Security crackdown on MB continues

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Ikhwan Web:

The Egyptian state security forces stormed, Tuesday at 3.00 AM, the house of Muhammad Ali Al-Qassas, a Muslim Brotherhood young leader, and arrested him in a fresh crackdown that started on Sunday at night with arresting Dr Mahmoud Ghazlan.
Muhammad Al Qassas, 34 years, works in the field of artistic production and was previously detained three times: the first was in 1998 and the second was in the case of referring Muslim Brotherhood leaders to military trials in 2001 and he was acquitted by the court after spending nine months pending trial; the third arrest was during the demonstrations for supporting the judges in May 2005.

More worryingly

Ikhwanweb’s correspondent in Cairo reports that there are now (on Tuesday predawn at 3.30 AM) more detentions against Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members in the Egyptian capital.

Alexandrian speaks of torture odyssey

Posted on By 3arabawy

Muhammad Badr Eddin Gomaa went to Montazza Police Station in February 1996 to report his missing child, Gihad. Some time later, police stormed his house after finding a body they said was his daughter. Gomaa was accused of killing his own daughter and held in police custody, during which his lawyers said he was subjected to torture and intimidation, his wife was threatened with rape and his ex-wife and daughter were also illegally detained. Eventually, Gomaa confessed to murdering his daughter. But the police officers faced a slight problem later—Gihad reappeared after the false confession. Gomaa was cleared of murder charges by court in 1998.

Here’s a documentary produced by the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, where Gomaa speaks about his ordeal, narrating in details the torture techniques used on him and naming his torturers:

[Google Video Removed]

Meeting: Bloggers Against Torture

Posted on By 3arabawy

Bloggers are invited to attend a meeting on 17 March, at the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, 5pm, to discuss how to take the anti-torture campaign forward.
The office is located at 2 Maarouf Street’s intersection with Talaat Harb Street, Fourth Floor, Downtown Cairo.

From 5pm to 7pm:
Lawyers Ahmad Seif al-Islam and Tarek Khater will speak on:
1-Torture in Egyptian and international legislations
2-The legal impediments in documenting torture
The talks will be followed by a discussion.

From 7pm to 9pm:
Four bloggers will speak about:
1-How to provide blogs with legal documents and cases
2- How to expand the cyber-outreach, and draw new bloggers to the anti-torture campaign
3- How to deal with the torture victims
4-How to create a mechanism for exchanging information and coordination
5-The role of human rights organizations in supporting bloggers and confronting torture
6-New approaches to uncovering and exposing the crimes of torture