the army of trying to perpetuate the old regime, also held a series of meetings trying to sway youth groups to his side....
Twenty-four protest groups, including two political parties, have announced they are creating their own “national salvation’’ government to be headed by ElBaradei with deputies from across the political spectrum to which they demanded the military hand over power.
ElBaradei said he would be willing to form such a government to manage the country’s transition, and that if he were officially asked to put a government together, he would give up the idea of running for president to focus on the current phase of transition.
Outside the Cabinet building, hundreds of protesters set up camp, spending the night in blankets and tents to prevent Ganzouri, 78, from entering to take up his new post. Early yesterday, they clashed with security forces.
The man who was killed was run over by a police vehicle, but there were conflicting accounts about the circumstances surrounding the death.
AGAIN?!!
The Interior Ministry expressed regret for the death of the protester and said it was an accident. Police didn’t intend to storm the sit-in but were merely heading to the Interior Ministry headquarters, located behind the Cabinet building, when they came under attack by angry protesters throwing firebombs, it said. The ministry claimed security forces were injured and the driver of one of the vehicles panicked and ran over the protester.
Then why did you let those AmeriKan kids go?
One of the demonstrators, Mohammed Zaghloul, 21, said he saw six security vehicles heading to their site.
“It became very tense, rock throwing started and the police cars were driving like crazy,’’ he said. “Police threw one tear gas canister and all of a sudden we saw our people carrying the body of a man who was bleeding really badly.’’
Officials say more than 40 people have been killed across the country since Nov. 19, when the unrest began after a small sit-in by protesters injured during the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak was violently broken up by security forces.
That sparked days of clashes, which ended with a truce on Thursday.
It wasn’t clear whether the melee yesterday was an isolated incident or part of fresh violence by security forces trying to clear the way for the new prime minister, and protesters frustrated by what they believe are the military’s efforts to perpetuate the old regime.
Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri served as prime minister under Mubarak between 1996 and 1999. His name has been associated with failed mega projects including Toshka, an expensive scheme to divert Nile water at the southern tip of Egypt to create a second Nile Valley. The project has cost billions and barely gotten off the ground.
I can see why the protesters are upset.
The military’s appointment of Ganzouri, along with its apology for the death of protesters and a series of partial concessions in the past two days suggest that the generals are struggling to overcome the most serious challenge to their nine-month rule, with fewer options now available to them....
Those didn't work for other dictatorships.
--more--"
"Egypt’s military to counter Islamists’ influence on constitution" by Sarah El Deeb Associated Press / December 8, 2011
Egypt’s military rulers said yesterday that the next Parliament will not be representative enough to independently oversee the drafting of a constitution, and they will appoint a council to check the influence of religious extremists on the process.
Now I truly believe that vote was rigged.
The announcement followed a surprisingly strong showing by Islamist groups who took the overwhelming majority in the first round of Parliamentary elections. The outcome caused concern among the liberals who drove Egypt’s uprising and the military, which took power from ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
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--NOMORE--"
“We are in the early stages of democracy,” said Gen. Mukhtar Mulla, a member of the ruling military council. “The parliament is not representing all sectors of society.”
In theory, the new parliament will be entrusted with forming a 100-member constituent assembly to write the new constitution. But Mulla said the new council will coordinate with parliament and the Cabinet to ensure the assembly is representative of all religions, professions, and political parties.
The new constitution will determine the nature of Egypt’s post-Mubarak political system. Liberal groups and the military— a secular institution that has traditionally controlled access of Islamists to its ranks — are concerned that religious extremists will exert too much influence and could try to enshrine strict Islamic law, or Shariah, as the only guiding principle for state policies.
Voters chose both parties and individuals in the complex electoral system. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group that was the best known and organized party, and the more radical Al-Nour party — ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis — took about 60 percent of the vote for parties together, according to official results....
The vote —which is being held in three stages — was the freest and fairest in Egypt’s modern history....
