Children of Yarmouk Refugees Camp Say They Are Hungry , Will The World Listen ?

Syrian activists launched online a twitter Hashtag campaign tonight called “#I_am_hungry” in Arabic trying to make the world pay attention to the human tragedy taking place at Yarmouk Refugees Camp in Damascus.
According to UNRWA it has been 87 days since the UN organization was able to fully distribute food in the camp.

It has now been 87 days since we have been able to complete a full food distribution in #Yarmouk camp. #SaveYarmouk
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 3, 2015

If You think that this is strange and you won’t believe it then check the sad and horrifying photos and videos taken by activist and citizen journalist Rami Al-Sayed.

Ladies standing queue to receive food in buckets at Yarmouk camp
earlier this month "Rami Al-Sayed" 

Here are video taken earlier this week at Yarmouk refugee camp.

Food Distribution at Yarmouk Camp

The second video is even worse where children gather the remains of the food in their buckets telling Mr. Al-Sayed with tiny voices that they got no food at home.

Help Karmooz Refugees , Do not Forget Them

Not less than 50 Syrian and Palestinian refugees are currently on a hunger strike since last February demanding their release from detention at Karmooz police station in Alexandria away from Egyptian media. Oh yes I knew about them through NGOs and foreign media not through local Egyptian media.

3-years old Hamza is detained with his 5 years
brother Omar and 1 year old sister Gori
along their mother "Karmooz Refugees"

The refugees have been in detention for more than 100 days after they attempted to immigrate illegally to Europe.

The tragedy started last 23 October 2014 when 74 refugees had left from Turkey by boat on 23 October aiming to reach Europe. Following a dispute between the smugglers, the refugees were left stranded on Nelson Island which is 4 km north of Abu Qir, Alexandria. After knowing what happened , The Center for Refugees Solidarity reported the incident to the Egyptian authorities in order to save the refugees.

On 1 November the Egyptian coast guards arrested those detainees and transferred them to Karmooz police station. On 5 November Egypt’s prosecutor general ordered their release.

The men's cell for refugees at Karmooz police station
"Karmooz Refugees" 

At the same time the National Security in Egypt issued an order to deport those refugees despite it is dangerous for both the Syrian and Palestinian refugees to return back to Syria.
Nevertheless the refugees were not released nor deported. They have been detained over 100 days in the police station. There are men , women, elderly as well children  who can not take it anymore.

Banksy in Gaza and Walls of Freedom seized in Egypt

Last Thursday internationally renowned graffiti and visual British artist Banksy revealed his latest artworks in Gaza, Palestine. Oh Yes Banksy was in Gaza and he left one hell of a trace there.

Make this year you discover a new destination.

And here are the graffiti paintings. Aside remark : I do not think that he crossed the tunnels to Gaza through Rafah.

It is more about Sadism Than Animal Cruelty “+18”

Today Egyptian social media woke up to find yet another shocking video going viral. That video shows the brutal beating and stabbing of a dog till death by three grown ups. Here is a the video , it is extremely graphic. “+18”

Post by Ibrahim Ahmed.

The story of that poor dog is as follows. In working class semi-rural Shubra El-Kheima city,  a young man had a nasty fight with two brothers in Al-Ahram street. The young man brought his big dog to the fight where it attacked the two brothers and a man who had nothing to do with the fight. The

Late Max with his owner OSHA "OSHA Facebook page"

dog’s owner escaped the scene for fear of those two brothers’ anger. The Brothers and the man sued the dog’s owner who was sentenced one year in jail for attack and assault. This  week the dog’s owner returned back to Al-Ahram street and asked his enemies for reconciliation so they can drop the lawsuit and subsequently the prison sentence. The brothers asked for one thing : To kill the dog in front of everybody in the street so they could restore their pseudo-prestige after being humiliated by a dog. The dog’s owner agreed and we had that video.
As we live in the age of the social media , his owner was identified.
Of course the owner of the dog is trying to save his ass. He is the most hated person in Egypt now. After all he gave up the dog that saved his ass. Anyhow he published his status on his Facebook page.

What more can We say ??

Today Cairo Criminal court has said its final word in the retrial of Alaa Abdel Fattah and other protesters aka The Shura Council Shura retrial. Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman “Noby” were sentenced to 5 years in prison and a fine of LE 100,000 in addition to five years on probation for illegal protesting.

Other 18 defendants in the case including Constitution Party Member Hany El-Gamal , Dr. Yahia Abdel Shafei and Mohamed Sami were sentenced to 3 years in prison and a fine of LE 100,000 plus 3 years on probation. The court has also decided to uphold the original in-absentia 15-years in jail against four defendants who did not show up in court.

I do not know what to say or how to comment on such travesty as Ahdaf Soueif, Alaa’s aunt and prominent Egyptian writer described it. I do not know what to say for real more than what I have against the military trials for trials on that day in November !!

After hearing the verdict "Heba El-Kholy" 

already said or written about that particular case since covering that protest

Some speculate that Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will issue a presidential pardon and release Alaa and other protesters according to his speech on Sunday. Last Sunday Egypt’s president said in his first long-monthly speech that “innocent youth” currently in prison would be released within days as he promised a group of young journalists from his supporters in January.

Personally I do not feel that this pardon will include Alaa because Alaa is not from that type of pseudo-activists who would thank the president and praise him for his generosity.

When Good Middle Class boys become Bad and Join IS !!

And once again Islam Yaken is back to the news and media in Egypt. Last week the New York Times published an interesting profile and video report about ISIS hipster Egyptian spokesperson Islam Yaken and his life in Egypt featuring two of his friends and once again the debate on why the good Middle Class boys join the Islamic State militant group is back.

Yeah we are back to this old debate.

Of course it did not stop at the NY Time’s feature as IS’ PR media machine could not waste this opportunity. From couple of days ago Yaken announced on his twitter account that one of his close friends in Egypt  joined him in ISIS.

Islam and Mahmoud , Now and then
2010 in Cairo and 2015 in Levant 

That friend is yet another good middle class boy 24-years old Mahmoud Ghandour who joined Yaken in their pseudo-caliphate.The faculty of law graduate and the former football referee in the second degree football league in Egypt appeared in the NY Times video in the 2:97 minute where he and Yakan spoke about women.

Interestingly El-Ghandour was known to journalists who were doing profiles and reports about the ISIS social media face Yaken as he had a contact with his friend.

Despite he appeared not to having a problem in speaking to journalists at first, he said he did not want to speak later to them. He even warned and advised them to stay away from him and from Islam.
A quick bio about Yaken based on his social media profiles , he used to be a normal Egyptian Middle Class young man who loved music and women till Mid 2013 when he began to share Pro-IS views.