RIP Farouk Ibrahim

The Sheikh of Egyptian photographers 70 years old Farouk Ibrahim passed away today morning. Farouk Ibrahim who started his life as a teenage office boy at Akhbar Al Youm ended his life as the presidents and stars photographer.

Farouk Ibrahim with late Youssef El-Sabae in 1960s

He was the only photographer that worked with the three presidents “Nasser , Sadat and Mubarak”. One of his most famous photo collections is the one he took for President Sadat in his underwear and shaving. This collection made a huge controversy , a shock for the Egyptian people and President Sadat itself. Former first lady Jihan Sadat went ballistic when she saw the photos and wanted to punish Ibrahim yet Sadat stood in his side and consider those photos telling her that was an art she did not understand !!  By the way those photos online for President Sadat on the beach are not that collection.

One of the few shots of this collection I found online

Tomorrow Egyptians will return to Tahrir

There has been a rumor that strangely found its way in to mainstream media especially in radio stations and news websites. The rumor says the following :

     The coalition of January 25th revolution youth decided to postpone the million man protest in Tahrir square to next April 8th !!

1. There is nothing calling the coalition of January 25th youth
2. The protest will not be postponed , it will be held tomorrow in time !!

This rumor was heard in Nogoom FM and Radio Misr , Al Shorouk daily published it  then removed the news and then has claimed there are uncertain news about the protest.

Syrian Revolution : The Arab world is too small for you , lead the whole world then !!

Yesterday Bashar El Assad addressed the Syrian people from the Syrian parliament in his first public speech. a 40 minutes speech that was interpreted by hysterical applause and not less than 10 poems praising Bashar El Assad from members of the parliament aside from Bashar’s giggles from time to time for unknown reasons !!

Bashar El Assad's speech

This was by far the worst speech I have heard for Arab president during his country’s revolution. Bashar Al Assad as usual blamed foreign parties and reminded the people with Israel and Palestine again and again !!
Unlike what Farouk El-Shara’a claimed Bashar Al Assad did not announce any set of reforms in his speech . The only thing we know is that he learned more from the Tunisian revolution more than the Egyptian revolution because the Tunisian revolution is close to Syria because it happened due to economic reasons !! El-Assad revealed that he sent Syrian experts to Tunisia to learn from the Tunisian experience !!

Libyan Revolution : The Kussa Day

last Wednesday was the Kussa Day in Libya , Qaddafi’s FM and former spy chief Mussa Kussa has defected in London in the biggest slap to Qaddafi politically. This is a very big blow to Qaddafi with no doubt. No one can ignore that Qaddafi has former Nicaraguan FM and former UN general assembly president Miguel Brockaman to represent him at the UN !! Oh yes Nicaraguan !!
The military operations in Libya have turned in to some sort of chess game. Qaddafi troops have gained control on cities that the revolutionaries controlled before and vice versa.  Of course there will be a new level in the game now with Obama’s order to CIA to start the covert operations. Needless to say I think the covert operations have already started from a long time , this is a psychological media warfare , you do not launch a cover operation and announce it publicly like that
There are news Khamis Qaddafi is still alive as the Libyan TV aired some footage for him at Bab Al Aziziya. I have seen the footage though , I only saw this screencap.

The return of war criminal !!

Eman Obeidy is still in the minds and hearts of many people of the world. Eman’s family is extremely proud of her and they even celebrated her engagement to her cousin in Benghazi in some sort of defiant move to Qaddafi. From their side I have seen last night Hala Misrati on national Libyan TV claiming boldly that Eman were a prostitute , a whore and that the Qaddafi regime was working on a website that would expose her in video and photos !! so Eman is not crazy anymore !! I wanted to punch Hala Misrati in her face , seriously especially with her disgusting attack on the people of Benghazi calling God to curse them. 
Hala Misrati has become the Hanaa and Sayid Ali of Libya technically , from two days ago she interviewed a Syrian journalist Rana El-Akabany accused of helping the enemies aka the revolutionaries !! Terrible interviewer but Rana was strong.

Hala Misrati interrogates Rana El-Akabany

Angry Birds : Arab Revolution Edition

Rovio should make a special edition from Angry Birds

Three big pigs

Wonderful and amazing video.

Technorati Tags: #Jan25,Tunisia,Egypt,Libya,Politics,Video,Media,MENA,Mubarak,Ben Ali,Qaddafi,Gaddafi,Rovio,Revolutions,Arab

What are these pictures of Mubarak doing in this army building !!?

The Egyptian journalists were surprised to today to see the photos of Mubarak , the former president of Egypt at the army media center where Lt.General Mamdouh Shahin announced the second constitutional declaration.

Yes there are  photos of former president Mubarak  at the center. Here are quick shots by dear friend Mohamed Effat.

