And So Bassem Went To The Prosecutor General Office Today ...

And so Bassem Youssef went to the Prosecutor general office today in a big media presence and bigger supporters presence.
TV channels aired his entrance surrounded by fans , producer and guards.It was another show in downtown Cairo , expected when you think about it.

Bassem among his fans and cameras today

The fans brought to him that big hat like the one Morsi wore in Pakistan when he got the honorary PhD in Philosophy and Bassem wore it making fun from the president whom he is accused of insulting.

The big silly hat outside 

Things even got interesting when people found out MB leading provoking figure Sobhy Saleh there claiming that he was sent by the brotherhood to defend Bassem in order to prove that the MB is not against media !! It was a cheap move and of course it will be used by the MB PR machine abroad. Predictably Bassem refused that legal help. Montasser El Zeyat the famous Islamist lawyer also went and announced that he was ready to defend Bassem and he did attend the interrogation.
In the interrogation Bassem denied that he was insulting the president or religion.
In the end after several hours he was released on bail in three cases. He paid  LE 15,000.The fourth case's interrogation has been determined when exactly yet.

“Jews of Egypt” in Cinemas now

This is a belated post but “Jews of Egypt” is now in cinemas. Oh Yes it got the approval from the Homeland security , it seems that the noise was good after all. The Homeland security had stopped its screening at first despite it got an approval from the ministry of culture.

“Jews of Egypt” is now screened in three cinemas “Renaissance Cinemas” in Nile City, Sun City and San Stefano malls” in Cairo and in Alexandria.

Several friends went and they think the documentary is really interesting and important. By the way this is the second documentary to be screened commercially in Egypt and I believe this experience means we got a growing market for documentaries. Of course cinemas owners are still not encouraged but may be if there is enough media exposure and people show interest “especially the young viewers”

By the way Amir Ramsis and his film are now being accused by Pan Arab media like Al Quds El Arabi newspaper of promoting for the neutralization with Israel. Well it is not about neutralization but rather to put the spot light on some of our dark unknown history.

#FreeMahienour : Returning to the old bad days "Updated"

Updated : 
Mahienour and her comrades have been released without a bail in Alexandria. :)
Yesterday clashes erupted in Alexandria between protesters and security forces. As usual some of the protesters have been arrested and among them the famous Alexandrian activist Mahienour El Masry.
Mahienour El Masry is from the most famous women activists in Egypt. She is not media type activist but rather street type activist helping people since the days of Mubarak. Mahienour used to protest defending the rights of Islamists and Muslim brotherhood. she was there stand in early January 2011 defending the rights of Siyad Belal when the famous Sheikhs of Salafism were too cowards to disobey the orders of state security.
Here is Mahienour speaking as one of the Egyptian revolution’s women. It is translated video by the way.

I was happy to meet Mahienour in person last year.

Breaking : Talaat Abdullah issues an arrest warrant for Bassem Youssef !!

This is unbelievable !!
Talaat Abdullah, the appointed prosecutor general “who is currently in legal limbo” has issued an arrest Bassem Youssef , oh yes  for Bassem Youssef.
warrant for
TV host Bassem Youssef is officially accused of insulting both the President and Islam !!!
Accordingly 14 citizens filed a complaint against Youssef accusing him of insulting president Morsi and affecting his image internationally !! Youssef is also accused of mocking and insulting Islam by making fun from praying “!!” and Islamic Scholars !! Among those 14 model citizens you will find the name of lawyer Ashraf Nagi, a member of the Pro- MB “Lawyers of Egypt Union”
I do not know if this complaint is the one presented against Bassem last December.
Bassem commented with that short tweet that I can not translate in English because it will lose its meaning. In nutshell he is making fun from the arrest warrant.

شقط و إحضار :)
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) March 30, 2013

This is new escalation after the arrest warrants issued for the activists.

Updated :

Bassem Youssef  announced that will head to the prosecutor general office tomorrow

أمر الضبط و الاحضار صحيح. ساتوجه غدا الى مكتب النائب العام الا لو تفضلوا بإرسال بوكس ليأخذني اليوم و يوفر علينا المواصلات
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) March 30, 2013

Amazingly Bassem was not summoned for a hearing at the Prosecution office according to the law.

After #Jordan and #Gulf , Syrian brides mania reaches to #Egypt

The disgusting phenomena spread in the Arab countries like Jordan and the Gulf reached to Egypt and poor Syrian women are being abused and offered for marriage for those interested in taking advantage of these ladies. 
Yes sadly enough it reached in Egypt. In a press statement issued by the National Council of Women on Thursday that it sent two letters to the ministers of interior and justice in Egypt demanding them to stop the marriages of Egyptian men from Syrian women refugees taking advantage from their suffering. The statement of NCW says that Women NGO in Europe called “The international federation of Women” presented a memo to president Morsi regarding this matter. According to this matter not less than 12,000 of marriage cases between Syrian women and Egyptian men in one year only. The memo also spoke about these marriages are spreading in Cairo “New Cairo and 10th of Ramadan Cities” , Giza “October” , Alexandria , Gharbia , Mansoura and Qena.
Professionally speaking the statement did not mention the source of that number “12,000” and whether we are speaking about an official registration number. There should be more investigation regarding the number.
We began to hear more about this sad thing in Egypt officially in January 2013 when the NCW began to react to the reports regarding how some NGOs use the Syrian women and girls’ need and force them in marriage in the most disgusting way.
In the same month the National Council for women in Egypt launched a hotline for Syrian women to receive their complaints if they are forced in to marriages. The initiative is good but I highly doubt that the Syrian women in need and are forced in to marriage will know about this hotline at all !! Unfortunately I did not follow up this topic because as you know since last 25 January 2013 we are having our struggle in Egypt’s political arena.

Torture in the house of God !!

Now I wonder what the prosecution office will do concerning this disturbing accusation supported by testimonies and hard evidence.  

