Egypt's prosecution ordered on Wednesday the release of famous Egyptian human rights lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali on LE 1,000 bail. It also referred him at the same time to misdemeanor court to be tried next 29 May on "making an obscene act on a public street" !!
The potential presidential candidate spent the night in custody at Dokki police station after the order of the prosecution ordered to detain him for 24 hours pending further investigations in an unprecedented move when it comes to misdemeanor according to lawyers.
The famous lawyer and founder of leftist "Bread and Liberty Party" is accused by famous lawyer Samir Sabry of giving the middle finger to his opponents in the street in January during celebrating his victory in Tiran and Sanafir lawsuit in front of State Council.
Following the historical Supreme AdministraCourtcourt verdict to reject the current Egyptian government's appeal appeal against the administrative court ruling annulling the Egyptian-Saudi deal to redraw maritime deal,a photo emerged online showing the famous lawyer giving the middle finger "the Egyptian style" to his opponents while he was being held on the shoulders of his protesters.
Some say the photo was genuine and it was one for a less than a second.
Others say it was a "photoshopped" fake photo and he did not give the middle finger to anyone.
Needless to say, the Pro-regime media went mad and used that alleged photo to smear Khaled Ali who won huge popularity following the verdict.
Ignoring the implication and the importance of the Supreme administrative court, the regime media portrayed the longtime leftist activist as rude and vulgar with no decency.
In the same month in January, the very active concerned citizen and lawyer Samir Sabry reported Ali to the prosecution for "making an obscene act on a public street".
Then the prosecution summoned Ali on Tuesday after 4 months to interrogate him then and surprisingly it ordered his detention 24 hours pending investigations.
Now there are two explanations or theories for what has happened to the leftist lawyer in the past 48 hours.
Khaled Ali who ran for presidential office in 2012 is one of the few names suggested to run once again for the presidency against Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the upcoming 2018 elections.
In the first stage of the 2012 presidential elections, Ali got 134,056 votes "0.58%" only in the votes
Still, his popularity grew hugely as an independent civilian candidate after the Tiran and Sanafir lawsuits to the level that his ultra-leftist views are completely ignored.
If Ali is found guilty by the misdemeanor court then he will be disqualified right away of running for the office.
Yes, he can appeal if he is found guilty but till the appeal is accepted and he wins the case, he can not run for the office.
Ironically Ali has not officially declared that he will run for the office yet.
In fact, in an interview with BBC Arabic in June 2016, the lawyer stated he did not intend to run in the upcoming 2018 elections wondering at the same time if Egypt was going to have any presidential elections in the future at all.
Still, his name is always mentioned as he showed huge political maturity in Tiran and Sanafir crisis in the past few months that made him gain lots of fans.
Many believe that what happened in the past 48 hours is an attempt to get rid of a potential presidential candidate.
It is worth to mention that Ali's detention came as there is an ongoing huge crackdown against young Egyptian activists especially party's members above them Khaled Ali's own "Bread an Liberty party".
In the past three weeks, not less than 28 Egyptian activists and opposition parties members were arrested throughout the country for a number of strange like owning books, believing in Mohamed ElBaradei's thoughts and attacking the regime
in men's only closed Facebook group !!
I can't ignore the fact this is happening as the parliament is getting ready to discuss and most probably pass the Tiran and Sanafir agreement starting next week.
Personally, I believe someone is getting trying from that lawyer who has been giving the government hard time since the time of Mubarak.
The Khaled Ali hashtag in Arabic has been active in Egypt for several hours. Also, Ali's supporters launched "The popular campaign to support Khaled Ali for president 2018" on Facebook and it gained followers in no time.
We will see what happens next week inshallah.
In that BBC interview in June 2016, Ali stated that he was ready to go to jail because of Tiran and Sanafir.
I am worried that that may happen after all.
 |
| Ali in custody on Tuesday by Mohamed El-Raai |
The potential presidential candidate spent the night in custody at Dokki police station after the order of the prosecution ordered to detain him for 24 hours pending further investigations in an unprecedented move when it comes to misdemeanor according to lawyers.
