Tag: 6 april 2008

I received the following announcement:

Coordinating Committee for Trade Union and Workers’ Rights and Liberties
Egyptian Demonstrators’ Defense Front*
Press Conference
The coordinating committee and the Egyptian demonstrators’ defense front cordially invite you to a press conference to listen to the testimonies of journalists and media people who have witnessed the Mahalla events. A short film will be shown of an interview with the family of one of the martyrs of Mahalla.
Join us
Wednesday, 16th of April 2008, at 11 a.m. at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center
1 Suq El Tawfikeyya street – 5th floor

* Organizations in the defense committee:
Hisham Mubarak law Center, Nadim Center, El Helali alliance for liberties (Bar association), Group of democratic lawyers, Helaly foundation for liberties, Association for freedom of thought and expression, Egyptian association for development of community participation, center for trade union and workers services, human rights association for rights of prisoners, human rights legal aid group, Arab center for the independence of the judiciary and legal profession, Sons of the land association, coordinating committee for trade union and workers rights and liberties, association of justice supporters, freedom committee at El Tagamuu party, Arab organization for criminological reform, Arab foundation for the support of civil society and human rights, El Mahalla lawyers’ committee, Center for Egyptian Women’s Issues.

Emergency phone lines for the citizens of Mahalla to request legal help are posted here.

The lawyers are also calling on the families of the detainees and eyewitnesses help them document the numbers of those kidnapped by the police. And I’m personally requesting the help of anyone in Egypt in trying to locate Ghazl el-Mahalla labor activists Kamal el-Fayoumi, Kareem el-Beheiry, and Tarek el-Senoussi, and James’ translator Muhammad Maree. The Interior Ministry keeps moving the detainees around prisons, and I still haven’t learned up till now where those four are kept.

The physical safety of a detainee in Mubarak’s police custody is always a function of outside interest. The risk of torture and/or ill treatment against those four, as well as the rest of the detainees, will depend on how much they are visited by lawyers and how often do we blog about them and update the public on their situation. The colleagues who are running the HMLC, Tadamon and April 6th Strike blogs, are doing great efforts in keeping track of the detainees, but any extra help would be appreciated.

Messages of solidarity continue to arrive:

Statement of Solidarity with Egyptian Workers
10 April 2008
CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee Condemns Attacks on Striking
Egyptian Workers
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario International Solidarity Committee strongly condemns the latest round of repression by the Egyptian government against workers and protesters in El-Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta.
Eyewitness statements from workers, human rights, and solidarity organizations in Egypt indicate that thousands of workers and their families have been targeted by government troops in the area. At least two protesters have been killed by security forces, over 300 workers arrested, and the area placed under siege.
The repression follows a courageous call for a one-day general strike, originating in El-Mahalla, and supported widely by workers, human rights groups, and political organizations across the country. El Mahalla Factory is one of the largest textile factories in the Middle East.
CUPE stands firmly with our Egyptian brothers and sisters in their fight against neo-liberalism and state repression. We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release all those arrested in the last few days, particularly children. The Egyptian government must immediately cease the practice of torture in detention and bring to justice all those involved in human rights abuses. Furthermore, we call on the government to respect the right to strike and organize, and for workers at El Mahalla to be
granted a livable wage and decent working conditions.
CUPE International Solidarity Committee urges its members to send messages of protest to Egyptian officials in Canada as well as emails of support to the striking workers. We note the call by workers for further strike action on May 4th and will continue to stand in solidarity with all workers in the region.
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Subject: protest at arrests of 7 April
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:49:28 +0100
From: Liz Davies
To: etembuk@hotmail.com
The Egyptian Ambassador
26 South Street,
London W1K 1DW
14 April 2008
Dear Sir
I am writing on behalf of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers to protest against the mass arrest of trade unionists, human rights campaigners, and opposition activists in Egypt on Monday 7 April 2008.
We are concerned by reports that trade unionists Kareem el-Beheiri has been subject to beatings by police officers while in detention at Tanta.
We are also concerned by the images coming out of Malhalla which show violent and aggressive policing, including the use of force to prevent lawyers from attending to those who have been arrested and the use of live ammunition against demonstrators.
None of these practices would be acceptable in any democracy.
We call on the Egyptian government to release immediately all the remaining detainees.
Yours sincerely
Liz Davies
Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
PO Box 57055 London EC1P 1AF
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From within the belly of the beast of imperialism, we workers and youth send you our solidarity and revolutionary enthusiasm as you struggle against the bosses and the forces of state repression in order to better the lot of your toil. In Egypt you are faced with rising food prices that are starving your families. Here in the United States we face steep rises in the price of food as well. Yes! Even in the richest country in the world, decrepit capitalism cannot provide all the producers of its wealth with adequate sustainance. In Egypt, you are struggling against the bosses who are demanding every drop of sweat from your labor, and they demand it on the cheap. Here, too, despite the super-profits the capitalists already posses, our working hours rise while our wages and conditions have not improved since the 1970s. In every country, from the richest to the poorest, rotten capitalism can only maintain itself by exploiting the working class at ever greater levels. And what does capitalism give us in return? It gives us war, crisis, instability and misery. No more! The only way our class can improve its conditions of life is to wage a determined struggle against the class enemy, and not just to struggle to wring concessions and reforms from the exploiters, but with the ultimate aim of ending their rule once and for all. In this struggle the workers of all countries have only one ally – ourselves!
in Solidarity,
Workers International League, St. Louis branch, USA
Timothy Kaminski, United Auto Workers union
Nikhil Kothegal, American Federation of Teachers union
David May, Branch secretary
Josh Lucker, Treasurer
Stephani Goesmann, student
Ryan Wagener, store worker
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solidarietà con i lavortori egiziani!
Ilaria Lolini
Rifondazione comunista
Italia
—
Dear Egyptian friends and comrades,
I want to express, on behalf of my trade Union (FIOM-CGIL), our full and
warm solidarity to the workers and inhabitants of Mahalla, victims of
repression for their just struggle to better their life and work conditions.
Peaceful demonstrations and strikes are, also at international level, the
legitimate tools, for citizens and workers to demonstrate their wish for
change, for a better life and work, for implementing rights and democracy.
We fully support your struggle and request urgently the immediate release of
the detainees, arrested durng the demonstrations; the end of Mahalla siege
and a serious investigation in order to find out and punish the responsible
of the casualties.
Please, keep us updated about the development of the events
Greetings in solidarity
Alessandra Mecozzi
International Secretary Fiom-Cgil
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