#FreeAlaa once again : 2019 edition

A Cairo state prosecution ordered from a couple of hours ago the detention of famous political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah 15 days pending an investigation into the charges of spreading false news and joining a banned group.

Alaa once again is arrested "Photo: Mona Seif"

Abdel Fattah was arrested earlier Sunday as soon as he finished his probation period at Dokki police station in Giza.
If you forgot, I would like to remind you that the software developer was serving a 5-years-probation sentence which means in his case to spend 12 hours in a police station after serving 5-years in prison.
He had just finished his prison sentence in March !!

The famous blogger was sentenced to five years in prison and another five years on probation in February 2015 on charges of rioting, participating in an unauthorized protest, disrupting the lives of citizens and exposing them to danger, attacking an employee while on duty and thuggery in the so-called “Shura council trial”.
Trying to rebuild his life once again in 12 hours per days, Abdel Fattah does not have time for political activism and calling for protests like in the old days.

Friday 27th Day : What happened is what expected

The internet is horrible, some of Google services including Blogger can’t be accessed except by VPN so this is an attempt to recap what happened throughout the day since its start.
Spoiler alert: As expected it is more of Pro-supporters protest day. 
You can find a link to a live blog I am updating as much as I can after the break

What will happen in Cairo on Friday 27

What do you think what will happen on Friday 27 in Egypt?
I do not know what will really happen on Friday 27th in Egypt, no one knows 100% to be honest if you think about even those in mount Olympia.
Only God knows.
I have been asked over and over on Thursday about what will happen and honestly, I do not have a clue because everything is vague and it is happening in extreme speed.
It is one thing for sure, Egypt after the Protests of September 20th is different than Egypt before the protests of September 20th.
Even the world map and balance of powers changed in one week at a high speed.

What we know already

All that I know for sure that there will be Pro-Sisi rallies in Cairo organized by members of parliaments, celebrities and businessmen to show their support to the current Egyptian president.

Just like the online fashion nowadays, Pro-Sisi supporters from Members of Parliament and celebrities from singers and actors went on video clips online calling Egyptians to join them in a celebration on Friday to celebrate President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at commonly known Rabaa square or as officially known now Hisham Barakat square.

Friday 20th small and rare protests in Video : They are real

Some Pro-regime supporters in Egypt say that the videos of those anti-president small and rare protests of Friday were fabricated and fake but they were actually real.

Already if there were no protests then what those 1298 people arrested on Friday and detained doing in the streets !? According to the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights “ECESR” at least 1298 people were detained in September 2019 across the country.

The protesters in Tahrir square

Those people or detainees are accused of illegal “protesting” so how come there were no protests.

There were small protests in different parts of Egypt including Cairo’s iconic Tahrir square on 20 Friday 2019 against current President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and there is video to prove that.

They were called for by current self-exiled whistleblower and former longtime army contractor Mohamed Ali from Barcelona to put an end for Sisi’s rule.

These videos have been authenticated and verified as original and not fake or old. The videos show how those small protests actually continued until the early hours of the morning.

It is true that some Pro-Muslim Brotherhood social media accounts used old protests’ photos and videos as if they were shot on 20 Friday 2019 but soon enough they debunked.
Anyhow here are the videos after the break.

Two Days after Friday the 20th in Egypt “Updated”

At least 200 protesters were arrested on Friday according to the latest statements of human rights lawyers in Egypt on Sunday, mostly in Cairo.

Sunday marks the start of the academic year officially in schools and universities. There is a lot of anxiety among people, I can tell.

On Saturday, unsurprisingly the protests were completely ignored in the front pages of the Egyptian newspapers whether state-owned or privately owned.

Saturday press: Privately owned Al-Shorouk and Al Masry Al Youm and State-owned Ahram
Front pages by Farid Farid 

On the same day and for the second night in a row, a group of young protests chanted for freedom at the iconic Al-Arabin square in Suez city demanding the Egyptian president to leave in a scene that reminded many including myself was the early days of the 25 January revolution.

Those three days between the 25th and 28th of January 2011, Al-Arabin square witnessed violent and deadly protests and clashes between the Egyptian security forces and the protesters so you can imagine how many Egyptians followed the news of Suez on Saturday online.

Concerning this rare and small Friday protest in Tahrir and elsewhere : Something has happened

A security Source told Egyptian and foreign media on Friday that 55 people were arrested for protesting and assembly illegally in Cairo’s Tahrir square.
This is the last news we got about those small and rare protests in Egypt especially in iconic Tahrir Square on Friday.