The National dialogue’s biggest challenge

Several TV channels were transferring on air tonight the first session of the “National dialogue” and many Egyptians followed it , some understood what is going on and some did not. It is not the first time to hear this term of “National dialogue” in Egypt whether before the revolution or during it. Simply it is a dialogue between the different political groups and powers in a country that suffers from some kind of turmoil , this is what I know and saw in other countries.
Before the revolution the official opposition parties used to have from time to time as part from the fake political life the Mubarak regime used to support. During the revolution Omar Soliman had this national dialogue and he invited some political groups and parties , some agreed to go and some refused. Nevertheless the national dialogue of Soliman was a fiasco , it was just doomed like his political career.
Now after February 11,2011 during the second Shafik’s cabinet Yahia El-Gamal was delegated to have this file “The National dialogue” but he failed to start that dialogue then. Now he is a member in the Dr. Essam Sharaf’s cabinet in the same position and with the same responsibilities including the National dialogue.This is in nutshell the history of the National dialogue
Tonight was the first sessions of the dialogue , many intellectuals and prominent personalities from different political powers and groups were there. Among those who attended without any arrangement and any title : Amr Moussa, Naguib Sawiris, Hisham El-Bastawisi , Tahany El-Gabali , Sakina Fouad, Galal Amin, Abdel Galil Mustafa, Abdel Ghafar Shukar, Amr Hamawzy, Akram Lami, Hany Aziz, George Isaac, Hassan Nafae, Essam El-Airan , Essam Sultan, Moaz Massoud and Hossam Badrawy.
You can after the break a clip from the dialogue from Egyptian TV

And we have got a constitutional Declaration

The constitutional declaration has been announced from an hour ago by general Mamdoh Shahin after huge delay we do not understand.
The Constitutional declaration will replace the constitution of 1971 till we have a new constitution. I am highlighting this info because it is very important to understand it.
The constitutional declaration is made of 63 articles including the 7 articles of the referendum. Many people wonder why we have not been asked about the rest of this declaration in this referendum. Already the army made it clear that there will be additional articles added to 7 article because again this is our mini constitution till we have a new constitution. It will organize our political and representative life during this time.
Here is the most important articles in the declaration : 

• Articles "1,2" : Egypt is a democratic state , it is based upon citizenship, its religion is Islam and its language is Arabic.  
• The Shura council's powers were reduced. Its term will be 6 years 
• The 50% labor and farmers in the parliament representation is still there. 
• The parliamentary term will be 5 years. 
• The president will be obliged to appoint a VP in 60 days of the start of his presidential term. 
• Article "4" : The freedom of having unions , syndications and parties according to Law , parties based on racial or religious background are not allowed. 
• Article "5" : All source of ownerships are supported in Egypt , our economy is based on economic activity and social justice. The rights of labor preserved. 
• Article "7" : All citizens are equal in front of the law , equal in duties and rights regardless of gender , religion and race. 
• Article "8" : Personal freedom is a natural right ,according to the law court order or prosecutor's order is needed for arrest or detention or inspection. 
• Article "9" : If a person is detained or imprisoned , he or she shall not be abused physically or emotionally and anything he or she says anything in previous circumstances or under a threat will be null. 

ONTV Website is hacked !!

ON TV website has been hacked by some anonymous hacker called A-Alexand.
Here is a screen cap for the website from a while ago

ON TV when it was hacked

The message left at the website says :

The marriage of power and money produces corruption , no for money exploitation to control power and politics .. Yes for Egypt free from corruption.

The hacker says that he acts individually. The song or rather Nasheed is Islamic style one despite there is no reference to religion in the message.
This message is related to the channel’s owner businessman Naguib Sawiris , it seems the hacker believes that he is another icon of corruption and should be punished. Naguib Sawiris for sure will fire back.

The Kill team : A New war crime in Afghanistan

Rolling Stones published a report about war crimes committed in Afghanistan committed by U.S army soldiers.

I have seen a lot of graphic photos and videos from around the Arab world since the beginning of the year still these photos are so sick as they show some humans smiling over and beside mutilated corpses of other humans !! Not to mention that they are the ones who killed and mutilated these humans.

Technorati Tags: America,Human rights,Politics,War,Media,National,U.S army,Afghanistan,Rolling stones

Egyptian X-file : The Sadat Assassination X-File is open again “1”

Mubarak and Sadat
On 6th of October 1981

When Mubarak stepped down , I wondered if the file of president Sadat’s assassination would be opened at all , this file is the mother of all Egyptian X-Files in time of Mubarak. I have opened couple of times this file here already whenever there is new information leaked from here and there during the Mubarak era. Despite the outside appearance makes it look like a solid straight assassination yet if you look carefully and begin to investigate it you will find a huge loop holes the official story can’t easily fill. 
Some people think that opening this file now is a distraction for files that matter . First of all this file is opened by the Sadat family who knows the truth and could not speak all those 30 years from fear. Second of all you can’t blame the media for covering this file , it is a gold mine for any investigative journalist.  Third I think it is not distraction up till now as the official media has not covered the case in its newspapers and channels except very shyly unlike private channels
I do not see any distraction , may be because I have followed this file very carefully and wished that it would be opened this way. The real distraction I believe is that talk about stability and economy using them to scare the people from any change.
Talaat Sadat , the president’s nephew paid the price heavily and spent a whole year in military jail for accusing Abu Ghazla in 2006 of involving in Sadat’s assassination because of the shady arms deals publicly on air. Despite Abu Ghazla left the service in a scandal , despite Sadat did not come from near or far then to the Egyptian army he was accused of insulting the Egyptian army !!
The outspoken lawyer and politician in the same year spoke in an interview with DPA correspondent then in Cairo Wael Abbas accusing Mubarak directly and demanding the ICC to investigate the matter as President Sadat is not less than former Lebanese PM Hariri. ‘Scroll to the English part’ Sooner Talaat found himself accused of insulting the army and Wael Abbas found himself without a job !!
Ayman Nour opened this file in 2008 and brought interesting stuff in our attention which he was in jail. The Sadat clan already hinted from near and far that there was something fishy about Sadat’s assassination.

