Khaled Said Follow Up : This could be good

Today was supposedly the last day in Khaled Said’s trial , today was supposedly the sentence hearing but unsurprisingly it is adjourned to next 24 September 2011.

Officially it is adjourned to September 2011 because the court has ordered a new autopsy report instead of the old based on Sabai’s shameless report by the request of Khaled’s attorney. A new committee made of professors from Cairo university and Ain Shams university will put the new autopsy report. Also the charges will be changed according to evidence that are inconsistent with old case. You must bear in mind according to the current charges the two agents are facing their maximum penalty will be 3 years in jail while if the new autopsy report proved that he was beaten to death then those two agents will face first degree murder and death penalty as maximum penalty.

It will in next September because the judges have their summer vacation in Egypt in the month of August , the cases are adjourned according to vacancies in the cases roll or what ever it is called in English.

Day of Rage : What we Should focus on now

This video compilation for clips from the Friday of Wrath January 28th in Egypt is more that great  , seriously great. I recommend that you watch it till the end. Now If you compare between these clips and the clips from June 28th and June 29th strangely you will find very few differences !! The CSF are still the same and the police officers are still the same despite all what happened in these 5 months.

The day of rage : January 28th

I will not speak about politics and current issues nor about SCAF and the revolution , I will focus on the ministry of interior. We will not have a real stability in the country , we will have a real peace of mind to rebuild our country again , we will not have a real revolution in Egypt as long as the ministry of interior and the police force are living in the illusion of Mubarak’s era.

#Jun 28th Follow Up : Day oF Rage indeed "Graphic"

• Forget about July 8 because we have got Jun 28
• The ministry of health stated officially that only 72 were injured in the events including 34 CSF soldiers. Of course unofficially people are speaking about bigger number , about 200 in different hospitals. Updated : According to MOH's official statement : 590 were injured in the clashes, 75 of them are still in the hospitals !! Some sources are speaking about more than 600. Update @4:02PM The number increased to 1096 already !!Not less than 15 ambulance at KFC Tahrir are transferring the injured . The injured are also being transported on motorcycles. Medical supplies are required in the field hospital. The Omar Makram Sheikh has opened the mosque as a field hospital and asked people reportedly to have a sit in.
• According to Dostor portal a young man was killed at 6 AM today !! 
• Here is a photo for a protest shot in his back by allegedly rubber bullets

Are these rubber bullets !?

• Here is a video showing how the CSF officer in the speaker telling the protesters “We will F*ck you bastards !!”

Classy CSF as usual

• The official cabinet Facebook page issued a small statement that the PM was following the matter since yesterday and is on contact with the minister of Interior. The statement added that PM Sharaf was calling the youth to protect the revolution as he believes there was a systematic plan to spread chaos.

Tahrir clashes : Back to sleepless nights

So we were glad that we will not have these sleepless nights of clashes between protesters and security forces or these ugly sectarian clashes but what you know , some people in dark place think we do not deserve anything except Mubarak’s rule !!
There are currently clashes taking place in Tahrir square again between hundreds of protesters and the security forces. There are injured , there are tear gases grenades , there are CSF again and attempts from the protesters to control the square again. There are chants against SCAF now. There are rubber bullets , bullets in the air and the electricity is cut from certain areas in the square.
There was something strange already as there were clashes at Agouza in Giza this afternoon at Balloon theatre. I think you should read Hossam Arabawy’s post along with Gigi Ibrahim’s testimony there.
Tarek Shalaby is already there , you can watch his live stream coverage from there. There is another live stream there
Activists are planning for a big million man protest and a sit in at Tahrir square next 8th of July 2011. It seems that we are heading to Tahrir square again after all. It is our only way to make clear that we were not fooling around in those 18 days.
Update : 

• According to tweep friends there "there was a tweet up in Downtown" the number of protesters has increased to 2,000
• The footage on TV is scary. 
• There are injuries in eyes , people are fainting because of the tear gas grenades 
• The electricity is reportedly from the Tahrir complex area.  
• A lot of contradicting stories but from what I see and gathered , there were not martyrs' families alone , there were as well thugs who attacked shops and cars according to eye witnesses including activists like Loai Nagati 
• Photos from tweeps currently there. 

Tear gas grenades from Al Jazeera Mubshar 

One of the tear gas grenades 'Al Jazeera Mubshar"

From Mahmoud Ahmed 

From Mohamed Abdel Fatah

• MOI has issued a Statement and it is just too bad blaming troublemakers for starting the whole matter , it is too bad in a way you can't imagine. It is provoking and it has just pissed off. 
• The number of injured is exceeding , according to AFP not less than 10 were injured. Doctors are required. Radio Misr says that 25 were injured. 
• The tear gas grenades are being fired on ambulances !! 

