Road to Civil State : Regarding the opera house meeting tomorrow

Deputy Prime minister for political affairs Ali El Salmi announced today in a meeting with the cabinet’s correspondents that he invited all political powers , parties and personalities to discuss the upcoming constitution’s main principles  and the principles of provisional assembly elected by upcoming parliament.
This big meeting or dialogue or whatever will be held tomorrow at the Cairo Opera house and it will be attended by General Sami Anan of SCAF.
It is not the first meeting of its kind to discuss the supra constitutional principles or the principles for choosing the members of the provisional assembly to be held and attended by Anan and El Salmi.

Breaking News : Palestine gets a seat in UNESCO

And this is the news of the day.
Palestine has officially won a seat in the UNESCO with 107 votes.

107 countries voted for Palestine’s full membership while 14 voted against it where as 47 abstained in the general conference of the UNESCO today in Paris in one of the biggest diplomatic so belated victories for Palestinian cause.
It is worth to mention that the US issued allegedly a law in 1990s that accordingly it would cut funding to any UN body that admitted Palestine as full membership. We do not know yet if the US will cut funding to the UNESCO or not.
Israel does not like the decision of course and decided to withdraw from the conference in objection.
The story is developing.
This is the first real official recognition for Palestine by UN organization since the end of the British mandate in 1948. 
Hopefully insh Allah next time will be a full membership for the Palestinian state.
Ok here is the video from the Guardian showing the voting process in the general conference.

Sheikh Ziad Martyr : They recruit sick people indeed "Updated"

Late Moatez 

On the same day Essam Atta died in strange circumstances that make us wonder if he was tortured till death , there was a horrific crime that took place in the morning committed by the hands of two policemen that turn Sheikh Ziad city upside down.
A 24 years old was shot down by police officers in his car. Moatez Anwar , a student in the MSA university was shot down by two police officers while he was in his car with his friends. He was shot 5 times.
As usual the ministry of interior at first stuck with the officers’ story and claimed that Anwar broke the law and did not pull over when the officers ordered him to do so. The police officers claimed that they saw drugs and arms with the boys in the car without license plate.
Already the story of officers did not go with what is in front of us : A young man who was shot 5 times from the front and not from the back when you imagine story in your mind. 

Alaa Seif takes a stand

Blogger , Software developer and activist Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif aka @Alaa of “Manalaa.net” is being imprisoned for 15 days pending investigation by the orders of the military prosecution , a new that angered made activists angry this morning.

Saber and Abdel Fatah at C28
By Sherif Abdel Kouddous

Alaa Seif was already summoned to the military prosecution in order to be interrogated about his involvement in Maspero clashes last week but could not make it because he was in the States attending Occupy Wall Street event in some state. It was postponed to Sunday October 30th and here we are.
Alaa Seif refused to be interrogated by the military prosecution for two reasons :

• He wants to stand in front of civilian court , a civilian prosecution, he believes in no military trials for civilians.
• The military police is involved in the Maspero clashes , thus the military prosecution can’t investigate something it is already involved in the clashes.

After that refusal , the military prosecution ordered his arrest and detention for 15 days pending investigation. Alaa was not summoned alone as activist Bahaa Saber was summoned with him and he already did the same thing like Alaa “refusing to be interrogated in front of military prosecution” yet unlike our blogger friend he was released. I do not know why Saber was released and Alaa was not but may be it has to do with the charges. Saber was only facing the inciting violence while Alaa is facing other charges !!

Essam Atta : What really killed him ? Only a real one way to know it.

The news of Essam Atta’s death at Tora prison came like punch after the Khaled Said’s court rule and this is why it generated a lot of anger in the past 48 hours.
Currently we have several contradicting testimonies , reports , autopsies. Needless to say that MOI is insisting that Essam was not tortured but he swallowed a marijuana packet that actually killed him. The fact they mentioned “Marijuana Packet” again provoked many people and made them disbelieve the MOI official statement as it reminded them with the infamous packet that was inserted in Khaled Said’s throat after he was beaten to death. We have got huge problem with MOI which is simply can be summarized in those few words “We can’t trust them” and we got a lot of good reasons , bad memories not to do so.
What happened in the official autopsy yesterday Friday was controversial and confusing. During that official autopsy a packet “ a small latex packet with weed inside” was allegedly found in El Attar’s stomach, there were no traces of bruises or injuries. He was not sodomized by water pipes from his anus and that food content was found in his stomach allegedly proved that.

Syrian Revolution : The League bloody Period

I do not really follow the news of the Arab league delegation in Damascus or the progress of these talks because in this week not less than 150 Syrians have been killed on the hands of the Syrian regime from all over the country especially young children.

On Thursday there was reportedly a general strike in several cities and towns in Syria to object the Arab talks. The night protests are still on in Syria.

On Thursday also the students of Khaled Ibn Al Walid university in Homs had turned the fountain at the square in front of the campus in order to declare to the world their refusal for the Arab initiative. A beautiful fantastic message.

