Archive: egypt

8th November 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In 2007, a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger known as Kareem Amerwas given a four-year prison sentence for "spreading information disruptive of public order and damaging to the country’s reputation", "incitement to hate Islam" and "defaming the president of the republic". He was the first Egyptian to be… Read more
31st October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Following the court ruling in Egypt a week ago that state security forces must be removed from university campuses, it's not surprising to see that practical objections to the ruling are now being raised. Mohamed Tawfiq Abul Naga, one of the founders of the university guard squads at Cairo… Read more
26th October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In Egypt the state has a virtual monopoly on data, which effectively stops public debate about government decisions. Read more at Comment Is Free ... Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 October 2010.
23rd October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
A group of Egyptian professors yesterday won an historic legal battle to have state security forces removed from university campuses – though it is doubtful whether the government will abide by the ruling. Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper says human rights organisations welcomed the decision by the… Read more
22nd October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In what must surely be the least credible news of the day, a senior official of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party announced that Hosni Mubarak will be the party's candidate in next year's presidential election. Another six-year-term would take the ailing leader up to the age of 89. The… Read more
14th October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In an article for Middle East Report Online, Mariz Tadros takes a detailed look at the current sectarian tensions in Egypt. "For six weeks," she writes, "Egypt has been sitting on top of a sectarian volcano. Protesters, men and women, have been exiting mosques following prayers almost every single… Read more
13th October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In what is widely seen as an attempt to stifle opposition activism in the run-up to next month's parliamentary election, the Egyptian authorities have have announced restrictions of the sending of text messages to multiple mobile phones. News organisations that send out alerts to phone users have… Read more
5th October 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
A small story of life in Egypt, from the Rebel With A Cause blog: A young boy, Kareem (16 years old), was walking by in downtown area, Cairo. He was followed by four guys who were shouting insults to the young boy calling him a faggot. The boy just ignored their insults and kept going, the thing… Read more
29th September 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Hisham Talaat Moustafa, the Egyptian billionaire and prominent member of the ruling party who paid a hitman $2 million to kill Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim, has finally escaped the gallows. Last year Moustafa was sentenced to death for the crime, along with the hitman, a former Egyptian police… Read more
24th September 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Abdel-Monem Said, chairman of al-Ahram, the leading pro-government newspaper in Egypt, has issued a statement headed: "The Ahram 'photo' and the Western media's reaction". This is in response to criticism of the doctored photograph which purported to show President Mubarak striding through the… Read more