Good Late News From AFC

The AFC has just posted its 30th MSG in its FB Page and it is very promising. The AFC has decided to revise the trial of Egyptian artist Amr Eissa whom I mentioned in my post yesterday.

I hope that the 31st MSG from AFC on its FB says that the council will revise Amr El-Behairy’s trial. I hope that 32nd MSG from AFC will apologize from what happened at Cairo university , I hope that 33rd MSG from AFC will address what happened exactly for our women protesters in detention with an apology and clear statement on why it happened like that.

I do not ask much.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Egyptian army,human rights,Politics,Amr El-Bahairy,Amr Eissa,Arts,Culture,Facebook,National

Syrian Revolution : Farouk El-Shara’a is fine and free but Latakia is not fine nor free !! “Graphic”

Syrian VP and famous former foreign minister Farouk El-Shara’a appeared today in Damascus to tell the Syrians and the world indirectly that he is fine and still Al Baath and Al Assad faithful man. Yesterday there was a powerful rumor in Syrian and outside that was confirmed by the famous Angry Arab. Farouk El-Shara’a is from Daraa.

Radwan

El-Shara’a said that the Syrian president is going to address the Syrian people soon either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or Thursday !! El-Shara’a reminds me with Amr Moussa.
The Egyptian ministry of foreign affairs and also the U.S State department are following the case of Mohamed Radwan. His father is already in Damascus and he is trying to get any update about his son. You can follow more updates about Mohamed Radwan through his brother’s twitter account Tarek Radwan. The news talk shows have covered the case of Radwan airing interviews with his mother and his cousin Tarek Shalaby. The family swears that Radwan is not a spy , he has never been to Israel.
Based on what we learned from the Arab revolutions and also based on the intelligence mindset of the Baath regime , any foreign with a mobile phone or a camera will be arrested. Two Reuters journalists were detained already in Syria and have been released already.

Regarding the rumor of the Day in Egypt

There is a rumor circulating like fire in the 48 hours thanks to Amr Adeeb who discussed it openly in his popular show “Cairo Today” : Salafists are going to kidnap unveiled ladies tomorrow till Camilla Shehata is set free on Tuesday March 29th!!
Adel Fakhary Daniel , the chairman of the upcoming Christian integrity party claimed that he knew from some source that the former State security officers were preparing with Salafist groups a series of attacks against unveiled ladies from the street in the Camilla Shehata million man protect next Tuesday !!

It is true that the Salafists are planning to have their own million man march to set Camilla Shehata free allegedly from the Church. For the record PM Essam Sharaf promised them to investigate the matter.

At the first real million man protest 

 

 

This provoking stupid rumor comes at time the Salafists are highly criticized for their views towards the state and the society especially after the emerging videos of their famous sheikhs like Hazem Shoman and Hussein Yaccoub.
Hussein Yaccoub’s infamous speech about the holy ballot boxes war , how the religion won over democracy and that those who does not like it then leave to the States and Canada was the first !! After huge criticism from influential personalities including religious figures like Amr Khaled “was against the constitutional amendments” led the Sheikh say on air that he was just laughing and that they “the Salafists” are the people of the other world , the world of judgment day.
For the record the referendum committee reported the practices of Salafists and their use of religion to the AFC along other actions whether from MB or from Church.

Libyan Revolution : Eman of Libya

Eman El-Obeidi has become of the one faces of Libyan revolution just like late Mohamed Nabbous . We do not know if she is alive or dead or rather was killed like what one of her cousin implied but still her proud mother told the reporters that she talked to her on the phone. Eman’s mother Mrs. Aisha Ahmed , the lady who lives currently in Tobruk revealed that the regime contacted her and offered money if she changed her story the thing which she totally refused.
Now some officials in Libya claim in the Washington Post that Eman is a prostitute and that it was a wild night that went totally wrong so Eman is not mentally unstable now !! Same thing was implied at Sky News’ report about those arrests in Tripoli after the incident at the Rixos hotel.  Regarding foreign media , you must know that Arabs admire the action of the foreign reporters and many comments online praise their bravery against the Qaddafi men.
Eman’s parents are proud and said that she did what men failed to do against Qadadafi , her family supports her in a great move as she did not bring disgrace to them like what the Qaddafi media and orphans are spreading offline and online. The family is insisting that Eman is sane unlike what the Qaddafi media claimed showing her photos as a graduate of law school who was studying for her master.

Statement No.29 : Slow motion

The army has just issued another msg through its official FB page tackling several important points , very important points actually.
The AFC assures the following :

Mohamed Adel
"We are all Khaled Said"

1. Former President Hosni Mubarak has not left the country , he is not in Tabuk receiving treatment at Tabuk military hospital. Today official newspaper Al Akhbar claimed that the newspaper got info that the president was in Tabuk , the fact that it came in an official newspaper like Al Akhbar gave it a lot of creditably among the people . According to the AFC Mubarak is under house arrest.
2. The council has got the plea of Egyptian protester Mohamed Adel Mohamed Ali Fawzy who was arrested by the military police during the revolution and was sentenced 5 years in military jail in a military tribunal for thuggery without a lawyer !! The council is going to revise his case and its legal procedures. There is a lot of hope that this will set him free, of course there will be even greater hope if the council does the same with Amr El-Behairy and Amr Eissa along other civilian detainees.Here is a Facebook page in solidarity with Mohamed Adel. 
3. The council is going to investigate the incident of torturing Egyptian ladies during the last sit in at Tahrir square. I am glad that the council did not ignore this big elephant in the room especially that the whole world is speaking about and our MSM is actually ignoring it. The council did not deny or  confirm the incident though , it will investigate what has been said and was spread recently !!
4. In the end the AFC asks the Egyptian people and revolution youth not believe or spread rumors , accusations and attempts to defame respectable people as all this serves the enemy of revolution !! ‘Enemy of revolution , if I am not mistaken this is the first time they use this term’