Transferring injured by Mohamed Abdel Fatah

• According editor in chief Wael Kandeel not less than 90 have been injured so far at Tahrir square !!
• Judge Zakaria Abdel Aziz has arrived to Tahrir square. 
• More live streaming link : http://bambuser.com/channel/emadmubarak/broadcast/1778550
• Security forces and protesters are hurling stones at each other. The tear gas grenades are showering the protesters

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Democracy,Egyptian Life,Human rights,National,Politics,Post revolution,Video,Tahrir square,Martyrs,live blogging

Tahrir Flotilla : Israel’s girl gay in Damascus !!

And Flotilla 2 is ready for another round , for another battle in the sea in the war to break the illegal blockade on Gaza. This year things are quite different because we got Arab spring effect , we got angry Turks , we got warnings from the West as if the blockade in Gaza is not a crime against humanity , we got the memories of Flotilla 1 and we got Israel launching warning and ready for battle in every possible way.
The Israeli government already sent a warning statement to the journalists and reporters accompanying the flotilla

From Hassan Ghani 

They know how bad to have media on the flotilla , just imagine having no cameras or journalists on the flotilla 2010. No one would have known or believed the activists.
Of course the Israeli press as well as the worldwide Zionist press are having this campaign against the flotilla.

And this is Why Martyrs and wounded are first !!

Martyr Kotb 

It has to mean something ,seriously when I speak with the wounded and the families and in less than 24 hours and I found out that one of the revolution’s wounded became an official revolution’s martyr after 5 months of treatment in Kasr Al Aini hospital today !!
This new revolution’s martyr is 24 years old Mahmoud Kotb who had been in the French Kasr Al Aini hospital for 5 months , I will repeat it again he died after 5 months.
According to the activists late Kotb was the young man who was hit by that diplomatic white van on January 28th while Al Ahram portal claims that he was killed by the police force on February 28 !! The reporter in Al Ahram portal described the revolution day as the events of February 28th known as "Friday of wrath” !! Excuse my French !! events !! February 28th !!? Does anyone revise this before it goes online !!?
Anyhow Kotb died today after 5 months of being of that diplomatic van stolen from the American embassy on January 28th. Here is the video if you do not remember it.

White diplomatic van hits people

Mahmoud’s funeral was honorable and huge . Not less than 2,000 participated in the funeral of 24 years old Mahmoud that was held at Tahrir square. All people were crying especially when the funeral passed in the same street he was killed at. He was only hit by the car but he was also beaten by CSF soldiers as well.

The Martyrs First

This clip always pumps in my hand when I hear someone claiming that the police forces were only defending themselves and did not shot the protesters but they only shot the thugs who were attacking them. “Oh yes there are people in the media claiming so”

Killed unarmed civilian protester

This video makes me shiver , makes me angry and wonder why we have not heard anything about that police officer or solider or that CSF soldier that killed an unarmed civilian protester who showed him that he did not carry any weapon from any kind.
This video is a smoking gun evidence and we can easily find the mother and daughter filming and commenting on that horrible crime they just witnessed.
Now Facebook groups and twitter accounts are currently sharing a photo for a protester that was killed in Alexandria. That victim is believed to be the protester shot down by the security forces in the video but it turned to be in Tunisia.

Death Match : Man Vs. Lion ; stupidity in its finest form !! “Updated”

So apparently there is some young man , unbalanced young man who thinks that he can wrestle a lion and kill it in a gladiator style in order to promote tourism in Egypt !! Oh yes Egyptian body builder Sayid Essawy would wrestle a lion and could be merciful enough to leave him alive in the death match of the hour !!!

Sayid got a lion from Mamdouh El Halw , the famous lion trainer from the circus family who believed that the lion would kill Sayid  !! “Then why he sold that lion to Sayid !? Already I do not understand how such animal can be sold and transferred in that way !?”

It seems that Essawy wanted it be a huge public event at Mansoura stadium but thankfully the ministry of interior and the ministry of tourism refused to give him the permit. Still it did not stop him because now he is currently fighting the lion at some place , secret place between Mansoura and Damietta at some rice and wheat field !! I do not understand again why the MOI does not arrest this man or stop him !!

Mubarak’s Children : no comment

Here are clips from what happened yesterday at Mustafa Mahmoud square. Warning : If you have high blood pressure, please do not watch.

The children of Mubarak’s revolution

The Children of Mubarak chant

Sue the British Ambassador Farid El Deeb !!

So Farid El Deeb is claiming that former/ousted president Mubarak only owns LE 6 million in Egyptian local banks and that he does not have any bank accounts abroad in his name despite the official statements from UK and Switzerland.

