#FreeAJStaff : A letter From Baher Mohamed to the world

This letter is written by Baher Mohamed , Al Jazeera International Producer currently in prison along with Mohamed Fadel and Peter Greste as well a group of other journalists and students in the infamous “Marriott Cell” case.

Click to zoom in

I think the whole world should read it.
This letter is shared by BBC journalist Kate Benyon-Tinker

RIP Bassem Sabry (1982-2014)

Bassem Sabry , my friend has passed away. You knew him as Tweep, Blogger , Speaker , Producer and Writer but I know him as a person and a friend.He once told me that dreamers could change the world. I know that he did his best to change the world around him to a better place.
May Allah bless his soul.

"this photo is made by our friend Ibrahim Gamal El-Din"

#Minya criminal court Judge breaks another world record

And the Criminal Court of Minya is insisting on keeping its name in the hall of shame when it comes to Mass Capital Punishment hall of shame !!

By @Trenz 

Earlier today Judge Said Youssef made sure that his name would be engraved in the Guinness Book of records by handing 683 defendants another preliminary death sentence in the case of Adawa police station attack.
Those 683 defendants are accused of attacking Adawa police station and killing one of its police officer in addition to destroying public and private properties, violence , riots and incitement of violence as well belonging to a banned organization aka The Muslim Brotherhood. 
Among the 638 defendants the Muslim Brotherhood Guide Mohamed Badie. He is not the first MB guide to be sentenced to death , I think Hassan El Hodabi was sentenced to death but his penalty was reduced in time of Nasser. Nevertheless there are a lot of names in the defendants list who are not Muslim brotherhood members in the first place. It is not the first case in which Badie faces death sentence. 
This is a preliminary sentence , the final verdict will be announced next 21 June 2014. After that the lawyers of defendants will appeal the verdict within 60 days.
Again this verdict was taken after two sessions only. There were no hearings or proceedings or anything. Judge Youssef likes to keep it fast.

Banning #April6 by the orders of the court : The confrontation continues

I will start with this court verdict tonight. It is a long night.  One thing for sure , the confrontation between the regime and April 6 Youth movement is still on as some has not forgotten the role this youth movement played in the 25 January revolution.
Today the Urgent Matters Court in Cairo issued an important court order : It banned April 6 Youth movement’s activities and ordered the closures of its headquarters.
Amazingly I do not recall that April 6 Youth movement was registered officially as NGO so its activities to be banned by a court rule.
When it comes to the youth movement’s headquarters , well its members are now concerned that the popular cafes they used to meet at across the country will be closed. According to many activists the the members of April 6 members used to have their meetings in popular cafes downtown Cairo like “El-Borsa” and their own homes !!
Now according to the reasoning of the court the youth political movement that played an important role whether you like it or not for the past 6 years in Egypt is banned for the following reasons :

• It defamed Egypt.
• Its members urge the United States to cancel the aid.
• Its co-founding member Mohamed Adel “who is currently serving a jail sentence for illegal protesting” broke in to the building of State security in Cairo last March 2011 according to his twitter. “Along hundreds of Youth with the approval and supervision of the army , the whole world covered this day including yours truly”
• Its member Asama Mahfouz uses media to create chaos. “The last time Mahfouz appeared on media was from couple of months away, she is away from politics now as it was forced to leave Kuwait along her baby girl. She used to leave there with her husband”
• The photos of Ahmed Maher “The founder of the movement who is currently serving a jail sentence for illegal protesting” while carrying some arms.
• The leaked telephone calls between Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Maher which were aired on Al Qahera Al Nas TV channel.

That last point made think a lot because these leaked telephone calls were recorded illegally and were aired illegally on TV.  The ministry of interior denied its relation to those leaked telephone calls.

The verdicts of the day !!