The result was a devastating blow for the mostly secular and liberal youth who drove the uprising. And though they have been highly critical of the military’s rule and recently staged a new wave of protests demanding the generals hand power to a civilian authority, the ground has shifted with elections. Some liberals may find solace in the military’s attempt to protect the constitution from overzealous Islamist tendencies....
Cui bono?
Speaking to a small group of mostly American reporters, Mulla made clear that the ruling military council, as the executive, will maintain ultimate authority over the functioning of the new parliament and government.
Mulla said he did not think anyone would object to the need for a representative constituent assembly. But a previous attempt by the ruling military to interfere caused a backlash from both Islamists and liberals alike.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has previously floated the idea that it would name 80 of the 100 members of constituent assembly and tried to enshrine in the constitution a political role for itself in the future....
They have done a lot more than float it.
--more--"
"Muslim Brotherhood quits Egyptian council; Boycotts effort to draft constitution" by Maggie Michael Associated Press / December 9, 2011
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group set to dominate the new parliament, accused the country’s military rulers yesterday of trying to undercut the authority of elected legislators even before the house is seated.
The Brotherhood said it is boycotting a council appointed by the ruling generals to oversee the drafting of the new constitution and stayed away from a meeting to set up the panel yesterday.
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--NOMORE--"
In theory, the new parliament will be entrusted with forming a 100-member assembly to write the constitution. But the ruling military council says election results showed the parliament will not be representative, so they are appointing a council to ensure the process of drafting a constitution is protected from extremist religious ideas.
????? Isn't that what an election is?
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said his group will not be part of the new constitutional oversight council because it will deprive the parliament of its authority.
????? Isn't that what an election is?
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan said his group will not be part of the new constitutional oversight council because it will deprive the parliament of its authority.
"The military council is determined to turn against the will of the people," he said. "To those who voice fear of Islamists, this is just blackmailing."
Islamist groups won about 68 percent of seats in the first round of parliamentary elections, according to Associated Press calculations based on official results. The Muslim Brotherhood dominated the vote, with about 47 percent, while the second-place Al-Nour - an even more conservative Islamist party - won about 21 percent. Only four women won among 150 of 498 seats determined.
The elections were the first since Hosni Mubarak's February ouster in a popular uprising, and are considered the freest and fairest vote in Egypt's modern history. There are still two more rounds over the coming month, but they are not expected to dramatically alter the outcome.
A collision between the powerful Brotherhood and the military was much anticipated. A secular institution that has traditionally controlled access of Islamists to its ranks, the military said it is the only authority that will have the right to form a new government and spoke about determination to oversee the writing of the constitution. Recently, the ruling generals have indicated the new parliament will be weakened.
Globe print ended.
The 83-year-old Brotherhood was banned under Mubarak and subjected to waves of arrests and oppression but still managed to build the country's strongest political organization, fielding independent candidates in previous elections. With Mubarak's fall, it was the group's chance to exert its power openly. They supported the military's push for relatively quick elections, despite opposition from liberal and youth groups who saw it as rushed.
With a strong showing, a clash over the role of the military appears inevitable.
The military has been the most powerful institution in Egypt since army officers toppled the monarchy in a 1952 coup, giving the country its four presidents since and wielding significant influence and economic power ever since.
--more--"
Ah, memories:
"The two sons of ousted President Hosni Mubarak have an estimated $340 million in Swiss bank accounts, a senior Egyptian Justice Ministry official said yesterday.
The fortune was amassed by Mubarak’s youngest son and one-time heir apparent Gamal and his brother, Alaa. Gamal rose rapidly through the ranks of his father’s ruling National Democratic Party over the past decade to become the country’s most powerful politician.
Assem al-Gohary said Swiss authorities are investigating whether Alaa Mubarak was involved in money laundering along with other former regime figures. Mubarak and his sons have been charged in Egypt with corruption and all three are under arrest.
Related: Police Perjury in Mubarak Trial
The former president is also charged with complicity in the killing of about 850 protesters in the Jan. 25-Feb. 11 Egyptian uprising.