Now I dedicate this claim and this statement from the British ambassador in Cairo on TV that the British officials got initial information that Mubarak and his men may reach to £40 million in UK !!  Why does not El Deeb sue the British ambassador to Cairo !?

The statements of James Watt on Al Hayat TV

El-Deeb last week claimed that Mubarak’s health was getting worse as he struggled the complication of stomach cancer and that he asks the SCAF to summon his German doctor Markus Buechler in order to check him. Officially Buechler has not been summoned yet.

Friday Protests in Egypt : Martyrs , dwellers , Chicken and Mubarak sons as well

Today there were about 3 protests at Maspero , 1 protest at Tahrir , 1 protest at Syrian embassy , 1 protest at the Spanish embassy and 1  protest at Mustafa Mahmoud square in Giza and Cairo only as far as I know.
The ERTVU building witnessed three different acts of protests :

1. The activists’ solidarity stand with dwellers of Madinat El Salam city sit in.
2. The protest of martyrs’ families that turned in to a sit in. The families of the martyrs demand a real trial for those who killed their children. Insh Allah I will write more about it tomorrow.
3. The poultry sellers’ protesters who are protesting the old law issued during the H1N1 breakout banning the sale of live poultry. It is the first protest for them since the revolution. They came to Maspero with trucks full of empty cages in reference to poultry , they cut the way for some time and the CSF trucks came along with military police. They have arrested abut 18 poultry sellers for cutting the way as far as I know.

At Tahrir square there was a protest as usual , the protest wanted judiciary to be cleaned from the Mubarak era traces.
There was a protest in solidarity with the Syrian people at the Syrian embassy while there was another protest in front of the Spanish embassy demanding Spain to extradite Hussein Salem.

Syrian Revolution : A Day is not enough to blog about Syria "Graphic"

Today hundreds of Arab bloggers and tweeps are blogging and tweeting for dear Syria , today is the blog 4  Syria day and one day is actually not enough to blog about Syria or its brave and great revolution.
I think it has been more than 100 days after the first protests in Daraa and I think after all those days , after all those thousands killed , injured , detained and displaced we can say that insh Allah this can be the real end of El Assad's regime after more than 40 years in Syrian. In fact it could be the end of Baath regime as well.
Today is another Friday full of protesting through out Syria as usual. This Friday is the fall of legitimacy as the Syrian revolutionaries do not recognize El Assad as their president nor his government as their official government. I believe El Assad lost legitimacy with the fall of the first martyr in Syria.
Now before I speak about today's protests , we should quickly check yesterday's general Strike held in Syria by the opposition. Based on what I have seen from videos from different cities , this could by far the most successful general strike held in the country since the start of the revolution.

That video clip above was shot at 10 AM in one of cities in Idlib governorate. Several cities had a general strike one demand : The army has to leave Idlib immediately. All shops , companies and markets closed their doors.

Where is Mubarak's name and Yacht !!??

Al Ahram portal published an alleged report from Newsweek's latest issue that Mubarak own the 3rd biggest Yacht in the world . Now we read the report in Al Ahram portal , you will know immediately that there is something wrong because you will find that the report says Mubarak's Yacht is actually owned by the navy but he was using.  I hate to say it but Mubarak did not use Al Horriya Yacht aka Al Mahrousa "The protected one" as far as I know , it is owned and used by the Egyptian navy.

Al Horriya Yacht 

Here is the original report from the Daily Beast "following Newsweek" and here is Al Horriya's entry as the 5th biggest yacht in the world  not the 3rd as Al Ahram portal claimed. There is nothing about Mubarak from  near or far in the report !!

You ask and Bibi will answer

Ofir Gendelman ,the Israeli prime minister's spokesperson to Arab media announced in his twitter account in Arabic that the Israeli PM our favorite Bibi is inviting the Arab Facebook generation "He means us" to send questions regarding any topic so he can answer them on his Youtube channel. It seems that Bibi like the idea of YouTube's World your view channel. 

Ok boys and girls You can send Bibi your questions in any topic you want , yes in any topic you want !!! 

Gendelman provokes us all when he appears or speaks on Al Jazeera , seriously they chose the worst man for the job

Ofir Gendelman's tweet yesterday 

And How EgyptAir was saved from another disaster Last Monday !! "Updated"

A Luftahansa jet nearly avoided a collision with EgyptAir jet at JFK , oh yes and both were packed last Monday. The Lufthansa pilot saved the day when he was forced to abort the take off when he found an EgyptAir jet nearly crossing in front of him !!! I am not a pilot but I can imagine it and imagine what would happened if he did not abort the take off.
The Luftahansa jet is Airbus A340 and it was carrying alone 286 passengers while our EgyptAir is Boeing 777. We do not know yet how many passengers on the EgyptAir but Boeing 777 can carry up to 346 passengers.

Near miss indeed !!