And this is one of the days you want it just to end as soon as possible.
We got three interesting shocking court verdicts today

• Minya Criminal Court sentences 683 defendants "allegedly MB supporters" to death for the murder of police officer and breaking in to the Adawa police station in Minya including the current Muslim Brotherhood guide Mohamed Badie following the dispersal of Rabaa and Nahada sit-ins among other charges. "Another breaking record for the same judge in the same court !!" 
• The same court in different case confirms the death sentence of 37 defendants and life imprisonment to the rest 490 defendants for the murder of a police officer and breaking in to Matay police station among other charges. "The original outrageous biggest capital punishment record in the history of Egypt that has been broken by the same judge today" 
• The urgent matters court in Cairo banned April 6 Youth movement in Egypt ordering the suspension of its activities and the closure of its headquarters for espionage and defaming Egypt's reputation abroad.  

This happened with in 5 hours or even less today. 

Wait for more this afternoon. 

Actually #Sinai is Cursed For Real !!

Yesterday former head of Egyptian General intelligence Mourad  Mowafi said that Israel and Camp David treaty had nothing to do with the lack of urban development in Sinai all those decades.
“I think Sinai is cursed !!” Mowafi told El Mehawar TV channel on Saturday in his first ever TV interview after leaving the service.

Mowafi is still clueless about Sinai's lack of development 

I just can not understand how a spy chief who headed two intelligence services would say that in his first TV interview !!
So the ex-head of military intelligence who was governor of North Sinai before becoming the head of General intelligence does not know what is wrong with the urban development in Sinai after all those years. 
He did know the reason when he was heading the military intelligence or when he became the governor of North Sinai or when he became the head of General Intelligence. This is so promising.
Most important thing it has nothing to do with Israel or Camp David treaty.
Of course I can not get over “the curse” part especially after El-Sisi’s dreams.
Anyhow if you have a second though about what he said , you will find him right.
The former spy chief is right , Sinai is cursed but it is not cursed by some witch or by some crazy spell but rather a stupid incompetent ruling regime for the past 34 years that does not understand its importance to Egypt or the fact that its people are Egyptian citizens like the rest of the republic.
When I look to all those years wasted without turning Sinai in to real cities and towns where its locals enjoy their rights as Egyptian citizens despite all the sacrifices and blood spelled and is still being spelled up till now, I know for sure that stupidity is a curse.
Not only stupidity but corruption , ignorance , treason and dictatorship are bloody curses that need true miracle to break them and save this country from a doomed future when it comes to National security in a time like now.
Neglecting Sinai and treating its people like shit is not only stupidity but actually treason with my all due respect !!
Now speaking about Mouard Mowafi , well I think you should know that there are news spreading in Cairo that he will form a political coalition along with Sami Anan aiming to run in the parliamentary elections.
I got nothing to say.

Links and Notes 04/27/2014

• Serendipity aids Egypt in struggle to recover stolen heritage | Reuters

  The agony of our lost and stolen antiquities in a Reuters report 

  tags: Egypt #LN #DWC History heritage

• In Photos: Running with the Wolves of Syria | VICE News

  Interesting short report from Syria. Vice says that it is the first western crew to enter Syria in March 2014 in to Idlib meeting one of the fighting forces in the area. 

  tags: Egypt #LN #DWC syria vice news photos

• 7iber - Photos: Egyptian Farmers in Jordan | بالصور: المزارعون المصريون في الأردن

  Photos from Jordan showing Egyptian farmers who work in our neighbor countries

  tags: Photos Jordan Egypt #LN #DWC

• This fascinating map shows the most popular boys' names around the world - Vox

  The most popular name in the Middle East is Mohamed then Youssef in Turkey 

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt Names Mohamed map world vox

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

#26April Rally against Protest Law : Live Update

Here is a live update for the 26 April Rally organized by Pro-Revolutionary Political powers , movements and protests against the protest claiming for the release of the detainees.

