ITUC denounces crackdown on Egyptian labor activists

Posted on By 3arabawy

Solidarity with Kamal Abbas:

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION (ITUC)
ITUC Online
175/111007
Egypt: prison sentence for defender of worker’s rights
Brussels, 12 October 2007 (ITUC OnLine): Kamal Abbas, General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS) and his lawyer, Muhammad Helmy have been sentenced one year’s imprisonment by an Egyptian court. A law suit for alleged “slander and defamation of character” against Kamal Abbas was filed by Muhammad Ibrahim, chairman of the board of directors of a youth center in 15 May City and member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). According to Kamal Abbas, this is no coincidence. “It is all part of the government’s general crack-down on civil society” he said. Abbas and his lawyer were taken to court after publishing a report in the CTUWS magazine Kalam Sinai’ia (Workers’ Talk) about an investigation into financial and administrative irregularities in the running of the youth center. The allegations of corruption against Mr Ibrahim were in fact corroborated by an internal investigation conducted by the Youth Center, whose Board of Directors was subsequently dissolved by the Governor of Cairo.
The ITUC and Solidar strongly condemn the prison sentences that follow a long tradition of repression of the CTUWS, an independent civil society organization committed to defending trade union and other workers right in Egypt. “We are very concerned about this latest attack on the CTUWS” declared Guy Ryder, ITUC General Secretary, “This organization has earned
itself great esteem in the international trade union movement for its active role in providing support to Egyptian workers struggling for the respect of fundamental labor standards in their country.” he added. The sentences, which come in a wave of prosecutions against journalists for publishing offences, are also an attack on the freedom to publish information and the freedom of expression, which are guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution.
In a letter to the Egyptians authorities, The ITUC and Solidar urge President Hosni Mubarak to ensure that the CTUWS is not persecuted in its work and ask that he review this particular case.
Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 153 countries and territories and has 305 national affiliates.

Egypt receives low ranking in annual press freedom index

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From the Daily News Egypt:

Egypt came in at the bottom of the rankings in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, an annual rating published by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) measuring the level of press freedom around the world.
Coming in at number 146 out of 169 countries evaluated, Egypt dropped 13 spots from number 133 last year.
Eritrea features last on the index, replacing North Korea who took bottom spot last year.
“There is nothing surprising about this. Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom. The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticize the regime are thrown in prison. We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate,” RSF stated.

Ex-general calls Iraq a ‘nightmare’

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From Al-Jazeera:

A former top US military commander in Baghdad has described the war in Iraq as “a nightmare with no end in sight”.
In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official yet, retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also lambasted US political leaders as “incompetent, inept, and derelict in the performance of their duty”.
Addressing a meeting of military correspondents and editors in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, Sanchez said: “There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.”
He said the current White House strategy will not achieve victory in Iraq.

Iraqi resistance