In a big regional drama : Shafik declares his Presidential bid “Updated”

That’s one hell of a week, Egypt is having already and it has not finished yet!!
It started with a massacre by terrorists that Egypt has not seen before to the death of Egypt’s legendary diva to a real crazy elections week in sporting clubs to the announcement of a presidential bid that creating buzz at least in two Arab countries thanks to two videos.

To read the latest updates, please scroll down.

The First Vide

Wednesday afternoon , many Egyptians were surprised to find an exclusive breaking news from Reuters at 4 PM Cairo local time saying that former Egyptian PM and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik declared his intention to run in the upcoming presidential elections in Spring 2018.

Reuters added that it received a phone call from the former 2012 presidential candidate from UAE and a video statement as well declaring his candidacy for the Egyptian Presidential office.
Shafik also added that he would return from UAE soon to start his campaign.

Reuters released the video and it is available online but it was edited.
Sooner Ahmed Shafik’s official social media account uploaded the 6-minutes’ announcement.

Reading from a paper while wearing a suit, Shafik started his speech thanking UAE and its rulers for hosting him all those years since 2012.

During his speech, he stressed that his aim was to have a civilian democratic Egypt that upholds accountability and human rights, which are not a grant from anybody !!! “Yes, this is Ahmed Shafik speaking !!”

You know I voted for Mohamed Morsi in 2012 and I did not support Ahmed Shafik but one must say that his speechwriter in 2017 is better than the one he had in 2012.
I have noticed an improvement in his statements already since the Tiran and Sanafir’s crisis.
The announcement freaked out El-Sisi supporters who were once his supporters in 2012.
During that time, I managed to get a confirmation from his party “The Patriotic Movement” that he would return Egypt soon at the time he chose.

The second video

Two hours later, we found Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV network declaring that it would air an exclusive video statement from Ahmed Shafik declaring that UAE barred him from travel.
Here is the video after the break.

Shadia of Egypt has gone : Farewell Sweetheart

It seems that this is a true tough sad week for Egyptians as it started with a horrifying massacre and now they are bidding Farwell to their legendary sweetheart, Shadia.

Shadia in a colored photo in the early
 1950s, the original I think by Van Leo

From short time ago, the family of beloved legendary Egyptian star Shadia declared her death after a long struggle with illness in Cairo.

Born on 8 February 1931, Fatima Ahmed Kamel Shaker was the youngest daughter of an Egyptian middle-Class family. Her father used to work in the Royal Garden. The girl with Turkish roots entered the Showbiz following her elder sister Afaf Shaker whom the critics predicted to be the next big star in Egypt's cinema and theater in their golden age.

Ironically, it was young Fatima who became that under the stage name of Shadia.
Shadia means in Arabic a “Singer” and some say famous director Helmy Rafla while others say famous actor Abdel Waress Assar gave her that name because of her beautiful cheerful
Since the late 1940s till late 1980s, Shadia became one of Egypt’s as well the Arab World’s top divas and stars. As an actor, She is considered one of Egypt’s top artists in the Cinema world.
I use the word “artist” because what Shadia presented in cinema is true art.

Our critics called Shadia “the Pampered star” of the Egyptian cinema because of bubbly cheeky roles in her beginnings in light romantic comedies but she was for me The woman with thousand faces as one website called her earlier.

Starting in 1947, Shadia’s filmography extended for 4 decades becoming a top actor with 114 films. Her filmography started with light comedies then moved to melodramas to romance to musicals.

Shadia established herself as a serious actor when she presented the Leading role in “The Unknown Woman” film in 1950 directed by Mahmoud Zulfiqar, which is based upon French play “Madame X”.

In the 1960s, she presented her best performance in a series of films including films based on novels of Naguib Mahfouz. According to Egypt’s Nobel Prize for literature prize winner, Shadia gave a soul to his women character whether in the “The thief and the dogs-1962”, “Al-Madaq Alley-1963”, “The Road-1964” and “Miramar-1969”.

Egypt’s Black Friday : At least 305 humans were killed in North Sinai Mosque Massacre

All the flags of Egypt lowered on Saturday across the country in national mourning according to a presidential decree issued on Friday following the country’s deadliest attack since the 1970s in North Sinai’s Bir El-Abd.

Egypt’s Prosecutor General’s office issued on Saturday a new statement about Al-Rawdah Mosque massacre in North Sinai governorate with a new shocking updated death toll as well updated testimonies of survival.

According to the statement, the death toll in the attack reached officially 305 people including 27 children while the injured increased to 128.
It is officially a massacre
It is officially the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt.

A boy and a girl searching in the shoes and slippers left on Saturday outside
the mosque, maybe they would find their beloved ones  "Mohamed Ibrahim

Unofficially, the people are speaking there about how they buried on Friday in several mass cemeteries in Bir El-Abd 327 people !!
Some families have buried their victims without heading to the hospitals where the officials count the numbers.
According to the numbers from our people in that sad village, 28 kids who did not reach 10 years old were killed in the mosque.
At least 160 men above 60 years old were killed in the Mosque. Ten families lost grandfathers, fathers and sons in the Mosque. Three generations were killed together.
At 17 families lost the father and all its sons.

Egypt’s True Black Friday : North Sinai’s deadliest Mosque attack "+18"

It is a true Black Friday in Egypt. It is black as it can be for real.
At least 235 people were killed while praying the Friday prayers in a Mosque in Egypt’s North Sinai in yet another shocking attack. I will summarize what we know so far as well clarify some points regarding that horrifying attack and I am sorry if I seem little emotional.