Happy #Sinai Liberation Day Regardless What

Today is the Sinai liberation Day. It comes in very intense and critical times where Sinai , especially in the North is suffering from a war on terrorism.
For months now there has been no real unbiased free news coverage about Sinai. We only know what the Egyptian government and the Egyptian army want us to know. Of course this created a golden opportunity for Pro-Radical Islamist groups to have their own YouTube channels and Facebook pages posting horrifying photos and news from their view that need confirmation to turn the people against the army and join the cause.
Between those two , the truth is lost.
The truth is already lost there are not less than 12 hours everyday at most lost when it comes to the communications with Sinai. Security forces cut communications in North Sinai for many hours every day in order to foil any attempt by the terrorists aka Ansar Beit Al Maqdis to use mobile phones in explosive devices. The citizens of North Sinai pay the price as usual.
A number of Sinai activists and tweeps launched on twitter the hashtag “Sinai_outside_coverage” reminding people with their agony with the daily communications cut.
Unfortunately there is an iron curtain on Sinai especially in the North , of course this has to end. It should end. I can not ignore by the way the fantastic balanced report about Sinai and about how the civilians are stuck between two merciless fires. As you can see the name of the correspondent who made this report was withheld for his own protection. This gives you hint about what I am trying to say.
I feel sad when I read news about Al Arish. This town was associated with beautiful memories in the summer with its quiet calm beaches. It is just sad.
My sources , my trusted sources now in Sinai are couple of journalists and activists whom I wait every day to return back online to tell us the news and what is happening there. I do not need tell you to follow Mohamed Sabry , Ahmed Abu Draa ,  Ahmed El Ghol , Massad Abu Fagr and Mostafa Singer {The last four tweet in Arabic only} to get unbiased news tweets from there.
The latest news from there is the arrest of the Sinai leftist activist and poet Hassan Hantoush , the coordinator of Hamdeen Sabbahi presidential campaign was arrested last week and it turned out that he is currently standing a military trial. He is allegedly accused of taking photos for military areas.
I hope that Hamdeen Sabbahi and his campaign won’t let that man down.
Sinai returned back to Egypt’s sovereignty officially on that day from 32 years but it has not returned yet for real to Egypt. What I fear , really fear now is that while winning the war on terrorism we lose the hearts and minds of the people of Sinai.
Anyhow Happy Sinai liberation day regardless what.

Presidential palace Sit in : Day “3”

And the ladies at the presidential palace sit decided to suspend it today and tomorrow Friday because of the Muslim Brotherhood’s weekly protests on Friday.

The ladies will return to the Presidential Palace in a big rally organized by 9 political powers and movements against the Protest law on Saturday.

Among the movements participating in the rally : Freedom for the Brave , No For military trials, Revolutionary Socialists and April 6 Youth. This was announced in a press conference on Thursday in front of the presidential palace.

Here are photos from what happened on Thursday.

They Say that the silly play Does not need a satirist TV host but it does actually coz it is silly !!

From several weeks ago TV host and satirist Bassem Youssef made it clear that his show “ElBernmag” would stop for two weeks only starting from April 18th, 2014.
Youssef made it clear also that he made such announcement in order to avoid gossip and so on. He also made it clear that the show would stop during the holy month “Ramadan”

للتوضيح: فريق العمل سيكون في أجازة لمدة أسبوعين. سيتم عرض آخر حلقة قبل اﻷجازة يوم الجمعة 18 ابريل و أول حلقة بعد اﻷجازة يوم الجمعة 9 مايو
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) March 27, 2014

Now Last  Saturday MBC Misr TV channel made another announcement that the show would be stopped for a whole month in order not to influence voters in the upcoming presidential elections.
Yes MBC is concerned that Youssef and his show would influence the voters in the upcoming presidential elections ; the upcoming presidential elections which everyone in Egypt knows its result in advance.

