Archive: egypt

16th March 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Members of Egypt's small Baha'i community are still having problems with the authorities over ID cards, despite a court rulinglast year which supposedly resolved a five-year battle in their favour. When the Egyptian government began introducing computerised ID cards, holders were forced to identify… Read more
13th March 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
An Ethiopian migrant was shot and seriously wounded by Egyptian border guards yesterday while trying to cross illegally into Israel. Seven others – three Eritreans and four Ethiopians – were also arrested. The latest incident came litte more than a week after Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief… Read more
11th March 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
An Egyptian physiotherapist, Taha Mohamed Abdel el-Tawwab, is in hospital after being summoned for questioning at the State Security headquarters in Fayoum on Monday. He had come under suspicion after voicing support for Mohamed ElBaradei in next year's presidential election. According to al-Masri… Read more
8th March 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
A military court in Cairo yesterday dropped charges against Ahmed Mostafa, the young blogger who was arrested a fortnight ago and accused of "tarnishing the image" of the armed forces. He had written in his Arabic-language blog about someone being removed from a military college so that a rich kid… Read more
1st March 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
More details have emerged about the case of Ahmed Mustafa, the young Egyptian blogger hauled up before a military court for "tarnishing the image" of the armed forces. His "offence" occurred more than a year ago when he wrote in his Arabic-language blog about someone being removed from a military… Read more
28th February 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
From the Egyptian daily, al-Masry al-Youm: "The Public Funds Prosecution has uncovered that 11 MPs and 27 of their supporters in seven governorates accepted bribes from patients to receive state-financed medical treatment. According to investigators, the bribes ranged from LE1,000 to LE10,000" [$… Read more
27th February 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Stories are circulating on the internet that a young Egyptian named Ahmed Mustafa is about to be court-martialled for remarks he posted in a blog. There are not many details but it seems that he complained about someone being removed from a military college so that a rich kid could take his place.… Read more
26th February 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
No apologies for returning once again to the topic of Mohamed ElBaradei. A week after the former IAEA chief arrived in Cairo as a possible presidential candidate, Egyptian politics has become more interesting than at any time since the 1952 revolution. I have said before that opposition parties –… Read more
26th February 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Back in November I cautioned readers of this blog not to believe what they read on el-Koshary Today, which bills itself as "Egypt's most reliable news source". Its stories about crocodiles attackingthe Aswan Dam, the  construction of a new Disneyland in Ramallah to "improve the quality of life for… Read more
23rd February 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
It's intriguing that the first public figure Mohamed ElBaradei met after returning to Egypt was Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, who has also been mooted as a possible candidate in next year's presidential election. What did they talk about? Well, neither man is saying very much,… Read more