We will not let this happen in our country

The Yemeni center of human rights organization has reported that a Yemeni student was kidnapped and tortured in Cairo.  Ali Saleh Ahmed and other students organized in front of the embassy in solidarity with the revolution back in the homeland.
22 years old Ali Saleh Ahmed is currently studying in Cairo while working  in a Yemeni restaurant. Last  March 22nd,2011 he allegedly was kidnapped at 7:30 AM at Dokki in Giza by two other Yemenis who identified themselves as Yemeni special guards !! He was allegedly kidnapped and detained at what he believes an investigation office where he was tortured and electrified. He was being asked about the organizers of these protesters in front of the embassy. Ahmed said that those who tortured him were 5 , two of them Yemenis “the same two kidnapped him , he knew their names as well” and 3 Egyptians !!
He was blindfolded and led outside the building then was dumped at some place in Nasr City. He called his friends who took him to 6th of October hospital to treat him from torture. Ahmed has reported the matter officially at Dokki police station.
Here is a compilation of photos showing the traces of torture in Ahmed’s body.

The AFC : The parties law to be issued Tomorrow "Updated"

After long time of absence that made us all feel worry , the AFC has issued a statement in its official Facebook page from couple of hours ago !!
Tomorrow the AFC will hold a press conference earlier tomorrow to announce the new parties law at the department of morale affairs ‘headed by Major general Ismail Etman’
It seem that the AFC will not officially issue the infamous protests law as it did not draw huge criticism but it is also against the international treaties Egypt signed and the AFC obliged to.
There is no word about the constitutional declaration we have been waiting for since last week. Already according to leaks in Al Masry Al Youm daily the AFC told the constitutional amendments committee to put the declaration as announced by El Bishry then to avoid any criticism the AFC made another committee to revise the declaration !! It seems that the second committee did not like what the first committee thus the AFC has formed another committee to revise the declaration based on the two other committees’ recommendations.

The Libyan Revolution : The Egyptians ask for help in Misurata

The Egyptian refugees in Misurata are asking for the help of the Egyptian army to deport them from Libya.

Egyptians plea the army to save them

There are not not less than 7000 Egyptians who went to leave the city despite the Qaddafi’s forces have left it for the time being. This group of Egyptians filmed in the footage wants the Egyptian army to send one of its ships to get them from the sea. I do not know if it is safe or not but I think the media should highlight this video and spread as much as they can.
Misrurata needs an urgent humanitarian aid already from medical and food supplies. 

A slap that restored to the Arabs their dignity

Cherchez La Femme in the Arab revolution Tsunami and here I am not speaking Laila Ben Ali and Suzanne Mubarak played a dangerous role in the end of their husbands’ presidential career with no doubt

The Ben Alis and the Mubaraks in 2002

I am speaking about that policewoman who slapped and spat a simple vegetables street vendor without knowing that that slap would awake the dignity of not less 100 million Arab from the Gulf to ocean. No one would have imagined that this slap would result in changing geopolitics of a whole region like that bringing down regimes that stayed for decades and decades !!

policewoman Fadia Hamdi 

Here are the countries which witnessed protests because of political , Social and economic reasons : Tunisia , Egypt , Algeria , Yemen , Libya , Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Morocco , Syria , Jordan and Mauritania  without any order just in 4 months !!
May Allah bless the soul of Mohamed Bou Azizi , you taught us that a very important lesson in the Arab world : History is made by simple people sometimes , most of the time actually not by presidents who believe themselves as false idols. God bless you simple man.
God forgive you Fadia for your rudeness and arrogance.

Technorati Tags: Just opinion,Politics,News,Mohamed Bou Azizi,Tunisia,Syria,Egypt,Libya,Bahrain,Oman,Saudi Arabia,Yemen,Regional,revolution,Fadia Hamdi,History,Society

Exporting the Egyptian revolution

The Egyptian revolution in London.

From Perihan

From The Girl 78
We can say proudly that the Hyde Park turned in to Tahrir square.

Technorati Tags: #Jan25,Revolution,Egypt,Democracy,Economy,London,UK,Europe,Politics,Photos,Citizen journalism

Syrian Revolution : Al Assad regime blames It on the Egyptians !!

The Bashar Al Assad regime is putting the blame on the Egyptians as usual when it comes to the great revolution taken place in the country against dictatorship.
Yesterday I found the Syrian regime’s officials speaking on TV accusing Egypt of sponsoring the protests taking Syria by storm and today we got an Egyptian arrested and accused of spying in Syria !!
I will not deny that we have the honor along with our Tunisian brothers of inspiring the millions across the Arab world to restore back their dignity but this accusation is just exactly like the Qaddafi regime in Libya , putting the blame on us for the crimes they committed against their own people !!
Just the Qaddafi regime in Libya the Syrian official media began to show Egyptian citizens as spies and agent provocateurs but of course better than the Qaddafi’s media.

