Archive: egypt

28th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Writing for the Foreign Policy website, Soha Abdelaty discussesthe death of Khaled Said in the context of Egypt's semi-permanent (and recently renewed) emergency law: In many ways, the case of Khaled Said is tragically symbolic of everything that is wrong with the state of emergency under which… Read more
26th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
   The Egyptian regime is under growing pressure to take action in the case of Khaled Said, the 28-year-old man who died while being arrested in Alexandria on June 6. Witnesses say he was severely beaten and horrific photographs of his body show extensive injuries to his head and face. The… Read more
25th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
At last, someone is talking sense on the issue of Egypt's discriminatory new personal status law for non-Muslims. Yesterday, the security forces graciously allowed a group of Coptic lawyers ("of a secular disposition") to hold a 30-minute protest at the justice ministry. The lawyers rightly pointed… Read more
24th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
A second autopsy on Khaled Said, the 28-year-old Egyptian, who witnesses say was beaten to death by police, has concluded that choked on a "foreign body" (a packet of cannabis that he attempted to swallow). The report says his injuries (gruesomely pictured here) were "light" and had been sustained… Read more
22nd June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Predictably, the Egyptian authorities are getting in a twist over their discriminatory new personal status law for non-Muslims (or possibly just Christians). Separate laws for members of different religions are an inherently bad idea but, since President Mubarak wants this one to be ready within… Read more
18th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
Earlier this month I noted an important decision by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court which, basically, over-ruled the Coptic church on the question of allowing divorced Christians to remarry. The Coptic leader, Pope Shenouda III, rejected the court's decision – setting the scene for a… Read more
16th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
More than a week after Khaled Said was beaten to death by police in Alexandria, there are signs that the Egyptian authorities are beginning to take the case more seriously. The prosecutor general has ordered a fresh autopsy, to be carried out by the country's most senior coroners, the BBC and AFP … Read more
15th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
More on the brutal killing of Khaled Said at the hands of Egyptian police. Zeinobia at the Egyptian Chronicles blog has photos and video of the latest protests. The Arabist also has a compilation of reports setting out what is known about the case so far (warning: it includes a very gruesome… Read more
14th June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
   Demonstrators protesting at the brutal killing of a 28-year-old Egyptian while in the hands of the police were themselvesassaulted by security forces in Alexandria yesterday.  Earlier, some 600 people attended funeral prayers for Khaled Said whose death on June 6 is being seen as the latest… Read more
2nd June 2010
By: Brian Whitaker
In a legal ruling that has far-reaching implications, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court last week ordered Pope Shenouda III to allow two Coptic Christians, in two separate cases, to remarry after divorce. At present the Coptic church does not allow re-marriage except in very limited… Read more