Presidential Palace Sit in : Day 2

And the second day of the presidential palace sit in against the protest law passed peacefully.
Today the women activists were joined a group of protesters who formed a human chain in front of the presidential Palace. The protesters in the human chain held the photos of the detainees like Abdullah Shamy , Peter Greste and Amr Raba’I {Who has been missing suddenly with no truce} demanding their release as well the annulment of the protest law.
Tomorrow afternoon Freedom for the Brave campaign will hold a press conference to declare its plan for the April 26. Supposedly revolutionary powers are organizing a big rally on that day to the presidential palace. By the way so far no political party declared its support to this sit in.

Down with the protest law "By Mahmoud Salmani"

Here are a slide show from the human chain and sit in earlier. There were familiar faces in the human chain like the famous calligraphy and singer Ramy Essam.

And The women’s sit in against the protest law started "Updated"

A group of Pro-Revolutionary ladies started a sit in at the presidential palace this afternoon demanding the annulment of infamous protest law. This is the first sit in by Non Islamist forces to be held in Cairo since the dispersal of Rabaa and Nahda sits in.
The sit in started Tuesday afternoon at the presidential Palace in Heliopolis , Cairo where few lades started the sit in. (Scroll below after the break to get the latest updates)
Those few ladies are : Nourhan Hefzy “The wife of Ahmed Douma , the Nasserite activist jailed for illegal protesting” , Mona Seif , Sanaa Seif, Dr. Laila Soueif , Hend Nafae , Nihal El-Marghany , Nahla Ali and Dalia Bassiouny.

The ladies now at presidential palace by Mona Seif

There are other women members in the sit in in the afternoon but they left it leaving those ladies for now.
Hefzy is leading the scene there. The security forces demanded her to stop the sit in but she refused.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Cairo’s Nile “April 2014”

First of all Happy Sham El Nessim Last Saturday My family had an amazing Nile cruise in Cairo. Despite the cloudy weather in the afternoon, I took some snapshots for the amazing river in the busy city.
I hope you like it. This is the first time I try the new Flickr Embedded gallery, you have to put the cursor over the gallery in order to browse it.

The weather was foggy in Cairo two days ago.

During this cruise, I stopped at the Headquarter of the 23rd July revolution and its renovation.
For years this building was abandoned and it seems that the ministry of culture started its renovation from a couple of years ago but yet again the project was halted.

I do not know what to say !!

Of course, the Royal Palace turned in to a headquarter of a military coup looks now as the headquarter of the Decepticons in Cairo !!!

By the way, browsing and organizing my photos on Flickr, I found out that I got over 200 photos for the Nile whether in Cairo, Giza, Luxor and Aswan. To be honest it deserves this.

Lord Allenby in Cairo .. in Video

The people of Port Said burn their Allenby effigy as part of their Sham El-Nessim's celebration traditions and as part of my Sham El-Nessim's Celebration this year I present to you Lord Edmund Allenby himself from British Pathe archives.

This clip was filmed in year 1922 when Egypt was granted semi-independence following the 1919 revolution.
It is worth to mention that most Egyptians pronounce the name of Allenby as Allemby. I can not forget also that that Lord Allenby or Allemby's name was immortalized in the history of our cinema and pop culture, thanks to Producer Ahmed El-Sobky's cult film "Allemby"

Back to Port Said and its celebrations this year ,well this year the Allenby effigies are for Erdogan, Prince of Qatar and his mother , Obama , Ethiopian Dam and Israel as usual.

Erdogan , one of the stars of this year's Allenby's parade

#SaveFustat : The Landfill started already

The Cairo governorate and Arab Contractors started to landfill with sands one of the important sites in El-Fustat area. Here are photos showing the progress in the site from Egypt’s heritage task force Facebook Page and El Basara Facebook Page.

Again here is a post for the excavation works in the site. As far as I know this site was being excavated by a French archaeological mission in Egypt. Supposedly the mission is in a holiday now !! I do not know if they know about this disaster taking place or not but they have to speak up.