Mohamed Radwan at Tahrir on January 29th
by Hossam Hamalawy

This gentleman is Mohamed Radwan and he is an Egyptian American citizen indeed "and he also a tweep" but according to his friends in Cairo , he is not a spy. He is an engineer working who was working recently in Syria and his friends are begging our Syrian friends not to believe this cheap. Mohamed Radwan is the cousin of follow blogger and archeologist Nora Shalaby and follow blogger Tarek Shalaby who wrote an informative   post about him. 
The family denied totally the claims that he visit Israel or the occupied territories 

For the First Time in our TV history

“Lakhabat” is a comic show on Al Hayat TV channel , its host “Maged El-Kola’aly” impersonates famous people from the actors, actresses and TV hosts. Since the revolution and Maged began to raise the bar in his show impersonating politicians and TV hosts to criticize the former regime and its icons.

In its 13 episode Maged surprised everybody when he impersonated Hosni Mubarak directly , it is a must watch episode.

Impersonating Hosni Mubarak

This is the first time in the history of Egyptian TV a former president being mocked directly in this way.

You should see him impersonating Khaled El-Genndy.

For the record Mohamed Sobhi once imitated former president Mubarak in his famous play “Mama America” , also Hani Ramzy imitated him as well in one of his films.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Culture,Arts,Media,National,Politics,Post revolution,Video,Society,Mubarak,Comic,Khaled El-Genndy,Mohamed Sobhy,MENA,TV,Al Hayat TV

The People Want to..Purify the media

Egyptian citizens protested yesterday in front of the ERTU building demanding the purification of Egyptian media from all the regime’s orphans. It was not a big protest but it is significant because it shows that we have not forgotten these orphans and what they have done in Egypt for the past 30 years.

The people want to purify
the media 

The official mainstream media is still in deep need to a revolution to liberate it from the Mubarak’s regime control. The Egyptian TV needs to be liberated from the Mubarak’s and NDP’s management , there is no hope in a new free media as long as Abdel Latif El- Manawy is in his place as a the director of News sector !!
Many are now wondering what El- Manawy did to the army that he is still in his place till now. Omar Afifi even wondered what that strange relation between El-Manawy and major general Ismail Etman was !!

The Hunt of the Mubaraks’ Wealth : Even Suez Canal’s revenues !!

Dr. Abdel Khalak Farouk is back again with dangerous accusation to Mubarak and Zakaria Azami. He is accusing both men of taking money from Suez canal’s revenues !! Oh yes Mubarak is accused of money from one of our main national sources of income !!
Dr. Farouk told Original Dostor that every year part of the revenues went to some sort of black box no one knew or knows its bank account except Zakaria Azami and former President Mubarak !! Already according to the law the president can found black boxes and secret accounts. “What is this law ? I want to know what this law is so we can completely erase it”
If you think that this is outrageous , well wait for more.

First time and hopefully last Time

What happened last night at Cairo university can’t be ignored or passed so easily and I think it is our responsibility and the responsibility of the mainstream media before us when it let what happened at the Egyptian museum pass in that disgraceful way.
Now the mainstream media speaks about how the military police attacked the students and professors at the faculty of mass communication, Cairo university during their legal strike inside campus because simply but it totally ignored what happened at Tahrir and Egyptian museum. The whole world is speaking about the virginity tests and our media does not dare to speak about it despite their silence is harming the image of the Egyptian army's abroad. 
Egyptian writer Belal Fadl presented a file with these violations to the prime minister who presented to the AFC and last night we heard on TV some anonymous army commander speaking that these were individual cases !! Individual cases right after what happened at Mass comm. !!?

Mubarak’s fortune hunt : Time means money

The EU foreign ministers decided on March 21st in Brussels to freeze the bank accounts of Mubarak in Europe. Of course our media cheered for this important decision and is starting to ask how we can get this money back. This is a correct question but we should not ask this question only because there is other even more important question we should ask : Why did this decision take that time ??
Hosni Mubarak stepped down on February 11,2011 and after half an hour of that important decision Switzerland decided to freeze the Mubaraks’ bank accounts. If you remember the decision was announced on the national TV at 6:07 PM Cairo local time which means 6:37 PM Cairo local time the Swiss authorities issued its historical decision which we will never forget.
On February 14 the Egyptian government sent its first official request to the EU countries regarding Mubarak’s top official assets including bank accounts. On February 14th France stated that the Egyptian government asked it to freeze top Egyptian officials’ bank accounts whom Mubarak was not among them. On February 15 UK announced that its SOCA would investigate the UK based banks for Mubarak’s accounts even thought it was not officially addressed according to what I found. Here is a list of those Egyptians’ whose assets currently Frozen in UK anyhow.