According to the JFK airport EgyptAir jet had been cleared to taxi to the runway but it made a wrong turn and crossed a runway hold line without permission !!!
Thank God they did not collide and both flights arrived to their destinations safe still there must be an investigation in EgyptAir about this incident.
Seriously thank God because this could be the worst air crash ever !!
Update : Some official in EgyptAir denied to Al Ahram portal that the Egyptian pilot was the one that caused that mistake , saying that it was the control tower's mistake. 

Technorati Tags: EgyptAir,Society,America,Citizen journalism,NY,JFK,New York,Lufthansa,airlines,air crashes,Boeing 777,Air bus,JFK airport,Cairo,Video,Audio records

Hussein Salem : The man , the myth and reality

Al Ahram published an interesting investigative series of reports about Hussein Salem and you will not believe the amount of information in it. The first part of this series was published in Al Ahram and there is an English translation for it on Al Ahram online.

It is a must read series.

So far two articles were published from the series :

• Hussein Salem: A businessman from the times of crony capitalism Pt.1 ‘Original Arabic text’
• Hussein Salem : Hussein Salem: A businessman from the times of crony capitalism Pt.2 ‘Original Arabic text’

Regarding Salem , well we got two contradicting news about him, one that he is currently in hospital and his family has not bailed him out while the other one is that he paid that huge bail and is currently under house arrest in Madrid.

El Gamal resigned and SCAF rejected

For the second time officially Dr. Yahia El Gamal resigns from his post and SCAF rejects it. From short time ago Al Ahram portal announced that Dr. Yahia El Gamal has resigned and at the same time we found on social media that PM Sharaf accepted his resignation.

The news was true but it was not complete because in 5 PM News on the Egyptian national TV it was announced that SCAF has rejected his resignation and the man is still in his position.

There are a lot of criticism facing Dr. El Gamal because of many reasons , some regard him as the center of counter revolution and as a strong advocate for the constitution first in Egypt currently.

I feel sad for Dr. El Gamal because I remember him at Tahrir square before accepting that position in Shafik’s cabinet , it is just sad. He should not have accepted the position.

Of course I expect that he will speak at Al Hayat Youm show at night to explain why he resigned.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Yahia El Gamal,Politics,Egypt,News,National,Shafik,Post revolution,SCAF,resignations,Sharaf,Democracy

Moon Sister sings for our heroes.

Despite Soad Hosni sang this song originally for the heroes of 1973 war still this song is suitable for every great time and I find it so suitable and so sincere than many of January 25th revolution songs nowadays.
May Allah bless your soul Soad Hosni. The January 25th martyrs are our soldiers against the Mubarak regime.

The lyrics of course were written but Ahmed Fouad Nagm
Al Ahram portal celebrated Soad Hosni in its banner today. She was killed on 21st of June in London from 10 years ago. 

Soad 

Ironically today was the birthday of Abdel Halim Hafiz too and Google Egypt celebrated it.

Halim

Technorati Tags: Egyptian faces,Google,Soad Hosni,Abdel Halim Hafiz,Songs,MP3,Google doodles,Google Egypt,History,Culture,Arts

Syrian Revolution : A tale of two protests

Today there were two protests at the same street about the same thing and the protesters were from the same country but they were now in different country , this the tale of the two protests I have seen and witnessed today at the Syrian embassy.
Yesterday President/dictator/doctor Bashar El Assad gave his third speech. “We do not know if the third time will be the charm and he will enjoy his uncles Ben Ali and Mubarak”

Bashar El Assad 3rd Speech : Booooooooooring

He gave his speech and as usual his regime launched couple of pathetic support protests to be transferred on TVs in order to give the false impression to the world and the Syrians that all Syria is with Bashar El Assad. It was no wonder that the Syrian embassies all over the globe to act in the same and to organize pro-El Assad protests today . “I am sure there are written orders that will surface one day to the public , I bet they had orders that as soon as the president speak , you organize a pro support protest”

And here is the Egyptian version of that Moroccan website

Do you remember that Moroccan website discussing the constitutional amendments in Morocco and allowed the users to vote on it !? Do you remember how I expressed my wish to have something similar like that in Egypt !?

Well it seems that my wish has come true thank God : Lets discuss the constitution. The website does not discuss currently the new constitution but rather the Egyptian bill of rights proposed by Dr.Mohamed ElBaradei as well as discussion of all our constitutions during the republic including the idealistic 1954 constitution we had never had.

 Our Moroccan friends helped our Egyptian activists in having this website.