Haifa’s film and the Role of the Prime Minister

And the Prime minister of Egypt Ibrahim Mahlab has made something no other Prime minister in the history of modern Egypt made before.
From two days ago he issued his decision to suspend a film called “Halawet Rooh” from screening in the cinemas.
Yes, the Prime minister of Egypt banned for the first time a film in the cinema.
“Halawet Rooh” is produced by none other the notorious cult films pioneer Ahmed El-Sobky, directed by Sameh Abdel Aziz and starring the Arab world  Lebanese sex bombshell Haifa Wehbe.
Now for those who do not know, “Halawet Rooh” is actually the Egyptian version of the famous Italian film “Malena”,  yup that award-winning sad romantic film starring Monica Bellucci. Of course the filmmakers of “Halawet Rooh” do not say that it was plagiarized despite the posters of the film were ripped off completely from the original Italian film.

Halawet Rooh's poster 

Malena's poster 

Unlike the award-winning Italian film, “Halawet Rooh” film is another disgusting cult film.
One look at the trailer and its official song or even worse; the statements of its stars you will know what I am talking about !!

The photos and the Cartoon of the day

This photo or rather series of photos were the most shared photos in my twitter timeline , they had to be the photos of the day.

From Anadoulu News agency

The president on a wheel chair

The photos of Algerian president Abdel Aziz Bouteflika heading to cast his vote in Polling station in the presidential elections on a  wheel chair along with his brother and his little nephew.

The Bouteflika "AFP"

#SaveFustat : Save the Excavation Works

Here are some photos for the excavation works in the old archaeological site of El Fustat City , Egypt’s first Capital under the Islamic role. These excavation works were made by a French archaeological mission which stopped its work because of the current security situation. (Photos taken in 2012 by Conservation architect Omneya Abdel Barr"

In case you do not know  that archaeological city is going to be transferred in to a garden by Cairo governorate and the ministry of antiquities is ok with that.
As you can see the remains of the Fustat city were built by mud and thus turning this area in to a garden

#EndSH : What do school girls Think about Sexual Harassment ?

Dignity with borders made another video clip about sexual harassment and young Egyptian students in schools. The first video ,a shocking one was about the views of young boys in the schools about sexual harassment. I posted it here earlier this month.

School girls’ views about sexual harassments

By the way new amendments were added to the current sexual harassment law and soon enough the interim president will issue the law with the new amendments.
The new amendments include harsher penalties for sexual harassers as well for mob sexual harassments. This is the first time mob sexual harassments are included.
I do not think these amendments would have seen the lights if it were not for the campaigns started online to fight this disgusting epidemic.

#SaveFustat : So It is turning in to a public Garden after all !!

And it seems that the Fustat archaeological site is going to be turned in to some sort of a public garden after all and the ministry of antiquities was bluffing us.
This photo was taken earlier Monday , as you can see this is the site of Fustat. A new wall was built around the site with a big sign stating that “this land is owned by Cairo governorate”  !! The site is also secured by a CSF vehicle as it seems.

Fustat site now !!

Again Fustat was the first capital built by Muslims in Egypt. The site was being excavated , now all those excavation works are going to be destroyed.
It is not that out present is screwed and our future looks uncertain , our history is being destroyed over and over !! I feel that we are leaving nothing to future generations except failure. Anyhow at least some of us are fighting this.
I know one thing fore sure. If this had happened during Morsi , the media would have gone mad for real. I can not get over how people were claiming to be mad that the Islamic museum was damaged during the bombing of Cairo security directorate and yet do not care or move a muscle for what is happening not only to Fustat but old Islamic Cairo from aggression.

And it is getting Scary Now , It is a routine

The death and murder news in Egypt have become a routine , it is not longer a shock. It is a normal thing now.
Today a student was killed in Cairo university. He was shot by live ammunition. I think the students from Cairo university that have been killed in the past 8 months are more than 12 now.
Two journalists covering the protests were shot also by live ammunition according to their medical records. The journalists are from Youm 7 Newspaper and Sada El Balad channel. Both are from the Pro-regime media by the way.

