28 Jun 11 | Uncategorized
A journalist and outspoken critic of the military treatment of civilians, Rasha Azab, was summoned in front of a military tribunal last week for an article she wrote in the independent daily newspaper Al-Fagr.
Azab is the first journalist to be tried, in a military court no less, for an article published in the wake of the 25 January revolution that saw the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. Al-Fagr’s editor-in-chief, Adel Hammouda, was also called to the same court.
The prospects are extremely worrying for the Egyptian independent media, which could risk facing military trials for exercising their profession.
After her first investigation, on 21 June, Rasha described her conversation with the military interrogator:
“He sure had studied my article quite well, and had highlighted the parts he wanted to discuss with me (…) There are multiple charges but the main one is spreading misinformation about the armed forces.”
The lawsuit was filed, according to Azab, by General Hassan El Roweiny, the military authority mentioned in the article. “So it’s the military leadership that will determine the course of the lawsuit,” she said.
General El Roweiny is a familiar figure of the revolution, as commander of the Central zone and a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which currently governs the State in the absence of a civilian president.
“This is the first lawsuit against a journalist for something they’ve written, not for a political action or demonstrating for example. The purpose is the terrorise journalists who plan on writing about the transgressions and the torture done by the Military Council”, said Azab.
Azab’s article, which remains available online, is essentially a narrative of the relationship between the army and activists, focusing on cases of army violence towards protesters. It is based on public information, as well as on discussions between volunteer legal groups and the army. Azab says she was able to present first hand testimonies of the events she described – acts of torture committed by the army – which had been collected by Egyptian Human Rights centres.
The lawsuit remains pending with the military court.
03 Jun 11 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
Take the time to watch the outrageous Vodafone ad that has sparked public outrage in Egypt this week. Vodafone, the company that complied with the Mubarak regimes demands to shutdown communications networks is taking credit for what happened in Tahrir Square.
If I were a Vodafone customer, I promise you I would’ve switched networks after watching their latest commercial. The film created by advertising agency JWT, takes credit for the Egyptian revolution.
You read that right. Vodafone and JWT are telling us, in a 3:59 spot, that “we’re not trying to take credit for the revolution but really, we totally inspired it with our crappy ad from last year. You’re welcome, Egypt”.
Because the tag line was something along the lines of “Our power isn’t that we’re number one — our power is in each one of us”. Whatever that means.
Apparently this tag line inspired people to take the streets. I mean, never mind the years of activism, the protests, the decades of cumulated grievances, the terrible economic situation, the trampled political freedoms, the police brutality, the torture, etc. Nah.
We just watched a Vodafone Ad, and thought: “Hey! We’re powerful! Let’s topple the president!”
Vodafone Egypt JWT Ad Taking Credit For #Jan25… by andreasudo
Watch it and then check out the hilarious IHateVodafoneEgypt.com. The PR backlash forced Vodafone Egypt to put out a public statement about the video, claiming it was “produced by JWT company for its internal use and not for public display”.
Now what about this about a lawsuit against them for disconnecting their phone and internet services?
31 May 11 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
In post-revolutionary Egypt, freedom of expression is yet to be a given.
On 15 May, for instance, scores of protesters commemorating the Palestinian exodus of 1948 near the Israeli embassy were beaten and shot. At least 350 were injured and 160 arrested and transferred to military prisons. They were charged with “destruction of public property with the intention of attacking the embassy; creating mayhem; use of force against public servants (police and armed forces); endangering the public and public transportation means; joining a gang with the intention of harming social peace”.
Several of those detained have been released on probation, ranging from six to twelve months after being sentenced by a military court. Some remain in prison.
Since the end of Mubarek’s reign in February, there have been 5,600 such military trials sentencing civilians. That estimate is already couple of weeks old, said Human Rights Watch’s Heba Morayef. The number today is probably much higher.
The interim government claims its heavy-handedness is necessary to control saboteurs and criminals who have sought to take advantage of the lax security climate in the aftermath of the revolution as the police forces are replaced by an army untrained for urban policing tasks. In reality, army firepower has been directed, at times with fatal consequences, towards civilian protesters.
On 22 May, the army issued a statement accusing “some foreign elements claiming heroism and nationalism of issuing false statements developed by their sick imagination to incite against some members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) leadership and to create discord between the army and the people.” The communiqué goes on to warn that “those external elements” are sending their followers to infiltrate “the free revolutionary demonstrations” in order to instigate a clash between the people and the security forces — a declaration widely seen as a veiled threat.
But this was not much of a deterrent for Egyptians.
On 23 May, more than 370 bloggers defied a journalistic ban on broaching the subject of the army and heeded a call to write a post “evaluating the performance of the SCAF as the ruler of the country, with the aim of providing constructive criticism.” They criticized military trials for civilians, the emergency law, and the ruling junta’s failure to prosecute members of the old regime. On Twitter, the #NoSCAF hashtag was assuredly the most widely used all day, and served both as a repository for vocal objections and an increasingly loud call for action.
A massive protest scheduled last Friday, 27 May, was met with the most unexpected reaction from the army: the army issued its communiqué number 58 declaring that “the armed forces have decided not to be present in the protests locations to avoid such risks (of division between people and army), counting on the revolution youth who will take over the organising and defense” — that is, since you’re protesting our behaviour, we won’t be protecting you from any potential attack. The protest nevertheless went ahead as planned, peacefully; and the message would’ve hopefully reached the ears of the SCAF.
12 Apr 11 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
Maikel Nabil, a 26-year old blogger, has been sentenced to three years in jail for writing a negative article about the Egyptian armed forces. Mr. Nabil was arrested last month after publishing a blog in which he criticised the army’s role during anti-government protests in February. Mr Nabil’s lawyer has criticised the conduct of the military court after they allegedly chose not to consider the content of the blogs. An appeal is set to be launched later this year.