Tunisian Revolution : Ben Ali sentenced to 35 years in jail

Runaway and first ousted president in the Arab world Ben Ali and his wife Laila El Trabelsi have been sentenced today 35 years in jail in absentia. They were found guilty of theft and illegal possession of cash and jewelry. The couple will have to pay fines totaling to $ 65.6 million. The judge read the verdict after one day of deliberation , in our Egyptian system the judge reads the verdict in absentia from the first session if the accused is on the run.
This is not the end for the Ben Alis as the judge will announce the verdict on other charges related to illegal drug and weapon possession soon. The serious charges will be dealt with in the future including the killing of protesters. Ben Ali and his inner circle are facing 65 charges , 35 will be referred to the military court.

#EndSH : I want to Smile

Do not smile while sitting in taxis

This was the golden advice of my history teacher to our class in high school to avoid sexual harassment in taxis. All of us then were taking taxis to attend private lessons here and there and we were introduced to sexual harassments world. Of course during that time I do not recall that sexual harassments then were as disgusting and daring as now.
I still do not smile in taxis , in fact I do not smile while I am walking in the street anymore thanks to what I hear from remarks.

The adventures of Salwa- Lebanon

SCAF wants to know your favorite presidential candidates

SCAF has published a very interesting poll in its official page on the Facebook , it was more interesting than the previous poll which no one knows why it had been posted. ‘I think they they were testing the feature then’
Anyhow today’s poll is indeed interesting and forces us to think about why the SCAF is so eager to know who is our favorite potential presidential candidates when we already do not know if we are going to have our parliamentary elections or the constitution first.
When SCAF had posted a link to the poll in a website outside the Facebook , it created confusion and people though that the Facebook page was hacked. The first link posted on the Facebook this afternoon took me to a page in a Website called “Egypt First” and that page required my Facebook username and password so I vote in the poll. Sooner enough we find this error message in the website.

Account suspended 

People believed that either there was some sort of hacker or that SCAF wants to hack or even Stalk them on Facebook. ‘You can not blame them after 30 years of police state’
Anyhow people began to complain on SCAF Facebook page and in less than an hour the post with the link was removed and another new post was published. The new post announced that by the request of the people the poll was transferred from the website to the FB official page. This means the page was not hacked and it was down due to traffic.

ElBaradei on National TV ; short and to the point

Last Thursday night Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei appeared for the first on air on the Egyptian national TV after his return back last year.

He did not speak for a long nor did he speak about his candidacy to presidency or his campaign and yet the interview was the best publicity he would ever get. Dr. ElBaradei made it clear that he does not seek a position and that what he wants is actually a better future for his country and his people.

Dr. Mohamed was clear to the point focus on his initiative ' The Egyptian citizen bill’ and his views about education and health care.

Egyptian X-File Reopened : The Moon’s sister strikes again

Late Soad Hosni

Another Egyptian X-file is reopened again with the fall of the Mubarak’s regime icon and it is not like any other Egyptian X-file , it is the Moon’s sister’s file.
I knew that as soon as Safwat El Sherif fell , that Soad Hosni would hunt him down from her grave and that it was a matter of time .. and divine justice.
After years of denial and fear Soad Hosni’s family is officially accusing Safwat El Sherif of assassinating Soad. After years of denying what Ahmed Fouad Nagm and Etmad Khorisd said , Soad Hosni’s family got the courage to say that Soad was allegedly assassinated in London because of her tell all memoirs.
According to the theory Soad Hosni was writing her tell all memoirs and she decided not to let any secret regarding her work in the GIS under the supervision of Safwat El Sherif during the 1960s and how he recruited her to work with him after blackmailing her by some scandalous photos. Soad was among the ladies who testified against him and Saleh Nasr in 1968 in the infamous morale scandal of intelligence.

Salem in Spain : This is a real big bail !!

Hussein Salem is going to pay the second largest bail in the history of Spain ,yes the second largest bail in the history of Spain as we are speaking about 26 million euros !! According to some sources the Salems are going to pay that large bail. ‘Salem used to have billions annually as profits from the gas deal with Israel so it is not a big deal for him’

Salem is currently at hospital and it turns out that Salem has got two nationalities officially so far : The Spanish and the Saudi. It will be hard to extradite yet the Egyptian authorities are planning to prove that he had been an Egyptian citizen before 2005 based on official documents. According to Spanish embassy in Cairo he was arrested by the Interpol despite we thought that he was arrested by the National police

The usual gossip coming from Sharm El Sheikh claims that Suzanne Mubarak has not told her husband about the arrest of his best buddy yet. There is also interesting rumor saying that the Interpol arrested Salem in Spain in order to extradite him with Grapel !!!