Libyan Revolution : Al Saeed Children hospital attack ¨Graphic¨

On March 18th Qaddafi unsurprisingly committed another war crime against his own people , his forces shelled the whole city. Among the places they shelled was a children hospital in Misurata.I do not know how many were killed or injured but the videos are extremely scary aside from the fact that they are extremely graphic

The video below is at a neo-natal facility and there is blood.You can hear the shelling sound very clearly

Syrian Revolution : The Daraa Massacre “Graphic”

What happened in Daraa in the past 24 hours is a massacre by all measures regardless of the denials of the Syrian regime. Not less than 12 have been killed in the past 24 hours among them 3 children “the oldest was 12 and the young was 3 years old :(“ 
The people of Daraa say that not less than 15 were killed at the Omari mosque attack last night where as hundreds were injured aside from those who were killed and injured today.
Now there are sources speaking about 60-150 killed in the past 48 hours in the city.
There is a huge security presence in the city according to the reporters who were not let in to the city , those who tried were arrested and their equipment were confiscated
Bashar Al Assad sacked off the the governor of Daraa. The Syrian official TV showed footage for the security forces found inside the old Omari mosque from weapons. The official story is that there was a gang hiding at the mosque !! The Syrian official media is rewinding the same old talk of foreign agendas.There is a curfew currently applied in Daraa till further notice , the people are not going to bury their martyrs any time soon as it appears !!
The situation in Daraa itself is not good based from the videos uploaded online.
This video shows dead bodies all over the streets of Daraa."extremely graphic"

This shocking graphic video shows an injury caused by strange type of ammunition I believe it should not be used at all.

Busy Laws Day in Cairo : parties and protests !!

Ok today was a busy day in Cairo when it comes to the lawmaking process. I do not know from where to start , I will start from the good draft law and then move to the the bad draft law.

The good law is the new parties law which regulates the parties formation in Egypt , I find it very reasonable and here are the most important  articles in the law from the cabinet’s official website :

• The party's principles, targets, programmes, policies, or means of practicing activities shall not contradict the constitution's main principles or requirements to preserve the national security and the national unity, social peace and democratic system.
• The party's principles, programmes, activities, and selection of members shall not be based on the religious, geographical, or racial basis such as sex, origin, language, religion, religious belief.

Constitutional Declaration NO.2 Coming soon

After 72 hours of the referendum’s results the army is going to announce its long awaited constitutional declaration hopefully tonight !! We do not know when but the AFC has already issued a statement that has been aired from short while ago on TV and radio saying that the council will issue a constitutional declaration. That declaration will include the amended constitutional articles which were approved in the referendum. I am not sure  but I heard that

As far as I know Dr. Tarek El-Bishry and other legal experts have already prepared two constitutional declarations based on the results of the referendum from several days ago so I am amazed that we have to wait all that time !!?

Another question : Why to announce the constitutional declaration on the same day the announcement of the protests draft law and parties draft law !!?

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,AFC,Constitutional declaration,Tarek Al Bishry,Egyptian Constitution,MENA,Egyptian army,Post revolution

Dear GCC Please Stand with us

You must excuse me but it is natural to have a lot of rumors nowadays and some of these rumors can be actually true whether fully or partially.
According to an email circulating Some Kuwaiti newspaper claims that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have threatened the AFC to pull their investments from the country and get rid from Egyptian expats in GCC if Hosni Mubarak or any member of his family was prosecuted !? 
I did not find the news itself at El-Dar Kuwaiti newspaper The El-Dar newspaper says that the GCC can't forget how Mubarak sent the Egyptian army to fight the Iraqis in the Gulf War 2 !! Well actually those who fought were the Egyptian people not Mubarak !!
The newspaper goes far and says that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said that it was disgraceful to attack Mubarak !!

Syrian Revolution : The Omari Mosque is under attack Now

According to tweets coming for Syria right the Omari mosque in Daraa is allegedly under the attack. Tweeps are reporting that they are hearing screams and explosion through telephone lines from the mosque. The tweeps are saying that thousands are currently protesting in the streets of Daraa to save the mosque and there is a heavy gunfire along with sounds of explosions. The Mosque is asking for help by the tabkbeer “Allah Akbar”.
The ancient Omari mosque was turned in to a field hospital in the past few days where the protesters found a shelter and hospital.
The power is reportedly cut from the whole city.
The media is ignoring what is happening in Syria disgracefully , of course after the visit of our spy chief to Damascus and meeting with Bashar al Assad and the new page with that regime means our media will be very tamed. I am happy that our relations are back with Syria but not with that corrupted dictatorship in power.
Also the Syrians are extremely angry from Hezbollah , Hamas and Qatar for their support to Al Assad , of course the Israelis should be very happy with that because the Syrians want their Golan back and believe that Hafez Al Assad sold it to the Israelis and thus it has to come back. Israel for sure wants Bashar Al Assad in his place more than ever.
Yesterday some editor in chief of some official Syrian newspaper claimed on Yosri Fouda’s show on ON TV that the people of Daraa were the ones who asked for the army !! FYI the official newspapers in Syria are far much worse than Al Ahram and its sisters in Egypt.
2:13 AM according to several tweets the soldiers are inside the mosque :(
2:20 AM according to this tweet dead bodies are all over the place at the Omari Mosque and people are chanting "We will die for freedom."

A Fire at the Ministry of interior in Cairo

There is currently a huge fire at the ministry of interior in Cairo. It seems that from a while ago a group of angry police agents and cadets set the communications building in the ministry  on a fire. This is a very important building that holds important documents and it is the second time in a month something like that happens at the ministry of interior if you remember.

The police protest in front of the ministry "AP"

The angry police agents and cadets had a protest today against the minister and his orders to fire some of them. Already I am surprised that we got this fire when already we know that they transferred their protest in front of the National TV building. I was already astonished when I knew that the police cadets wanted a civilian minister !!

The Egyptian TV is showing footage of fire engines trying to put it off , it is huge no doubt.
There is no doubt now that the old regime is fooling around so I hope we put our differences aside for the current time and pay attention to what is going on. There is a test for general Essiawy and for the AFC.
The police agents already had a protest in 6 governorates today as I have just known !!
Updated 
Ok there is more interesting info appearing by the second in this strange fire. 

