Tag: pigs

Farmers ‘scared to talk’ about land tax arrests

Posted on By 3arabawy

A report from Michaela Singer:

It’s a long drive from Cairo to Janaklisse, but going deep into the countryside has no bearing on the long arm of corruption.
After Sunday’s arrests of 1,230 farmers in the suburbs of Beheira on charges of tax evasion, the presence of journalists in the village of Janaklisse made farmers twitchy, fearing they might well have been state security.
One farmer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, spoke of his experience of tax round-up day.
“I own two feddans and manage one feddan owned by my neighbor, as he is in Saudi Arabia.” His neighbor, Mazen Bayoumi, was not in the country when the police knocked at his door. Instead of waiting until he returned, they arrested his neighbor.
“They’ll do anything to get the money. Our land taxes fluctuate between LE 18 and LE 28, depending on the type of land and its fertility.”
However, Bayoumi’s neighbor explained that he had already paid off his debts. “I now have three court cases against me, claiming that I have not paid taxes for the years of 2004-2006. These are court cases I was never even told about until my arrest. However, I have receipts proving that I have paid.
“From what I could see at the police station — and I was there from 3 pm until midnight — it seemed most farmers are in the same situation. Those that owed money had to pay bail of LE 20.”
So why exactly have farmers been taken to court on what are effectively redundant charges?
“The problem lies with the tax collector,” continues Bayoumi’s neighbor. “If we do not pay immediately, we are permitted to wait until harvest season, when we will have the money to pay any outstanding debts. But when we do pay, our outstanding taxes are not cancelled.”
Sitting in the farmer’s small living room-cum-bedroom with his friend and father, there was unanimous agreement that the fault lay with the tax-collector.
“He’s often under pressure from superiors to make cases against farmers.
He might have a quota to fulfill, or bribes to pay further up the bureaucratic ladder. Many farmers pay bribes to get the tax collector off their back, which is of course what he wants.”
On arrival at the station, Bayoumi’s neighbor informed police that, having previously paid taxes, he would be making a defense. Despite having a copy of the receipt in his hand, he was told he must attend a court hearing to present his defense.
In the meantime, his land, equipment and livestock have been requisitioned, which means that although the farmer is still responsible for running the farm, the land is in an effective state of confiscation until the farmer pays up.
Many tax collectors, as in our farmer’s case, neither inform farmers that their land has been requisitioned, nor do they inform their superiors when this requisition ought to be lifted.
Eventually, should a farmer fail to pay or fail to prove that taxes have been paid, their land and belongings will be sold.
Moving on from Bayoumi’s land, myself and my companion ask to speak to other farmers and their experiences of the land tax. However, many are scared to talk.

Amnesty slams Mubarak for illegal detention of thousands and repression of strikes

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt:

The Ministry of Interior holds around 18,000 administrative detainees in “degrading inhumane conditions,” Amnesty International said in its 2008 report on human rights in Egypt.
“Some had been held for more than a decade, including many whose release had been repeatedly ordered by courts,” the report said.
The report said the conditions in which these detainees are held are cruel. It said hundreds were reportedly ill with tuberculosis, skin diseases and other ailments.
The report, which was released Wednesday, also stated that Egyptian nationals suspected of terrorism “who had been unlawfully transferred to Egypt by other governments,” also remained in prison.
It criticized the constitutional amendments that were “rushed” through parliament in March 2007 as “the most serious setback for human rights since the state of emergency was introduced in 1981.
“The amendments cemented the sweeping powers of the police and entrenched in permanent law emergency powers that have been used systematically to violate human rights, including prolonged detention without charge, torture and other ill-treatment, restrictions on freedom of speech, association and assembly, and grossly unfair trials before military courts and special emergency courts,” the report said.
The report said that torture is “widespread and systematic” and that it led or contributed to at least 20 deaths in 2007. It said that the few prosecutions of alleged tortures were not related to political cases and were usually in cases where the victim died.
The report cited the Emad El-Kabir case as one of the “rare successful prosecutions” of an alleged torturer; the two officers implicated in the case were sentenced to three years in prison.
On the issue of violence, the report cited statistics by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) saying that two women were being raped every hour in Egypt, which has witnessed an increase of sexual harassment and sex crimes. ECWR had said that only 12 percent of the 2,500 women who reported sexual harassment to the center took their cases to the police.
Amnesty also noted the increase in the number of strikes taking place across the country, althoughEgyptian law deems them “illegal” and “unauthorized” by the state-sponsored General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU).
The strikes, the report explained, “sparked by rising living costs, growing poverty and other grievances, coincided with political protests by the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition force, and secular opposition groups campaigning for democratic reforms. Political activists, journalists and bloggers were jailed for peacefully expressing their views.”
In response to the wave of strikes, the report continued, the authorities increased the “repression of trade unionists as well as NGO activists.”

Mass arrests of farmers in Beheira villages

Posted on By 3arabawy

A report by Michaela Singer:

Over 1,230 farmers have been arrested in the past two days in Aboul Matamir in Beheira governorate, accused of failing to pay agricultural land taxes (known as the attyan tax) on time.
According to the Solidarity Committee of Egyptian Farmers, arrests began on the morning of May 24 and continued for two days.
Owners and renters in the villages around Aboul Matamir, including Janaklisse and El Ashartalaf, were shocked on Sunday morning when they were faced with a massive police presence administered by state security.
The police and security services continued to launch mass arrests on the basis that farmers were late in paying their clay taxes.
According to local farmers, the arrests were carried out “chaotically” and “indiscriminately,” without security paying attention to whether those arrested had a ruling against them.
The ruling to arrest the 1,230 farmers was taken in their absence. Farmers also claim that no notice was given for their arrest nor of the court ruling against them.