Tag: bloggers

VIDEOGATE: Torture videos to be investigated?

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received the following press release from the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession:

Public Prosecution Asks for Nasser Amin’s Testimony Concerning His Complaints against the Interior Minister


The South Cairo Prosecution on 23 November 2006 requested that lawyer Nasser Amin, Director of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession present himself at 10 am on Saturday, 25 November 2006 before the South Cairo Prosecution to give his testimony concerning the complaint he had filed against Egypt’s Interior Minister.
The mentioned complaint was filed regarding police officers subjecting citizens to torture in some police stations.
The complaint dates back to 17 November when Lawyer Nasser Amin filed a complaint to Egypt’s Prosecutor General calling for urgent and immediate action to put an end to impunity in torture crimes.
The mentioned complaint resulted from the monitoring of torture cases committed by policemen against citizens. One of the monitored incidents which took place at the Haram (Pyramids) police station was committed by an officer called Moustafa under the supervision of another officer called Hani where one officer photographs the other successively slapping a citizen on the face.
Another incident involved sexual assault against a citizen in a police station. The citizen was thrown on the floor and stripped naked while he was handcuffed.
One officer inserted what seemed like a wooden stick in the victims anus while the victim screamed: “Sorry, Pasha! Sorry, Pasha!” These are common phrases in Egyptian police stations.
The complaints was based on Article 64 of the Criminal Procedures Law which urges citizens who learn of a crime to inform public prosecution.
The complaint also pointed out that it is the responsibility of Egypt’s prosecutor general to take serious action to change Egypt’s image reflected in the accusation made by a number of international human rights organizations, as well as the United Nations, that Egypt and Egyptian policemen systematically commit torture during interrogations or otherwise.
It is the responsibility of the prosecutor general to pursue the perpetrators of torture crimes and take legal action against them in order to assure society and to prevent any public authority official from violating the Constitution and State laws, as well as ensure that they respect Egypt’s international obligations.
The complaint was accompanied by a CD containing the mentioned crimes.

UPDATE: Blogger Sharqawi is saying that a senior interior ministry official confirmed to Wael Abdel Fattah of the weekly Al-Fagr that the officer in one of the leaked videos (the one where an officer is slapping a citizen) is indeed part of the police force in one of the stations that follow the Giza Security Directorate.

UPDATE: Here’s Al-Fagr article:
جريدة الفجر

Rights groups say government is limiting Internet freedom

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily Star Egypt:

Members of the country’s blogging community have said there is a marked increase in the arrests and detainment of online writers expressing their views on religion and society.
Bloggers are being increasingly targeted by state authorities because they provide truthful accounts on events in contrast to state-owned media and press outlets, which often tend to distort the real story, blogger and journalist Hossam El-Hamalawy said.
“In today s Egypt, many journalists and reporters read the blogs before monitoring Egyptian press and media to find out what is happening in the country.

Ayoub released!

Posted on By 3arabawy

Ayoub (Ramy Siyam) was released in the early hours of the morning, after bloggers and political activists in Sharqiyya threatened to march on State Security’s office in Zagazig, where he was to be interrogated today.

UPDATE: Here’s an AP report on Ayoub’s release and Kareem’s detention renewal:

One Egyptian blogger released but another ordered detained for 2 more weeks
By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD
CAIRO _ An Egyptian blogger was released Thursday, four days after authorities detained him, but another blogger, first arrested earlier this month, has had his detention extended by more than two weeks, police and activists said.
Rami Siyam was detained in downtown Cairo early Sunday for questioning, a police officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Siyam has been running his blog since May 2005, posting material critical to the government including information on police torture and political opponents.
The officer did not say whether Siyam’s detention had any connection with anti-government items he had posted on his blog.
Fellow blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil, who was first arrested on Nov. 7, had his detention extended on Wednesday by 15 days, police said. Authorities would not say why he was arrested and why his detentions was extended.
Nabils’ friends had posted an item on the Internet that said he appeared to have been detained over an article he recently wrote on his blog dealing with Islam.
Amnesty International and media watchdog Reporters Without Borders have both criticized Egypt’s arresting of bloggers as restricting freedom of expression. the Paris-based RCF has included Egypt in “Enemies of the Internet” report issued this month.
The government has not issued any official comment.
Blogging took off in Egypt in 2004 at a time domestic political activists and the U.S. stepped up calls for political reform.
Last month, a handful of Internet bloggers reported that a group of young men had sexually harassed women at night in downtown Cairo in full view of police who did not intervene.
The bloggers, who claimed to have witnessed the attacks or spoken to witnesses, said the assailants were groups of young men and boys. They argued that the police’s failure to intervene was a sign of mismanagement and corruption in the force.
The government denied that such assaults took place and accused the bloggers of defaming Egypt.