Homs : Khalid Ibn Al Walid university students refuse Arab intiative

On Thursday not less than 14 have been killed in Syria including a child in Huma. Several Children have been killed in Syria this week as you well see after the break. “Extremely graphic +18”

Essam Atta : The latest victim of torture in Egypt "Graphic"

Late Atta 

Essam Atta , a 23 years old man from Egypt whom I do not know what he did on February 25th ,2011 but  he was arrested by military police and faced a military trial he should not face. Atta was sentenced two years in jail where he was spending at the Tora prison “following the ministry of interior and civilian police” The No for military trials’ lawyers were working on appealing the military court so soon.
From couple of hours ago human rights activists knew that Essam Atta died and his body was at the Kasr Al Aini hospital , later they knew from his family as well from other inmates that Atta was tortured till by policemen in jail for smuggling a SIM card for his mobile phone. He was sodomized with water pipes. Lawyer Malek Adly who saw the body at the Kasr Al Aini’s morgue said that there were no bruises but he was leaking water !!
It seems that after knowing that they killed Atta , the officers took his body and left it at Kasr Al Aini hospital where there was no official report for the admission.

#Prisoners Swap : Illan Grapel for 25 Egyptians and F16

Illan Grapel crossed Taba border in a black van from short while ago in his way to Eilat while the Egyptian prisoners are in their way to Egypt according to intelligence source that spoke to the media there.
Here is the a Youm 7 video report from Taba border crossing showing the families of the Egyptian prisoners waiting for them.

Youm 7 : At Taba borders

Now there are details revealed about the Grapel is not exchanged for 25 prisoners only but he was exchanged for F16s air fighters from the States according to Ynet as well. 
Some of the Egyptian prisoners are accusing of smuggling and drug trafficking.
Story is developing

A policeman : The State security is behind the two saints church bombing

Al Ahram Arabic gate has published an extremly important video clip for a low ranking policeman from those currently on strike who claims that police generals and Habib El Adly are behind the two saints church.

Al Ahram Gate : A low ranking policeman says that MOI behind the two saints church bombing

Abdel Aziz Siyad Mohamed is a low ranking working in the state security since 1982.

The good news of the day : Siyad Belal’s case referred to the criminal court

On the same day that Khaled Said’s murderers are sentenced 7 years in jail , there is a huge development in Siyad Belal’s case.

The general prosecutor office today has referred 4 state security officers to the criminal court for murdering Siyad Belal. Those 4 officers have not been arrested yet. Already a state security officer called Mohamed Abdel El Rahman El-Shimy confessed that those 4 officers tortured late Belal till death.

There is always hope.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Society,Murder,Human rights,News,Siyad Belal,State security,Laws,trials

A big Day at the journalists Syndicate "Updated"

I think this is the first time the journalists in Egypt can elect the chairman of the journalists’ syndicate freely without the regime control , I think it is the first time the state security does not interfere as far as I know in the elections.
Today the Egyptian journalists will not only elect a new chairman of the journalists synndicate in Cairo but as well a general assembly. Journalist Yahia Qallash is facing competition from Mamdouh Wally as you can see from Ahram Online report yet even though I am not a member in the journalists’ syndicate I prefer Qallash over Wally due to his great stands in many occasions during the Mubarak era when he was a member in the syndicate's board.
Now today the minister of information Osama Heikal has been booed by young journalists at the syndicate after casting his vote in the elections , the thing which forced him to leave quickly.
There  is always hope.
I hope the new chairman of the syndicate along with the new syndicate's board consider the difficult terms for joining the syndicate so it would be much easier as well as protective to young journalists , freelance journalists as well as citizen journalists and news bloggers. 
May Allah bless the soul of my grandfather and all the honorable journalists that waited for this day.
Updated : 
Mamdouh Wally has won the elections and he has become the first chairman for the journalists' syndicate after the revolution. I hope that he will be better than previous chairmen.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Politics,Media,Journalists syndicate,Elections,National,Yahia Qallash,Mamdouh Wally,Society,Freedom of press,News Photos

Breaking News : Khaled Said’s murderers got sentence

This has been just announced  now from Criminal court in Alexandria :
The two policemen accused of murdering Khaled Said were found guilty and have been sentenced 7 years in Jail.
The families of the two policemen have allegedly attacked the family of Khaled Said and his lawyers after the sentence.
More details to come.
This is the maximum penalty for arrest without order,using cruelty and physical torture charges according to penalty law no.128. The prosecution did not change the charges according to the new forensic report nor the court agreed to change the charge after that new forensic report too !!
People are extremely angry whether on twitter or Facebook or News websites.
I am kind of shocked but i have seen this.
Now We are all Khaled Said got this status :

Khaled is still unhappy 

Khaled Said means in Arabic "Immortal happy"

Wael Ghonim tweeted the following :

حقنا كلنا نغضب بس احنا في معركة .. وحق خالد وكل المصريين اللي زيه هيرجعWed Oct 26 14:21:43 via webWael Ghonim
Ghonim

It is our right to get angry but we are in a battle ... Khaled's right and all the Egyptians like him will be restored. 

Ameen to that !!

A Tweet Up with Abu El Fatouh

Today I was invited by Dr. Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh campaign to attend a Tweet up with him and of course I went because I could not miss this opportunity to attend a meeting with a potential presidential candidate like Abu El Fatouh not to mention the opportunity to ask him.

I went along with amazing group of tweeps in Egypt and here are a brief for the most important point the famous Islamist and former member of Muslim brotherhood said :

• He considers him as a moderate Islamist representing the moderate Islam of Egypt that respects human rights , that respects human value.