Photographer Khaled Hussein from Youm 7

Eye witnesses from students and reporters say that they were shot by police forces that went earlier Monday to disperse the Pro-Morsi Students Against Coup movement’s protest. According to eye witnesses from reporters and students the police opened its fire against the students when the protest was inside the campus not even outside it !!
Here is a video showing that

And here is the original Tripartite Committee Report about #Ethiopian Dam

From a year ago if you remember the tripartite technical committee to study the impact of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam "GERD" on Egypt , Sudan and Ethiopia issued an important report about it. The report made Ethiopia angry because it claimed that the upstream country did give the committee all the documents and blueprints they needed about the dam and its security measures.

There was one hell of circus in Cairo about it from exactly one year ago.

Did you remember this now !? 

Well in case you do not know the dispute over the dam and Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water is still there. I am afraid the talks with Ethiopia are not doing well with the insistence of the Ethiopians to complete the constructing of the dam. Of course our government is trying to have talks with the Ethiopians from time to time despite they seem to fail every time.

I do not need to say that Sudan sold out Egypt.

Anyhow why I am blogging about this , well because last March Anti-Dam Environmental NGO International Rivers Organization published a statement calling Ethiopia to halt the construction of the dam till all the studies about its impact on the downstream countries as well its safety measurements. The IRO also called international investors to stop funding this project.

The Anti-Dam movement which has criticized Ethiopia’s dam boom since 2008 is known from its environmental stances. OF course now our media found for the first time a good US-based NGO !!

Of course the GERD’s National Panel of experts had to fire back to International Rivers organization in a big statement last Thursday accusing the Anti-Dam California based NGO of being paid by Egypt and that it was fighting Ethiopia’s progress against poverty. To be honest the language used in the Ethiopian's statement reminded me very much with the Ultra-nationalist conspiracy language used in our media.

What is interesting is not the statement of the Pro-Environmental US based NGO , what is interesting is that the International Rivers organization published online the complete report of the tripartite technical committee to study the impacts of the GERD on Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in Egypt.

Yup the NGO published the full report in English now. Of course they did not say how they did get it. You read it below after the break.

Happy Palm Sunday 2014

Palm dolls outside a church in Cairo "Reuters"

Happy Palm Sunday to all the Christians around the globe celebrating it especially in Egypt.

#Marathon For Freedom in #Cairo Against protest Law

And today was the first event organized by Revolutionary political movements in Egypt against the protest law.  In case you do not know , we got very stupid protest law that resulted in detention of thousands and imprisonment of hundreds unfairly. True Pro-Jan25 Revolutionary political movements want to abolish this law.

Alaa Abdel Fatah running wearing a poster of Abdullah Shamy

A symbolic marathon in Cairo that ended at the journalists syndicate staircases.
The symbolic marathon where the protesters wore signs calling for the freedom of detainees started in Zamalek from Opera house and ended at the Journalists syndicate. The majority of protesters ran but there were also bicyclists too.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Ain El-Sokhna Spring 2014

So from two weeks ago I went in a shot vacation to Ain El-Sokhana. It was a nice gateway for couple of days away from the noise.


I took a couple of photos there, I played around with my camera. Of course, I realized after I returned back to Cairo that there was a stupid smudge on the lens. I cleaned it and now it is perfect again thank God.
The weather is fantastic now in Ain El-Sokhna. It is a nice quiet place.

Of course, you can barely see any foreign tourist there now. I hope the fall season the foreign tourists would return back.
Here is my favourite photo from that short vacation.