The Muslim brotherhood is accused of torturing other Egyptian citizens in the house of God , in Belal Ibn Rabah Mosque in Mokattam during the clashes last Friday. Here is a video made by Mosireen translated to English “I think it is working now on the blog” showing the victims speaking on what happened to them.

Those who were tortured there were mainly from the earthquake houses area near Mokattam. The earthquake houses area is a lower working class area. The victims were Muslims and Christians from the people there. Of course the MB is insisting that they are hired thugs based on how they look and so on ignoring the facts that we are dealing with an area surrounded by Cairo’s infamous slums and shanty towns suffering from extreme poverty. 
The MB does not want to recognize that the next wave in the revolution will be the hunger uprising from these areas who are fed from the castles in the air. For years actually observers and analysts during the Mubarak era expected that the revolution in Egypt would be a hunger one and not a political middle class one like 25 January revolution for God sake.
Here is another testimony from Ramy El Kholy about the torture inside the complex that he witnessed himself at the ceremonies hall last Friday 
El Kholy said that he witnessed not less than 15 men in their underwear being tortured and whipped to the level that most of them are unconscious. 

No wonder how police treats people so bad in #Egypt

These horrifying images were posted today in a Facebook Page from Suez that covers the governorate’s news and events.

Executing dogs in Suez

Police and the Veterinary department in Suez started a campaign to get rid from stray dogs in some area. As you can see they executed the dogs in this inhuman way “Shooting them” and piled them in some truck thinking that it is a big achievement.
First of all what kind of veterinary department is that in Suez that does not know the merciful methods to execute wild sick animals like that !??
Second of all no wonder police treats people like that when the policemen do not have any feelings towards God’s creature.
Third here is an official fatwa from 2003 prohibiting the torture of animals and executing them cruelly but rather to use merciful and scientific modern methods.

Vote For #Heba and #Malala in #Time Poll

The Time 2013 Poll is here and it is time to choose the Time 100 List. Now I here are my recommendations.

Go and vote for Malala Yousafzi and Heba  Morayef , especially for Heba Morayef. Now all of you or most of you have heard about Malala but I think  you have not heard about Heba Morayef as you should. Heba is the Human rights watch’s Egypt Director. She has been from the famous faces in the Egyptian revolution.

You can see her speaking to Reuters about the Role of women in the Egyptian revolution.

Heba speaks about the role of Egyptian women in the revolution

Heba’s next battle or actually current battle now is the new NGOs law supported by the FJP.

By the way Mohamed Morsi is also nominated in the list. I know that the MB will organize an attack on this page to support him like last year !!

And @Alaa goes to Criminal Court Either ways !!!

It seems that the prosecutor general is insisting to refer Alaa Abdel Fatah to the criminal court after all. Today we were surprised to find that Alaa Abdel Fatah and another 12 activists including his sister Mona Seif are referred to criminal court for attacking Ahmed Shafik's headquarter in Dokki in May 2012. Do You remember this case !???
By the way I slept early last night especially internet speed was killing me and I did not know about this except when I woke up
Ironically since early morning Shafik campaign and its members above them its former spokesperson Ahmed Serhan are saying that they withdrew their complaint and accusation against the activists since May 2012 before the elections !!

@sandmonkey @karimakhalil @daliaezzat_ تم التنازل في حينه بمعرفة مكتب المستشار القانوني يحى قدري في محضر امام قسم الدقي ونيابة الدقي
— Ahmad Sarhan (@Sarhan_) March 28, 2013

Ahmed Serhan : Our Legal Consultant Yahia Kadry withdrew our complaint and accusation in front an official report at Dokki police station and Dokki prosecution Here is a video from Shafik's campaign during then where the former presidential candidate declared that he withdrew his complaint and accusation to the activists.

Who wants to Cut the cables !??

Today is another slow day for internet in Egypt. Telecom Egypt announced that once again the Alexandria internet sea cable "SEA-ME-WE-Wa" in the Mediternean was damaged and it will be fixed with no hours. This is the second time it happens in less than one week. The first time was last Friday if you remember.
Now we got Col. Ahmed Ali announcing on his official FB page that the Egyptian Navy forces arrested 3 divers while they were cutting the internet sea cable near El Shataby beach !!!
Col. Ali did not say who those divers suspected "The correct term" of damaging the cable were and why they were doing this.
It is worth to mention that this announcement comes after some telecommunication officials announced that they believed there was something criminal behind the damage in the internet cable. I think they got a hint
Of course you see this post after long time in browsing and attempting to collect links and so on..
Hopefully we will know soon who those three are and know their true story.

Update :

More details emerged about the three suspects :

تحقق نيابة شرق الإسكندرية مع المتسببين بقطع كابلات الانترنت بالإسكندرية وتبين أنهم 3 صيادين يقومون بالغوص فى البحرلانتشال " خردة السفن
— Samir Omar (@SamirOmarSky) March 27, 2013

Samir Omar from Sky News Arabia :

East Alexandria prosecution with those standing behind the damage of internet cables in Alexandria and it turned out to be 3 fishermen who dive to search for old ships Junk

And the battle between the Judiciary and presidency continues

Today the Cairo Appeal has overturned President Morsi's decision to dismiss former prosecutor general Abdel Maguid Mahmoud in a new confrontation between judiciary and presidency or in other words judiciary and the Muslim brotherhood.
Now according to this court ruling Morsi's decision to appoint Talaat Abdullah as prosecutor general is cancelled. 
There is a lot of talk , legal talk now regarding the meaning of that court ruling and whether the presidency will appeal or not. Some legal expert I spoke with earlier today told me that Abdel Maguid Mahmoud should be reinstated accordingly even for 24 hours than to resign so the Supreme judiciary council would choose a new prosecutor general.
Other legal experts say that Abdel Maguid Mahmoud will not be reinstated but legally his term was over and so the Supreme judiciary council will choose from 3 candidates according to the constitution.Some say the ruling can be appealed while others believe it is not.
Former prosecutor general Abdel Maguid Mahmoud told Anadolu news agency that he was going to study the court ruling and its reasoning in order to see what he will do next.
The case was filed by two lawyers including loudmouthed bigger than life lawyer Mortada Mansour.