During the uprising, rumors circulated that Mubarak and his sons amassed billions of dollars in corrupt practices, helping drive the anger that brought him down....
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"Ex-allies of Mubarak get OK to seek election" Associated Press / November 15, 2011
Former members of Hosni Mubarak’s political party won legal backing Monday to run in Egypt’s first parliamentary elections since the ouster of the longtime leader.
The Supreme Administrative Court overturned a ruling that had barred members of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party from contesting the election in one province. Monday’s ruling applies nationwide and cannot be appealed.
The decision went against the wishes of many segments of the protest movement that took part in Egypt's uprising, including Islamists, liberals, and secular youth groups. However, there was little immediate reaction from those groups, which still have hope that a promised law will weed out some former regime figures found to have been involved in corruption....
--nomore--"
And at the bottom of it all:
"American-Israeli held in Egypt is freed; Israel releases 25 Egyptians" October 28, 2011|By Isabel Kershner, New York Times
JERUSALEM - Ilan Grapel, an American-Israeli citizen who had been held in Egypt since June, charged with spying for Israel, was released yesterday in exchange for 25 Egyptians held in Israeli jails.
Related: Egyptian Secrets
Grapel, 27, a law school student from New York, was flown from Cairo to Ben-Gurion International Airport in the early evening, accompanied by Israeli officials. The released prisoners were transferred to Egypt through the Taba border crossing around the same time.
After arriving in Israel, Grapel was driven to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was not immediately clear when Grapel would leave for the United States, but Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a New York Democrat, was in Israel “to bring Ilan Grapel home,’’ according to a statement from the congressman’s office.
Egyptian officials presented the exchange as a diplomatic victory. In Israel, the deal was seen as evidence of the quiet working relations with Egypt’s transitional military rulers, despite the fraying of ties since the overthrow in February of President Hosni Mubarak, a staunch ally.
That is why I NO LONGER BUY the tensions with Egypt, blah-blah, you occasionally read. Just trying to generate more sympathy for the poor Jews of Israel.
But some Israeli commentators questioned why the government had to pay a price for Grapel after the Egyptians apparently acknowledged that he was not involved in espionage.
They can say it; doesn't mean I believe it.
Amos Gilad, a senior official in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, told Israel Radio on Monday that the price paid by Israel was reasonable.
“What was the alternative?’’ he said. “To leave him in prison? He was not a spy.’’
Then why release the alleged Egyptian criminals?
Most of the 25 Egyptians had been convicted of criminal offenses like drug smuggling and infiltration. Some had also been convicted of weapons possession, but none were classified as security prisoners who had killed Israelis.
Four of the 25 had completed their sentences and were awaiting deportation from Israel, according to the Israeli prison authorities said.
Then Israel really gave up nothing?
The Israel Prison Service said that the Egyptian authorities were supposed to revoke the charges against Grapel upon his release.
Israel announced Monday that it had reached an agreement with Egypt, with US assistance, for Grapel’s release. The US ambassador in Tel Aviv, Daniel Shapiro, and Grapel’s mother, Irene, were waiting for him on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport.
On the Egyptian side of the Taba crossing, the prisoners released by Israel were greeted by Egyptian officials bearing garlands. Egyptian television showed some of those released kissing the ground.
The swap followed a complex Egyptian-brokered exchange between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 18. In that deal, an Israeli soldier, Sergeant First Class Gilad Schalit, returned home from Gaza, where he had been held captive for more than five years, in exchange for the release from Israeli jails of the first group of a total of more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of whom had been convicted of deadly terrorist attacks.
Also see: The Schalit Swap
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"Student tells of Egypt arrest" November 28, 2011|By Kelly Daschle, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - An American student arrested with two others during protests in Cairo said they were threatened with guns, hit, and forced to lie for hours in a near-fetal position in the dark with their hands behind their backs....
In other words, they were treated like Muslims the US has incarcerated and imprisoned.
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