A Crow flying low 

Back to the Streets Against the Protest law

And Yesterday was the beginning of the movement against Protest law in Cairo. Several political movements and parties participated today in the press conference at the Journalists syndicate and march through Talaat Harb street. This was the launch of series of events against the protest law in Egypt.
Among the political movements participated in this press conference : The Revolutionary Way , April 6 Youth Movement and Freedom for the Brave. Of course Nourhan Hafzy, the wife of Ahmed Douma was leading the scene. Another Egyptian woman activist taking the stage bravely.

Vice On Crimean Tatars

Ok I know it is a bit late but it is interesting. Vice News explored last month The Crimean Tatars and made a very informative yet short documentary from that you should see if you are interested in knowing more about the Tatars in Crimea.

Tatar Nation : The other Crimea

This was filmed before the referendum of Crimea.

After watching this short documentary one has got many thoughts about ethnics minorities , lost rights and lost land , politics , history and chauvinism .

One part stroke a nerve for me about the Crimean Tatars do not believe anyone and how the Ukrainian government did not help them as a minority. I love the part where the Old Tatar lady speaks on who politicians divide the people when they are all one despite their ethnicity.

Another part is how the Russian ethnic in Crimea insists that the Tatars aided the Nazis from more than 50 years while not less 100,000 Crimean Tatar fought as part of the Russian army against the Nazis.

Despite things are different in Egypt yet this reminded me on how many people unfortunately look to the local Bedouins in Sinai because of propaganda.

Back to Crimea, needless to say I do not feel good with all what’s going in Ukraine especially that Russia seems to have an eye on other parts.

I wonder if we can see another World War III originated once again in this area. Let’s pray it won’t happen in our time.

The Pro-El Sisi/Pro-Military in Egypt are over the moon with what Putin did of course and in the same way they hated what happened in the Maiden square. No need to explain why.

We can argue about Vice as we want but their Vice News is really interesting.We need to have a similar thing in Arabic. Of course Mosireen collective is pioneer but it focuses on human rights and abuses as well civil rights only.

#SaveFustat : How Did we Master The art of Destroying our history !? “Updated”

We do not need external conspiracies to destroy our history and our past for some sinister , we are doing a perfect job ourselves !!
Culture and archeology activist Sally Soliman has shocked us and revealed that one of the most important archeological site of Islamic Cairo was under attack by none other than Cairo governorate and the ministry of antiquities.
The site we are speaking is about is the site of El Fustat. El Fustat was the first capital of Egypt under the Muslim rule. The site is part of Islamic Cairo. It has been under attack in the last years when suddenly excavation works stopped and it turned in to a dumpster , oh yes dumpster !!
Last year  Sally Soliman and a group of concerned citizens “they exist” made noise and the governor of Cairo then promised to clean the site. Here are photos for the site in 2013. Oh yes this was once our capital.

Let’s Bring down That Stupid Law

Yesterday the appeal of April 6 Youth Movement founders Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel as well activist Ahmed Douma against the three years in jail sentence for breaking the protest law was rejected.

Maher and Douma behind bars

Yes officially Ahmed Maher , Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Douma will spend three years in jail and pay LE 50,000 as a fine for breaking the protest law. Of course there is a third degree appeal in front of the criminal court , the three will have to do it to but it will many years, many years more than their original sentence !!
Sadly enough April 6 Youth movement was just celebrating the anniversary of its founding one day before rejecting the appeal. You know somehow I expected this to happen but somehow I had a hope after the release of Alaa Abdel Fatah and the Maadi 25 January 3rd anniversary detainees.
Now I can not ignore what happened yesterday when Ahmed Douma’s wife Nourhan Hafzy led a group of women activists to have a sit in at the Presidential palace. Hafzy and the rest activists had one demand to presidency : To nullify the protest law.
The sit in including women activists like Nourhan Hafzy , Mona Seif , Sanaa Seif , Rasha Azab and Laila Soueif. I cannot ignore that Nourhan Hafzy is playing one hell of role in this crisis that can not be ignored. Of course she is mocked and attacked by both Pro-El Sisi and Pro-MB at the same time.