Going back to the old #FreeAlaa hashtag

I think we are going to use after all the old "#FreeAlaa" hashtag. He went today to the prosecutor general's office with his wife and baby son wearing the white clothes of temporary detention.
First of all Ahad Soueif , Alaa Abdel Fatah's aunt has translated his statement published on his official FB page in to English. Here is the translation as she published it on her official FB page.

 I've decided to go to the Prosecutor tomorrow mid-day, for I will not expose my wife, my son and my home to the practices of the Police if they decide to carry out the detention order.
The order itself is proof of the corrupt nature of the case and the bias of the Prosecutor-General towards the Muslim Brotherhood and the Office of the Supreme Guide.
I have never failed to respond to a legal summons, even when it came from an institution whose legitimacy I did not accept - like the Military Prosecutor. The only explanation for the detention order, and its fevered announcement in the media, is that the Public Prosecutor is instigating the Police and the followers of the MB to act with violence towards the accused. Tomorrow, therefore, I will demand that the investigation be carried out by a judge so that we can be sure of a level of neutrality, since these accusations are directed at political opponents of the MB - the MB to which the Public Prosecutor belongs.

Breaking : Arrest Warrants issued in “Mount Battle”

The prosecutor general office has announced from short time that arrest warrants have been issued against activists Alaa Abdel Fatah , Ahmed Douma , Karim El Shaer ,  Hazem Abdel Azim and Ahmed Eid. According to the arrest warrant , the five are banned from travel.
The prosecutor general also order to request the interrogation of Nawara Negm.
The 6 activists are being reported by allegedly a number of political figures and parties “Mainly MB and Islamists” to the public prosecutor and are being accused of inciting violence , destroying properties and attacking people. There are 4 CDs with videos, screenshots from their social media accounts and photos prove their guilty in calling people to torch down the Muslim brotherhood’s headquarters and killing MB members.
Yes there is a new arrest warrant for Alaa , it is unbelievable !! Alaa has broke all records by having arrest warrants in time of Mubarak, SCAF and Morsi !!
There have been leaks regarding these warrants since early morning and we are expecting even more warrants. “Not less than 100 warrants actually”
There are online calls urging these names not to surrender to the prosecutor general. Already Karim El Shaer has announced from short time on Facebook that he will not surrender to the prosecutor general’s order because he does not recognize this prosecutor general. El Shaer believes that this order proves that Morsi’s regime was walking on the same path of Mubarak and that he will continue to fight till it is downed. El Shaer was arrested during Mubarak’s rule by the way. 
By the way I would like to know why there was no arrest warrant or investigation issued against the MB official filmed at the Presidential Palace for the illegal detention and torture of Egyptian citizens on December 5,2012 at the presidential Palace.

 Updated 

 Nawara Negm commented on the decision on ONTV channel from short awhile ago saying that she will not go to the interrogation and she does not care about imprisonment. Already both her parents were from the most famous political prisoners in time of Nasser and Sadat.

Mosireen Presents : Why Riot ??

Mosireen presents : Why Riot ?
A 5 minutes clip that may explain why some people in Egypt , many people in Egypt are angry. It has got English Subtitles.

After the Mount Battle , We Got the Media Battle !!

After few hours from now Islamists from Muslim brotherhood youth members and Salafists are planning for another battle. The Muslim brotherhood youth and Islamists are planning a million man protest to besiege the media city in October 6 once again. They are calling actually for the storming of the city and to block the transmission of the following channels “CBC,ONTV, MBC Misr , El Kahara Wal Nas !!

This battle is led by none other than the king of talk shows who appeared on TV more than ElBaradei since the start of Egyptian revolution Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail.

The campaign or the battle does not stop in the infidel media city as some tweep told me on Saturday. The battle goes on personally targeting political and figures by names at their home like for instance Khaled Ali who was injured while protecting a MB member during the Clashes.

Now the following part will depend on storify leaving with no comment from me at all after the break with no comment what so ever.

#MB Vs. Protesters : The Mount Battle In Pictures

My dear friend Mahmoud Gamal El Din was there at the Mount Battle along with his camera. He went to protest as well to cover the protest as talented and amazing reporter and photographer.

By the way I tried to call Mahmoud yesterday while in field. He was among the activists who tried to stop the attack against the MB members by protesters but in vain.

#MB VS. Protesters : After the Mount battle

The battle has got a name now “The Mount battle” in reference to Mokattam Hill that is regarded by most Egyptians as a mount while it is not. The biggest ironies of the whole thing is that the MB members are the ones who named it “The Mount Battle”.

I have got too many thoughts and short time today. I am between reading the testimonies of those who have been there or following news and reactions. It is just crazy. I will try to do my best.

The Protesters and the Mount Battle

Most protesters believe that they won this battle after kicking the Muslim brotherhood’s ass in Mokattam and paying the price of losing partially their humanity by approving the actions of torture. They believe that they made the Muslim brotherhood pay for their assaults and attacks on the protesters since the attack of the MB youth on protesters including girls I knew at the parliament in January 2012 not even the attack of MB members on the protests at the Presidential Palace on December 5. What happened on December 5th from torture and assault against protesters was the turning point , the angry protesters still got these terrible images and footage and can not forget it. The statements and the actions of the MB are not helping them to forget especially in time of the elected president we got victims like Gika , Christy and El Gendy.

It is like living in a war and most of the protesters believe that they won that battle against the MB members who used teased them of being weak and not so strong to stand against the great fighters of MB.

#MB VS protesters : The night goes on !!