The famous lawyer and founder of leftist "Bread and Liberty Party" is accused by famous lawyer Samir Sabry of giving the middle finger to his opponents in the street in January during celebrating his victory in Tiran and Sanafir lawsuit in front of State Council.
Following the historical Supreme AdministraCourtcourt verdict to reject the current Egyptian government's appeal appeal against the administrative court ruling annulling the Egyptian-Saudi deal to redraw maritime deal,a photo emerged online showing the famous lawyer giving the middle finger "the Egyptian style" to his opponents while he was being held on the shoulders of his protesters.
Some say the photo was genuine and it was one for a less than a second.
Others say it was a "photoshopped" fake photo and he did not give the middle finger to anyone.
Needless to say, the Pro-regime media went mad and used that alleged photo to smear Khaled Ali who won huge popularity following the verdict.
Ignoring the implication and the importance of the Supreme administrative court, the regime media portrayed the longtime leftist activist as rude and vulgar with no decency.
In the same month in January, the very active concerned citizen and lawyer Samir Sabry reported Ali to the prosecution for "making an obscene act on a public street".
Then the prosecution summoned Ali on Tuesday after 4 months to interrogate him then and surprisingly it ordered his detention 24 hours pending investigations.
Now there are two explanations or theories for what has happened to the leftist lawyer in the past 48 hours.
Khaled Ali who ran for presidential office in 2012 is one of the few names suggested to run once again for the presidency against Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the upcoming 2018 elections.
In the first stage of the 2012 presidential elections, Ali got 134,056 votes "0.58%" only in the votes
Still, his popularity grew hugely as an independent civilian candidate after the Tiran and Sanafir lawsuits to the level that his ultra-leftist views are completely ignored.
If Ali is found guilty by the misdemeanor court then he will be disqualified right away of running for the office.
Yes, he can appeal if he is found guilty but till the appeal is accepted and he wins the case, he can not run for the office.
Ironically Ali has not officially declared that he will run for the office yet.
In fact, in an interview with BBC Arabic in June 2016, the lawyer stated he did not intend to run in the upcoming 2018 elections wondering at the same time if Egypt was going to have any presidential elections in the future at all.
Still, his name is always mentioned as he showed huge political maturity in Tiran and Sanafir crisis in the past few months that made him gain lots of fans.
Many believe that what happened in the past 48 hours is an attempt to get rid of a potential presidential candidate.
It is worth to mention that Ali's detention came as there is an ongoing huge crackdown against young Egyptian activists especially party's members above them Khaled Ali's own "Bread an Liberty party".
In the past three weeks, not less than 28 Egyptian activists and opposition parties members were arrested throughout the country for a number of strange like owning books, believing in Mohamed ElBaradei's thoughts and attacking the regime
in men's only closed Facebook group !!
I can't ignore the fact this is happening as the parliament is getting ready to discuss and most probably pass the Tiran and Sanafir agreement starting next week.
Personally, I believe someone is getting trying from that lawyer who has been giving the government hard time since the time of Mubarak.
The Khaled Ali hashtag in Arabic has been active in Egypt for several hours. Also, Ali's supporters launched "The popular campaign to support Khaled Ali for president 2018" on Facebook and it gained followers in no time.
We will see what happens next week inshallah.
In that BBC interview in June 2016, Ali stated that he was ready to go to jail because of Tiran and Sanafir.
I am worried that that may happen after all.
Breaking news. Check the usual sources to confirm: In Egypt, Sunni Muslims murder 26 Coptic Christians.
ReplyDeleteZ, you wrote about an "Egyptian style" middle finger gesture. How does it differ with the well-known middle-finger-raised FU that is used throughout the Anglosphere?
ReplyDelete"In some Arab countries, especially Egypt, the middle finger is lowered towards the palm and pointed towards someone, while all other fingers are kept straight. It could be considered the opposite movement of the tradition middle finger gesture, but it serves the same purpose and meaning." This must be what you're talking about when you say "Egyptian style" middle finger. Is that right? I feel like I'm talking to myself. :(
ReplyDelete