Tag: nasserists

Free Hisham!

Posted on By 3arabawy
Hisham Kassem هشام قاسم

Via Reuters

The initial slander case against Kassem was brought on Sunday by Kamal Abu Eita, a former government minister and member of a committee tasked with recommending pardons.
Kassem initially refused cash bail, indicating in Twitter and Facebook posts on Sunday he felt the case was political.
“I am more honourable than Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and all his men and his regime,” he said.
Amin said Kassem’s lawyers had submitted a request for bail in a different form, but were surprised by a second case lodged against him alleging verbal assault of public employees while detained, which he described as fabricated, and the referral of both cases to trial.

Prison propaganda video

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Interior Ministry issued a new propaganda video, about how wonderful health care is inside prisons, that one wishes hospitals outside were as good, according to the video. This is not my sarcasm. This was literally said.

The video is what one would normally expect, of shiny clinics in prisons, clean facilities, and praise showered from “prisoners” on how ethically they are treated.

One thing that struck me though was seeing Samir Omar, the Sky News Arabia correspondent in Cairo, going on to give a propaganda speech in defense of the Interior Ministry.

Samir Omar

I haven’t been in touch with Samir for years, but at some point in my life he was a friend. From Nasserist activists’ ranks he went on to join Al-Jazeera and became its star Cairo correspondent for years, covering the Kefaya protests and the burgeoning scene of dissent. Samir was very brave journalist and sympathetic to grassroots activists and human rights defenders. It is a pity to see him hitting rock bottom.

It’s already disgusting he’s sold his soul to Sky News Arabia, the official mouthpiece of Arab counterrevolutions, but gosh! It was a shock to see him praising the same prisons he had reported for years on their brutality and horrors, prisons that housed (and still house) former friends of his!

To find out some good research into Sisi’s prisons, follow HRW and Nadeem Center.