Now I could not update this post for hours because we are having internet problems all over Egypt but I have been glued to my twitter , TV channels and News websites to follow up what is taking place. I can not update my Storify Live update. It is annoying.
Things are not good at all. 
At night the clashes are mainly between the protesters and the Central Security forces “CSF”. Again the Attack and Retreat Policy is applied. Some MB members also clash from time to time with the protesters. The CSF is reportedly using extremely bad type of tear gas grenades.
The ambulance authority announced that there are officially 147 injured and no fatalities. Still on the ground activists and protesters report another thing. April 6 Youth member Mostafa El Boghdady is reporting that one protester was killed.
The Muslim brotherhood members also claim that at least one of their members have been killed. There is no doubt that the MB members that were captured by the protesters were beaten brutally and crazily. It is also worth to mention that the protesters and activists who have been in Mohamed Mahmoud 1 Clashes and Cabinet HQ Clashes of 2011 were protecting them but in vain.
A MB member was torched and his pictures shocked us. Thank Goodness He is still alive and fine according to his brother on Facebook.

From Al Masry Al Youm

 Another MB member was dragged after being beaten. Actually more than MB member were dragged in the streets by the angry protesters according to the photos we saw and vice versa also. It was a streets war for real.

Dragged while bleeding "Ahram Online"

It is like the December 5 clashes but the MB members and protesters changed their places. More photos can be found in Ahram Online.
The protesters reported that the CS forces were attacking the protesters  pushing them back in order to liberate members of the MB captured and detained in El Hamed mosque. “There is a photo for the mosque in the first post”
At the same time protesters report that there are other protesters captured at a Mosque called Belal Ibn El Rabah in the area. 
FYI today is the 85th anniversary of founding the Muslim brotherhood in Ismailia. It is worth to mention also that protesters from several months burned down the MB headquarter there !!

#MB Vs. Protesters Showdown , A dusty day in #Moktam

And today is the day , protesters are heading to MB headquarter in Moktam in a very dusty day in Egypt.

You can check more about the protest and its goals here.

Now to make your life and my life easier here is a Storify live coverage after the break as there are lots of updates.

#MB Vs. Protesters : The Battle this time in Moktam !!

Tomorrow several opposition political powers and parties are planning to protest at the Muslim brotherhood headquarter in Moktam. It is an escalation move to protest what happened to the protesters at the HQ last Saturday. The protest should start at 2 PM.

The political powers and figures organizing the protest announced their demands :

1. Removing the illegal Public Prosecutor from his position and appointing a new Public Prosecutor through a legal and transparent procedure and investigating properly in all former cases.
2. Resignation of the failing government and appointing a national salvation government chosen by national forces that represents all the Egyptians.
3. Discontinuing the use of the illegal constitution that was tailored by MB and in coordination with one political party, regardless of the demands and rights of all national political groups and civil societies. This would be done through a legitimate constituent assembly; since the former assembly does not have the capacity to draft a constitution for a post revolutionary nation; in the mean time we would be using the revised Constitution of 1971 (through the March 19, 2011 referendum) temporarily, and the formation of the Constituent Assembly that includes genuine national constitutional law experts and representatives of trade unions, political parties and various community groups equally. The new constitution would pass by referendum and must win 50% votes plus one from the voters enrolled in the electoral tables so that there is a legitimate pass of a constitution for Egypt.
4. Dismantling the Muslim Brotherhood by force of law or be subject to current law of associations 84 for year 2002
5. Claim CAA to start the process of legalization of the Muslim Brotherhood group to announce their sources of funding in the current and previous press conference within two months maximum and refer any violation of the law to the new Public Prosecutor.
6. The call for the new presidential elections in September 2013 under the supervision and management of full international control, from the United Nations and international organizations.
7. The formation of an independent committee composed of technical and logistic experts, to revise the national ID database to ensure the integrity of any future election process in Egypt.

Now who is going to participate in this protest ? Who are the political figures and what are the political powers behind it !? Well here is a quick glimpse of who will head to the MB HQ tomorrow from the big names : George Ishak, Alaa Al Aswani, Nawara Negm, Dr. Hazem Abdel Azim, Youssef El Hussieny, Dina Abdel Fattah, Zeyad El Eliemy, Bassel Adel, Bassem Kamal, Mostafa El Gendy , Alaa Abdel Fatah

Happy Mother’s Day From #Egypt

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mothers in Egypt and the Arab world.
This was the first post stamp issued in Egypt to commemorate the National Day in year 1957

Mother's Day 21-3-1957

And here is the Google Doodle for the Day from Google Egypt.

Also here is the Mother’s Day song for the year by the legendary Soad Hosny from Lyrics of Salah Jahin and the music of Kamel El Taweel from the Egyptian National TV archives. “Legends summit”

#MOI thinks that video is offensive !!

Egyptian Vlogger Ahmed Anwar found out today that the ministry of interior “MOI” is suing him for offending the Egyptian police because of a video he uploaded. He also found out that there is an order for his arrest on 17 March 2013. His case number is 4502 for year 2012.

Here is the video which the MOI believes that is offensive.

Anwar : Ministry of belly dancers formally known as ministry of interior

The video is dated to March 2012 where Anwar criticized sarcastically how the ministry of interior and “ The Wives of police officers” association decided to honor out of blue Lebanese singer and actress Marwa for her role in raising the morale of police force !!!

When #Iraq Invasion echoed in #Tahrir square

From 10 years ago Iraq was invaded and thousands of Egyptians stormed the Tahrir square in protest during the strong days of Mubarak regime.
Ironically at the same time the Muslim brotherhood and the National Democratic Party were hand in hand so-called protesting the foreign invasion of Iraq at Cairo Stadium. Sadly the media focused only what is happening in the Stadium and ignored the square.
The photo below was from the rare photos taken from Tahrir square and published in Egyptian press by Randa Shaath on 20 March 2003 and was published in Ahram Weekly.

