Category: Blog

US troops admit abusing Iraqis

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Al-Jazeera:

Almost one in ten US combat troops deployed in Iraq have mistreated a civilian, according to a new survey conducted by an army mental health advisory team.
The report, released on Friday, also found that less than half of the soldiers and marines surveyed would report a fellow serviceman for killing or injuring an innocent Iraqi…
More than a third of the 1,320 soldiers and 447 marines surveyed said that torture should be allowed to save the life of a fellow soldier or marine, while almost 38 per cent said torture should be allowed in order to gather “important information about insurgents”…
The survey showed only 47 per cent of soldiers and 38 per cent of marines agreed that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect.

Interior Ministry to compensate former Islamist detainees

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily Star Egypt…

The Ministry of Interior has finally agreed to release the required financial compensation to the freed former Islamist detainees who have court orders indicating their right to financial compensation, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.
“Those ex-prisoners are getting compensation for spending more than 15 years in jail without trial,” Diaa Rashwan, a political expert on Islamic movements at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt.
The Ministry of Interior, after suspending the payment for around five years, is expected to hand out between LE 15,000 to LE 30,000 for every detainee.
There are more than 15,000 ex-detainees who have court orders proving their right to financial compensation, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm.
But the ministry did not announce the exact number of ex-detainees who will be allowed to receive their compensation.
Rashwan also indicated that he personally knows some of the ex-prisoners and said that some of them “were jailed when they were 16 and came out when they were 32 years old.”
“And in some other cases, they received more than 30 not guilty verdicts and were set free then were arrested once more under emergency law,” Rashwan said.

Wedding cancelled

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received a text message around 5:45pm, saying Jimmi and Diga’s wedding was cancelled due to the heavy security deployment in Talaat Harb. The one in Sharm is of course underway. I arrived in the square few mins after 6pm, to check the scene out for myself anyways.

And indeed all the expected guests showed up: brigades of Central Security Forces, plainclothes thugs, State Security officers and even firefighters!

Talaat Harb under security siege قوات الأمن تحاصر ميدان طلعت حرب
[Above: Talaat Harb Sq under occupation by Mubarak’s police.]

When I started taking photos, a young State Security officer in plainclothes crossed the road and ordered me to leave and not take photos of the troops. I told him I was gonna leave, but didn’t move and kept chatting with fellow journalists and photographers who showed up. The officer came back to me again, and told me to instruct the BBC crew not to film. I replied saying he should tell them that himself. He replied rudely saying “I am State Security.” I told him: “Pleased to meet you.”
“Ok, so now go and tell them to leave. Aren’t you working with them?”
“No. I’m a freelance journalist.”
“Ok, go and tell them.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?” (Of course I know why.. because he’s chicken shit when it comes to foreign Westerners, but only like to flex his muscles on locals.)
“You should be more patriotic,” he charged (I wanted to get my violin out then, and start playing the national anthem.)
Anyways, we were about to leave… so I asked the State Security officer: “So no events planned for today?”
“No, there was no event in the first place.”
“Oh, I heard there was a wedding.”
“No, and if there was one, we won’t let it happen.”
“Why not? People wanna express their joy and share the happiness felt in Sharm.”
“Ok, yalla yalla… There’s nothing today”