msm archives — Page 33 of 36

Al-Jazeera reporter trial lacks fair standards, rights groups say

Posted on 08/03/200726/12/2020 By 3arabawy

I received the following update from HR-INFO on the trial of Al-Jazeera’s Howeida Taha:

The session yesterday including watching small parts of the 16 tapes that were confiscated on 8 January 2007 claiming that these tapes included acting scenes that Al-Jazeera is planning to broadcast and destroy the reputation of Egypt. The court then asked to hear the witnesses presented by the State Security Prosecutor. The defense requested the session to be postponed for the defense to discuss some of the witnesses and some officers of the Ministry of Interior who were interviewed by Howayda Taha during here preparation for the documentary. In addition, the defense wanted to bring in some of the doctors who were interviewed. The judge refused any of these requests and postponed the case to 28 March to hear the defence statements and disregarding defense requests!
The three human rights organizations announced their fears that standards for a just trial would not be respected in this case. Without these fulfilling the requests of the defense team, it would be difficult to prepare a strong defense that is based on discussion with witnesses and experts. Their statements might change the way the case is heading. In addition, the court refused to watch the tapes completely in order to guarantee that the tapes really destroy the reputation of the country or not, especially that the material in the tapes is still unedited.
It is worth mentioning that while discussing the witnesses, it appeared that there has been contradictions in the statement of one of the state security officer who took the witness stand upon the request of the prosecutor. The witness is supposedly the one who carried the investigation for this case. His answers varied from a strong belief that the material on the tapes are fabricated to him saying in the same session that he was not sure of Howayda Taha’s time of travel and that he was surprised that the material in the tapes are fabricated after he watched it with millions of others on a Television after copies of the tape were leaked in a controversial manner!

Call for solidarity with Howaida Taha

Posted on 04/02/200716/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I received the following statement:

Call for Solidarity with Howaida Taha
Wednesday 7 February 2007
9 a.m.
Heliopolis Court – Nozha
A court session has been scheduled for Ms. “Howaida Taha” from El Jazeera satellite channel at 9 a.m. at Heliopolis court (El Mahkama square).
Ms. Taha was arrested from Cairo airport when she was about to travel. State security prosecution interrogated her and kept her in custody for 2 days before releasing her on a bail of 10.000 Egyptian pounds. It is known that Ms. Taha was, before her arrest, preparing a number of programs and documentaries on torture in Egypt in general and in police stations in particular. In doing so she collected some of the torture incidents published on the internet as well as interviewed several organizations and individuals active against torture.
In defense of freedom of publication and expression as a basic human rights and in view of our belief in the role of the press and media in protecting human rights by exposing its violations, we call upon all human rights organizations and activists to express solidarity with Ms. Taha and attend the court sessions.
Signatories
Association for freedom of thought and belief
Arab network for human rights information
Egyptian association against torture
Nadim Center for rehabilitation of victims of violence
Hisham Mubarak Law Center

Photographers protest police harassment

Posted on 03/02/200729/03/2021 By 3arabawy

Around 30 Egyptian photographers assembled today in front of Press Syndicate in downtown Cairo, to protest police assaults against them while covering demos, and to condemn the recent draconian decree by the Parliament Speaker to ban photographers from taking shots during sessions, after Al-Masry Al-Youm published a picture of PM Ahmad Nazif eating watermelon seeds while a parliamentary session was proceeding. The photographers laid down their cameras in one line on the floor, and sat in silence in front of them for an hour, carrying banners denouncing police brutality that read: “Our Cameras Expose Your Abuses.”

The protesters were all Egyptians either working for foreign news wire services like AP, Reuters, DPA, or to independent publications like Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Wafd, Al-Osbou’, Sawt el-Umma, Al-Watani, Al-Karama, Al-Fagr, Al-Ahrar… and more interestingly, representatives from the state-owned publications also showed up including photographers from Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Gomhorriya, State Radio & TV Magazine, and the govt-owned Middle East News Agency. I was told after the demo was over that even a photographer from the NDP’s Al-Watani Al-Youm showed up!

The Press Syndicate council member Muhammad Abdul Quddous, who attended the protest, denounced the government attacks on photojournalists. He also announced that parliamentary affairs correspondents were planning to boycott covering parliament news if the banning decree against photographers is not retracted. No date for the start of the boycott has been announced yet.

Here’s a report by Paul Schemm:

Egypt photographers protest ousting from parliament
CAIRO, 3 Feb (AFP) – Egypt’s news photographers staged a protest in downtown Cairo on Saturday protesting their exclusion from parliament following the snapping of an unflattering picture of the prime minister eating watermelon seeds.
Some 30 photographers from Egyptian newspapers and international wire agencies laid their cameras out on the steps of the Journalists’ Syndicate and carried banners reading, “We are your lens, don’t shut us out” and, “Our cameras reveal your violations.”
The photographers were also protesting what they describe as persistent police attacks on them while carrying out their job, with many having their cameras taken away or smashed. They described their exclusion from parliament as only the latest assault on their profession.
During Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif’s visit to parliament on Tuesday, a photographer from the independent daily Al-Masri Al-Youm snapped a picture of him eating peanuts and watermelon seeds during the session.
The following day, Speaker of Parliament Fathi Sorour ordered that photographers would now be banned from parliament save for a brief five minute shoot each session.
The Egyptian press, especially the opposition papers, delight in printing pictures of MPs arguing, talking on their cell phones or sleeping in the course of sessions.
“Five minutes will not be enough for us to do our job,” photographer Mahmud Shoeib of the state-owned daily Al-Gomhuriya told the Egyptian Gazette. “Sessions can get heated at any moment.”
Photographers are often targeted by policemen or plainclothes enforcers during demonstrations.
In the 2005 legislative elections, Associated Press photographer Amr Nabil lost an eye when he was struck by a brick thrown by a member of the security services.

Here’s a photo I took of Amr Nabil, the AP’s brave photographer

The very gifted photographer Nasser Nouri, who has been kindly sharing his pix with 3arabawy and The Arabist blogs, and who suffered on a number of occasions from police brutality during demos, was also present.

The protest finished shortly after 12 noon. I later met Al-Masry Al-Youm’s investigative journalist and dear friend Ali Zalat, who was interrogated yesterday by the North Giza Prosecutor as a witness in the case of Imbaba’s Videogate.

Ali’s friends were concerned for his safety yesterday as he was being followed by police agents from the Imbaba Police Station when coming out from the Prosecutor’s building. There were even false rumors he was detained, that’s why several concerned friends were in touch with Ali over the phone as he finally departed the Prosecutor’s building safely, in the company of the EOHR lawyers shortly after 1am.