Category: Blog

A lovely family evening

Posted on By 3arabawy

I never claimed I was following the latest in Egypt’s music scene… but goodness, I didn’t know the legendary Shaaban Abdel Rehim had a brother who’s in the singing business too. Or may be Shaaban was keeping him behind the Iron Mask for fear of competition?

I was at a cousin’s wedding tonight, when suddenly it was announced Sayyed Abdel Rehim was to hit the floor. ُ

المطرب سيد عبد الرحيم

Sayyed comes in, and I’m like: “Wow! This guy looks like Shaabolla.”

“He is Shaaban Abdel Rehim’s brother,” replied an uncle.

“What?! You gotta be kidding me! Shaaban has a brother who sings?!”

“Yep! This one.”

“Come on.. that’s a joke!”

“No, and I’m sure the two worked in the same ironing shop.”

For those of you who do not know Shaaban Abdel Rehim, he’s the Egyptian 50 Cent. Working his life in an ironing shop, Shaaban hit the music scene in the late 90s with his hit song: “I’ll quit smoking weed, and will start lifting weights.” He achieved a legendary status with his song “I Hate Israel,” that almost became the national anthem following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000.

And talent runs in the family. Sayyed set the floor on fire with his brother’s classics, but sure he had few of his own to perform. Since there were police officers invited to the wedding, Sayyed started with his latest song titled, “El-Basha” and it went like that:

“El-Basha… El-Basha… El-Basha… Ya Basha… Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey…”

And then again, “El-Basha… El-Basha… El-Basha… Ya Basha… Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey…”

Another mindblowing song was “El-‘Aroussa” (The Bride), and it went like that:

“El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… Ya ‘Aroussa… Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey…”

And then again, “El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… El-‘Aroussa… Ya ‘Aroussa… Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey…”

But that was just the beginning. More quality songs followed that drove the crowd to hysteria, including “Halawa” (Sweetness), and it went like that:

“Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Ya Halaaaawa… Heeeeeeeeeey…” (note: this is a shorter “Hey” when compared to the above-mentioned two songs.)

and again, “Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Halaaaawa… Ya Halaaaawa… Heeeeeeeey…”

المطرب سيد عبد الرحيم

I wish Sayyed the best of luck with his “music” career… El-Career… El-Career… El-Career… Ya Career… Heeeeeeeey…

Mubarak’s desert gulag: Detainees commit suicide to escape torture

Posted on By 3arabawy

A new letter sent by a group of detainees in Al-Wadi Al-Gadid Prison to the editor of Torture In Egypt blog details some of the horrors in Mubarak’s gulags.

In their letter, the detainees complained of continuous verbal abuse, severe beatings from prison officers, which finally led to one of the detainees, Ahmad Abdel Sadek Ibrahim, to try committing suicide, after his hands and feet were chained to receive an overdose of beatings. When his life was saved by his mates, the Prison Deputy Sheriff Said el-Faddali punished him with another doze of beatings.

The letter also mentioned another suicide attempt which unfortunately was successful. After he could not put up with the ill-treatment anymore, according to the letter, detainee Muhammad Abdel Fattah Mahmoud, a.k.a. Muhammad Nassar, swallowed metal nails to kill himself. The pain was severe that Muhammad had to slash his wrist to speed up his death. The prison authorities “left him unconscious, bleeding, for a long time before the prison doctor was brought in. The detainee died Tuesday 26 of the current month of December,” the letter charged.

The letter also spoke of the “revolving door” of detentions. The Interior Ministry dodges court orders for the release of detainees, by signing on paper that the detainee was released, while transferring him to a military prison in the nearby oasis, where he’s kept for two weeks. Then, the detainee is brought back to Al-Wadi Al-Gadid Prison, with a new detention order from the Interior Ministry alleging the detainee “was back to suspicious political behavior.”

A number of detainees are on a hunger strike also. The letter accused the prison authorities of not notifying the Prosecutor there were prisoners on a hunger strike–another legal obligation the Interior flushes down the toilet. The letter named detainees including Khaled Abdel Badei’ (on a hunger strike for 15 days now), Ramzi Mowafi (25 days) and Adel el-Sayyed (14 days).

And to make sure the detainees enjoy the Eid ambiance, the prison authorities banned family visits..