Egyptian X-File reopened : Badr I

I know that once Mubarak was toppled many Egyptian x-files will be reopened , some of them will be closed while other files while will have no answer and remain open.
One of the files that has been reopened again was the file of Badr I vessel's disappearance , this file was already so painful. A whole vessel disappears between Sudan and Egypt in the red sea with no trace and the families  of its crew know nothing about its men for nearly three years. We do not know if they are alive or dead , we do not know where this vessel was or what happened to it. It was sad that before the toppling of Mubarak the mainstream media ignored the matter for years.We do not have Bermuda triangle last time I checked in the red sea.
Despite how the mainstream media ignored this case, the families have not given up for one second and this is what after the toppling of the media they filed complains at the general prosecution office as well as the cabinet and prime minister’s office. They also reached out to the media and they found at last a window to ask one question : Where are our men !?

Blame it on Safwat !!!

In a very comic interview for Al Ahram portal we found larger than life former minister of culture Farouk Hosni claiming that Safwat El Sherif is behind the rumor of his homosexuality in Egypt !!!

Farouk Hosni : Safwat Sherif is behind the gay rally rumor

Of course it is worth to mention that in this interview Hosni did not confirm or deny the rumor of his homosexuality in Egypt but rather denied that he walked in a gay rally.He did not mention why Safwat El Sherif would spread such rumor.

Hussein Salem Follow up : Will he be transferred to Cairo or not !?

The question in Cairo now is not whether Hussein Salem was arrested or not but whether he will be extradited to Cairo or not. There are a lot of news allegedly coming from Madrid and Cairo we do not know if they were true or false.

Officially the ministry of foreign affairs began that formalities work in order to extradite , an envoy from Cairo is heading to Madrid insh Allah today.

Now El Badeel newspaper claims that Salem will not be extradited because he waivered his Egyptian nationality and thus he is now an official Spanish citizen. Accordingly to what I know the Spanish laws say as a Spanish citizen he will not be extradited !!? If he truly waivered his Egyptian nationality , well it is good thing for Egypt with my due respect and bad thing for Spain. This man has got no nationality except GREED.

Women2Drive : Just hit the road

Saudi women are making history today , those few Saudi brave Saudi women are making history by daring move to drive in the streets of kingdom.
I am following the #women2drive on twitter and I am more than happy , more than proud of my Saudi sisters. Several ladies already hit the road , some of them went to the supermarket while others just drove around. Some of them were accompanied by their husbands and their dads as well while others were real brave and went alone.
Here is a video showing a lady identified as the first woman driver in Riyadh driving in the early hours of today.

The first woman driver in Riyadh on June 17,2011

The start of social revolution is like a rain that starts with small drops so ladies please start your engines and hit the road girls.

And Hussein Salem is arrested in Spain now !? "Updated"

Either there are two Hussein Salems or this is another rumor or he is an escape artist !!
There is a news in Cairo spreading wild like fire that Hussein Salem has been arrested in Spain by the Spanish Interpol and that the Spanish authorities are going to extradite him to Cairo in the next few day. The news was published in both Al Masry Al Youm and Original Dostor. Allegedly he was arrested at his villa there.
Salem holds Spanish passport , I do not know if this means the Spanish authorities would not arrest him as a Spanish citizen but I know that it was made clear in his Interpol wanted profile that he got the Spanish nationality. So this means the Interpol will arrest him regardless of his charge.
Now from few days ago we heard that he was arrested and detained by the Swiss authorities that are awaiting for the Egyptian government to request him officially in order to extradite. According to our expats there the Egyptian ambassador and the consul have not received anything yet and we were back in Cairo shocked for our government’s reaction !!

Eclipse in Cairo

Last night Cairo and other cities in the Middle East and Europe enjoyed a beautiful lunar eclipse for about 100 minutes. It was beautiful natural event I am so happy that many Egyptians enjoyed freely without Mubarak  

Mosques held the special eclipse prayers and based from what I saw online whether on Facebook and twitter , people prayed for better Egypt and the total eclipse of the corrupted Mubarak regime.

I took couple snapshots for the eclipse , they are not the best but I love them.

I took these shots at May 15th bridge and 6th October bridge. The people parked their cars and got their big cameras and phone cameras to take a snapshot for the moon.The weather was amazing last night by the way.

May be next time insh Allah , I will take better shots , closer shots

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Lunar eclipse,Cairo,Night,moon,Photos,National,nature,environment,Society

Azmi Bishara on ONTV : Just Watch , Listen and think

Dr. Azmi Bishara was the guest of Yosri Fouda’s show “Last Talk” last night and it was seriously more than great episode thanks to its distinguished guest. The former Knesset member who became on of the Arab analysis TV stars during the Arab spring spoke about the Arab revolutions with all what these revolutions are facing from ups and downs.

Last talk : Azami Bashara speaks about Arab spring

Of course it is hard to summarize an interview that extended to the earlier hours of the morning but here are some points that stopped me. “I took some point from Dina Lotfy’s note as well”

The Madinat El Salam sit in : Where is everybody !?