In Tahrir from ten years by Randa Shaath

 Here are more photos from Corbis and Getty

Arresting Qaddaf El Dam , a big noise like his late cousin

Early Tuesday the Egyptian police arrested by the orders of the INTERPOL 3 top wanted Ex-Qaddafi regime’s officials above them Ahmed Qaddaf El Dam , the top Qaddafi’s aide and his cousin in a very big scene in Zamalek area.
The other two arrested along Qaddaf El Dam are former Libyan ambassador in Cairo Ali Maria and Mohamed Ibrahim , the brother Moussa Ibrahim, the former minister of information.
Just like his cousin, Qaddaf El Dam did not give up except with a fight in a big scene. It turned out that his guards opened their fire at the police force that came for his arrest injuring a police officer in the quiet clam upper Class Zamalek neighborhood in early morning. Reporters claim that when the police force stormed his residence he claimed that he believed the police force were actually Libyan rebels searching for him !!
In that time it seems that Qaddaf El Dam spoke with Jihan Mansour on Dream TV in her morning TV show.  He said that he was not a terrorist to be treated like that.

The latest Interview with Qaddaf El Dam on TV through phone

#EgyArmy : Watch out Class 109

General El Sissi

Please watch carefully The Class 109 in the Military academy , it is exceptional class by all measures. The Class 109 aka Saad El Shaazly class is a historical because for the first time since God knows when young men from Muslim brotherhood are allowed to enroll in the military academy.
Yes for the first time a number from young men from the Muslim brotherhood above them President’s nephew himself who was accepted to enroll in the Technical Military school. Not only the Muslim brotherhood boys enrolled in the military academy but also the boys of many Islamist backgrounds like Salafists.
The headmaster of the military academy says that there is no fear because all political affiliations are left outside the door and that if any officer violates army code and gets involved with politics will be expelled. The problem is not in the officers but rather in the students, the future officers. 
The Class 109 is interesting because according to my info there was a delay to announce the results of the applicants and whether they are accepted or not in what is known to be the initial screening before 100 days of training prior to be officially a student in the military academy. This is according to my humble info.

And Environment in #Egypt lost a great friend today

Late Mindy

Today I started my day speechless , you know when you hear a sad news that you are not ready for at all. This is how my day started. I was shocked to know that dear friend and environmentalist Mindy Bahaa El Din has passed away.
Dear Mindy suffered a stroke on Thursday night and passed away earlier this morning at Dar El Fouad Hospital in 6 of October. For those who do not know Mindy Bahaa El Din , originally from the States was the most active and passionate environmental activists and conservationist in Egypt. Along with her husband famous conservationist Sherif Bahaa El Din , Mindy struggled against all unstoppable aggression on environment in Egypt. She really loved Egypt so much more than some Egyptians do I would dare and say. She was optimistic and had hopes for better future for Egypt. Mindy was buried in Egypt from several hours ago.
Mendy was unknown solider in the battle of environment in Egypt indeed. I wish more people knew her and knew her work in Nature Conservation Egypt.
Dear Mindy was a long time Egyptian Chronicles reader and she used to help me with info when its comes to environment in Egypt. She was nice to me and very caring. I did not meet her in person but I wish I had.
Here is a small clip by dear Ghazla Irshad showing late Mindy speaking about Egypt.

My deepest condolences to her husband Dr.Sherif and her beautiful daughters Laila and Yasmine. May Allah grant them patience to cope that huge loss.
Next Thursday the memorial service will be held for Mindy at El Hamdia El Shazlia famous mosque in Mohandessin area.

#Giza Pyramids celebrate #St.Patrick’s Day

The Embassy of Ireland in Cairo celebrated the St. Patrick's Day , the National Day of Ireland last Thursday in a very creative way. The pyramids and Sphinx turned green that night :)

Happy St.Patrick Day from the land of pyramids

Of course our tourism board and our media were busy in something else as usual.

#MB guards clash with #Graffiti artists ; Watch #ElMoktam now

Today a group of graffiti artists in Cairo decided to head to the stronghold of Muslim brotherhood aka its headquarter in Moktam. They wanted to draw couple of graffiti paintings attacking MB in their heart and mind location.
Instead of painting graffiti on the wall and to avoid any clashes they began to draw on the asphalt in the street when they were attacked and beaten by the MB youth and guards.
Nour El Din El Mahallawi , a Pro-Revolution young activist living in Moktam wrote in his blog in Arabic what happened today. El Mahallawi was that group that organized the Harlem Shake there.  Nour El Din mentioned very interesting point that is from few days ago the MB guards “not police” detained a group of youth from Moktam one kilometer away from the MB HQ and that group was handed over to the police.
Now the videos and photos coming from the clashes are not that shocking after what we have seen last December 5,2012 at Presidential Palace. We saw a video showing a man slapping a girl called Mervat. We saw controversial activist Ahmed Douma beaten in the same video . “Pay attention on how the girl is being slapped” 

From Al Masry Al Youm

How has the #MB become the biggest challenge to #Jan25 Revolution ?

I wanted to write this post from a long time but as usual I was lazy enough to do it but my dear friend Bassem Sabry’s latest column in Al Monitor made me to write it. 

 4/20/2012 protest One hand to build the nation

I began to believe that the Muslim brotherhood has become the biggest challenge to the 25 January Revolution and its biggest liability ever. I am afraid that the famous group that nobody can deny its participation in the revolution is hurting and even jeopardizing it in the worst ways ever especially with their policies and plans the whole idea of 25 January revolution.
Of course here when I am speaking about the Muslim brotherhood as in Presidency , Freedom and Justice party and the  Muslim brotherhood.
The intelligentsia in Egypt know that the Muslim brotherhood took over the rule breaking all the promises they gave to the fellow revolutionaries whom for years stood to defend the group against Mubarak regime. The intelligentsia also know very well how the MB and their policies are completely opposite to what the 25 January revolution called for from principles “Bread, Freedom , human dignity and social justice”.