• The fire did not start at lower floors but rather as you can see in the photos at the upper floors. 
• The Police agents were demanding the return of general Mahmoud Wagdy as minister of interior instead of Essiawy !!
• Now the people in the Facebook are standing against this demand and consider it another indication on the counter revolution , there is a Facebook page under the name " The people want general Essiawy as the minister of interior"
• There is a rumor that this floor contained very important documents and dossiers
• A police officer called Al Jazeera tonight and claimed that this was just another chapter in the counter revolution led by the former regime and that the next chapter would include assassinations. The man even mentioned the targets of those assassinations like for example : Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and Alaa El-Aswany
• There are lots of rumors and people are just having enough seriously 
• People are wondering why the AFC and the army are letting all this to happen. 
• I wonder why the military police did not treat the police agents in the same way it treated the activists and civilians like actor Ali Sobhy and those girls who were humiliated badly at the Egyptian museum !!? It seems that the MP only strong on the small protests. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Corruption,Media,National,Politics,Post Revolution,Ministry of interior,MENA

And where are these two ?!

Many people are wondering and asking about the fate of the two police agents accused of killing Khaled Said. There is a rumor distributing rumor that police agents Mahmoud Amin and Awad Soliman escaped last January 28th when prisons were opened and prisoners escaped by the orders of the police itself.

Is this rumor true ? I receive my comments and emails asking me that and actually I do not know if this is true or not so if you know please enlighten me.
I know in the latest session of the Khaled Said’s trial these two did not show up. I hope I am wrong and these are just fears nothing more and nothing else.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Politics,Khaled Said,News,Mahmoud Amin,Awad Soliman,Society,Alexandria,#Jan25,Post Revolution

The Syrian Revolution :Day No.4 “Graphic”

For the fourth day the city Daraa in Syria is heading what it seems to be a revolution against the Al Assad regime. The protests did not stop , contrary it seems that it is spreading steadily. There was a protest today in Banyas where people chanted for Syrian unity between sects. There were protests today in Al Qamishli and Duma when I checked in the Facebook.
The protests continued in Daraa today following a funeral for another young man killed in the protests in the weekend. According to AFP a 11 years old boy was killed today in Daraa and by experience this will escalate things more and more. Daraa is under heavy siege from the security forces. Again it seems that there are some difficulties in communication. Yesterday there was news that the protesters destroyed the statue of Hafez Al Assad and torched the Baath HQ and other official buildings. There is contradicting news concerning the Baath HQ and official buildings though as people saying who torched the court building were actually police officers and soldiers.
Here is a video compilation for the protests in the previous 3 days in Daraa.

The Daraa protests

The revolution of Yemen : Happy birthday Ali Abdullah Saleh !!

Shall it be today or tomorrow or next Friday ? Nobody knows except God , things are developing rapidly in  Yemen. There is no doubt now that Ali Abdullah Saleh is currently facing his last days in rule.

Ahmed Ali Saleh 

Important generals in the Yemeni army have joined the revolution , the important and influential tribes in the country also have joined the revolution. Diplomats and ambassadors of Yemen are resigning as well. The ambassador of Yemen in Cairo has resigned as well as the envoy of Yemen to the league of Arab states. I believe Saleh began to lose the international support of the States and the regional support of Saudi Arabia after the massacre he committed last Friday.
It will not be easy though because Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh , the president’s son whom he was grooming to be the next president of Yemen is also the commander of the republican guards and special forces in Yemen.

I think we should thank God that neither Alaa nor Gamal entered the army and preferred the civilian route , I can’t imagine how things in Egypt would be if someone as sick as Gamal Mubarak was a commander in the Egyptian army.

The Yemeni army will not be less patriotic than
the Egyptian army , photo from Sana'a on last Thursday

Today is the birthday of Ali Abdullah Saleh by the way , so happy birthday you blood thirst dictator

Ben Ali, Saleh, Qaddafi and Mubarak in the
African Arab summit

The story is developing already. You can follow it @ Al Jazeera English.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Yemen,Ali Abdullah Saleh,Ahmed Ali Abdullah,Sanaa,Revolution,Arab,Arab Spring,MENA,Gulf,human rights,Politics,Egypt,Mubarak,Al Jazeera English

For this mother and other mothers the revolution should not stop at Al Tahrir or at the amendments

This clip was filmed during the revolution at Tahrir square and that lady was the mother of one of martyrs who were killed during the revolution on the hands of the regime’s security forces.

For this mother and other mothers , the revolution should not stop

This lady demanded the people to come and stay at Al Tahrir square so their children would not be killed by the Mubarak regime. More than 600 martyrs were killed during the revolution of January 25 and most of them were young people who gave their lives for better future for the sake of this great nation.

Regarding the attack on dr. ElBaradei

Dr. ElBaradei was attacked terribly during the referendum day where angry mob attacked him and attacked his supporters violently with rocks forcing him to leave without voting. The attack was terrible and disgraceful by all measures. When I see the photos and videos I thank God that no one was harmed especially Dr. ElBaradei 
In matter of two hours the Salafists and the MB were the main suspects while all the photos , videos and testimonies later came we find that we are in front of a classical attack of hired thugs hired by NDP who turned the people of that populated area against him. Some people from the area say that these thugs were outside the area. Other swear that they look like the same thugs we have always seen working for NDP in the elections.
Already based from the videos I saw those who hurled the rocks at ElBaradei did not look like Salafists or Islamists to me.