In another development today at the Madinet El Salam sit in at ERTVU building , the protesters decided to cut the Corniche way in Cairo in an attempt to grab the attention of the government , the media and the society.

Of course the people of Cairo are blaming and attacking those who cut the roads but did anyone try to listen to the Madinat El Salam’s people for real. Yes we all know that they want new homes , new apartments to live instead of sleeping in the street like that and yes there are millions like them who need real homes suitable for humans but why no one is doing something to help these people from the civil society !?

Already I know their story and some people I met are saying that these citizens got apartments which they sold and now they want new apartments. Of course as you will see in the video which I shot with my mobile phone below that the ladies are denying these claims totally , why would they sleep in the street if they have got money !?

ElBaradei and the National TV : To appear or Not to appear

Last Tuesday afternoon Amr Khaled , the famous Islamic preacher and TV host surprised his followers on his own accounts along his weekly show “Bokra Ahla/Tomorrow is better” ‘s accounts on Facebook and twitter a very important announcement. He will interview for the first time Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei in the Egyptian national TV next Thursday.
Yes that will be the first for Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei to appear on his own country national TV despite according to the protocols as a recipient of the Nile Sash ElBaradei comes after the president before the prime minister. Needless to say Dr. ElBaradei news and interviews were banned in the national TV when he began to criticize the Mubarak regime. I do not recall if the Egyptian TV made an interview with him when he got the Nobel prize but I remember that it did not transfer the ceremony when he got the prize !!

General El Batran’s sister : They killed the witnesses of my brother’s murder

Late general
El Batran 

Dr. Manal El-Batran , the sister of late police general Mohamed El Batran believes that those 4 prisoners who were buried last Thursday as anonymous martyrs were actually among the eye witnesses who saw the former head of prisons in Egypt getting killed by other police officers.
General El Batran was killed at El-Kat prison on January 29th and according to eye witnesses the general was killed by the order of El Adly for opposing his decision to open jails and set the prisoners free to terrorize the citizens. We have got the testimonies of the prisoners whom up till this moment have not been summoned to testify at the public prosecution office. The public prosecution office did send experts to see the crime scene at the prison !! Officially these prisoners were transferred to other jails and El Kat prison was undergoing some restoration works before it was stopped by the orders of the minister after the interview of Dr.Manal on Tahrir TV!! 
Nevertheless Dr. Manal still got witnesses including police officers but she is fears on their safety just like we all do

Spy watch : Reactions and More

There are a lot of reactions whether from Cairo, Tel Aviv and New York as well following the arrest of Grapel.
First of all starting with Cairo ,the Egyptian press proved that it still lives in the 1960s with its disgraceful headlines in the front pages of major newspapers like Al Ahram and Al Akhbar especially Al Akhbar with their provoking headline : A big blow to the Israeli Mossad !! What blow and the man has not been convicted yet so we consider it as a blow. There is no doubt that our media , our press needs some time to heal.
The American embassy checked from his case as an American citizen and the consular officer has visited him today in his detention and he is in good health.According to Ilan Grapel’s Irene mother who spoke today to the media Grapel entered Egypt with an American passport. She also said that he came to Egypt on May 10th only and that he had not been to Tahrir square before during the revolution. His parents denied the allegations that he is working for the Israeli Mossad.

And the Gay girl in Damascus turns to be A straight man From the States !!

I will not even categorize this under the label of Syrian revolution because actually the Syrian revolution and the Syrian people are much greater to be associated with this hoax ; in fact if anything the Syrian people are the victim of this silly hoax. I think the Syrian people deserve that apology issued by MacMaster before his readers for using their noble cause.

The true  gay girl in Damascus Mr. MacMaster
in Syria in 2006

For days now the search for Amina overshadowed the agony of the Syrian people and the massacres taking place from north to south in Syria , that fake Amina overshadowed the funerals taking place on daily basis. For days the Western media saw nothing in Syria except the face of Jelena Lecic despite all the faces of martyrs , the true Syrian martyrs from these terrible videos posted on a daily basis online .

A Spy in our revolution

Egypt has officially announced that it arrested an Israeli citizen Ilan Grapel on suspicion of spying and trying to recruit Egyptians in Cairo. The supreme security prosecution ordered his detention 15 days pending investigation. He was arrested today at a 3 stars hotel by the intelligence officers and the attendance of security prosecutor in accordance with the legal procedures.

Grapel on the left 

He is the first Israeli to be arrested in Egypt on suspicion of espionage from 50 years , Azzam Azzam is from Druze origin.
According to the early statements in the Egyptian media Grapel is an officer in the Israeli Mossad who came to Egypt during the revolution as a journalist and went to Tahrir square. Grapel is accused of spying and also trying to recruit Egyptian revolutionary youth. He is also accused of trying to rift the relation between the revolutionaries and the army. He came to Egypt 4 or 5 time.  Now according to some source the revolutionary youth reported him to the Egyptian intelligence while to other sources the intelligence spots him for a while and his case was already known to SCAF and was reflected in one of its statements. “As a warning from foreign conspiracies and infiltrators”

Wonder when the Egyptian version of these clips will surface !?

