Veteran Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah has finally been released pending investigation from the Cairo Criminal Court Sunday after being detained for 56 days.
He comes home to his family and his 20-day-old son, who was born while his father was detained. Little Khaled was named after Egypt’s martyr, Khaled Said, who was brutally beaten to death by police informants outside an Internet café in Alexandria on June 6, 2010.
Alaa was detained by military court after refusing to answer any questions directed at him and instead remained silent, as he does not recognise military trials for civilians as being legitimate. He knew there would be a price to pay for that— and indeed he did pay. Alaa’s case was finally transferred to a civilian judge recently. Yesterday, the same judge re-started the investigation process, and soon afterwards released Alaa pending investigations.
Alaa had to go back to Torah prison, his detention place, for his release orders to be processed. He was then transferred to Cairo Central Security, where he was finally released.
The blogger was greeted by a slew of media outlets, and only moments after his release, he fiercely attacked military rule. He told the media that the real triumph would only come when the army generals who shot the protesters at Maspiro would be put through a fair trial. A mini protest followed, chanting “Down with military rule.”
Alaa wanted to stop by Tahrir Square before going home, so his family and some friends including myself, took him there. He was treated like a celebrity in Tahrir. People rushed at him to say their hellos and hug him. Friends who learned he was free from Twitter joined in Tahrir. Alaa immediately gave a passionate impromptu speech about what the revolution means, and what should happen next.
He eventually made it to his parents’ house much later, where he finally had a chance to enjoy his family, his wife activist and blogger Manal Hassan, who endured his absence as her pregnancy was coming to term, and his precious Khaled.
ALAA IS FREE.
Rasha Abdulla is an associate professor at the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of the American University in Cairo. An advocate for freedom of expression, Abdulla has published several books and writings on Internet use and digital activism in Egypt and throughout the Arab World. You can follow her on Twitter:@RashaAbdulla
On Monday General Adel Emara, a member of Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, held a nationally televised press conference to address accusations of army misconduct in the most recent series of clashes between security forces and street protestors camped outside of the Parliament building near Tahrir Square.
Emara’s performance, and that of his carefully selected audience, spoke volumes. Foreign correspondents were told that the conference was for local media only. One journalist who was in attendance told me that the room was stocked with people she recognised as employees of the State Information Service.
Emara’s goal was to fend off what amounts to dozens of Rodney King videos. On Friday and Saturday, uniformed army troops staged a series of assaults on civilian protestors that produced a veritable mountain of photographic and video evidence. Soldiers were filmed firing handguns into the crowd (something government officials repeatedly claimed never happened), launching extended group beatings on helpless civilians and throwing rocks from rooftops onto the crowd. The most iconic image — one that fronted newspapers around the world — was of the limp body of a female protestor being dragged down the street. The woman’s black abeya gown gets pulled over her head, exposing a blue bra, as a soldier stomps hard on her chest.
Regardless of the evidence, Emara remained defiant. He repeatedly blamed the protestors for inciting the violence by attacking soldiers Thursday night and threatening to destroy the Parliament building. The true villains, he claimed, were the usual cocktail of shadowy conspirators and complicit media provocateurs.
“There is a methodical and premeditated plot to topple the state, but Egypt will not fall,” said Emara. “The media is helping sabotage the state. This is certain.”
Several times, he actually praised the “self-restraint” shown by Egyptian soldiers in the course of their duties.
“The armed forces does not use violence systematically,” Emara said. “We exercise a level of self-restraint that others envy. We do not do that out of weakness but out of concern for national interests.”
It was, to put it bluntly, either completely shameless or completely delusional. At best it was evidence was what Cairo-based political analyst and blogger Issandr El Amrani likes to call, “The Egyptian Reality Distortion Field.”
According to Amrani, “The ERDF gives Egyptians, notably public officials, an uncanny ability to disregard what is plain for all to see and, with the utmost confidence, assure all comers of its opposite.”
Emara did acknowledge the aforementioned attack on the partially disrobed young woman, but said that observers “don’t know the full circumstances”. He never explained just what circumstances could justify a grown man stomping on a seemingly unconscious woman.
The Q&A session that followed was equally revealing. Most of the questions were either softballs or long-winded speeches — a common failing among Arab journalists. The only two difficult questions about the behaviour of Egypt’s army were generally shrugged off by Emara, who said all incidents were under investigation and the public would be informed of the results in due time.
In the end, Emara called for sympathy and support for the beleaguered Egyptian soldiers.
“These heroes from the army have our appreciation for what they are doing for the sake of the nation. They will be remembered by history,” he said. “They are the pride of this nation, the best soldiers on earth. May God protect Egypt and its people from strife and keep Egypt’s flag flying high.”
Incredibly, half the room erupted in applause at Emara’s closing statement, while the journalists in the front row visibly swiveled in the seats to see who was clapping.
The case of prominent Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah is to be be tried in a civilian court, it has been reported. Egyptian authorities are said to have transferred the case state security prosecutors to investigative judges, which opens up the possibility of a trial in a civilian criminal court with the right to appeal. Abdel-Fattah was detained 30 October after he refused to answer questions over his alleged role in the 9 October clashes in Cairo.