#Libya and #Egypt : The Silent Crisis

The famous silent man from Tahrir spoke about it

We are facing hard times when it comes to the Egyptian Libyan relations unlike what we have imagined especially in the past two weeks.
The Egyptians especially the Egyptian Christians are extremely angry from Libyans for the murder of Ezzat Attallah in Libya. Upper Egyptian Attallah was arrested in Libya for the suspicion of spreading Christianity. After couple of days of his detention along with other Egyptian Christians , he died."The image on the right : The famous silent man from Tahrir square received the body of Ezzat in Cairo airport with this message 'Ezzat do not be sad , Mohamed will bring back your rights' "
According to the family of late Attallah , he was tortured till death. His wife claims that she took photos for his body with signs of torture.His family is saying that he was not promoting Christianity and that he was his only relation to those Christians arrested there that the authorities there found his contact number in one of the detainees’ mobile phone if I understand correctly. Attallah used to own mobile repair shop in Libya. 
Egyptian Christians protested angrily for two days in a row at Libyan embassy in Zamalek area in Cairo last week. Some of them burned the Libyan flag in anger. Then Libyans became angry too after knowing that their flag  was burned in Cairo torched an Egyptian Church in Benghazi on Thursday.

Mohamed El Shafei joins el Gendy in searching for lost justice !! “Graphic”

After hours of Mohamed El Gundy’s disappearance on 28 January 2013 another young man like him also disappeared in Tahrir square on 29 January 2013. His name was Mohamed El Shafei and was last seen in a protest in Tahrir square. 
We saw El Shafei’s photo as a missing person sooner on social media.

El Shafie's photo

His mother Mrs. Amal Ahmed , a single mom who works in Misr International University kept searching for him for weeks along with the help of her family and friends as well the human rights activists. For a whole month they have been searching everywhere , in every hospital, jail and morgue. I repeat in every hospital and morgue including Zanihom morgue in Cairo 
Earlier this month we found out that activists found him in the infamous Zanihom morgue by accident after visiting that morgue and showing the photo of Mohamed to their employees of the morgue.They denied havin him in when they were first asked !! 
 It turned out that there was hidden chamber human rights activists and lawyers did not know about in that morgue where some anonymous dead body with traces of torture was kept outside the fridge. Yes outside the fridge for several days. It turned out to be El Shafie’s body. El Shafie’s body was admitted as anonymous body at first with no clothes or ids or anything. El Shafie was beaten and was shot three times. His body of course began to compose. Till now we do not know the exact cause of death. 

Homeland security bans “Jews of #Egypt ”

Do You remember that documentary “Jews of Egypt” ??
This ambitious interesting documentary was going to be the second Egyptian documentary to be screened commercially in Egyptian selected cinemas. Its official release was supposed to be tonight but just as we are waiting for its release we found out that it was banned.

 Yes it was banned from screening in Egypt officially despite it was approved by the Censorship bureau following the ministry of Culture. The film was banned by the Homeland Security previously known as State security.
The documentary film maker Amir Ramsis spoke about the matter on his Facebook page.

Ramsis' FB Page

MR.Minister you should resign after this confession

Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki confessed today on TV a confession if it were said in another country , it would cause a political scandal that would cost both the minister of interior and minister of justice their positions.
Today minister Mekki confessed on TV that the minister of interior Mohamed Ibrahim told him to say that late Mohamed El Gendy was hit by a car before the first autopsy report would be released. He claims that the minister of interior told him that the initial autopsy came out and it ruled out that late 28 years old El Gendy was hit by a car.

Mekki : I was told to say so !!

This confession is historical one , a scoop for ONTV and dear friend Ahmed Kheir.

Your Excellency It was recorded live !! "Graphic"

Yesterday in a Press Conference held at the ministry of interior , the minister of interior Ahmed Ibrahim claimed boldly that the police has  not used live ammunition against protesters since 25 January and that those responsible for the death or the murder of young protester Khaled Mostafa were other protesters.
Unfortunately his excellency did not see Sky News Arabia footage showing Khaled Mostafa shot down by police last Friday.

This footage was recorded live.
There is also extended version from two clips including that clip above and another clip showing the body of Khaled on the ground closer.

Samira Ibrahim and Twitter Saga

I waited all that time before I would speak about Samira Ibrahim and her twitter saga. I waited till she would return back to Egypt and tell her own version of the story. Tonight she appeared on ONTV’s Manshet TV show to speak about what happened.
If you do not know what I am talking , I think this post from NYT’s the Lede sums everything up.
Now after returning back to homeland, Samira Ibrahim said on TV that she made a mistake to accept this award without reading more about it and that the Zionist lobby and department of State wanted her to apology for her comments and speak well about Israel but she refused.

Samira poster form Getty

Unfortunately Mr. Gaber El Armouty did not ask her about her tweets specifically about the 9/11 tweet or tweets about Jews before she would speak about Zionism to the end of that talk. He did not ask her whether her account was hacked or not and why she claimed that her account was hacked and that those tweets were not hers as she told the department of State and announced on her tweet.He did not ask her why she would accept an award from the States when she feels happy about 9/11.

#9March : An Apology

I think this needs a separate post. Last night a photo was spread like fire in Egypt through social media in the #9March chaos and drama showing a young man leaving the Egyptian football federation carrying cups and PC LCD while the firefighters were putting off the fire.

We all thought that that young man is a thief but it turned out that this young man was helping the firefighters in placing the cups and the PCs away from the fire and the water.
I think we owe him an apology.

#9March : The trial part 2 #UA07 #PortSaid

Egypt is holding again its breath as we will resume the trial of the Port Said stadium clashes. Today expectedly the New Cairo Criminal court will announce its final verdicts regarding all the defendants.
I said expectedly because there are leaks regarding today’s verdicts. One of the most important leak comes from the presidency itself , from none other than the President’s advisor for legal affairs Mr. Jadallah who claimed that the trial will be adjourned.
Another scenario expected after leaks that the official 21 defendants’ death sentence announcement will be adjourned because the new Mufti has to study the case “more than 1000 papers” to issue his decision regarding the death sentence. If the case is delayed , things will be extremely bad.
The Ultras boys began to show up at Ahly Club. Some say that their numbers are less than the numbers that showed up on last 26 January 2013. If not all the Ultras members show up at Ahly club in Zamalek then the rest of them are going to appear else where.

