Archive: egypt
11th May 2015
No problem for those who have "nothing to hide"
Last week 20 rights organisations in Egypt issued a joint statement condemning "increasingly aggressive actions" by the Sisi regime to crack down on civil society activities. "The ongoing harassment of civil society in Egypt contradicts all claims… Read more
8th April 2015
Since seizing power in Egypt, the Sisi regime has been cracking down on NGOs and homosexuality (among other things), and the latest move by the curiously-named Ministry of Social Solidarity strikes both targets in a single blow.
The ministry is investigating a Giza-based NGO which is said to have… Read more
8th March 2015
A European politician who has been banned from public office because of electoral malpractice was involved in monitoring the 2014 presidential election in Egypt.
Last Thursday, an appeals court in Belgium confirmed a suspended prison sentence and a five-year ban from holding public office imposed… Read more
27th February 2015
On Tuesday President Sisi approved a new anti-terrorism law for Egypt which seems to be more about labelling political foes as terrorists than actually combating terrorism.
The new law is so broad that it allows people to be convicted of "terrorism" even if they don't in violence. Al-Ahram explains… Read more
18th February 2015
A 22-year-old Egyptian atheist was sentenced to a year in jail for "contempt of religion" at a court hearing on Monday.
Although atheism is not actually illegal in Egypt and the new constitution says freedom of belief is "absolute", atheists are "the country's second enemy after the Muslim… Read more
29th January 2015
Earlier this week the Sisi regime announced that it had approved five international NGOs to monitor Egypt's parliamentary elections in March.
It has now emerged that this is not strictly true, because two of the five NGOs are appear to be the same organisation operating under different names.
In a… Read more
28th January 2015
Loai Deeb, president of GNRD
A controversial NGO headed by a man who once ran a fake university from his home has been appointed to monitor Egypt's forthcoming parliamentary elections.
The Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), which has strong links with the UAE, is one of only five… Read more
15th December 2014
Hot on the heels of the "gay bath-house" raid in Cairo just over a week ago, there was news yesterday that Egyptian authorities have forcibly closed an "atheist cafe".
Besides atheists who were allegedly "spreading misconceptions about heavenly religions" in the cafe, it is also said to have been a… Read more
12th December 2014
An advisor to Egypt's Grand Mufti caused a good deal of amusement this week by announcing, apparently in all seriousness, that there are 866 atheists in Egypt (out of a population of around 90 million).
This extremely precise information is said to have come from international research by an "… Read more
9th December 2014
The Queen Boat in Cairo – scene of the 2001 police raid
The massive police raid on a hammam in Cairo – instigated by a pro-regime TV channel – is the latest and most dramatic development in a crackdown against gay men that has been going on for months, even though homosexuality is not actually… 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