Inside the mosque after the attack in the afternoon
Tens of victims "Sinai News"

According to Egypt’s Prosecutor General office , 235 worshipers have been killed and at least 109 others wee injured in an attack on Al-Rawdah Mosque in Al-Rawdah village , Bir Al-Abd city of North Sinai governorate.
According to local sources , there are more than 20 minors among then the dead.
The attack happened in Al-Rawdah village whose population is not more than 2500 people and yes they lost 10% of their men on Friday.
According to eye-witnesses that spoke with Ahram Online,improvised explosive devices were detonated at the mosque initially, then gunmen fired at worshippers, including targeting ambulances transferring the injured to hospital.
Other eye-witnesses that spoke AFP say that the gunmen entered the Mosque and closed its doors while the people were praying where they opened their fire letting no one to leave.
It is more than horrifying.
Here is a video clip after the break showing the scene inside the mosque from Sinai News Facebook page

Seen in Giza : Zamalek Sporting Club's board elections

 One of  Zamalek Sports Club's entrances at 7 PM Cairo local time on Thursday 

Elections time in Zamalek sporting club "ZSC" as its members are going to elect their new board on Thursday and Friday according to the new sports clubs law.
The elections are not only in ZSC but in other several clubs across Cairo and Giza Governorates as well other Governorates.
Despite Sporting Clubs are considered like NGOs and the work in its board is actually a volunteer work that is done theoretically with no revenue or profit expected for it, millions "Yes !! millions" have been spent in the elections campaigns especially in Ahly SC and Zamalek SC.
I totally understand that those two clubs are the biggest when we speak about sports in general in Egypt but still !!

When we speak about Zamalek club,  we are speaking about a wacky miserable drama and I am not speaking here about its football "Soccer" team but I am speaking about its current administration and its rivals.

Meet Egypt’s Ansar Al-Islam, the not so new Al-Qaeda group

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Sun Tzu,

The Art of War

A little-known militant group claimed responsibility early Friday on 3 November of the 19th October’s Al-Wahat Shootout that took place between Egyptian police forces and a group of unidentified militants in Egypt’s Western desert where 16 police personnel were killed from Five weeks ago.

The group is called “Ansar Al-Islam” and it released online a statement on Social Media Network "Telegram", at one of its channels linked to Al-Qaeda “The Sharia Guards” claiming responsibility for the shootout calling it “Lions’ Den battle”, detailing from its side what happened and revealing also some important information.
The statement has got no videos or photos to support that claim though.

On 19th October, Egypt’s police fore convey was involved in a shootout with a group of militants. According to official statements, 16 police personnel were killed and 13 others were injured in one of the worst attacks targeting Egyptian security forces outside North Sinai.
The following days witnessed a joint operation between Egyptian armed forces and Egyptian police against terrorist hideouts claiming scores of them as well liberating police officer Mohamed El-Hayes who was captured by the militants during the shootout.

Interestingly, very few Egyptian media and news outlets covered that news of that militant group claiming responsibility while the majority of news outlets did not share it in the same enthusiasm like the news of the attack or saving Captain Mohamed El-Hayes. I do not know why for real !?
Some cited the reason was the Counterterrorism law and its 54-articles that include one article prohibiting the broadcast or publication of terrorist statements in the media.
Yet, I think there is a difference between being a terrorist organization’s mouthpiece and declaring that a little known terrorist organization affiliated with one of the world’s biggest terrorist organizations claimed responsibility for the most brutal attack against police force recently outside Sinai !!!!

A photo at the scene taken on 21 October showing security personnel
sitting on a police vehicle "AFP

The people need to know what they are facing already !!

Now here are a couple of thoughts I wanted to share it with you since that Friday from two weeks ago regarding the group and its telegram channel before it disappears. Luckily, I wrote down all my notes and observations before it vanishes. I do not know if its admins decided to close it down or it was closed down by the government or it became a secret one.

The Telegram Channel

Interestingly, the “Sharia Guards” channel was created on 19 October 2017 as Egypt’s first so-called “Jihadist” channel adding that its administrators are the so-called “The Forts of Glory’s lions” in Arabic.

El-Adly of Arabia

Do you remember how Egyptians wondered and asked where the hell their former long-time notorious Mubarak’s interior minister Habib  El-Adly had gone?
Do you remember how his lawyer Fareed El-Deeb insisted that he would appear in court in time of court all those months? Do you remember who his wife, the veteran journalist Elham Sharshar claiming how she did not know his whereabouts in front of prosecution?

All those months many Egyptians included myself thought that the infamous ex-interior minister Habib El-Adly escaped abroad. Some websites claimed that he went to UAE just like other Mubarak’s businessmen.
The man made a comeback from a couple of months ago when Saudi Arabia declared that it founded a new security apparatus in July: The State security.

A file photo fo Habib El-Adly during his trial "Reuters"
I overlayed a green layer as we are speaking about Saudis 

The name brought to Egyptians many memories yet it was interesting to see in September famous Saudi Whistleblowing twitter accounts like “@Mujtahid”, “@Ahdjadid"” and “@Coluche_ar” speaking about him

Saudi Whistleblowing twitter account “Mujtahid” said on 16 September that Prince Mohamed Bin Salman aka MBS had a plan to “Westernize” and “Zion-ize” the Saudi Kingdom and for that the Kingdom hired “600 State security Egyptian officers” to have “a full control on the Kingdom” in addition to military officers and pilots as well diplomats.

وكان نصيب السعودية 600 ضابط مصري من أمن الدولة إضافة لضباط في الجيش وطيارين ودبلوماسيين يبدأون الآن مرادفين مقدمة لاستلام المسؤولية

— مجتهد (@mujtahidd) September 16, 2017

Then on 18 September, “@Ahdjadid” claimed that Habib El-Adly, the infamous former minister of interior of Egypt was among those officers hired to work in the Kingdom's new founded “State security”.