Me and Ultras "Asmahan"

From Nine years ago, I was like millions of Egyptians who watched admirably the TV series " Asmahan" which was based on the short life of famous Syrian Singer "Asmahan".

Asmahan

Like any other talkative Egyptian who has an opinion about everything, I wrote a post about Asmahan and what I think about her based on the TV series and a couple of books as well articles I read.
Up till now I get comments, mostly angry comments with threats from Asmahan "Ultras" fans.
I used to comment back that this is my personal space and you can send back a post to defend your point of view so I can publish it.
I have received another angry comment calling me names in the past 48 hours and it made me think about what I wrote from 9 years ago.
I read the blog post on Friday and it is great to return back to read what I had written then and compared with what I think now.
I can admit easily that I was harsh in my first opinion about Asmahan which was based upon a couple of books and a TV series.
Asmahan's life was an enigma without a doubt.
Just like from 9 years ago, I would say that even if a young lady living in the West had a similar life, she would be a legend and a talk of the town till our day.
Just like from 9 years ago, I would say that she was a victim of a man's world starting from her father who abandoned her family in Cairo.
Even the books wrote about her either demonizing her or making her the Mother Teresa were written about men.

And the people demanded bread at first

Despite everybody was expecting something like this to happen but strangely when it happened on Wednesday, many were surprised.
Hundreds of Egyptians in several governorates protested because of the lack of subsidized breads in bakeries.
It started Tuesday afternoon in Alexandria when hundreds of protesters protested the decision of the supply ministry to reduce the quantity of subsidized bread quota to bakeries.
The protests were in Eastern and Western parts of Alexandria in the working class areas. The protesters began to catch attention when they blocked the famous tram track

In Alexandria: Protesters chant we want bread

They also blocked the train track.

Kodak Agfa Presents : Fatima Haider's Palace of Alexandria

There are lots of hidden gems in Egypt that even Egyptians do not know that they exist. Among those gems, a palace in a very quiet Upper-class Zezenia neighbor in Alexandria.
Not only that place is a hidden gem but it also hosts gems.
I paid it a visit last May while I was in Alexandria for a short visit. 
That place is Princess Fatima Haider's Palace that hosts a collection of the Mohamed Ali-Royal family's Jewelry.
Officially, that palace is called the Royal Jewelry Museum.
This post I am dedicated to the Palace itself and you will know why.
The Fatima Haider Palace seems just like any 1920s Neo-classical European style Palace from outside.

The Western wing of the Palace 

It is big as we are speaking about 4185 sq.m including the surrounding garden.
The Palace was originally commissioned by socialite Zeinab Fahmy, the wife of Prince Ali Haider in 1919 but she died leaving it to her daughter Fatima Al-Zahra Haider.
Princess Fatima Haider continued supervising the design and construction of that place adding her touch to the final design adding a Western wing to the original Palace.
The construction of that palace was finished in 1923 amazingly
According to some sources that the palace was designed by Mohamed Ali-Royal Family's favorite architect Antonio Lasciac while other sources say that famous architect Ali Pasha Fahmy whom I am going to speak about later.
I do not know which information is true.
The two-floor-palace is made of two wings, an Eastern and Western wing connected by a gallery of beautiful stained glass.

The gallery or the tunnel and its stained glass windows 

The kitchen and the Servants section are in the basement.
It was the summer residence for Princess Fatima Al-Zahra Haider who married Mohamed Bek Yaken in 1930.

The re-inauguration plate from 2010 

The couple had two boys and one girl.
After the coup of 1952, Princess Fatima Al-Zahra's properties and possession were confiscated by the State aka nationalized.
Yet, She was allowed to live in that palace.
She lived there till 1964 when She gave it up to the Egyptian government.
Some sources say that the former Princess headed to Cairo where she lived until her death in 1983. while other sources say she lived in Marseilles, France until her death.
Since 1964 till 1986, the Palace joined the rest of the Royal palaces that became presidential palaces.
In 1986, ousted President Mubarak issued a presidential decree designating the Fatima Haider's Palace into a museum in Alexandria hosting a collection of Mohamed Ali-Royal Family jewelry in Alexandria.
The Palace was renovated twice in 1986 and 1994 in a horrible way.
 In late 2004, Egypt's ministry of antiquities started to renovate the palace in a proper way.
The cost of that renovation as well correcting the mistakes of previous renovations reached LE 10 Million.
The renovation finished and it was reopened once again in 2010.
But like a diamond in the rough, it has not caught enough attention.