The Youth of Muslim brotherhood rebelled against most of the leaders of the brotherhood and joined the revolution. Some old members including him also joined the revolution.

#Prisoners Swap : 25 Egyptians to return back home next Thursday

And officially 25 Egyptians including 3 minors will be exchanged with Israeli US suspected spy Illan Grapel next Thursday after the approval of the Israeli security cabinet today.
Insh Allah next Thursday’s night Grapel will cross the borders from Taba in some dark car till he reaches to Eilat then our 25 Egyptians will cross the borders back.
Haaretz published today a report on how two Israeli officials visited Grapel in his prison and it even showed a photo for him with two Israelis where Grapel looks in a good shape.

Grapel in the Prison's commissioner office
with the Israelis officials "Haaretz"

Egypt has refused to include Ouda Tarabin as well Jordanian suspected spy Ibrahim Abu Zaid who was arrested earlier before Grapel. Amazingly Jordan has not requested officially him as far as I know.
There is no official explanation on why the deal went from 81 for 1 to 25 for 1 up till now. 
Update :
Here is the list of the 25 Egyptians including the 3 minors in Arabic and Hebrew 

Technorati Tags: #prisonersswap,Illan Grapel,Politics,Israel,Jordan,Spy,National security,Egypt,Media,Taba,Eilat,Haaretz,Ibrahim Abu Zaid,OUda Tarabin

#Right2Vote : An important step

Just from few minutes ago the administrative court has issued a historical court rule that restore the complete rights of citizenship for not less than 10 million Egyptians.
The administrative court has granted the Egyptians abroad the right to vote in the Egyptian embassies and consulates considering the embassies and consulates as the address of the Egyptian voter in the National ID just like Law 73 of year 1953 implies "yes year 1953 implies so and it even says that if Egyptians are on Egyptian ships in the sea , the ship will be considered as polling station"
This lawsuit was filed by Hisham Mubarak law center along with a group of Egyptians living abroad including famous Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Swaif.It was filed against the government and SCAF to overturn the amendment of Law 73 that was issued in May 2011 and cancelled articles. From what I understand the amendment in May 2011 stated that the poll station are only determined with the address of the voter in the National ID without any reference to the Egyptian abroad. Now the new court rule gives back this right to the Egyptians abroad.
The government can appeal the court rule in front of the high administrative court which can refuse the appeal from the first session. Personally I do not think that the government will appeal because the government already hinted out that it will grant the Egyptians abroad the right to vote in presidential elections and referendums from couple of weeks ago. Based on what I see the Egyptians abroad insh Allah will be granted the right to vote in presidential elections and referendums.

RIP Omar El Hariri “1925-2011”

This is belated obituary for late Egyptian actor Omar El Hariri whom I love for the 1950s and 1960s films as well as the 1970s plays and TV series.
El Hariri was from the leading actors as much as he was a brilliant supporting actor that you will always remember.
I feel sad that I did not write anything when on he passed away last October 16,2011.
This year we have lost three of the big 1950s stars : Hend Rostom , Kamel El Shenawy and now Omar El Hariri may Allah bless their souls.
I love this tribute or rather cartoon made by the Kharabeesh team dedicated to El Hariri may Allah bless his soul.

RIP Omar El Hariri.

Technorati Tags: Arts,Films,Movies,Egypt,Egyptians,Omar El Hariri,Plays,RIP,Culture

After Qaddafi : And Mubarak is in critical condition “Supposedly”

In the old good days in 1990s 

Ok for 3 days there are strong rumors that Mubarak’s health has been deteriorating rapidly especially after knowing the news of Qaddafi’s dreadful end especially in the past 24 hours.
First we knew that Mubarak broke down after knowing the news of Qaddafi. I do not know if he watched the videos or not but he just cried. Personally I believed that the news affected him in a way or another.
Tahrir News did it again and claimed yesterday that Mubarak got this virus that literally eats his brain and is being given Interferon which I know as a treatment for hepatitis “C” !! Oddly enough HVC is the most common disease in time of Mubarak !!
Hours later his doctor Dr. Yasser Abdel Kader denied the news along his lawyer Fareed El Deeb who claimed that his client was fine. “After claiming in the trial he was dying !!”
Al Ahram Newspaper sent a SMS this afternoon claimed that he suffered a cardiac arrest then later in its official news gate denied the news !!

#Prisoners swap : Illan Grapel for 25 Egyptians

And so Israeli US citizen Illan Grapel is going to be exchanged for 25 Egyptians including 3 minors in 2 days.
The announcement came from Tel Aviv through Ofir Gendelman’s twitter account in Arabic and in English.

#Breaking: #Egypt will release Ilan Grapel. Israel has accepted the Egyptian request to release 25 Egyptian prisoners, 3 of who are minors.Mon Oct 24 17:10:31 via webOfir Gendelman
ofirgendelman

It is worth to remember that the agreement needs the approval of the security cabinet. “Please read the Wikipedia’s entry about security cabinet of Israel”

Our men and ladies in Parliamentary Elections 2011

So far we have got these names from the revolutionary side in Egypt running for the parliamentary elections that will start next November.  Some of them are well known bloggers and activists , some of them from the old generation while other from the new generation that tries his or her luck in the most important elections of Egyptian modern history after the elections in 1920s.
Let’s begin by our follow blogger and micro-celebrity Sandmonkey , oh yes Sand monkey aka Mahmoud Salem will run for the parliamentary elections in Heliopolis and it was going to be hot race because he will not run against ex-NDPians and MB but also against none other than Amr Hamzawy and Asamaa Mahfouz.
Unlike Hamzawy and Mahfouz , Salem is actually from and live in Heliopolis and he made clear it to the whole world that his family was among the first families that lived in Heliopolis.

