Category: Blog

Police threatens Abu Omar

Posted on By 3arabawy

Abu Omar was summoned Tuesday 9:30pm by State Security officers in el-Fara’ana District, Alexandria, where he was warned of “grave consequences” if he continues giving media interviews and, more importantly, if he insists on entering politics as he announced in recent interviews.

“I told the State Security officer before I left his office that I will not accept these threats, and I will enter politics,” said Abu Omar. “I’m planning to run in the next parliamentary elections, and I’m sure I’ll be able to have support among my constituency to get elected. I will also speak to the media… The abuses of the security (services) have to be exposed.”

Abu Omar at the Lawyers' Syndicate أبو عمر بنقابة المحامين

UPDATE: Abu Omar sent me a message with the details of what happened on Tuesday. Click here to download it.

British army faces ‘shortages’

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the BBC:

There are not enough servicemen and women to meet the demands placed on the UK armed forces by the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, MPs have said.
The Commons public accounts committee said the overall shortfall in personnel stood at 5,850, or 3.2%, of full strength in April.
Numbers leaving early reached a 10-year peak in some areas, the report said.

More on the Mahalla textile workers protest

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received more photos of the protest held Saturday by the Mahalla textile workers, taken by journalist Muhammad Abul Dahab…

Al-Masry Al-Youm, I have to say, screwed up again with its sensationalist coverage. The report it ran claimed that 27,000 workers took part in the industrial action. This is NOT true. 27,000 is the total labor force at the company. Those who took part in yesterday’s action were 3000 according to Kareem el-Beheiry. Another estimate I heard from a journalist put the number of demonstrators at 10,000, saying most of the (morning) first shift workers participated in the demo.

Keep your eyes on Mahalla.