Ali Fetouh, a leading independent trade unionist at the Cairo Public Transport Authority, whose role was central to their 2009 and February 2011 strikes, will show up on 7 May at a penal court at the State Council, accused of “agitating for strikes and publicly talking about the problems of workers in the media.”
And they tell you “Mission Accomplished” and Egypt’s workers are free now? Tell that to Ali Fetouh!
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| From SS Officers |
One of the photos I found on the Nasr City SS DVDs belonged to Brigadier General Ahmad el-Azzazi.
Azzazi was in charge of the “Trade Unions Bureau” in the dissolved State Security Police, which was involved in monitoring, arrest and torture of activists within labor unions and professional syndicates. Azzazi is a familiar face for many of us. He personally supervised the suppression of pro-democracy and Palestine solidarity demonstrations in downtown Cairo, attended by left wing activists involved in the labor movement and syndicates.
Azzazi, moreover, took part in Black Wednesday, 25 May 2005, when National Democratic Party thugs sexually attacked women reporters and activists in broad day light, under the protection of and in coordination with the police.
Azzazi’s name was also mentioned in a corruption case related to the education ministry. He was among police officers who received financial rewards from then Education Minister Ahmad Zaki Badr, allocated from the education ministry’s budget, after they helped put down protests by the ministry’s civil servants on 16 January 2011, roughly one week before the outbreak of the revolution.
I personally saw Azzazi only once, during a pro-democracy protest in front of the Lawyers Syndicate, in 2005. He was then standing together with SS Colonel Sherif el-Qamati, of the Counter-Communism Bureau.
Interestingly, there are two more members of the Azzazi family who are part of the dissolved SS, according to the SS family tree compiled by Moftasa: Lt. Colonel Khaled el-Azzazi and Colonel Hosni el-Azzazi. But no information is available yet on them.
So, where is Brigadier Ahmad el-Azzazi now? Is he being investigated? Is he in prison? Or is he part of the musical chairs game the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is playing.
هاها الجزيرة مباشر جايبين نقيب الفلاحين .. بيقول مطالب هايلة. كلمهم جزار قال والله انتم حمستونا نعمل نقابة .. اديلووو
— Haisam (@jarelkamar) April 16, 2011