ElBaradei attacked from BBC Arabic

Egyptian Polls : Egypt's man of the year 2011

Ok I am lazy ,  I admit it but you can also excuse me because the last 3 months were anything but normal in Egypt and thus I think it is ok to post the results of the polls I have post last January and also last years.
The first poll was Egypt’s man of the year 2010 which received one of the highest votes since I have started the polls feature.
Egypt’s man of the year 2010 is none other than the Young Alexandrian man whose murdered woke up a whole nation from its long time : Khaled Said

And the results of the referendum are here

From a couple of hours ago the referendum committee has announced the results of the constitutional amendments referendum.
The results came as follows :

• The referendum was held in 43,059 committees
• Those eligible to vote were 45 million
• Those who went to vote were 18, 537,000 “41.19%”
• The valid votes were 18,366,000
• The nullified votes  were 171,000
• Those who said yes to the amendments were 14, 192,000 “77.2%”
• Those who said No to the amendments were 4,174,000 “21.8%”

Here is the breakdown of the vote throughout the governorates of Egypt in the official referendum. Cairo and Alexandria got the highest voting turnout while South Sinai got the lowest turnout.
14 million Egyptians said yes to the amendments and 4 million Egyptians said no.

A full ballot box 

This is the biggest turn out in the history of modern Egypt and this is the best results we have achieved democratically in Egypt.

I am happy for this result  because only in these two weeks the No team managed to get “21.8%” only so I think they should not be worried now for the parliamentary elections that will be held insh Allah after 6 months because they have achieved this in 2 weeks in the major cities in the country.

Already the highest and nearest numbers for the No team were in Cairo and Alexandria so they have to work outside Cairo and Alex. I was happy to find people voting for No in the New Valley and South Sinai.

Daraa : The Suez of Syria

I know all the eyes of the world are currently fixed on Libya but I hope that they pay attention to what is currently taking place in Syria.
Daraa goveronerate is reportedly facing huge clashes between the angry citizens and the regime forces.Yesterday the citizens turned the funeral of the civilians who were killed on the Friday of dignity by the regime forces to an anti-regime protest.The security forces used tear gas grenades as far as I know.
Reports of huge army deployments came all day long yesterday. Last thing we heard from there that tanks had entered the city.There were also report saying that the Internet was cut in the city but it was back today. The security is said to let people in to the city but it is not letting the people to go outside it.
There are video clips coming from syria from March 18th and 19th showing Protesters after being shot down by the regime."graphic" The video below is from March 18th when one of the protesters was shot down and other protesters tried to transfer him to a hospital. You can hear something like gun shots.

Hours and We will have another constitutional declaration

Some army sources said that Major General Mamdouh Shahin announced that after few hours the AFC will announce another constitutional declaration right after the announcement of the constitution amendments’ results.

We do not know yet if the results of the referendum will be announced today or tomorrow already despite in twitter the referendum committee said it will be after few hours but all the primary results from the governorates show that Yes is wining over No. It would be announced at 2 PM.

Of course in the virtual world the No team is making it already the end of the world already in a pathetic way. Please read this FB note “in Arabic” by my old friend Bassem Sabry. Also please read Ibrahim Eissa’s column today “in Arabic”

I did not say Yes for the Muslim brotherhood or any Islamist fraction , I did not say Yes for the NDP. I said Yes because I do not want the AFC to rule me for more than 6 months and supervise my new constitution. I think many Egyptians did that not for any other reason. Yes I know very well that outside Cairo the MB and Salafists used the religion in an explicit way to force the simple people to say Yes. Also I will not ignore the role of Church as well on the other side , say No because the MB will say Yes  not because the real political consequences

Voting Girl 2011 Edition : The constitutional amendments Referendum

And she is back , she is more than happy and does not care if she wins or loses because for the first time in her life she knows that her vote will count. Ok I am trying to be her professional as much as I can. Today was another historical day in our modern history regardless of its result , I think many Egyptians will remember it with me.
As I expected this is the highest turn out in the electoral history of modern Egypt , even more than I have ever imagined. It can reach to 40 million voters today.

The Friday of Dignity in Syria : The start of revolution

Do you remember when I told that what happened in Syria on Tuesday can turn in to a revolution on Friday !!? Well I told you so.
The Syrian people today revolted for the first time in decades and protests sprung through out the country in different areas especially from the South according to the news and tweeps coming from there. Protests expectedly started after the Friday prayers in the country and honestly knowing the fist of the regime there , I am surprised by the public reaction and also participation. It is more than great considering the amount of fear in the country .
There were protests in Damascus , Aleppo , Daraa , Baniyas , Homs, and Deir El Zor. If you look to the map , you will know that we are looking something different we have not seen before. These governorates are covering Syria with its distinguished diversified ethnic and sectarian background. Today there was no Arab o Kurd , Sunni or Shiite or Christian , today it was a real Syrian day for Syria.
Of course you can imagine the panic of the regime there , the live ammunition was used directly. Hundreds protested at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and it seems that it was a battle there.

Syrians chanted "There is no God but Allah" and "Freedom". Of course this is the Al Assad regime and the most famous mosque in the capital , there were security forces , you know the infamous plain clothed SS agents who used to kidnap people from protests in Egypt , it is just the same.