The Ultras at Ahly Club "Kareem Yaccoub"

Some eye witnesses say that a group of Ultras members appeared in Tahrir square Metro station. Either they head from there to Ahly Club or the Ministry of interior.
It is worth to mention that the army built at night another wall near the ministry of interior.
On the other hand Port Said is also anticipating the verdict. The police disappeared totally from the city. Most shops are closed. You know the calm before the storm. This is Port Said now.

Calm Port Said "Haitham El Tabei"

Live update below

The Crazy Video of the Day : #Semiramis Top chefs defend the hotel

This video earned the title of the craziest video from Egypt today. Semiramis Hotel’s Chefs protected their hotel in downtown Cairo against attackers today.

Semiramis Chefs chase attackers

Those who attack Semiramis hotel are not protesters or revolutionaries. I do not know who they are to be honest. Some say that they are thugs, hired thugs to defame the revolution and Tahrir square while others say that they are the manifestation of the upcoming hunger revolution. It is the not the first time that attackers try to steal food from that hotel.

By the way I hate to say that during the 18 days Semiramis hotel and other hotels in Garden city area were not attacked by protesters.

Anyhow if this is a crazy video , then this is the craziest news of the day :  Al Gama’a Al Islamiyya announces that it will be responsible of Assuit’s security as the police delcared that it will go on strike !!!! Yes the former terrorists will security to the people in Assuit !!

We are living crazy days indeed.

#PortSaid : Before #9March

People are getting ready for the 9 March hold their breath for what is going to happen in Cairo and Port Said thanks to the Port Said
Sadly enough Port Said does not need to want for the big trial day because every night it has got clashes and injured. It became a routine.
In some kind of development the police has withdrawn from Port Said in what some believed to be a move to calm things down before the trial day. It was planned when you think about it especially when the police stations suddenly closed yesterday and the police asked for a truce. "I explain it later"
Egyptian armed forces have taken control of the security directorate. Already the army was in charge of protecting the governorate HQ , that is in the same block of the security directorate. There is no single police presence in the area.
The commander of the second army zone went there with army units and spoke with the people including the families of the martyrs who gave him a list with their demands. The commander asked the people to help the army in securing the building as well to clean around it !! People are indeed securing the building and are cleaning the streets around it from important evidence incriminating the ministry of interior !!

#EgyWeather : Sandstorm alert

And today we are having not so nice sandstorm in several cities in Egypt. Among the cities that got its share from the terrible sandstorm in Egypt today : Cairo, Zagzig, Fayoum, Suez "Canal city" and Ras Ghareb and Hurghada  "Red sea".
The main ports in Suez city and red sea have been closed.
Here is a photo for how Cairo looks today from Gregg Carlstorm's hotel window.

The sky in Cairo is a lovely wall of dust this morning twitter.com/glcarlstrom/st…
— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) March 8, 2013

It is extremely terrible especially for me , my nose is blocked and eyes are hurting me. It is the typical Meshir weather.
I think this bad weather will affect the usual protesting activities in Cairo today.

From #PortSaid to #Mahalla To #EgyPolice To #Ultras , how to cover madness in #Egypt

I kept starring for this post while it was blank for quite some time , I did not know what to write about tonight. I did not know what to write about amidst all that madness.

Port Said is on fire for real as the protests or rather the clashes between the security forces and the protesters continue for the 5 or the 6 day in row as I have lost counting. The last 48 hours were toughest as the security forces from police forces are using birdshots madly and sometimes live ammunition according to the protesters. Real madness in the coastal angry city. Over 1000 injured from civilians were admitted to the hospitals in the city only this week.

I will focus on what is happening right. Another round of protests, clashes and chases. There are unconfirmed news that one protester at least was killed in the clashes. Currently I know that the police wants a truce and there are negotiations between the Ultras Green Eagles and the Shura MPs in the city now. Interestingly I heard that the police officers from the city have left their work and joined the protesters.

When Gameela spoke on behalf of millions of Egyptians

First of all I should thank Mr. Youssef Taha who translated the original speech of Gameela Ismail published in Tahrir newspaper from Arabic to English 1000 times for his effort and time.

Gameela Ismail

Second of all I would like to thank Mrs. Gameela Ismail for representing millions of Egyptians and speaking on their behalf in front of US department of State secretary John Kerry
Third of all I would like you to spread this word of Mrs. Gameela Ismail, the member of Constitution Party all over the social media because this letter is actually represents what millions of Egyptians when it comes to Egyptian American relations.
Here is what Gameela told John Kerry from two weeks ago in Cairo.
                      -----------------------------------------------------------------
Mr Secretary of State,
After consideration, I have decided to accept the invitation, which I received in a personal capacity, to attend this meeting today. I do not represent the Constitution Party here because it has a chairman who should have been invited properly, something that had not happened. My address is aimed at your accompanying delegation of future makers. Part of it is for you.
Mr Kerry, you are here today with a large team of people who, according to reports, will be in charge of foreign policy in the future. I mean the future which we are paying a heavy price for today. This is why part of my speech is addressed to you, Mr Kerry, while the larger part is for your team.

The Man who is responsible for restructuring the #MOI in Egypt

Eric Trager , the researcher in Washington Institute for Near East Studies did quite interesting interviews last Saturday with leading members of the Muslim brotherhood about Egypt and the brotherhood. First here is Trager's report in the Washington Institute. "It starts at 4:45"
Among the most interesting things he found was his meeting with leading MB members and former FJP MP Mohamed El Beltagy. Why it is interesting well simply because the famous MB figure told him that he will be responsible of the ministry of interior and its restructuring. He also told him that he will drop the restructions  to let the MB members enter police academy.

.@erictrager18: Mohamed al-Beltagi in charge of restructuring #Egypt Interior Ministry to permit #MB members to join.
— Washington Institute (@washinstitute) March 5, 2013

You can imagine what that tweet caused from noise back  in Cairo

And The #Egyelections are delayed for Sometime now

And the High Administrative court “HAC” issued its decision today to suspend the parliamentary elections in Egypt and to refer the parliamentary elections law to the Supreme Constitutional Court “SCC” .
This means now the parliamentary elections planned to be hold next April will be adjourned till the Supreme Constitutional Court revises the law.
This was the Presidency’s official reactions announced online to the foreign world.

