CAIRO: The last entry on Kareem Al-Beheiri’s blog, egyworkers.blogspot.com, reads, “It is now 7 am on April 6 and I am on my way to the Mahalla textile factory to cover the events of the strikes. I wish success to all seeking to expose the failing Egyptian political system.
It is unlikely that in those early hours of the morning Kareem expected that a month later his blog would still post the very same entry. Kareem was among the hundreds of protesters, journalists, activists and bloggers arrested around Egypt on April 6 and 7.
Although workers had organized a strike planned for April 6 inside the Spinning and Weaving factory in Mahalla Al-Kubra, State Security forces prevented the workers’ strike from ever coming off the ground. Yet, protesting masses on the streets could not be halted.
Leading up to May 4, Mahalla streets are crowded with State Security vehicles causing Hamdy Hussein, Director of the Afaq Socialist Center to describe the town as being under “military occupation.
Prior to the protests on April 6, in an attempt to quell the uprising, minister of investment Mahmoud Mohieddin raised worker’s food allowance from LE 43 to LE 90. Days following the April 6 strikes Mahalla workers received a 30-day bonus, while other workers across the country were given a 15-day bonus. In an attempt to placate the masses on Labor Day, President Hosni Mubarak announced a 30 percent raise for public sector workers.
Worker and activist Hamdy Hussein explained that this raise, though played up in the government press was nothing out of the ordinary. “The 30 percent income raise is part of established worker rights, Hussein told Daily News Egypt.
Hussein stresses that various grassroots factions – not the worker leadership – organized the protests that took place in the city of Mahalla Al-Kubra and across Egypt on April 6 and 7. The people assembled in the streets because of a deep frustration and anger at the political system in Egypt, he added.
Kareem does not belong to a political party and vehemently opposes joining one. No single party represents the demands he and his fellow workers make, Kareem had previously told Daily News Egypt. In that aspect Kareem is no different from a growing trend among youths in Egypt who no longer believe the political establishment represents them or is providing much of an alternative to what Egypt’s regime has to offer.
As his blog states, Kareem was covering the events of the April 6 strikes, rather than participating in them as a worker of Mahalla Al-Kubra like he often does. For this purpose he had taken off half a days work. At the time of his arrest he was meeting with a group of foreigners at a local coffee shop. The claims brought against Kareem included that he had taken time off work in order to participate in the strike and host foreigners in the effort to do the same.
Although a local prosecutor deemed Kareem innocent on April 20, the Minister of Interior issued an order to arrest the blogger along with Mahalla Al-Kubra Workers’ League activists Tarek Amin and Kamal El-Fayoumi.
After being detained by State Security the three workers were transferred to Burg Al-Arab prison in Alexandria.
During Daily News Egypt’s last meeting with the blogger he was limping. His leg had been injured during the latest protest he had participated in. In the Burg Al-Arab prison Kareem informed fellow detainee journalist Rami Mitshawi, who has since been released, that he had been tortured by methods of electric shock.
In the cell that Rami shared with Kareem and the other workers they would sing songs by Sheikh Imam to pass the time, Rami told Daily News Egypt.
“The main concern on Kareem’s mind was the wellbeing of his pregnant sister, the journalist said. Kareem had no means of communicating with his family.
On April 28 while a political prisoner in Burg Al-Arab jail in Alexandria, Kareem became an uncle. His sister named her baby girl “Haneen meaning “longing, because the whole family is longing for his release, according to Hussein.
Kareem had been detained in the past on numerous occasions for short periods of time; this is his first prison detainment. According to Egyptian law the blogger can be held for 30 days without trial, at which time his detention can be renewed for an additional 30 days.
Kareem had previously told Daily News Egypt that Egyptian blogger Hossam El-Hamalawy had encouraged him to start a blog to report on the ongoing events of Mahalla factory as well as workers around the country. Kareem’s mother told Al-Ahali journalist Seham Shawada that she had been troubled when Kareem first began his political activity. After he was imprisoned she realized that he was an activist and began to support him in his cause. Hussein is confident that due to political pressure Kareem and his fellow detained workers would be released in the coming days. “Their release is expected but our demands are that they not be transferred to other factories or be fired completely, because with this government either is imaginable, Hussein told Daily News Egypt.
The government frequently uses such methods to weaken worker unity.
Independent worker unions, which would uphold worker rights, are banned in Egypt.
In 2003, Egypt passed a new labor law, which enables employers to fire workers with simple justifications. Furthermore, if workers are absent from their workplace for 10 days the administration is permitted to fire them. If they would attempt to fire any of them the government would be provoking the workers to “take a stand, Hamdy Hussein said with a certain air of confidence.
