#Ahmadinejad in Al Azhar Mosque

Aside from his meeting with President Morsi , the visit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Al Azhar Mosque in Egypt is capturing all the attention in his important visit.
After all the leader of the main Shiite State nation in the world is visit Al Azhar Mosque , the biggest Sunni institution in the world. Again in any other time it can be great moment to celebrate it and even start a new page to bridge between the two main sects of Islam but it comes in extremely bad time.
Nevertheless the real star of the visit was not Ahmadinejad but rather Ahmed El Tayyib , the grand Sheikh of Al Azhar Mosque. The Upper Egyptian Sheikh began to play a bigger political role week after week !!
Today he hoped that Iran works to stop the war in Syria , to give rights to the Sunnis and Ahwaz in Iran and not to spread the Shiism in the Arab world plus to respect Bahrain and Gulf’s sovereignty and to make the Shiites stop their verbal attack against Prophet Mohamed’s companions.
Of course there is no word on the rights of Shiites in Egypt !!
Last week the man sponsored an initiative proposed by Pro-revolutionary youth to stop violence in Egypt attended by all political powers and parties and church representatives that boycott the president Morsi’s national dialogue.
Anyhow some Egyptians are pissed from Ahmadinejad and the victory signs he kept doing in Al Azhar for some reason I ignore !!

El Tayyib does not like it either !!

By the way for the record Ahmadinejad is not the first ruler of Iran to visit Al Azhar mosque and meets it sheikh. Shah Iran did it before when he was a crown prince during his engagement to Princess Fawzia , that later became his wife.

Historical moment in wrong time !!!

And President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become the first Iranian President to visit Cairo since the revolution in Iran from more than 30 years.
Here is the reception of the Iranian President in Cairo airport.

It is a historical moment but not the perfect one. It is not the correct image in my mind for this important meeting between the heads of those two important countries in the Middle East not to mention these are not the correct image for the "heads" of these states !!

A Story of a simple Egyptian Called #Hamda

And Hamda Saber has become the most famous and controversial citizen in Egypt in the past 48 hours. The man has earned an international fame after he was filmed in the most humiliating moments of his life while he was being beaten inhumanly by CSF conscripts naked and dragged in the cold streets of Heliopolis. That clip has been shown all over the globe worldwide already
Hamda Saber turned to be a simple citizen who was not protesting in the area. He was in the area along with his family “his wife and daughter” because they were doing some shopping for their daughter Randa who is engaged and was supposedly getting married. It seems that the family was curious to see what was happening when the clashes started and everybody was running. When the CSF units started to push back against the protesters in the streets of Heliopolis people began to run everywhere.
To make it easier here is a a simple timeline using video clips from TV shows since the start of Hamda’s agony and tale.

Friday February 1st 2013 :

Hamda Saber appeared an unknown completely naked citizen on air while being beaten mercilessly by CSF forces. He was detained during the clashes. We do not know his name or where he was taken to for hours. His nephew and family  recognized him.

Saturday February 2nd 2013 Early morning.

We knew the name of Hamda. His wife speaks on air through the phone on ONTV in a very strange call from Police Hospital where she was clearly detected what to say on TV. “Hamda is fine and the police is good to us, we are treated extremely well”

Villa Casdgali : Rebuilding is more than possible if only there is ...

I wanted to blog about that hidden diamond in the rough I found out unfortunately only by accident during the Simon Bolivar clashes in 2012. Yes that hidden neglected villa caught my eyes when I went to the square after the clashes that took place there between security forces and protesters. I did not know its name then but then I found out that its name is Villa Casdgali and it has got a very interesting tale. I took bunch photos for the villa from outside  on two different occasions.

It seems to be beautiful but badly neglected. It looked to me that it was being used then as a shelter for the street kids especially its main fence was broken and anyone can get inside easily.
As I was alone in both times , I could not go around the villa to see if I can get inside it. The Staircase was badly damaged as you can see.
I was planning to write about it but I could not with all the jazz taking place in Egypt since last November 2012. Last Friday the beautiful villa caught fire during the clashes that erupt from time to time for no reason between protesters and security forces. The fire was put off and parts of the villa were damaged but the villa itself was not damaged.
I did not know how the villa looked from inside and it seems that the fire was good opportunity to know more its history and its amazing interior. Thanks to Cairo Observer , we knew how much damage the 19the century villa is suffering and how beautiful it is from inside.

#EndSH #OpAntiSH : We will resist

As if we are having a date with all the horrifying videos in the past 24 hours. This video was published by Op Anti-Sexual Harassment documenting on camera the a group rape in Tahrir square last 25 January's night.

Several sexual assaults were recorded on that night. Sadly that morning there were less sexual harassment unlike any other day !!
I knew about what happened in Tahrir square after 5 PM last January 25,2013 but I did not have time to speak due to that on going agony marathon in the country. It is not the first time something like to happen unfortunately and it will not be the last too realistically speaking 
Personally I will not lie to say that I began to be worried from going to Tahrir square alone now especially after 4 PM specifically to that area , the hell area between Tahrir square and Mohamed Mahmoud street near Hardee's.

His name is Hamda Saber “Graphic +18”

Hamda Saber beaten in the red circle

And the identity of the citizen stripped, beaten and dragged by CSF last night is revealed. His name is Hamda Saber , a 48 years old construction worker who  lives in Mataria and originally from Upper Egypt. He got no criminal records.Mr. Saber came with his wife Mrs. Fathia and kids to protest at the presidential Palace.
At 2.30 AM ONTV managed to reach to his wife and to speak with her on the phone on air in one of the most bizarre calls aired on TV. The poor woman was speaking from the police hospital in Nasr City and besides her some police officer telling her what to say !!

Mrs. Fathia speaking to ONTV detected what she should say !!

In one moment you can hear a voice speaking besides her voice that made the TV host of ONTV ask her who was besides her !!! Anyhow It seems that the TV exposure helped Saber for real and at least he was transferred to some hospital.
Here is the video again for those who did not see them last night “Warning extremely graphic”

#Feb1 : Deliverance, protests and anniversaries !!

And today is another Friday in Egypt which means a big day for protests and may be clashes in Cairo and in other governorates. Today protests are called the Friday of Deliverance. The demands of this Friday ranges from ousting President Morsi to bringing down the Muslim brotherhood to bringing down the constitution.

Today also is the first anniversary of the horrifying Port Said stadium massacre where 74 young men were killed in the clashes that took in the coastal city’s stadium in the infamous football game. I think you know that we are paying the implications of that game. Over 50 have been killed in Port Said the past week following the famous trial in Cairo. There will be mass protests today in Port Said from Mariam mosque. 

Right after the Friday prayers which will finish soon several rallies in Cairo and Giza will head to both Tahrir square and to the Presidential Palace.

There will be also protests in Alexandria, Fayoum, Luxor, Suez, Ismailia, North Sinai, Kafr El Sheikh, El Mahla, Aswan, Qenna, El Miniya, Tanta, Sharkia, Damnhur and Al Mansoura.

I fear from violent clashes.

Today I will cover protests from the street but rather from my desk so wait for a live blogging session insh Allah. You can follow the coverage after the break.