احنا من اوائل الناس اللي جت سكنت هنا, أول جامع اتبنى في مصر الجديدة متسمي على اسم جدتي. أنا وعيت على الدنيا هنا, كبرت هنا, ونازل هناTue Oct 18 17:59:42 via webMahmoud Salem
Sandmonkey

We were from the first people to come and live in Heliopolis , the first mosque there is named after my grandma’s name. I was born here , I grew up here and I am going to run for elections here.

Hamzawy lives in Dokki which is in Giza while Mahfouz lives in Ain Shams in Cairo yet she says that her life , friends and family are in Heliopolis and that’s why she is running for the elections.
Salem is not worried from Hamzawy or Mahfouz as he is worried from ex-NDP and MB candidates.

RIP Hegazy "1936-2011"

Egypt has lost yesterday one of its famous cartoonist "Hegazy" who died in silence in his hometown "Tanta" yesterday.

For more than 50 Hegazy was among the famous political cartoonist in Egypt and the Arab world where he criticized dictatorship and economic conditions yet for the young generations like me who did not see his work in Al Akhbar daily or Al Ahram or Rosa Al Youssef as the old generation Emirati magazine " Maged" was the gate to his work. He was nicknamed Siyad Darwish

Not only "Maged" but also Kuwaiti " Al Arabi" political magazine if you remember.

Surprisingly Hegazy did draw any new cartoon in the past 25 because as he said

The nation's problems have not changed for so long

Here are some of the old cartoons he made.

Not comment 

Free Libya : After Qaddafi’s End “Graphic”

And Libya is officially over with the Qaddafi nightmare after 42 years.

Now Mohamed and Hannibal Qaddafi are in Algeria while El Saadi is said to be in Niger. Aisha Qaddafi was reportedly transferred to the hospital after seeing his dad’s videos on TVs.

There were news earlier today that Seif El Islam has escaped once again to Niger but he was captured as well as wounded by the Libyan forces. The NTC will release more photos.

New video emerged showed Mutassim Qaddafi in his last moments alive.

Misrata : Mutassim Qaddafi in captivity

New videos also emerged for Qaddafi showing him begging for the mercy , the mercy he did not know for years so no wonder he did not have got from his capturers.

Here is an exclusive video from Global Post showing the moment Qaddafi was arrest , it is so emotional when one the capturers tell him “Misrata , Misrata , you dog”.

The SCAF Show : Cairo we got a problem

First here is the interview in video in Arabic for those who have not watched it. I apologized for any mistakes in yesterday’s coverage as I was technically sleeping.

Remarks :

• When it comes to public relation and media , SCAF representatives did not help themselves for real despite SCAF chose two of its good speakers who know how to escape answers when they wanted.
• The interview spoke about the Maspero incident , the government , the economy and lack of security aside from political transition.
• Nobody brought up the military trials for civilians and virginity check.
• The documentary introduction was good so were the questions of the viewers  to SCAF members. “Most of it came to criticize SCAF”
• Mona El Shazly does not like having a co-host with her , it is fact based on this special episode with Ibrahim Eissa as well as its special episodes with Mahmoud Saad in the past. 
• I think this will be not the last interview from its kind. 

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,SCAF,Politics,Post Revolution,Interviews,Media,Yosri Fouda,Video,Mona el Shazly,MENA

#EgyMedia : A setback in time of revolution "Updated"

All respect to you , I need to think in many things before issuing a statement tomorrow insh Allah

Yosri Fouda

أكن لكم كل احترام و لكني أحتاج إلى التفكير في أمور كثيرة قبل إصدار البيان غداً إن شاء اللهThu Oct 20 20:38:18 via Twitter for iPadYosri Fouda
YosriFouda

This was the tweet of the day last night in Egypt , this is the tweet that forced many Egyptians on twitter to ignore the Qaddafi’s end. It was a tweet made by famous ONTV host and journalist Yosri Fouda in his official twitter account. This tweet came after another tweet announcement that spoiled the evening plans for many of us.
Yosri Fouda announced yesterday as I hinted before that Thursday’s night “Last Show” will dedicated to the analysis of that special show of SCAF with Ibrahim Eissa “the co-host of Mona El Shazly as well as Alaa Al Aswany. Due to the big event of the day , Fouda announced earlier that he will host Yasser Razek with his two guests to speak about the event of the day as well as the analysis of the SCAF episode.
Still the big sad news came when he announced that he apologized for not appearing that nigt and that he would issue a statement.

Breaking News : Qaddafi is arrested !? "Updated and graphic""

OK Al Jazeera says that there is news El Qaddafi has been arrested in Sirte after its official fall.
Now Reuters officially reports that sources in NTC says that he was arrested after he was injured in both legs
AFP says that Abu Bakr Younis was found dead in some morgue.
We do not know if it is the big news of the week or not.
Story is developing
Now we got news that NTC will show a footage for Qaddafi at 7 PM.
AJE reports that Moussa Ibrahim was arrested with him
Like Andy Carvin asked could not someone post a photo with camera phone now ?
There is unconfirmed news about his arrest from Sirte now , some sources says that he was killed.
Al Arabiya says that he was transferred to the Misrata as a dead body. The U.S state department is still looking for confirmation.
According to ONTV correspondent in Libya Tarek Abdel Gaber , the NTC arrested for real Moastem Qaddafi.
Now One of the field commanders , Mohamed El Lathy is saying that he saw Qaddafi who is badly wounded and this is why it is believed now that he was killed.
@2:04 PM CLT
Now more news coming that Qaddafi was killed according to NATO's confirmation now and more eye witnesses accounts.Allegedly he was shot in his head now according to one eye witness !!
Abdel Galil Mustafa will address the Libyan people in a short time.
It seems that today is the day Qaddafi died !!
It is believed that his body has reached to Misrata
@2:26 PM CLT 
Belhaj has confirmed officially that Qaddafi is killed and he is being transferred to Misrata
People are overwhelmed and happy in Libya.
I have seen in topics trending in twitter like that from one Arab country in one hour

@2:30 PM CLT
AFP has announced that it got a photo for Qaddafi injured. Here is the photo which is actually a screen cap from a Handcam with the date of today 20/10 at 12:23 PM. He seemed to be a dead person not alive."Graphic"

SCAF on TV : What they will say now ? "Live Update"

This post is being written while I am extremely exhausted , it is an attempt to write down the questions of Eissa and Shazly and the answers of the SCAF representatives in English in that big TV show of its kind so the whole world would know what is going on.
@10:04 PM 
Mona El Shazly started its show with an introduction saying that it has been 3 months since the last appearance for SCAF member on TV.
There will be two major generals with Mona and Ibrahim on air so forget about Anan , in fact thank God it is not Anan.
The TV shows received 3,000 questions. Most of the questions came through the Facebook while the SMS received suggestions. Not all the questions will be asked on air.
The episode will start after the commercial break which is long :(
There is a hashtag for the show already #SCAFShow.
@10:14 PM 
Another introduction to reminds with "The people and the army" are one hand and the first statement of Etman to the latest development of this relation between the army and the people especially SCAF's political powers. The relation was ok till the black Sunday. It is a good introduction , it mentions the anti-strikes law , how Rasha  Azab was summoned because of what she wrote about virginity tests to the Black April 9th clashes to Abassaiya incidents to the Israeli embassy clashes to the bloody Black Sunday on October 9th.
@10:22 PM
El Assar and Hegazy.
Ibrahim Eissa's first question is about Black Sunday.
El Assar starts his answer with condolences to the families of martyrs and sympathy to the families of the injured. The major general is accusing a third party who tried to turn Muslims against Christians and the people against the people and army.
His face is serious.

SCAF speaks again to the media

And it was a matter of time when the generals return back to the TV channels to speak in talk shows once again especially in this critical time.

It was not a big surprise to me that the generals agree to speak once again on air on TV channels in some night talk show especially  now but the surprisingly they agreed to appear for the first time in a joint broadcast between two popular channels “Tahrir TV” and “Dream TV2”.

The generals will be interviewed by Ibrahim Eissa “Tahrir TV” and Mona El Shazly “ Dream TV2” . El Shazly was the first one to host on TV the generals if you remember in February 2011.

Dream TV2 announced earlier that people can send their questions whether through email or SMS or even through the Facebook page that I have discovered now to the generals because it is frankness confrontation !!

Black Sunday : The snipers are back

Al Badil e-newspaper published today a very interesting investigative report about the snipers and the strange ammunition found in during the Black Sunday’s Maspero clashes. It is a must read investigative report.

We all know how things developed but as the report says we do not know how really it started other than the military police went mad and began crash protesters under its vehicles. According to one popular theory “ based on two testimonies including a testimony I read in El Badil” the military police went mad at the protesters despite they were peaceful when suddenly two soldiers were shot down.

Some eye witnesses spoke about snipers during the clashes , Mohamed Salim El Awa spoke about snipers he saw in a video clip he did not show to the media but presented to SCAF. The autopsy report of the army soldier we know that he was killed states that he was shot down by one of these bullets the report highlighted.

I am from the team that believes that the military police had casualties including dead.

The report is full of details , I want to translate its important parts but I feel so tired.

The army is still responsible because if there is truly third party involved then with we have to ask where the security apparatuses in the country are !? This report actually forces me to think about the possibility of having a fifth column here.

We need to know the truth

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Egyptian army,Politics,Media,National security,follow up,snipers,#Maspero,#BlackSunday

And Ahmed Zaki Badr is back again to action "Updated"

One of the early victories of the January 25th revolution was the dismissal of Ahmed Zaki Badr as the minister of education , we thought that we will never hear of him again but we were wrong because he returned back as the head of Akhbar Al Youm academy !!
Today tens of academy students of Akhbar Al Youm academy protested in front of the iconic Akhbar Al Youm publishing house building in press street down town Cairo demanding the expel of Ahmed Zaki Badr , the head of the academy and the cancellation of Badr’s decision to suspend 10 students for 2 years.
The Akhbar Al Youm publishing house’s administration suggested the students to protest inside the building but they refused and only 4 students went to negotiation with the administration so far.

Akhbar Al Youm Students protesting at press street

They were with him Even in the interview

I found this photo online in some Facebook page News groups close to Hamas as well as to RNN.
Galid Shalit was accompanied by the Qassam brigadier’s soldier even in the exclusive interview he made with Shahira Amin for the Egyptian TV !! He was in Egypt then.

Egyptian TV : Shalit interview

Already if you notice there were voices in the interview telling Amin that she should finish “Egyptian accent” , there was also this part when the translator missed one of her question and she wanted to hurry because he looked tired. Indeed the guy look tired , exhausted and excited.
The Israelis are attacking Amin online because they consider her cruel with Shalit while some Egyptians are also attacking Amin for smiling in his and treating him so nicely !! Others think that this interview was slap on the Mossad’s face for the second time because they did not know it.
Well the biggest slap to the Mossad is actually where Shalit was in those 5 years.

#Prisoners swap : Shalit in Egypt "Updated"

Palestinian POWs released 

Hamas has delivered Shalit from 2 hours ago and he is currently in Egypt.
Shalit has reportedly crossed the borders while wearing his military uniform which he was wearing when he was captured.
He was also accompanied by Hamas military branch. Thousands of Palestinians are waiting for the return of their prisoners, waiting for photos and videos. Gaza is celebrating from now.
Some of the prisoners will face exile, Turkey and Qatar offered to host them.
The prisoners will be transported by the Sinai university buses owned by Hassan Ratab, former NDPian and tycoon with many investments in Sinai.
Some media Reports say that Illan Grapel will also be swapped with our Egyptian prisoners as well today but with no confirmation.
@10:15 AM CLT
BBC reports that Shalit spoke with his family on the phone, the skinny boy has become Israel's most important POW. He is in the Israeli hands now.
It is unconfirmed that he is in his way to Israeli military base after he underwent medical checks in Egypt.
The swap of Palestinian prisoners started.
10 of the prisoners will go to Turkey, while 15 will head to Syria and another 15 will head to Qatar
The GIS is supervising the swap and Abu Mazen is nowhere to be seen.
@10:34 AM
Egypt will host Palestinian prisoner Amna Muna.
There is a GIS officer on every bus
According to the IDF spokesperson, he will be transferred to Kareem Shalom crossing where he will return back to Israel. Other sources say that he will be transferred to the Tel Nof airbase where his family and Bibi are there
The national Egyptian TV has aired the first footage for Shalit he looks fine and he changed his clothes as far as I see.
Here is the image

Gilad Shalit on Egyptian TV

Who murdered Police General El Batran ? The EOHR asks and answers the question

The Egyptian organization for human rights held a press conference yesterday to announce the results the fact finding committee launched to investigate the murder of police general Mohamed El Batran at the Kat prison as well as the shooting that took place in Egyptian prisons.

The EOHR issued a report with the findings of the committee , here its link in Arabic for the current time.

Road to civil state : Catch a regime NDP remnant

Just like Catch a thief Egyptian political groups and activists including April 6th Youth , Revolution Youth coalition and the Egyptian National Council “Mamdouh Hamza” have launched a great website that called : Esmeklflol.com
This fantastic website includes all the names of ex-NDP leaders and important members as well former NDP members of the parliament , local councils and NDP’s headquarters in all our governorates. It is huge fantastic work. You can find names based on governorates with brief details about their positions in the NDP.  

A graphic with the ex-NDP parties sprung from
the evil insect mother aka NDP !!

The most interesting section is the cadres of the NDP , its leaders. That list includes very powerful businessmen who are untouched up till now. The website includes the names of the parties made by the NDP remnants , of course they are more than 8 now. 
Esmekflol or catch remnant is like the Esmek Harami or catch a thief in Arabic. 
Egyptian youth already started to gather info about the members of NDP in different government and make lists spreading it on Facebook. We are also careful for all the parties the remnants are making. Our youth are also careful to the attempts of the NDP remnants to jump in to the revolution wagon like for instance in Cairo and Alexandria.

Van Damme in Cairo

After Sean Penn , we got Van Damme in Cairo !!
Jean Claude Van Damme has arrived to Cairo today and tomorrow he will appear for the first time on TV with Sherif Amer and Lobna at 8 PM.

Honestly he seemed not to be enjoying the concert !!

I do not know why Al Hayat TV network “owned by Sayid Badawy , the Chairman of New Wafd party” is inviting but I believe Van Damme is using this invitation to correct his image after attending concert held on the birthday of Chechnya’s Moscow backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov.  Van Damme and Hilary Swank were slammed for attending that stupid celebration for this man accused o human rights crimes worldwide.
You know revolutionary Egypt and the amazing Tahrir square that inspired the Occupy movement worldwide is the best thing to prove that you are good revolutionary.
Anyhow welcome to Cairo Van Damme.
Here is the photo of Van Damme in Cairo airport .

at Cairo airport earlier today

Officially he is celebrating his 51st birthday in Egypt , so happy birthday ya Van

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Van Damme,Sean Penn,Al Hayat TV,Cairo,Hilary Swank,Sherif Amer,Sayid Badawy,Chechnya,Ramzan Kadyrov,Media

Our Shalit deal : 81 for 2 or 81 for 1 "Updated"

Ok here is the latest development in our negotiations with Israel regarding Illan Grapel or what I consider our own Our Shalit Deal.
Unlike what was announced it will not be only Illan Grapel for 81 Egyptian prisoners , but it will be Illan Grapel and Ouda Tarabin according Haartez . If you do not know who Tarabin is , then please read this from the archives. Now other sources say that it is only Grapel for the 81 Egyptians  in the Israeli jails.
Those 81 Egyptians were imprisoned mostly for criminal reason , illegal immigration …etc. Among the Egyptians imprisoned in Israel a group of underage teenagers. 
The negotiations are between the GIS and the Israeli government as usual. 
Shalit will supposedly arrive Cairo in the upcoming 48 hours. Mashal also will head the Palestinian delegation that will receive the Palestinian POWs in Egypt according to some sources. The buses have already reached to the borders as far as I know
Update :
More information are revealed specially with Khaled Mashal's statements to Al Jazeera as well as leaks in the Egyptian media and Egyptian twitter world as ;)
This is not the result of new negotiations , on the contrary it is the result of the negotiations started in the days of Omar Soliman. According to Mashal's the Egyptian revolution gave a new spirit as well as power to the GIS officers on negotiation table "!!"
The GIS officers will accompany the buses in Israel to receive the POWs with lists to make sure that there is no  manipulation from the Israeli side.
According to Israeli TV ch.2 Hamas will represent Shalit to Red Cross envoy at 7 AM "means tomorrow" and the Red Cross will transfer to Cairo
Currently there is a huge security procedures at the Rafah crossing.
More to come.

Technorati Tags: Shalit,Illan Grapel,Politics,Post Revolution,Palestine,Ouda Tarabin,Spy,Citizen journalism,National security,POWs,GIS,Egypt,Israel

#Right2Vote : Good signs indeed

Last Sunday “9/10” when it had not turned yet to Black Sunday there were some news that indicated something good for Egyptians abroad was going to happen after their protests in front of our embassies :

The ministry of foreign affairs is ready to implement any electoral system for Egyptians abroad to vote in the elections.

The ministry of foreign affairs has already made 3 scenarios for voting process abroad once the government and SCAF grant the Egyptians abroad right to vote. Also it turned out that no country has objected to have Egyptian elections for expats abroad. I will assume that this includes Gulf countries.

The ministry also announced that next October 25th there will be a meeting among the ministries and the authorities involved in this matter to discuss it.

Of course due to the fact it was Black Sunday , nobody paid attention to and even if it did , the disaster we had was enough to make you forget it.

Egyptian Halloween style : Mubarak’s Thriller !!

On the occasion of Halloween “celebrating it early” , I would like to share with you from Kharabeesh cartoons “God bless them”

Kharabeesh : Mubarak’s thriller.

Whenever a disaster happens in Egypt , I imagine Mubarak and his gang doing their thriller dance !!

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Politics,Cartoon,Thriller,Michael Jackson,Kharabeesh,Mubarak,Suzanne Mubarak,Gamal Mubarak,Omar Soliman,Media,in the wind's direction

The Syrian revolution : The LAS meeting "Updated"

The Arab minister of foreign affairs meeting in LAS will start at 6 PM Cairo local time today Sunday.
The expectations are high for this important meeting that is held by the request of the GCC. Reuters reported from a while ago that the suspension of Syria’s membership in the Arab league is on the table in one the strongest escalation against Syrian regime. Of course other sources with say that it will not reach to suspension of the membership.
If The suspension will be the second of its kind this year after the suspension of Libya under the Qaddafi rule.
Hundreds of Syrians currently are protesting in front of the LAS , they have burned already the Chinese and Russian flags. Some of them are raising Turkish flags.
Former Lebanese president/Prince of war Amin El Gemayel is in Cairo and met with our FM Kamel Amr. El Gemayel is insisting that the visit has nothing to do with Syria and he is not lobbying against it in Cairo.
This will be live updated from time to time.

Syrian Revolution : 3000 “Graphic+18”

According to Syrian activists not less than 3000 Syrian have been killed since the start of the revolution last March 15 , 2011. I am afraid I am not shocked at all because the terrible and graphic videos hint out that there is a human tragedy going on in Syria.
There are these unconfirmed clashes about the Syrian Arab army “regime’s army” and the Syrian Free army in several areas through out the weeks.
Bashar El Assad announced today that he formed a commission to draft a new constitution in the next 4 months. That commission will include 29 members including some of the tame pseudo opposition in Syria. With those 3000 Syrians aside from those injured and in jail , I know that it is a matter of days or even months and that regime insh Allah will go to hell. Today 13 martyrs were killed in Damascus.
Yesterday Friday 14/10 another Syrian Child was shot down by the security forces in the Friday protest in Damascus. Ibrahim Shaiban , 9 years old was shot down and killed during the protests.

Late Ibrahim Shaiban in Mecca 

#Maspero : News and rumors in one day !! "Updated"

Today SCAF has issued a decree to appoint Tharwet Mekki as the new chairman of Egyptian radio and TV union. Mekki was the general secretary for the union for seven months now.
Mekki is replacing Sami El Sherif the former chairman of the ERTVU officially according to this decree.
Now Mekki used to work in the news sector and it turns out according to some online source he was a member in the policies committee of the NDP. From seven months the employees protested against him in the building.

Maspero : A protest against Tharwet Mekki

Anyhow today strangely from three hours ago Radio Misr allegedly announced that Osama Heikal has been dismissed from his ministerial position as minister of information and SCAF appointed instead of him major general Tarek El Mahdy .Up till this moment there has been no confirmation for such news anywhere except Radio Masr which is owned by the State !! Updated : It is a rumor , Heikal appeared on Ch.1 defended himself and the National TV. 

Who does not want to watch it , then go for another channel. 

Heikal said that and we have been doing it for years now !!

18 days in video : The Maspero CCTV video records

Do you remember the Maspero CCTV video records lawyer Amir Salem spoke about ?
Do you remember when he presented these videos “tons of GBs” to the court in the shooting of the protesters trial ?
Only few videos were shown publicly including the Camels at Maspero on February 2nd ,2011 and the Kasr Al Nil battle on January 28th,2011 and caused controversy.
Now there is a website launched recently with these video records called “18 Day”. This website presents the raw video file sof the Maspero CCTV during those 18 days.
Please share it and in your spare time please watch these videos carefully.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,#Jan25,Politics,Video,CCTV,Maspero,National,Media,Shooting of the protesters,Mubarak trial,18 days,Amir Salem

The Revolution in Egypt has not finished yet Dear Tawakal Karmen

Yemeni Nobel peace prize winner Tawakal Karmen told Ahmed Mansour on Al Jazeera that the Yemeni revolutionaries will not make the Egyptians’ mistake who let their revolution be stolen by military or in other words the Egyptian revolution has failed in her view !!

Yes the regime has not fallen yet but I do not expect a whole a regime build not only in 30 years but in 60 years will be easily removed by a sit in public squares for months in a country like Egypt. Revolutions and democratic transition take more than sits in for couple of months.

It is not about Egyptian pride but about the amount of negativity Mrs. Karmen spread in difficult time in Egypt with her views about the Egyptian revolution. You will not believe how much her statements made many young Egyptians feel sad and desperate especially with the disaster we had earlier last week.

Meanwhile in Uganda

Meanwhile it seems that the situation in Uganda and the clashes between the government and the Lord’s resistance army have reached to unbearable level that POTUS Obama has decided to send 100 military advisers to help the Ugandan government against those rebels. 

Those 100 military advisers including U.S special forces Green berets that arrived this week according to U.S military officials in U.S media. 

Despite we are busy with our internal issues , we should not ignore what is taking place in Uganda for three reasons :

• If we want to restore our role in Africa ,we should care for real about African neighbor countries regardless of how far they are from us.
• Uganda is a Nile basin country and one of the sources’ countries actually.
• The Lord resistance army operates in South Sudan as well so it is not far from us.

Now the Lord resistance army is an official terrorist organization in the States and several other countries. Not the LRA is not your usual radical religious organization because it is an official religious cult whose its leader Joseph Kony claims to be the spokesperson of the Holy spirit on earth now.

Now if Obama officially act like that in elections campaign race , you must know that other sources including Black water boys and U.S special forces in covert operations have failed for many years now.

We should not ignore what is going around us regardless what.

I hope those advisors and troops do not exceed than 100 as Uganda has suffered enough and it always starts with hundreds and ends with thousands.

And again LRA is a crazy religious sectarian cult terrorist group remember that and not so some revolutionary power that fights imperialism.

The Lion of Tahrir in Egyptian Media

And so I found my Lion of Tahrir photo featured in the first page of the Al Ahram newspaper’s Friday weekly supplement today uncredited.

Here is Al Ahram’s supplement front page

Here is my original photo

It is a great thing to have one of your photos in Al Ahram newspaper in this way without doubt especially it was as an image background for a beautiful poem about our martyrs and those who killed them but it is uncredited.

Unfortunately it is not the first time it happens to me especially with this photo which I believe was one of the best shots I have taken so far. “It was taken by simple Point and Shoot Sony P200 Cyber Shot”

It started with Facebook groups and pages like the Second Wrath revolution page that took it without even contacting me then I found the photo’s big moment was when it was featured in the promo of the weekly episode of Belal Fadl from “Fel Midan” TV show. It was beautiful thing but nobody approached me while I chose for my photos “attribution license creative commons” but it does not surprise me that people in Egypt do not know. You may use my photos as you want but as the CC license says : All CC licenses require users to attribute the original creator(s) of a work, unless the creator has waived that requirement or asked that her name be removed from an adaptation or collection.

Of course I have not forgotten the RNN’s incident and Safwat Hegazy photo.

I have restricted my photos download from now on.

I do not want to watermark my photos.

I will try to contact Al Ahram Newspaper.

By the way if you are interested in seeing more beautiful photos from the real Tahrir square days then I recommend that you buy this amazing book : Messages from Tahrir.

It is available in big bookstores in Egypt as well as in Amazon

And yes one of my photos is included in this amazing book thanks to the wonderful and sweet Dr. Karima Khalil. She was the first to advise to disable downloads for my photos.

Technorati Tags: Photos,Citizen journalism,Al Ahram,Tahrir channel,Flickr,RNN,Creative Commons,Scans