Category: Blog

HRW denounces MB military tribunals

Posted on By 3arabawy

Human Rights watch blasted Mubarak’s regime’s plans to try Khairat el-Shatter and his colleagues in military courts, in a statement today. The NYC-based rights watchdog insisted the Egyptian government “should release the hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.”

UPDATE: Socialists as well as other political activists have started collecting signatures from public figures, intellectuals and political celebrities from all tendencies, denouncing the military tribunals and expressing solidarity with the MB detainees. I’ve received the petition, and the names that signed already, but will postpone publishing it till the campaign organizers give me the greenlight, with more names being collected.

Ghazl el-Mahalla workers to receive General Union’s reply today

Posted on By 3arabawy

The General Union of Textile Workers has invited the Ghazl el-Mahalla December strike leaders to come to Cairo for a meeting, one day before the end of the ultimatum set by the labor activists. The workers are expected to arrive in buses at the General Union’s HQ at 11am, and should receive the latter’s reply to the workers’ demand to impeach their Factory Union Committee officials.

After their strike victory last December, the Ghazl el-Mahalla workers submitted on 29 January a petition signed by around 13,000 workers demanding the impeachment of the factory’s local union branch officials, after the latter took a negative stand towards the strike.

Ghazl el-Mahalla Textile Worker slamming his union officials

The workers gave the General Union an ultimatum of the 15th of February, threatening, for the first time since 1957, to resign en masse from the General Federation of Trade Unions, stop paying their membership fees, and launch an independent labor union.

The General Union’s HQ is located: 327 Shobra – Mazallat St. There’s an Underground Metro station meters away: El-Mazallat Station, Shobra line.

Clashes erupt at al-Azhar mosque

Posted on By 3arabawy

On Friday, Al-Azhar Mosque was the scene of mass police intimidation against protesters who wanted to demonstrate against the Israeli excavations in Jerusalem.

Check this interesting quote at the end of a report by Al-Jazeera:

The few journalists present at the demonstration were instructed by security forces to leave immediately and not take photos of the clashes.
The ones who did not abide by the rules, including a photographer from the the Al-Masry Al Youm daily, were threatened by security forces. Sally, 23, told Al-Jazeera.net: “The police hate the cameras because they are scared that photos depicting them beating activists will end up on the blogs that everyone reads.”