Here’s a link to the full story.
Here’s a link to the full story.
In anticipation of the slew of “2 years on” articles and tweets explaining where they were when Mubarak fell, some observations. Morsi is not Mubarak, even if the comparison is alliterative and fits conveniently into 140 characters for Twitter. Morsi made it through preliminary presidential voting in which liberal or ‘revolutionary’ candidates were beaten by a moderate Islamist candidate and Mubarak’s former spy chief. Morsi acquired more than 13 million votes, handily (although bizarrely, for some, disappointingly) beating Ahmed Shafik. That is unless you believe allegations of fraud and widespread vote rigging primarily made by, you know, Ahmed Shafik. Opposition forces now claim that Morsi’s election was invalid because they boycotted the second round of the presidential vote. If you don’t go to the…
Tagged: Brotherhood, feb11, Ikhwan, Jan25, Morsi, Mubarak, revolution
Why is no one talking about Egypt’s judiciary? In recent days, clashes between largely peaceful protesters and security forces have claimed dozens of lives in Port Said, Suez and Cairo. The violence prompted the head of the army to issue a fairly unequivocal warning to political factions and President Mohammed Morsi to declare a state of emergency. Opposition supporters and revolutionaries have obviously placed the blame at the Brotherhood’s door, with the most prominent opposition force, the National Salvation Front, refusing Morsi’s invitation to dialogue. General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi proclaimed his dismay at the political situation in Egypt, but it seems clear that current events are at least partly the result of the debate for Egypt’s future being removed from the political arena. There…
Tagged: Cairo, clashes, Egypt, ElBaradei, emergency law, military trials, Morsi, Port Said, revolution, Sisi
Violence has erupted again in Port Said, following the sentencing to death of 21 Al-Masry football club supporters for their involvement in the killing of 79 fans of rivals Al-Ahly on Feb. 1 last year. As someone who covered the aftermath of the disaster, it seems plain that those Al-Ahly fans rejoicing the verdict and those Al-Masry partisans violently opposing it both miss the root of the issue. The Port Said football massacre was the fault of the authorities, of the Central Security Forces, police and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. So far, none of the five senior officers accused of involvement in the disaster have been sentenced, although this might change come March, when others allegedly responsible will be dealt with. It was the…
A new player has emerged on the Egyptian protest scene. Apart from the fact that they obviously dislike the current government/the establishment/society and have questionable sartorial tastes (although their eponymous colour is known to be slimming), what do we really know about Black Bloc? They are mean: They may or may not be Christians: They are irritating: They coordinate: They send mixed signals: They don’t talk to no media: They have no fucking respect: They are, like, SO ironic: They wanna see the world burn: They like cross-fades: They franchise: They encourage moral relativism:
Tagged: Black Bloc, BlackBloc, Brotherhood, Cairo, Egypt, Jan25, Muslim Brotherhood, protest, revolution, Tahrir
One year ago, I reported from Cairo and Tahrir Square as 100,000s of Egyptians marked the first anniversary of the protest movement that ousted Hosni Mubarak. I can’t be back there today, but here’s a selection of what’s going on. View as slideshow Egypt Protests: Violence Flares In Tahrir Square On Second Anniversary Of … CAIRO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Hundreds of youths clashed with Egyptian police in Tahrir Square on Friday in a violent start to the second ann… 00Share Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google Share on Linkedin Share by email Huffingtonpost · Original link On the edges of Tahrir… Egypt protests heat up on Revolution Anniversary While Exchanging Rocks and Tear Gas Security Forces 00Share Share on Facebook…
Tagged: botherhood, clashes, Egypt, Jan25, revolution, Tahrir
I reported a few weeks ago on the case of Alber Saber, an Egyptian atheist blogger who was arrested on charges of blasphemy as part of the fallout from the “Innocence of Muslims” video trailer. Alber was arrested after an angry crowd surrounded his house and threatened to kill him in response, so the mob-rule determined, for his defamation of Islam after it was wrongly reported he had uploaded the film trailer on to Facebook. He was slammed in a crowded cell, where fellow prisoners were told he had insulted the Prophet (PBUH). He was assaulted and threatened with a razor blade, and is currently lost in the dystopian labyrinth of Cairo’s prisons and interrogation centers. His mother, who was forced to flee her…
As I posted yesterday, Alber Saber, an Egyptian Atheist, was arrested last week and accused of defaming Islam after it was alleged he posted “The Innocence of Muslims” – a film produced at a cost of less than $100,000 by a man who claimed to be an Israeli Zionist but is in fact a Coptic Christian based in California with a history of criminality and manufacturing PCP – on Facebook. Here’s my dispatch for New Statesman, which includes interviews with his lawyer and mother. Today, after great work by Aussie freelance journalist Austin Mackell, Reuters and others have picked up on the story which, with any luck, will help to raise some noise about the case. Local support for Alber – again, a self-proclaimed…
Well, the entire world has officially gone crazy. You all know by now that the US Ambassador to Libya was murdered in Benghazi in an act of violence that was at least concurrent to protests against a film trailer that ridicules and slanders the Prophet Mohammed. Now, there have been protests against the film in over 20 countries across the globe, and several, including demos in Cairo, Tunis, Sanaa, Khartoum and Bahrain, have been aimed against US diplomatic compounds. For more information on the logic of this, have a read here. Oh, and some people burned a KFC (!) in Tripoli, Lebanon and stole computers from a school in Tunis. All righteous anger, I am sure.
Tagged: anti-Islam film, Egypt, Innocence of Muslims, Lebanon, Prophet Mohammed, protest, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen
It has been more than four months since Australian journalist Austin Mackell and his Egyptian translator Aliya Alwi were arrested while reporting from the Egyptian industrial city of Mahalla. They have since faced the prospect of a seven year jail term due to entirely bogus charges based on inconsistent and unreliable testimonies of partisan witnesses. It has also been more than four months since I wrote a letter to the then Foreign Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd MP. Needless to say, I received no response, primarily, I assume, due to Mr. Rudd’s own failed Machiavellian power grab. Well, Australia now has a new foreign minister, Bob Carr. He can be found at the following addresses: @bobjcarr The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade R.G.…
Tagged: Aliya Alwi, Austin Mackell, Bob Carr, Cairo, Egypt, Kevin Rudd