The Presidency respects Administrative Court ruling to suspend Lower House Elections & refer Elections Law back to the Constitutional Court
— Egyptian Presidency (@EgyPresidency) March 6, 2013

The Presidency reaffirms its respect for the Constitution, Rule of Law and Separation of Powers.
— Egyptian Presidency (@EgyPresidency) March 6, 2013

Now despite the Egyptian presidency has announced that President respects law and constitution to the end of that jazz , we got the amazing and brilliant legal advisor of Morsi Mr. Jadallah Fouad claiming that the presidency will appeal the court ruling !!
The MB followers and members are accusing the SCC ad HAC of being politicized. I will not be surprised that if the MB members and Islamists are mobilized to besiege the SCC once again

The Shiites are coming , The Shiites Are Coming

Ahmedinajed

I had enough of that new hysteria of media in the middle of the daily madness we face in Egypt nowadays. That hysteria simply revolves about the visit of the minister of tourism Hisham Zaazou to Iran.
The man went to open new market for Egypt in Iran , it is a great opportunity especially in those extreme bad economic and tourism times. We should be thankful  but instead there are hysteria and fear from those future Iranian tourists.
The Islamists are extremely angry from Zaazou’s visit and believe the Iranian tourists will spread Shiism in Egypt and the Salafists are screaming to Morsi “The Shiites are coming , the Shiites are coming” ordering him literality to stop that Shiite touristic invasion in Egypt otherwise they will stand against him till death !!
The liberals too are hysterical about these Iranian tourists as well. They think that brining the Iranian tourists will enforce the religious state in Egypt and that these tourists will be members of the Iranian regime in disguise who came to teach their Egyptian counterparts who control the state.. etc.
I do not know what kind of liberals they are to be honest.I feel that we are dealing here not with liberals but rather with Nationalists. No wonder the Egyptian liberals have failed the test and are not defending the rights of those fellow Egyptian Shiites as they do with the Christians and even the Baha’is.

#PortSaid : Another day of clashes ,another round of madness

And Port Said is once again on fire and it seems that it is not the usual clash between protesters and security forces from police as it stared but it evolved madly to clashes between armed forces and police forces from CSF.
According to the people of Port Said , the clashes started after the families of Port Said stadium clashes defendants and Green Eagles Ultras group knew that the ministry of interior transferred all the prisoners “including the defendants” to Wadi El Natron prison in Beheira secretly. “The head of Port Said prison reportedly resigned to object how the prisoners were transferred without his knowledge”
The clashes spread and evolved especially it came in less than 24 hours after how the police hit and run a young man from Port Said. Sooner we found news that police forces were acting madly attacking both people and army units that came between them and the people to stop the clashes !!
Today we had these crazy photos showing people aiding the army officers and soldiers after fainting from the tear gas grenades
Then things evolved and police forces began to use birdshots as usual and we began to hear that army soldiers and officers were shot. Then at 8 PM the madness started when reports began to speak to about the live ammunition. Tweeps and bloggers then in the city began to speak on how the army units began to clash with police chasing their vehicles till the governorate HQ building. Then we got news that the police disappeared  and  people in Port Said were chanting “The people and the army are one hand” and taking the army’s side.

We got video clips , we got photos and we got testimonies
We got also videos despite not so clear but still we got videos and people confirming these videos. Here is a video showing the people standing at the army side while there was unstoppable firearms.

 Still the armed forces ironically denied that there are clashes between army units and CSF forces officially blaming on the unknown third party on opening fire on both the army forces and the police forces !!!!
Official army spokesperson Ahmed Ali posted that official statement on his Facebook Page announcing the death of CSF conscript and the injury of army colonel in the clashes. The army colonel was shot by gunfire in his leg. He headed the army unit securing the governorate building.  So far 7 from police and army are injured including 3 army soldiers and that colonel according to ministry of health.The death toll has increased to 5 for God sake.
Ironically Ali says so when we got videos and photos. Of course I do understand the deep trouble the army and the police are now. We are speaking about something we can watch in black comedy films. It is another sign of the State’s absence.
My own prediction that the police leaderships in Port Said will face days like hell.

#SecKerry in #Cairo : Not so successful visit

And US department of State Secretary of State John Kerry came to Egypt as an old friend before being an US official just like Hilary Clinton from 4 years ago still I know that the Egypt he came to yesterday is different totally than the Egypt he used to know.
Some say that he came to save the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt and to end that hidden tension between opposition and the MB from one side and the army and the MB from another side. At least to reach for comprises and deals between all parties in order to end that noise ,that headache coming from Cairo. Washington got two important related files already in the Middle East : Syria and Israel.Thus that noise from Cairo should be stopped.
The man who is roaming the region in his first world tour tried to meet with everybody including Ahmed Shafik's representative in Cairo Mohamed Abu Hamed.
Still I do not think that the Kerry has succeeded in his visit, of course it is too early to say that but it is enough to see how two opposition icons like ElBaradei and Hamdeen Sabbahi refused to meet with him.Those members from the National Salvation who met with the American guest were representing themselves only.
It was wise thing to do because the National Salvation Front had enough accusations by Islamists that they work for the US.

#Locusts reach to #Cairo

And after nearly week of waiting and warning , the locusts have reached Cairo , at least New Cairo coming from Red Sea. For a whole week locusts were giving hard time to the people in Upper Egypt and Red sea area that the army helped the people in fighting that nasty insects. Not less than 300 Fedans in Qena were reportedly destroyed by locusts. The hotels and resorts of Red sea used primitive techniques to keep locusts away.
Now here is a slideshow from New Cairo showing locusts.

Just do not wear green tonight in Cairo

Here is a video showing the locusts Please take care tomorrow. It seems that the locusts will head to North Delta