From that small protest and rare protest in Cairo's Tahrir square "Amr Abdullah/Reuters"

Reuters was the first to use the words “rare” and “small” perfectly but I believe these protests would have a bigger impact in the upcoming days.

Friday evening, small protests made of tens to hundreds in some cities broke across the country.
Their numbers are not many in a country of 100 million but still, it is an act that surprised many Egyptians and may encourage others for going back to the streets if there is no violent crackdown.

Kodak Agfa presents : Friday the 13th Harvest Moon in Photo

It was a harvest moon on Friday 13th of September and you can’t ignore such event at all !!

 Friday the 13th Harvest Micro-moon

For those who are interested to know more.
The harvest moon is the full moon that takes place closet to the autumn equinox.
Surprisingly it was not only a harvest moon !! It was also a micro-moon as the moon appeared about 14% smaller and 30% dimmer than when it was at its closest point to Earth, which is known as perigee. 

Egypt’s external debt : Something to truly worry about

No, I am ignoring the ongoing Live streaming/YouTube/Facebook videos online uprising but what I am writing about in this post is extremely alarming and actually, it is being ignored and dealt with a trivial matter in the mainstream media and social media.

I could not find better than veteran comedian Hassan Honsi's expression
to express my feeling while writing down this blog post.
"Ghabi Menoh Feh" 

In August, we found according to the Central Bank of Egypt’s statements that it paid nearly USD25 billions of the country’s maturing foreign debts and their interests in the past two years from the end of March 2017 to the end March 2019.

Al-Mal newspaper reported those important findings in a news report that I found a cache version of it online for the time being.
The report says the CBE announced Egypt paid USD 3.04 billion in the first quarter of 2019 “USD 2.1 billion debt installments and USD 946.6 million interests”
“An informal source in the Central Bank of Egypt said that USD 36.7 billion have been paid as debts since 30 June 2013,” The report said.

The report stated that the International Monetary fund predicts that Egypt’s foreign debts would go down to USD 88 billion by 2022 as the “country enjoys the fruits of the economic reforms.
Currently, Egypt has got the highest external debt in its modern history. 
We reached USD 106.2 billion in the third quarter of 2019.

It is equal to that number in Egyptian pounds “1,746,990,000,000”
We are speaking about trillions in Egyptian pounds.

Here is a graph for the unfortunate progress of the external debt based on the statements of the CBE and Economy plus ME from 2014 to 2019 or rather the three quarters of 2019.

Kodak Agfa presents : Features of an era “The Mohamed Ali Royal dynasty of Egypt ” Part-1

Disclaimer: This post is dedicated to Mohamed Ali Royal Family of Egypt and not the controversial whistleblower Mohamed Ali and his family and yes I am "riding the trend" to spread something useful 🙈🤐😎

You have seen the photos of Aisha Fahmy Palace aka Centre of Arts in Zamalek, now it is turn to see the photos of that exhibit yours truly went to cover there in March 2019.

The exhibit was called “Features of an era: The Mohamed Ali Family” and it featured for the first in public paintings mostly from portraits, statues of the former Egyptian ruling family as well as some of its positions.

Three generations of Mohamed Ali Royal Family including its founder Mohamed Ali Pasha in
one photo

Most of the paintings and statues were removed from the royal palaces and public squares following the coup of July 1952 and the declaration of the republic in June 1953.

Another three generations of Mohamed Ali Family appearing in one shot 

For decades they were kept hidden in warehouses.

The Death of Abdullah Morsi : A new chapter in Morsi’s Greek tragedy

From a few hours ago the news found its way online through Al-Jazeera News accounts and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated news accounts: Abdullah Mohamed Morsi passed away.

I had to wait to get a confirmation from the family and it came through Turkey’s Anadolu as well the family's lawyer to Shorouk newspaper.
The youngest son of late ex-president Mohamed Morsi passed away in a Giza hospital after having a heart attack.
Abdullah Mohamed Morsi is the youngest and according to news reports, he was only 26 years old.
He died after 79 days of his father’s death.
It is like another chapter in the Morsis Greek tragedy for real !!
Or shall I say Egyptian tragedy !!

Abdullah Morsi with his dad's photo in March 2018 "Al Jazeera International"

Mohamed Morsi had five children, Ahmed who works as a doctor in Saudi Arabia, Shaimaa who is a housewife, Osama who works as a lawyer and currently detained in some MB-related case, Omar and Abdullah.