We are all El-Siyad Bilal

El-Siyad Bilal

Unexpectedly the murder of Siyad Bilal began to echo in the media surprisingly comparing to other similar cases in Egypt. Many journalists and writers are speaking against what happened against Bilal and his murder. Youm 7 golden editor in chief Khaled Salah spoke about the matter surprisingly but of course he was not as shocking as our dear Bilal Fadel in Al Masry Al Youm who wrote about Bilal’s tragedy. Wael Kandel was also perfect in describing Bilal as the ugly duckling’s son. Amr Badr in original Dostor website wrote how easy to win the case of Siyad Bilal against the MOI and the regime.
Original Dostor website also proposed an initiative that Egyptians would go and pay their condolences to the family and also to encourage them in their war to restore Bilal’s rights. Bilal’s family currently is facing a huge pressure that allegedly reached to direct threats if they do not drop the case. His brother is reportedly suffering from some sort of conversion disorder after being detained for no reason while his mother is currently suffering from huge shock and was transferred to hospital. FYI Bilal’s brother in law was not tortured unlike what was claimed in some Salafist forums.

Bilal with his baby boy 

The ElBaradei campaign has proposed another powerful initiative : A saving book account for Siyad Bilal’s baby son and they have already donated by LE 5000 as a start. If you are interested in donating to the campaign , then you can call this number : 015-21543978. Siyad Bilal who used to work as a welder left a 1 years old baby and a wife he only married from a year ago !! This initiative is more than brilliant. On the Facebook there is that new page “We are El-Siyad Bilal, the martyr of torture”.
Officially the general prosecutor is investigating the matter.  The state security officer whose name was mentioned in the case reportedly did not show  in front of the general prosecutor as demanded by the law. In some Khaled Said Déjà vu aspects The general prosecutor says that Bilal was jailed two years , no reason was mentioned why he was jailed or even why this was mentioned “allegedly He was visiting the State security HQ in Alex to follow up his  parole, according to my knowledge this happens in Police stations !!”. We do not know if that was true or not up till now yet I think it is trivial. The head of forensics Dr. Sabae who became a household name after his shameful report about Khaled Said is insisting that Bilal did not die from torture nor he were tortured as I heard today  !!? Anyhow there will be another autopsy to Bilal’s body. Minister Abdel Salam Mahgoub who represents Bilal in the parliament said that torture till death is the style of our security apparatus !! 
It is not only a human rights crime from the first degree but also it can blow up the integrity of Alexandria bombing investigation , that old technique of torture till death forces its victims to confess what they had not done giving a chance for the real criminals to escape. Despite many Egyptians knew about this technique from very long time yet officially it was not widely proven to the world except in the huge fiasco of the MOI to find the real murderer behind the infamous Beni Mazar massacre. Up till now we do not know who killed all those people in one night in Upper Egypt , we fear that we end up to the same thing in Alexandria bombing in the same way.
On another side the murder of Siyad Bilal can affect negatively the efforts to combat the radical preaching of Salafists in Egypt , some of them are exploiting his murder as an attempt to attack “the government that is trying to satisfy the Christians using Bilal as a scapegoat because he was Muslim Salafist”. The Salafists are accusing the media of launching unjust war against , they just remind me currently with the right wing in the States and how they are trying to defend themselves after the shooting of Arizona. Of course the Salafists that are following the orders of the regime whether a religious obligation or for any other reason began to say that they will only pray that Bilal’s murderer goes to hell because any other reaction will lead to more blood !!! This is their expected reaction in front of the civil society initiatives to punish those who are responsible for his murder in the MOI.
The problem is not in the Egyptians Salafists but in the foreign Salafists , from couple of days ago I found Saudi Salafist preacher on twitter attacking the government , the Egyptian Christians and Egyptian Muslims alike because of the murder of Bilal. That Saudi Salafist will be more than shocked to know that the Egyptian unreligious parties and groups are protesting the murder of Bilal louder than the Egyptian Salafists. Here is a video for a protest held yesterday in Mansoura by the members of 6th April , NAC,Kafiya and Hamdeen Sabhi support group in solidarity with Bilal.

A solidarity stand with El-Siyad Bilal

I believe we must be blamed for the murder of Bilal as citizens , as citizens and as civil society NGOs because we know about this technique for a long time and yet we are acting as if there is nothing. I know that we are trying as much as we can but I hope that we continue to stand for Bilal as we have been standing for Khaled Said. This cycle of fear must be stopped now.

Bilal and his son 

I remember a shocking story once my granddad “May Allah bless his soul”told us in the 1990s following the bombing of that hotel “Europe” in Al Haram area. He knew that Palestinian grocer's family that has been living in Egypt as 1948 and one of that grocer’s sons was arrested right after the bombing. He owned a van similar to the one seen at the scene plus he was a Palestinian living in the same area and there were Israeli tourists among victims I think , thus he was a perfect catch. The man was arrested and tortured couple of days and then released after being sure that he had nothing to do with the bombing. Of course nobody cared about the physical or psychological pains he endured. If my memory is not weak , the Islamic Islamic group claimed responsibility of the attack. That Palestinian man’s family is not like Radwan El-Ogail’s clan and just like Bilal’s beard and religious beliefs were enough to suspect his involvement in Alexandria bombing, that man’s green van and Palestinian identity were enough to suspect his involvement in that attack.
Those State security forces who allegedly tortured them did not think for one moment that the son of Bilal may hate this country and this society to the level of harming it because of his father’s murder or that that Palestinian man may have the motive to participate in some terrorist attack to avenge for his humanity !!? I will not speak about the human feelings or religion beliefs because we are no longer dealing with normal human beings anymore.
I am afraid as long as any Egyptian has not got any connection from any kind , he or she can be the next El-Siyad Bilal , we are all El-Siyad Bilal in Egypt.

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