Archive: egypt
18th January 2010
The US State Department has criticised the arrest of a group of activists and bloggers in Egypt who attempted to visit the town of Naga Hammadi and offer condolences over the killing of six Christians and a Muslim security guard. It said in a statementissued on Saturday:
The United States is deeply… Read more
16th January 2010
At least 18 activists, including some of Egypt's most prominent bloggers, were arrested yesterday when they attempted to visit the town of Naga Hammadi and offer condolences over the killing of six Christians and a Muslim security guard last week.
They were intercepted on arrival, as they stepped… Read more
14th January 2010
Attempts to stop female students wearing the niqab (face veil) continue to meet resistance in Egypt. Al-Masry al-Youm reports:
Arguments broke out between professors and students at Zagazig University's faculty of education, after professors insisted on female students removing their niqabs before… Read more
12th January 2010
The niqab controversy in Egypt (see here and here) has taken a new twist, with some female students wearing surgical masks as a substitute for the banned face veil.
Al-Masry al-Youm says Cairo university "prohibits girls from wearing the masks as well [as niqab] because it sees it as an attempt to… Read more
11th January 2010
An Egyptian women's rights group has rejected a proposal to intoduce women-only taxis in Alexandria.
The Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights says the idea is a legal, religious and social setback, as well as a violation of international agreements against discrimination.
The organisation is also… Read more
8th January 2010
Following the drive-by shootings in Nag Hammadi on Tuesday night, Coptic Christians marked their Christmas Day by going on the rampage yesterday. Here is the New York Times' account.
Once again, though, it is the Emirates-based paper, The National, which has the most perceptive reporting in English… Read more
7th January 2010
Seven people were shot dead outside a church in upper Egypt late last night following a mass to celebrate the Coptic Christmas. Al-Jazeera says three men in a car drove past and opened fire with machineguns in Nag Hammadi, 40 miles from Luxor.
A local bishop was quoted as saying he and members of… Read more
26th December 2009
Why, you might wonder, is the Virgin Mary apparently spending so much of her time at the moment in Cairo?
The Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, has an explanation: "The Virgin Mary loves Egypt, where she stayed for three-and-a-half years when Jesus was a child," he told worshippers in his weekly sermon. "… Read more
24th December 2009
The document above has been posted on the internet by several Egyptian bloggers, including Amr Salama and Wael Abbas. It appears to be the start of a four-page memo from the interior ministry, discussing plans for surveillance of Mohamed ElBaradei and his family by state security.
ElBaradei, the… Read more
24th December 2009
Seventeen years after Egyptian Islamists decided his religious views were suspect, Nasr Abu Zayd is still paying the price. Arriving in Kuwait last week with a valid visa, he was turned away at the airport on the orders of the State Security department.
He had been due to give two lectures at the… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