Now, this museum contains a collection of Jewelry and other valuable possessions that once owned by the members of Mohamed Ali-Royal family that ruled Egypt from 1805 till 1952.
According to the official information, there are 11,500 pieces or artifacts owned by the former ruling royal family in the museum.
I will dedicate a separate post for the Jewelry of Mohamed Ali-Royal Family but I will just say that this collection at the museum represents a very small percentage of the true Jewelry and Jewels owned by the Egyptian Royal family.

The entrance is from the East wing that leads directly to one of the main halls where you start to see the amazing collection of Jewelry.

The expected final acquittal of Mubarak

On Thursday, Cairo court of Cassation officially acquitted ousted President Mubarak in the final stage of his retrial for killing the protesters during the 18 days of the January revolution.
The verdict of the cassation court can be appealed and thus the 88-years-old ousted president is off the hook when it comes to the killing of the protesters.
This case or rather trial since its start in 2011 seemed to be a farce as the prosecutor general gathered a very poor case to stand in the court especially in the retrial.
The court of cassation has not issued its reasoning on why it acquitted him but his defense team is saying that Habib El-Adly and his aides involved in the case were acquitted and thus it was logical for the court to acquit him.

Hosni Mubarak transferred to court from Maadi military hospital
 to court on Thursday by a helicopter (AP/Amr Nabil)

Now a quick timeline to Mubarak's trial involving the killing of the protesters in the 18 days of the January revolution aka the trial of the century.
In June 2012, the Criminal court sentenced Mubarak to a life sentence in jail for giving the orders to kill the protesters during the 18 days of the January revolution.
In January 2013, the Court of Cassation overturned the conviction and ordered a retrial for Mubarak and Adly as well the rest of the defendants.
In November 2014 the Criminal court acquitted Mubarak and the co-defendants in the retrial reasoning the prosecution initial decision to refer Mubarak to court in 2011 lacked the legal basis.
On Thursday, the court of Cassation rejected the appeal of prosecution and upheld the acquittal of Mubarak.
If you look carefully to the dates, you will know the stages of the January revolution itself.
According to journalists who covered the "trial of the century" that no one is following carefully as before, the prosecution's evidence presented to the court in retrial was weak, too weak to stand in any court.

Seen in Alexandria : Old Bahary Buildings "3"

Still with Alexandria's beautiful old buildings in Bahary quarter.
I am not an expert in architecture but I think that building is based upon the Art Deco style.
Anyhow it is beautiful and I hope it remains as much as it can. I wish there is more care for Bahary quarter old buildings in Downtown Cairo right now.
Check more photos of the famous city here. 

Seen in Alexandria : Old Bahary Buildings "2"

In the famous Bahary quarter of Alexandria, the old European Neo-classical style buildings stand as an old memory of the once cosmopolitan nature of the famous city.
Take in May 2016
Check more photos of the famous city here. 

Escape From North Sinai : The Tip of the iceberg

As you may have known many Christian Egyptian families fled Al-Arish city after a terrorist killing spree targeting them in the city.
The families fled North Sinai's Al-Arish city leaving their homes, work and schools as in the past 4 weeks seven Christians were killed and slaughtered brutally in the biggest city in North Sinai by "militants.
Usually, the main suspect we have in North Sinai when it comes to militants is Anser Beit Al-Maqdis or what is commonly known as the "Sinai Province of Daesh".
The displaced families fled to Ismailia governorate, the nearest and most favorite place for Sinai locals to stay in away from the ongoing war on terrorism. They took a shelter at the Evangelical church in Ismailia at first.

This old man told journalists that he did not leave his house
during the Israeli occupation "Roger Anis" 

On Friday, the government began to act and the governor of Ismailia began to host some of the displaced families in Ismailia Youth hostel as well empty apartments. The Orthodox Church opened its doors and helped in hosting the families in apartments.
Donations are collected in bank accounts opened by the Orthodox Church to help the families who are mostly from the working class and low middle class.
Activists and journalists say we are dealing with more than 80 families and the number is increasing. The Orthodox Church said officially that there were 100 families from Al-Arish
The parliamentary affairs minister told the parliament that the government rehoused 118 families on Sunday.