Back to the wonderful and beautiful Tunisia , it seems that the Ben Alis did not back their stuff as the Mubaraks did because their family videos began to surface. It is rare glimpse to the life of a dictator . Amazingly they are humans like us , of course they were humans who believed that they were Gods !!

Ben Ali at some yacht

The little girl that dances at the beginning was not other than Zahwa Arafat , the daughter of late Yasser Arafat , her mom Suha was in the clip as well. Accordingly that clip was recorded before her departure from Tunisia in 2007.

The association of Syria street

The logo of the association
at one of the shops there "Facebook"

Syria street is known to be a busy vital street in Mohendessin area. It is not only busy but also crowded thanks to its shops making it a hell for parking at the evening. Lately people have noticed something in the street then new shops , they noticed a sign with the name “The Youth of Syria street association”. Now who are those youth and what is this association !?
It is simply a group of Syria street’s young residents who believe that they can bring a true change to their own street starting from keeping it clean and organized. Those wonderful young people have stopped activities though now due to exams yet they have got promising plans for their streets.
Now some political activists are sad that this is just a social group that care for the street and not for politics, well guess what this social group can be a start for a political movement. When you care for your street to be clean and its residents are safer , soon enough you will think of protecting  your neighborhood in better way through representation. May be one of those young volunteers will think of running in the municipal elections in order to protect the interests of neighborhood then when he gets older , he will think to run for the parliament. 
Of course these political activists have their eyes on the parliament and believe that the real change is only achieved through politics while it is not enough. Our focus in this time should be fixed on the municipals in order to fight corruption for real at the rock bottom. People can’t silent or passive anymore.
These young people at Syria street wish that their experience succeeds in order to be implemented across the country. I hope for the sake of Egypt that insh Allah that this experience succeeds.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Syria street,activism,movements,Mohendessin,National,Politics,Society,Egyptian Life,Giza,Post revolution

To lift or not to lift the curfew !?

SCAF is having its first poll on its official Facebook regarding its decision to lift the curfew in Egypt .

The Facebook users are being asked whether they would like to lift the curfew next June 15 or keep it till the end of insecurity in the country or keep till the Presidential elections next December.The current curfew officially imposed in Egypt is from 2 AM to 5 AM. SCAF announced earlier that it was going to lift the curfew next June 15th,2011 but today there is a poll asking the Facebook users about their opinion on the curfew. Strangely enough no one paid attention to this small detail about the presidential elections.

We did not forget , We will not forgive except .......

Thank you dear Doaa Sultan and your Talk shows team on Al Tahrir TV for reminding us how the talk show stars acted after the second Muabrak’s speech on February 1st, 2011 night and the battle camel on February 2nd,2011

Talk Show on June 10th

It is good to remember how these TV hosts attacked , it is good to remember how they were kissing the Mubarak’s regime ass especially the Adeeb brothers whether Amr or Emad. I did not forget their hypocrisy but it is good to remind the people.

Guess who has got a profile in the interpol and the Facebook at the same time !!

Guess the Egyptian official who has got a profile in the interpol wanted list and the Facebook at the same time !?

No not Hussein Salem nor Yossuef Ghali , it is Rachid Mohamed Rachid !! Oh Yes I stumbled in his Facebook profile. Rachid Mohamed Rachid is from the most famous runaway businessmen/ministers accused of profiting from their ministerial positions. We do not know where he is , some rumors say he is in London while others speculate he is either in Dubai or Qatar.

Here is his Interpol shameful page and here is his Facebook profile. He states his location in Alexandria and he has just shared a note about the Israeli rumors spread in our media. He got 4999 friends at the current time. I do not know who is behind his profile for real , it could be someone from his team or family but seriously I am amazed at the guts of having a public profile like that when he is a runaway !!

The 19 Martyrs : Even If they are prisoners , they are humans

Yesterday 19 unknown Egyptians were buried after months in morgue. 19 unknown martyrs had a great mass funeral yesterday at Lady Nafisa Mosque in Cairo. It brought back all the memories , all these faces of martyrs from revolution.
There were two Egyptian ladies and one Christian. In a beautiful scene there was a Christian priest at the funeral at Lady Nafisa Mosque.
There are 5 identified names but the rest 14 are still unknown. According to what we have known yesterday night allegedly 17 one of them were prisoners or to be precise they came to the morgue wearing prison suits allegedly from El Fayoum prison.