#FreeJournalism #FreeAJStaff : 100 Days Passed

Journalists from around the globe organized today another online viral campaign in solidarity with the Al Jazeera international staff marking 100 days of their arrest in Egypt.
Again we find journalists from BBC , Channel4 News , Sky News and Al Jazeera network participating in online viral campaign using the hashtags “#FreeAJStaff” and “FreeJournalists”

#Aswan : The Massacre continued Because of The bloody Traditions !! "Updated"

Late last night we hoped all over Egypt that the scary tribal clashes in Aswan would stop after the visit of PM Mehlab to the city and his meetings with the tribal leaders of both “Daboodiya" and "El Hilaliya". He already issued three decisions : First to arrest the inciters , second to form a committee to compensate both parties and another committee to stand on the reasons on why there are clashes in the first place.
In other words another fact finding committee !!
You know it just came across my mind that neither the PM or the minister of interior spoke in the media about how both clans had arms in the first place. We are speaking about unlicensed weapons for God’s sake !! 

Anyhow one hoped that that visit would lead in to some sort of a truce but we were wrong because in the afternoon clashes erupted madly. According to the Nubian activists and tweeps “again they speak online more than “El Hilaliya” suddenly the security forces disappeared from the clashes area and there was some kind of attack unleashed by “El Hilaliya”.
Not less than three were killed today. Tens were injured and several houses were torched. There is extreme anger on both sides.

One of the injured in the hospital "Al Mandra Online"

At the same time Facebook pages from both sides increased the tension and published ugly racial crap. Same crap was found on twitter with rumors and hate from both sides.
Amazingly when one was asking on why the security forces would leave its position and let both sides clash once again , we found out that people from Upper Egypt got yet another shocking proof on the fakeness of the state we have. Some Nubian tweeps believed in this theory.

#Aswan : Tribal Massacre and State Failure

Today Egypt woke up on a disaster in Aswan, tribal fights between local ethnic tribes in El Seel Al Refy area resulted in the death of not less than 23 citizens. Of course the death toll increased till it reached to 27. It is a complete shock because we are speaking about peaceful Aswan and peaceful Nubians.
Unfortunately this disaster has been taking place since last Thursday yet the Local authorities did not give a damn leaving it escalate in to a semi ethnic tribal fight. The fight started as a normal quarrel between teenagers from two ethnic clans "Daboodiya" and "El Hilaliya". The "Daboodiya" clan is from Nubia while "El Hilaliya"clan is from the Arabs.
Last Thursday A group of "El Hilaliya" clan's students sexually harassed a Nubian girl at a secondary school where a group of Nubian students defended her and thus a fight started between both groups. Here is a video showing the original fight.

Then some alleged drug dealer from "El Hilaliya" showed up with an automatic gun. That armed man opened his fire shooting randomly killing three Nubian students and a Nubian woman passing by in the street.
Where was the police ? Watching the whole matter then issuing a statement on Thursday that there was a  fight between Pro-MB students and the locals in Aswan and the locals won the fight !!!!! That stupid statement made the Nubians even more furious. Nubian clans joined the "Daboodiya" in their anger.
Losing hope in the system the Nubians took the matter in their own hand.Early Friday a group of armed angry Nubians attacked an El Hilaliya village torching their houses and shooting the people.
The photos coming from Aswan showing scary scenes. They are extremely graphic. All the photos I posted here are from News Website Welad Al Balad

#Syria : the Bigger Photo From #Yarmouk Refugee Camp

Last March the world spoke about that photo from Yarmouk Refugee camp in Damascus Syria showing long queues in order to get food.

Waiting for food

Well that photo is just the tip of the ice-berg from there.
There are more shocking photos from

Chris Gunnes , the UNRWA spokesperson published on his twitter account for weeks now a series of photos by activist and photographer Ramy El Sayyid. It is part of online exhibition that it called “Cry from the heart : The Children of Yarmouk”