The Menoufiya University administration has referred 100 Muslim Brotherhood students to punitive councils for taking part in the Free Student Union, while Suez Canal University administration decided to expel five MB students from its ranks for similar charges.
Category: Blog
HRW to Egypt: Hold police accountable for torture
The case of Emad Ali Kabeer, the Bulaq al-Dakrour driver who was sexually abused by police officers, is drawing more public attention.
Al-Masry Al-Youm interviewed Emad, who recounted again the torture odyssey he went through, adding, “I would have given up my rights, if the video clip has not circulated the internet.”
Thanks to blogger Demagh Mak who discovered and uploaded the video clip to the cyberspace, making it possible for millions around the world to watch the Interior Ministry’s systematic crimes against the Egyptian people.
Moreover, international rights watchdogs are getting involved in the case. Human Rights Watch interviewed Emad and issued a statement today, calling for the prosecution of the police officers involved in the torture video clip.
Here’s a Reuters report by Aziz El-Kaissouni:
Rights group demands prosecution of Egypt torturers
CAIRO, Dec 23 (Reuters) – Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to prosecute police officers it said videotaped themselves sexually assaulting a prisoner and then distributed copies of the tape to intimidate local bus drivers.
In a news release on Saturday, Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, said prosecuting the officers would be “a good first step”. The government must change the culture that made torture in jails routine, she said.
The video circulated on Egyptian blogs last month and sparked uproar. It showed Imad al-Kabir, a microbus driver, lying on the floor, naked from the waist down, with his hands bound behind his back and his legs held in the air.
He screams and begs as he is sodomised with a stick while those around him, whose faces are not visible, taunt him.
Kabir’s lawyer said the torture took place in January 2006 in a police station in Bulaq al-Dakrur after Kabir was detained and beaten for intervening to stop an argument between the police officers and his brother.
An interior ministry spokesman said “investigations are continuing and we’re waiting for the prosecution to finish its work.”
Kabir’s lawyer Nasser Amin of the Center for the Independence of the Judiciary says Kabir kept silent even after police distributed the video of the rape among other bus drivers. He finally decided to come forward in November when his brother was detained at the same police station.
After Kabir filed a complaint with the authorities, Amin said, the officers threatened him and his family, forcing him to withdraw the complaint and threaten to sue a newspaper that had published his account of the assault.
Amin subsequently persuaded Kabir to bring the case to the public prosecutor. The officers were questioned and released to resume their duties.
Amin said he planned to file a complaint demanding the arrest of the six officers who participated in torturing Kabir.
Labor strikes in Armant, Helwan, Mahalla
The great victory achieved by the Mahalla Textile workers has opened the appetite of Egypt’s workers for more strikes. It’s the domino effect at its best.
For the second day on the row, more than 1000 Tora Cement workers are continuing their strike, after their Italian management that holds the majority shares refused to pay them the six month-bonus the workers are entitled to. The workers have closed down the factory gates, put barricades on every single exit or entry to the factory compound, threatened to set any cement trucks coming in or out on fire. The workers also have closed down the Factory Engineers’ residential flats by chaining their gates.
At the same time, the Helwan Cement workers have decided to end their strike, following threats of detention and torture from State Security agents yesterday.
Meanwhile, autoworkers at el-Nasr Company have ended their strike and factory occupation the day before yesterday, after the management promised to pay them part of their delayed bonuses in the beginning of January.
Also, more than 100 workers from the Nile Shipyard of the Suez Canal company, located in southern city of Armant, are on strike, to protest the delay in giving them their “job titles” part of the labor law regulations needed in establishing the workers’ rights in disputes with the management. At least nine workers have gone on a hunger strike, and were transferred to the Armant Central Hospital.
Here’s a statement with more details, I received from the Workers’ Coordination Committee:
اضراب عن الطعام بحلوان
واضراب عن الطعام والعمل بهيئة قناة السويس
————————————–
لليوم السادس على التوالى يضرب عمال شركة القناة للترسانة النيلية عن العمل احتجاجا على عدم تحديد درجات وظيفية لهم من ناحية ،ولعدم اعتماد لائحة العاملين بالشركة من مكتب العمل من ناحية ثانية .
وشركة القناة للترسانة النيلية هى احدى شركات هيئة قناة السويس وتم تأسيسها عام 2003 ، وللشركة مكتب ادارى بالاسماعيلية وبه 14 موظف، أما موقع العمل فيقع بالمحاميد بحرى بمدينة أرمنت بمحافظة قنا وبه 116 عامل وفنى ،وتعمل فى اصلاح السفن النيلية السياحية
وتعود أسباب الاضراب الى مطالبة العمال بتحديد درجات وظيفية لهم مما دفع الشركة لإصدار قرار فى 23/5/2005 اوضحت فيه انها ستقوم بتحديد درجات العمال فى يناير 2006 ، الا أن الشركة امتنعت عن ذلك حتى الان ،كما أنها امتنعت عن اعتماد لائحة العمل بالقوى العاملة رغم موافقة مجلس الادارة عليها، وهو ما يهدد حقوق العمال فى مواجهة الشركة ،الامر الذى دفع العمال بموقع العمل بأرمنت للاضراب عن العمل منذ 18/12/2006 ،ولما تجاهلت الشركة مطالب العمال دخل كلا من أحمد كمال محمد ،راضى عجايبى فاخورى ،محمود أحمد ابراهيم ،أحمد عبد العزيز أحمد ،عبد الجواد عبد العظيم، قناوى محمد أبو المجد ،العزب سيد أحمد ،مصطفى بكرى جاد الرب ،محمد النوبى محمد فى اضراب عن الطعام منذ 21/12/2006 وهم الآن بمستشفى أرمنت المركزى.
وقد قامت الشركة بتهديد العمال من أجل فض الاضراب، وتم استدعاء خمسة من العمال وتهديدهم بالفصل.
ومن ناحية ثانية نجحت ضغوط الجهات الامنية فى فض اضراب اسمنت حلوان ،إلا أن عمال أسمنت طرة مازلوا مضربين عن العمل ودخل أعضاء اللجنة النقابية فى اضراب عن الطعام احتجاجا على المفاوضات وعلى ما يتعرضوا له من ضغوط.
واللجنة التنسيقية تؤكد على حق العمال فى الاضراب للمطالبة بحقوقهم ، وتساند عمال اسمنت طره والترسانة النيلية فى جميع مطالبهم ، وتندد بالضغوط التى يتعرض لها العمال ،وتناشد كل القوى الوطنية لمساندتهم ودعمهم .
اللجنة التنسيقية للحقوق والحريات النقابية والعمالية
22/12/2006
UPDATE: Here are photos of the Tora Cement factory strikers, by Amr Abdallah:
