Now this historical moment for real !!

It is a historical moment when the commanders of the Egyptian armed forces salute the first civilian president after 60 years of military rule in Egypt.

Tantawy and Anan salute President Morsi

Technorati Tags: Mohamed Morsi,Citizen journalism,Egypt,Egyptian army,Anan,Tantawy,SCAF,History,Politics,Video photos,Post Revolution

And Egypt officially got new president

And president Mohamed Morsi swore in to office in front of the Supreme constitutional court "SCC" earlier this morning at the Court's HQ in Maadi. Ironically the SCC is just steps away from Maadi military hospital where the Ousted/former president and currently Prisoner Mohamed Hosni Mubarak is being treated from something God only knows what is.

Mohamed Morsi sitting among the judges of the SCC

Morsi seemed uninterested in the ceremony , already the relation between the MB and SCC is not good starting from the attempts of the MB to pass a law that would annul It and then the shocking SCC's rule to dissolve the People's assembly. Another reason why Morsi seemed to be uninterested is with that oath in front of SCC is that now he officially recognizes the constitutional declaration annex issued by SCAF from two weeks ago that would limit his powers.

President Morsi swears in to office

Personally I believe that there is a deal between SCAF and MB where the later would accept the annex.Here is  Morsi swearing in video.

President Morsi speaks in Tahrir

And not only Morsi came before 6 PM , he gave a speech that made some Egyptians cry and other Egyptians angry as well in a historical scene my generation as well millions of Egyptians will not forget at all.
The president of Egypt goes to the stage to address hundreds of thousands in the square , showing the world that he does not fear death.
Here is the full of speech that continued for more than 30 minutes.

The speech of Mohamed Morsi

Here is the Arab script of the speech.
I do not know what the rule of Egypt does to men but I know Mohamed Morsi in Tahrir on 29 June 2012 was different than Mohamed Morsi on 29 May 2012 without doubt.  The speech reached out to millions of Egyptians.
Of course the climax of the speech was when Mohamed Morsi swore in front of not only hundreds of thousands in Tahrir square but also millions of viewers in Egypt as well the Arab world. Also how he mentioned that he stands with the legitimacy of the public was very clever move along with the mentions of the military trials prisoners and detainees.

I did not like how he mentioned in directly the history and the struggle of the Muslim brotherhood since the 1940s till the 1960s and “What you know about the 1960s !!” as he said.

#Syria Revolts : Free Abu William “Graphic”

Abu William is an old man who lives in Homs. From his name you will know that he is a Christian. Abu William’s house was an icon in Homs on how he refused to his house and city after they have been shelled. From what I understood Abu William lives in the Christian populated neighborhood that was shelled and most of the people had to leave except very few including him.
He was another icon of resistance in the city with his white hair and his old age.

Abu William from his balcony 

Abu William was arrested yesterday by El Assad forces after refusing to leave his house and for speaking to the citizen journalists online.

Abu William : We will stand till death

The President in Tahrir

Today several political groups and parties are holding another protest in Tahrir square, it is not a big thing anymore to have a protest in Tahrir square but it is a big thing when we find an elected president in Tahrir square !!
President Mohamed Morsi is going to Tahrir square and to address the people there at 6 PM today. The Muslim brotherhood is already setting up a very big stage for the president.
Already the Republican guards are in the charge of that stage , I know that Tahrir square is their worst nightmare when it comes to the president's safety when I think about it !!

The stage by Lina Al Wardani from Tahrir square 

Ironically people thought that Morsi will come to Tahrir square earlier today but instead he went to pray to Al Azhar Mosque.

Morsi had his own hero reception in Al Azhar mosque , it has been ages since a president would come to Al Azhar and pray among people in this way.

Morsi will officially swear in to office tomorrow in front of the Supreme constitutional court despite the revolutionaries wanted him to swear in front of the parliament so he would not recognize the Constitutional declaration annex issued by SCAF from two weeks ago that limits the president’s power.
Some want Morsi to swear at Tahrir square , some predict that he will do so to calm down the Muslim brotherhood and revolutionary youth.
By the way today’s protest in Tahrir square is called “Handing over Power” , its main goals is to bring down the constitutional declaration annex and restoring back the parliament.

@5:29 PM 

The Republican Guard is in control of the stage as well Mohamed Mahmoud street where he will come from.

Mohamed Mahmoud street by Jonathan Rashad 

It is big irony that made many revolutionary protesters angry from the scene as they remember on how Republican Guards let the thugs in to Tahrir square during the battle of the camel and how the MB let the protesters down in Mohamed Mahmoud street clashes.
President Morsi is supposed to address the Egyptian people from Tahrir square at 6 PM . He is already staying at the ministry of interior building.
He is expected to swear in front of the public in Tahrir square.

Technorati Tags: Citizen journalism,Egypt,Tahrir,Morsi,Al Azhar,Politics,Muslim brotherhood,Cairo,Friday,Protests

#Syria Revolts : Why to Target Children !? “Graphic +18”

I do not understand or want to understand actually why dictatorships and criminal regimes target children and babies in their wars. I do not understand why El Assad regime continues in killing children and babies when it seems that we are close from huge intervention in Syria as far as I could tell from the developments in the area.
Yesterday there was another horrific massacre in Al Habeet village in Idlib , the helicopters of El Assad raided the area there killing and injured tens of civilians including many children as you will see in the horrible photos and videos posted after the break.

El Habeet : During the bombing of the village

#Sudan Revolts : Sudanese media says Gays and WhoRes Protest in Khartoum !!!!

According to El Wifaq Sudanese newspaper those protesting against the regime are actually gays and whores supported by foreign embassies in Khartoum.

Al Wifaq : Gars and whores protest in Khartoum

This reminds me so much with Mubarak’s propaganda in even much worse way.
The protests in Sudan have not stopped so is the witch hunt against activists , students , protesters and politicians.Here is an interactive map showing the progress of protests in Sudan thanks to Sudan Change Now.

The protests did not stop despite the penalty of protesting against the ruler is flogging !!!
Oh yes flogging , here is a video filmed in Aliphon area where a protester is being flogging for protesting against the regime and unfortunately the public is cheering for this punishment.

Now my dear friend Salma El Wardany has been deported from Sudan after refusing to Stay there without covering the protests. She arrived in Cairo at 9 PM after spending hours in Khartoum airport accompanied by Sudanese security officers and officials from the Egyptian embassy.
The security officials in Khartoum made it clear to my friend Salma , either staying in Sudan but ignoring the protests or leave the country as soon as possible. Salma respected her job and decided to leave. It was not that nice day for El Wardany
I am proud of Salma’s stand and more proud that I know her personally.
By the way I have not forgotten tweep Usama "@Simsmit" or other Sudanese activists.

WTF is that ? Is that a threat of a coup ??

The “@Military_Secret” account is believed to be an account following the army or at least to be administrated by someone who is believed to a military despite I got a tip that he is not a military at all !!

Now after praising SCAF for months , we find him today attacking Tantawy and threatening that there will be a coup soon !!

At the same time Tawfik Okasha describes Tantawy as Abdel Hakim Amar and the rest of the Mubarak's dirty regime media is claiming that Shafik won but the results of presidential elections were changed at the last moment to save Egypt from civil and the wrath of the States !!!

Some say that this is a war between intelligence and army while others say it is the SCAF vs. MB.
I do not know what is but I am not comfortable for real.

Another Big busy Day For the new President and For Egyptians as well

Ok I can’t keep the news , I feel so tired.
You must know that there are on going negotiations between SCAF and MB from one side and MB and political powers from another side and ElBaradei is heading these negotiations.
Most speculations speak about national coalition government headed by Non MB politician where important ministries “Interior, foreign affairs and Justice” will be appointed by SCAF as well the intelligence..etc.
There are two liberal names leaked to head the future cabinet are ElBaradei and Ziyad Bahaa El Din of Egyptian Social Democratic Party . Personally I wish the next PM will be ElBaradei
Of course minister of defense is appointed by SCAF according to the Constitutional Declaration annex”
The Vice president position is expected to be occupied by Non MB politicians as well. Muslim brotherhood websites say Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh accepted the position of VP yet according to my sources I know that he suggested Al Wasat Party leader Abu Ela Mady.
Now today was extremely busy one for the new elected president.
He meant to the Presidential Palace in Heliopolis for the first time where he sat at the Presidential office.

The new president in his office 

Then he met former PM Ganzoury whose cabinet resigned earlier today before heading to the ministry of defense where he met SCAF members. “Do not ask me why they go and meet him please because I am really really tired”

With SCAF members

Now these photos are from the backstage of his speech yesterday. He spoke from the Egyptian State TV studios in Mokktam area not from Maspero from security reasons which I totally understand.

We do not know if Morsi is going to swear in front of the Parliament or not or if he is going to swear in front of the constitutional court or not.

Morsi Meter : We will watch you Mr. President

Mohamed Morsi has not spent one single night in the Presidential palace and yet the Egyptian youth began to watch him very very carefully as a civil servant and not as a pharaoh.

Now we got the famous : Morsi Meter Website

This website simply lists Morsi’s first one hundred days 64 promises regarding security , bread, traffic, fuel crisis and cleanness and will watch out the progress of Morsi regarding these promises day by day.

After 100 day we will see what he will achieve and we will hold him accountable.

Al Shorouk newspaper is calling its readers online to write letters to the new president with their needs , wants and hopes.

Morsi’s First Presidential Speech

And Mohamed Morsi has addressed the Egyptian people for the first time tonight as a president.

Mohamed Morsi’s first presidential speech

In classical Arabic Morsi started his speech with verses of Holy Quran with many examples and styles taken from Islamic heritage especially the famous Omar Ibn El Khatab’s speeches. He saluted the martyrs as well the army , the police , the judiciary and for the first time in the history of Presidential speeches in Egypt : The Egyptian intelligence.
He also made sure to make it clear that Egypt respects all the treaties it signed aka Peace treaty with Israel.
I am sorry if I missed other points in the speech but honestly I am so tired.
Personally I believe the greatest role Morsi is playing currently is putting an end to the Presidential cult in the land of the Pharaoh.
This speech is not recorded in the Egyptian TV building aka Maspero in Downtown Cairo for reasons related to security as far as I understand. It is the first Egyptian Presidential speech to be recorded at the new TV studios in Moktam which is secured by the army.

Commander of presidential guards salutes President Morsi

After the speech Morsi returned to his home , his apartment in New Cairo which is secured currently by the Presidential guard.
Tomorrow we will  know more about the VPs and the future of the new cabinet.
US President Obama has already called Morsi from short time ago according to the US embassy in Cairo.
Now thanks to tweep Hany Fakhry we got the front pages of Monday's newspapers

Headlines 

The 5th President of Egypt is ….Mohamed Morsi

The presidential elections committee “PEC” has announced that Mohamed Morsi  is the 5th President of Arab republic of Egypt by  of the 51.54% votes.

Thousands are celebrating in Tahrir square currently. I see floods of the Egyptian flags. The protesters say  "We will not leave , the military leave"
On the other hand the supporters of Shafik are crying in front of his Presidential campaign HQ cursing Tantawy and Mubarak and chanting "Down with the military rule"

I am happy that Ahmed Shafik has lost and I am happy that after #Jan25 we got the first civilian , a university professor to rule Egypt. Mursi is the fifth President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the 16th ruler of Egypt since 1805.He is the second political prisoner after Sadat to become the president of Egypt.

Egypt's new Era from huffington Post , yes the dancing
pose

I am happy that I will be an opponent to the Muslim brotherhood.

I think now I would say with all confidence that the Muslim brotherhood reached to a deal with SCAF.
@06:08 PM
Morsi has resigned from the Muslim brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party , he is expected to address the Egyptian people shortly.
Mohamed Morsi is going to address the Egyptian people shortly on the Egyptian state TV that started to kiss his ass.
Here are some nice tweets from around twitter showing different reactions

Now there are hundreds of thousands in Tahrir square celebrating Mursi's victory.

Tahrir this afternoon "Reuters"

Here is Tahrir square today through the lens of Jonathan Rashad

On the other hand the supporters of Shafik are more than hysterical to the level that they are cursing Tantawy and the Egyptian army after praising the army last night !! It is an irony when Shafik's supporters are now chanting "Down with the military rule" and Tantawy sold the country to the Palestinians !!

Is it Elections Results Day or war zone day !!?

At 3 PM The Presidential elections committee is going to announce the name of the 5th President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The only thing we are sure that the next president is from Sharkia.

Rumors and leaks say that both Morsi and Shafik are winners , the leaks range from sources and members in the committee to judges in the constitutional court to former Presidential candidates to the daughter of General Sami Anan who allegedly told her friends that Shafik is the winner as well news that the Republican guards are protecting Shafik already !!!!

Banks are going to close their doors at 1 PM , some companies will allow the women to leave earlier. Daycare centers will also close their doors earlier. The streets are empty and people are terrified. People stock up cash and food. It is getting ridiculous thanks to the dirty rotten media machine.

People should be terrified after three weeks of media deception on how the MB got militias and Hamas is going to invade Sinai !! People should be terrified in Heliopolis when they see helicopters hovering all day long like that !! These photos are captured allegedly from Heliopolis by Waleed Abdel Nasser

Shall we see this scene every 4 years ?? This fear and this panic are not seen in the real democratic countries.

#Sudan Revolts : Last one tried this , Ended in Maadi hospital !!

Ok from several sources now it seems that the Sudanese government may block communication soon at least the internet in Khartoum and Omdurman in an attempt to stop the spread of protests in the country.

Now just in case Sudanese activists published these numbers for internet Dial Up services as DSL services are cut down. 

At this late hours several areas near Khartoum reported the internet services are cut.

I got several advices from Egypt :

• The Sudanese should keep a list of doctors
• The Sudanese should get Thorya phones to keep contact with outside world.
• The Sudanese abroad should make noise regarding this matter
• The Sudanese should try to use the dial up services “mentioned above already”

It is worth to mention that the last president tried to do this has ended up in Maadi hospital claiming to be sick to avoid 25 years in jail sentence !!

The witch hunt against politicians , protesters and activists is still on , here is a list showing some activists and protesters arrested in the past couple of days from Sudan Max News. You will find very young people among the detained , I think some of them are minors who should be released.

Here is  another Facebook Page following the news of protests in Sudan.

#Sudan Revolts : It is getting serious

Ok at the same time the Presidential elections results action movie is reaching to its climax , things are developing rapidly in Khartoum with the increase of protests in the city.
It is no longer students protests , it is developing to something else and unfortunately media is not paying attention as usual. We have to pay attention to this uprising in Sudan and support the people’s demand , we paid a lot as a country for keeping silence on the crimes of El Bashir , enough is enough.
Anyhow enough of speaking and useless introduction , this is a blog not a news website. Today as soon as Friday prayers finished protests have not stopped till this late hour in several areas in . The protests of today are called among Sudanese according to Girfana activists : Sandstorm Friday. The rallies just like in Egypt and Syria started from mosques. Regimes should not underestimate any economic decision that would affect the people’s lives anymore.

A protest from Al Abyad area "Sudan motion" 

The protests are still going in this late hour in Wad Nubawi “In Omdurman”, Jara and Sahafa area in Khartoum

Protesters at Sahafa street in Khartoum "Sudan Motion"

The Tahrir Old man

This old man has become another icon of the famous Tahrir square icons. He joined the revolution since February 2011 and since then he has not left it.

All what is known about this man is that his name is Radwan , an Upper Egyptian war veteran who joined the Egyptian army months before the six days defeat and left it in 1974 after the 1973 victory. After that he returned back to Upper Egypt then went back to South Sinai and to live there for the rest of his till he moved to Tahrir square to fulfill the demands of the Egyptian 25 January revolution .                              
I know that in time of Shafik as a president , that old man will be arrested and sent to some mental asylum for believing in mythical thing as #Jan25

Here is a beautiful portrait for Sheikh Radwan by Walid Yassin.

#Sudan Revolts : Now The regime targets journalists and bloggers !! #FreeSalma

This is the sort of news I do not want to cover or write. My dear sweet friend Salma Al Wardany , Al Ahram Online journalist and Bloomberg’s correspondent in Khartoum has been arrested while covering the protests at the University of Khartoum.
El Wardany was arrested by the NISS “Sudan’s National Sudanese State security” along with blogger and tweep Maha El Senoussy.
Salma’s mobile phone was switched from short awhile ago , we can not get in to her. Even Bloomberg failed to reach to her. Her last tweet is from three hours. These are the tweets both young ladies wrote in their twitter accounts

There is no information to where they have been taken to according to Sudanese activists and tweeps.
We need more info as well more more noise only. I do not even know we should contact the Egyptian embassy or not !!
According to the citizen journalists and tweeps in Khartoum several activists have been arrested today. They also report that the students that were arrested yesterday have been sentenced to lashing for protesting !!
If you know anything or you can help , please do Salma’s family and friends in Cairo including me are extremely worried.

Updated: 

Good news Al Ahram contacted the ministry of foreign affairs and according to minister of foreign affairs' spokesperson she will be released. Salma spoke to her sister dear Lina and she told her that she is fine but is being interrogated and has not been released yet.
According to Sudanese activist she can be deported today.
Another good news is that Maha Senoussy has been released as well.
According to Sudanese activists , Salma and Maha were being interrogated at the Sudanese intelligence for 5 hours.

@4:43 PM 

Salma has been released , she does not know if she is going to be deported or  not , she was not mistreated. Thank Goodness.

Technorati Tags: Sudanese,Sudan,Protests,University of Khartoum,Salma El Wardany,Maha El Senoussy,Twitter,Bloomberg,Revolutions,Uprising,Africa,Egypt,Citizen journalism

Sudan Revolts :Watch this uprising

Some Arab rulers or shall I say dictators think that the fact that the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia as well Syria and Libya face ups and down will make them safe from that revolutionary wave taking the world and not only the Arab region thanks to the terrible economy worldwide.

Among these Arab rulers the ICC criminal ruler that was backed by Mubarak’s regime for years Omar El Bashir in Sudan. For fours days now Sudanese students are having an amazing uprising against the government after its announcement that it will adopt austerity measures. So far the protests are concentrated in universities and markets in Khartoum and Omdurman. 

Several activists have been arrested in Khartoum including women activists  who have been reportedly mistreated. Just today the authorities arrested former presidential candidate and human rights activists Kamil Idris. Among other activists who have been arrested in the past 24 hours in Khartoum vlogger Naglaa Siyad Ahmed and her husband whom were taken earlier today by the National state security. Naglaa Ahmed already was assaulted by security forces last April while covering a funeral of a university student that was killed by those forces. “You can watch here speaking about her arrest and the assault”

Some newspaper have been confiscated as well.

The Sudanese activists are already preparing for big protests next June 30th,2012. There is a political opposition movement already growing in Sudan called “Girifna” { We are fed up} that wants to bring down the National Congress Party “NCP” dictatorship regime seeking freedom , peace and social justice.

Despite it seems to be hard to find images from the protests , citizen journalists began to upload some videos on YouTube.

Here are videos showing the protesters on June 17th, 2012 in the University of Khartoum.

Khartoum : The University of Khartoum protests on June 17th ,2012

Breaking : Mubarak is dead clinically !! "Updated"

It is not a rumor after all !!
MENA has just reported from short awhile ago that ousted President Hosni Mubarak has died clinically in Maadi Military hospital.
From couple of hours we read news that Mubarak was going to transfer Maadi hospital from Tora prison hospital because his heart stopped for three times. We thought it was his usual death/alive rumor but now it is confirmed by the official news agency of the Egyptian state “MENA”
Mubarak was ousted on February 11,2011. He was sentenced 25 years in jail for the killing of the protesters in #Jan25 earlier this month.

Updated : 

According to two military sources to Reuters Mubarak is not dead but rather unconscious on respirators . Anyhow aside from anonymous sources , we got Mamdouh Shahin of SCAF speaking to Christine Amanpour about Mubrak's condition denying the news published in MENA and made international headlines in no time.

"Mubarak is not clinically dead" says General Mamdouh Shaheen, member of SCAF #Egypt cnn.com

— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) June 19, 2012

Let the psychological warfare began , it is rumors time in Cairo in very hot time

As we are in a huge war right , there is a big psychological warfare whose main weapons are rumors now. It is matter of 48 hours of declaring officially the next president of Egypt.

Now we got foreign correspondents telling us they got contacts who got friends in the army and intelligence that Shafik will be announced as the Winner of the elections with difference of 260,000 votes between him and Morsi !!! Strangely this rumor was spread in Cairo too.

#Egypt: Contact in Cairo told by mokhabarat friend that Shafiq will win by 260,000 votes & to prepare for major unrest when announced

— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) June 19, 2012

The tweet of Daragahi fuel huge fire in Egypt From Dubai we found Dhai Khalfan who hates the Muslim brotherhood than death claiming that Shafik won and difference between him and Morsi is 350,000 votes !!!!
At the same time we got another wave rumors told to the foreign correspondents and Egyptians who got friends again in army and intelligence who tell them to stock food because SCAF will impose curfew Thursday after announcing Shafik as president as clashes will take place. These rumors are confirmed by claims that government is transferring all important documents from all important offices downtown.
Since afternoon and people are sharing these rumors on BBM and What's App like fire.
Meanwhile the Morsi supporters are defending themselves and the victory of their candidates , you find them saying that Abdullah Kamel ,the infamous NDP journalist and member of Shafik media campaign is the responsible for these rumors.
Things are heated already especially after the claim of Shafik's campaign that he won the elections where as the MB held a press conference to assure Morsi's victory showing the results of the subsidiary polling stations and even uploading these results online.
By the way the latest rumor in the block is the death of Hosni Mubarak !!

Morsi's supporters celebrate their victory and Shafik's supporters celebrate their victory !!

Earlier today I went to Tahrir square and covered the celebration of Mohamed Morsi and Muslim brotherhood supporters with the initial results that crowned him as the next president of Egypt.Tens of Muslim brotherhood protesters came to Tahrir square to celebrate the results since early morning. I think it is too early to celebrate the unofficial victory , I fear things can change from Monday to Thursday. I have not seen any religious slogans during my stay in Tahrir till 11 AM to be honest.
Now from my conversations with most of the MB's supporters I am worried from their reaction if the Presidential elections committee comes and declares Shafik as a winner on Thursday , I fear Algerian scenario for real this time. You can not charge people with hope and victory like that , then give them the shock of their lives !!
Here are the photos I took today.

Here is a video clip showing part of their own celebration

Tahrir : Mohamed Morsi’s candidate celebrating his initial victory

On the other hand Shafik's campaign hold a press conference this afternoon declaring that Shafik got 51% unlike what the Muslim brotherhood was claiming. This announcement gave huge hope to Shafik's supporters and some of them have already gone to celebrate at his HQ in Dokki !!!

Shafik's supporters by Sarah Carr

This is the result of having a presidential elections committee that decided to delay the announcement of the official presidential elections results to Thursday !! There is no country in the world does this except Egypt of course , we are exception !!

The Corniche of Alexandria in the old days

A little break from politics
Here is a very old photo from Alexandria circa 1920 at the Raml station showing its famous Corniche.

Of course now we got a very different scene now. I am searching for the same location now , if you got it please share it with us.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Alexandria,Photos,Nostalgia,1920s

And the New Egyptian President is ……….. "Updated"

@8:48 AM

And the initial results in 26 governorates shows Morsi can be very very close to the presidential palace more than we can think.

Mohamed Morsi	52.87%	11,749,489
Ahmed Shafik	47.12%	10,473,429

The only governorate we are waiting for its full results is Cairo that already favors Shafik over Morsi. Already 96% of its results have been known but we are waiting for the results of West Cairo. Here is a great interactive map from Ahram Online which I stole all the info from there.

By Ahram Online without Cairo

Here is another interactive map from Morsi’s campaign , ironically they are classifying the governorates in to red and blue like the red and blue states !!
Morsi held a press conference at 4 AM declaring his early victory. “I did not like the move by the way”
Here is a photo gallery from the conference by dear Jonathan Rashad.

I woke up already by their supporters’ celebrations in the streets “I leave near the house of martyr Mostafa El Sawy of MB who was killed on January 28,2011.”
Now here is the result of the Egyptian Expats elections abroad :

Mohamed Morsi	222,009
Ahmed Shafik	74723

It is worth to mention that the results of Egyptian Expats’ vote have not been declared officially by SPEC.  It is expected to be announced on today at the ministry of foreign affairs.
Tens of MB supporters  are celebrating their initial victory in Tahrir square and actually the Shafik’s supporters White cabbies are not that happy with these results. Again it is too early to celebrate in this way.

@ 11:00 AM

Ok from an hour ago the polling stations officially closed their doors in front of voters and the votes count has started officially across 13,000 polling stations in 27 governorates. A long sleepless night not only Egyptians but also Arabic are watching carefully to know who will the next 5th president of Egypt : Mohamed Morsi or Ahmed Shafik.
The results of the small polling stations began to find way online form governorates.
I think it is going to be a very long night.
May Allah bless the souls of our martyrs who brought to us this moment regardless how defected it is. Nothing is perfect.

The constitutional declaration annex aka The Salmi document 2012

And SCAF has issued the awaited Constitutional declaration to determine the powers of the upcoming president who will be known for real by the morning.The annex in brief is the old Salmi document that proposed as a supplement for the constitution and suggested special place for SCAF and the army in even worse way as it stripped the president from any control on the army till allegedly we get a new constitution.

• According to This annex SCAF got legislative power and is responsible for the public budget !!!!
• According to this annex SCAF appoints the commanders of the army which means the loyalty of the army will be for SCAF and its commanders in a way that reminds me with Turkey. SCAF controls everything related to the army to the level that the president can not declare a war without the approval of SCAF.

• The president, SCAF , supreme courts can remove the articles that they are 'against the revolution goals' or that they do not from the draft constitution !! "in other word , SCAF will keep the articles they want and remove what they do not want which means special position for the army

• The constitutent assembly should be formed within a week by SCAF.

MB's Mohamed Albeltagy issued a strong statement against the annex considering it as another indication on the military coup we are having in Cairo.Dr.Mohamed ElBaradei also slammed it. Kolena Khaled Said Page made an event online to show the refusal of the Egyptian public online.
We do not know yet the results of the elections ,some suspect that this annex means Morsi will become a president because according to it he will have no poor !! Well guess what I always expect the worst with SCAF nowadays and may be Shafik will be the president and as a military man they fear that he would turn against them.
More to come insh Allah this is too much for my brain to process right now.

Voting Girl 2012 :Presidential elections Runoffs 2012

And I went to the vote in the presidential elections runoffs of 2012 with heavy heart and small hope that my vote will ever be accounted in the victorious finalist candidate's side
I went to vote and this morning I had three options in front of me : To boycott the elections altogether and stay at home or to invalidate my vote or to vote Morsi.
I respect and admire those who went to invalidate their votes including many of my friends as well I do respect and admire those who boycotted the election because one thing of sure the legitimacy of the upcoming president would be the legitimacy of few millions out of the 90 millions Egyptians.
Before heading to work , I had two options : To invalidate my vote or to vote Morsi. After finishing work and heading to the polling station , I made up my mind already. 
When I arrived at my polling station “Al Orman Secondary school” at 4:45 PM in Agouza , I found it empty , EMPTY. Unlike last time there are police officers in the all women’s polling station along with army personnel. They were friendly and helping old ladies in finding their numbers in the voters registry which is strangely turned to be not that national security as SPEC claimed !!
I asked the police officers about the turnout and they told me that it was lower than yesterday attributing the reasons behind this low turnout to the hot weather expecting higher turn later at night. FYI : I got journalism permit so it is easy to have friendly chats with police and army officers.
I went to my committee which was the young ladies to find it empty and the judge technically sleeping and exhausting. The station was empty , it was like as if I was the first one that would see after hours and hours of waiting. Through little chats and the judge I was reassured that the turnout was low. The registered voters were 5600 and only 2000 showed up and voted till that time. They also told me that many voters from young ladies came and invalidated their votes.
Now to the big moment : …..

#Egyelections : It is matter of hours

It is only matter of 12 hours when the polling stations are closed and the votes counting will start across the country where we will have a new President of Egypt by tomorrow’s early morning.

There are hopes and expectations that the turnout increases on Sunday compared to yesterday’s very low turnout that some expected to be nearly 40%. Again frustration and terrible hot weather make many people believe it is not worth it unfortunately.

I passed by a polling station today in the way to my work to find it empty. It is downtown Cairo.  It is weak turnout all over the polling stations.

Yesterday the ministry of health reported that 35 were fell sick in the polling stations including 3 judges.

Both campaigns depend on the negative publicity of the other , of course the media is treating the Muslim brotherhood just like the days of Mubarak.

Another important remark I noticed yesterday and somebody brought it up : Where are the Salafists ?? The Salafists are nowhere to be seen.

@11:28 AM

Low turnout is the common between all the polling stations in the country so far. In Cairo there are empty polling stations technically. The turnout can be less than 30% if it continues like that. The turnout is low so far in Cairo, Alexandria , Suez, Kafr El Sheikh. Again the weather can play important role here.

The army is distributing these flyers in Cairo to encourage people to go and to vote. “Screen shot by Samir Omar”

 

Now it is noticeable today and yesterday that the participation of the elderly is higher than youth , young Egyptians  are boycotting the elections as it seems from their turnout. Even those young Egyptians went to the polling stations , many of them invalidated their votes including those who are not political activists.

@2:21 PM

Voting is extended to 9 PM once again today.

SCAF will issue an annex to the constitutional declaration with the president’s powers within the upcoming 48 hours , I believe they will do it today so they do not like tailoring the annex according to the winner . Anyhow this annex will make from the upcoming president a puppet in the hand of SCAF.

#Egyelections : Runoffs Live Coverage

9 AM CLT

From an hour ago the polling stations opened their doors for the voters. The queues are not that long compared to the first stage whether in Cairo or in Alexandria according to eye witnesses despite the Egyptian TV channels reports there is noticeable turn out in women’s polling stations !!
Amr Moussa is voting at Fatma Anan school. It is expected that Shafik will vote in the same polling station that is being guarded heavily by police and army forces.

Here is a photo showing men’s queue outside a polling station in Cairo by dear Dr. Ahmed

9.48 AM CLT

Shafik is in his way to vote in the Fatma Anan polling station at the same time Morsi is staying at Sharkia government where he is going to vote in Zagzig , the capital of Sharkia governorate. Today Cairo's temperature will reach to 39 degrees.

#Polls : Who will be our next president ?

I posted a new poll in the blog

Who will be the next president of Egypt ? Shafik or Morsi ?? Go and vote now !!

By the way the results of the last poll about the results of the first stage are here

Happy elections everybody.

Regarding the presidential elections runoffs

After less than 12 hours the polling stations in Egypt will open its doors to receive theoretically not less than 50 million voters who choose between Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafik or to invalidate their votes or even to boycott it on two days "Satuday and Sunday"

According to presidential elections' first stage's elections the the majority of the voters boycotted the elections "nearly 30 millions" but of course most of these 30 millions didn't boycott for political reasons like some think.There is a fear that there will be wide boycotting and people do not show in the polling stations as much as it is needed to make it look successful and this is why SCAF as well the Muslim brotherhood launched a campaign against boycotters.

And the next President will make us laugh till cry without doubt !!

Regardless of who will become the next president of Egypt , I am sure there will be upcoming jams he will say in his speeches and interview. 

Ahmed Shafik and Mohamed Morsi proved to be the most entertaining presidential candidates with their jams in the past weeks. Ahram Online made a great report about their bizarre quotes that you must read.

They are the worst uncharismatic speakers in the world honestly  to level that it will make you cry on how the upcoming president of Egypt will be , the country of Nasser and Sadat is going to be ruled by one these two men !! Of course our condolence is that Mubarak was not a great speaker and he ruled us for 30 years !!!

Now all the indications show that Ahmed Shafik will be our next president unfortunately so you will find me sharing some of his jams like from his last interview with Emad Adeeb before the electoral silence more than Morsi !!

Adeeb “who is known for his support to Mubarak’s regime” asked Shafik how he described Mubarak’s regime as “dictatorship” where as he was part of it and at the same time how someone who was a member in such regime would lead a civilian democratic state. You can watch the video after the break in Arabic

Live Blogging : And the Big Verdicts are here

Now there are hundreds of protesters in front of the Supreme constitutional court in Maadi waiting the court’s verdict in the disenfranchisement law and the parliamentary elections.

Interestingly enough the number of security forces from police and army forces is double the number of protesters !! Already traffic is messed up in the area there.

The first case is the constitutionality of the disenfranchisement law.

I will not speak about speculations or leaks but you must know that Ahmed Shafik got a rally event today as well a TV interview at night. Also three members of the Presidential elections committee are members of the Supreme constitutional court.

 

Update :

• Shafiq continues in the race
• The court dissolves 1/3 of the parliament “Individual seats” which means the whole parliament will be disbanded because according to the constitutional declaration the Parliament should not be less than 350 members.
• The legislative powers are transferred from the parliament to SCAF which will form the constitutional assembly tomorrow

The next parliament will include all sort of NDP croonies and thieves. Expect everything including Algerian scenario. Forget the revolution now as it is an official coup



I am tired , shocked and angry . I am speechless and I do not feel like writing anything after after all what I shall write if my newly elected president is Shafik

And the finale of season Two of Egyptian revolution is here

Just like any revolution in the world , the Egyptian revolution passes through stages or like TV shows' seasons and we finished its first season on February 11,2011 and we are starting to have a special long 4 episodes from the finale of season 2 of Egyptian revolution this weekend.

The finale started yesterday with the decree issued by the minister of justice that gives the military police and the military intelligence the right to arrest non military citizens till we have a new constitution. It is an unprecedented decree that was never issued even in the time of Nasser himself !! This decree is already not only against the laws , constitutional declaration and the powers of the minister of justice but also the international human rights laws. Already some activists said that the crimes that military will arrest the civilians for include : striking , cutting roads ,thuggery , protesting against ruler and spreading lies in the media !!

Then the master scene of the finale after few hours at the supreme constitutional court : The fate of both parliament and the presidential elections. The supreme constitutional court will see if the parliamentary elections were valid or invalid thus the current people's assembly can be disbanded. The court will Also revise the constitutionality of disenfranchisement law and this revision may lead to the exclusion of Shafik from the presidential race. Already there are six scenarios for the verdicts after few hours :

#Tunisia echoes in Egypt as usual

There is trouble in Tunisia , mainly between Salafists and the government. The government has already imposed curfew in 8 Tunisian states including the capital Tunis after the violent protests between security forces and Salafists. The clashes started when Salafists attacked some arts exhibition claiming it was defaming Islam in Tunis then the security forces arrested a group of them. The arrests were followed by a series of violent protests by the Salafists in several Tunisian states.

It is the latest escalation between in Tunisia between the Salafists and seculars as well the most direct and violent clash between Salafist and government .The government there follows the Islamist Al Nahda Party.

I am worried about Tunisia because unlike Egypt if the revolution fails there , say good bye to democracy in the Arab World for real. Tunisia is the cradle of the Arab spring without doubt , if it fails it will affect us all.

Insanity and The Myth of Mubarak Regime’s death

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results

Albert Einstein

When you speak to some of Shafik’s supporters online and offline form the Non NDPians moderates who are only scared from the Muslim brotherhood and the fate of Iran , you will find them believe that things will be better in time of Shafik as there will be democracy and he can’t return back to Mubarak’s regime because that regime is dead !! This is what they will tell you if you express your concern regarding democracy and freedoms in time of President Shafik. They do not mind if you express your concerns against the Muslim brotherhood but heavens forbid if I express my concerns , I will be a sick coward hysterical person !!
I am not hysterical or emotional but rater logic , there are certain facts in Egypt that can not be disputed that will lead any creature with a working brain to one result : Mubarak’s regime is not over yet and it is gaining force by the minute with Shafik’s progress.
These crystal clear facts are :

#EndSH : Once again we face ugly reality

By Yara Kassem

Last Friday a group of activists mainly from ladies decided to have  a march against sexual harassment in Tahrir square , it was not matter of hours when we heard that those ladies were attacked , harassed sexually and chased throughout the streets of Downtown Cairo.
The march comes after a bad series of sexual harassments started to take place in Tahrir square following the Mubarak’s trial verdict reaching to its climax on Tuesday when not less than 100,000 protesters were in the square at night.
I remember on that day my dear friend was reporting from the square and had to leave it because she was alone with no male companion from the amount of verbal harassment she faced. She had to stand at Kasr Al Nil bridge entrance and report from there
Personally I fear to go to Tahrir square alone now despite I used to go alone all the time there. I feel that I am defeated but one thing must be clear for sure I have not lost my faith in the revolution or in this country , I am not afraid despite my personal concern on my safety.
There is a huge social problem in Egypt called “Sexual harassment” no one can deny it but when it comes to Tahrir square , it is well known that this social problem is being used as weapon against the revolution ,it is no longer the revolution square but rather fights/drugs/harassments square and the revolutionary activists know that very well. After year and half , I tell you that this is not the Legendary Tahrir square.

What kind of stability are you fooling the people with ?

Shafik in Today's presser "Reuters"

Presidential Candidate Ahmed Shafik had another press conference today where he opened more fire on the Muslim brotherhood directly once again , in that conference he vowed to spend the rest of his life to fight the Muslim brotherhood speaking about the how evil they are to the level of planning to sell the Suez canal. " The MB officially denied this claim"

I am ready to pay my life to save Egypt from the evil of the Muslim brotherhood

At the same he promises to bring stability for troubled Egypt, in fact this what he sells and promises people who got sick from the revolutionary moods in the country yet for any political sciences student his campaign against Muslim brotherhood and his vows to bring down the 80 years Brotherhood is a sign that Egypt will not have any kind of stability.

Presidential Candidates from Outer space !!

It is only  one week and we will have our presidential elections runoffs between Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafik in a very tense time in Egypt. Now interestingly enough despite how much each of them try to appear the opposite of the other , there are similarities between them.
Both men are backed up by the two most organized oldest powers and groups in Egypt : The Muslim brotherhood and the NDP with its roots in the Egyptian country side and history
Both men are considered the worst candidates , the ugly ducklings among the top candidates to the level that it took two weeks for Egyptians to wake up from the shock they found in front of them  after announcing the results of the first stage of presidential elections.
Both men got PhDs and both men are related somehow to Outer Space !!
Oh yes Outer space … !!!

Young Mohamed Morsi 

For weeks the Muslim brotherhood claimed that its presidential candidate Morsi used to work in NASA before returning back to Egypt to teach. Morsi got a PhD in Metals and Engineering from University of Southern California.
The claim that Muris used to work in created a little problem for Morsi because according to NASA rules , only American citizens are employed there and thus that would mean either he is an American citizen or if the Muslim brotherhood lies.
Up till now there is no proof that he used to work  in NASA nor that he did not work there but there is possibility that he did some studies in University years for NASA as part of a team  or that NASA used in California State university.

Young Ahmed Shafik 

On the other hand Ahmed Shafik , our former PM and commander of air forces got a PhD in the National Strategy of Outer-Space from Nasser military academy . Strangely in his Arabic CV , it is translated literally in to “The Philosophy of National Strategy of Outer-Space
Strangely we do not have a National strategy for Space because simply we do not have a real space program.
Of course I will not comment about the strange Arabic translation that made confused for weeks because the philosophy of Space is too damn complicated for someone like Shafik with my due respect !!
Now I wished that the strange flying object that turned to be Russian Missile that appeared in Levant’s skies last Thursday to be some Alien race UFO would pay a visit to Egypt in order to abduct both Dr. Morsi and Dr. Shafik in order to save Egypt and Arab world.

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