Author: Nouran El-Behairy

Ahmed Shafiq continues to dodge questions, court cases, and a confidant’s funeral

Ahmed Shafik continues to comment on political life in Egypt despite evading pending court cases in Egypt by remaining abroad (file photo: AFP)

Just after the presidential elections’ results were out, Mubarak’s last prime minister, former minister of aviation and ex-presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq was nowhere to be found.

Numerous media outlets said Shafiq flew to Abu-Dhabi for a vacation with two of his three daughters and his three grandsons before he headed to Saudi Arabia for omrah (lesser pilgrimage).

Shafiq’s departure coincided with the commencement of investigations accusing him of wasting public funds and facilitating selling lands to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the two sons of the ousted president. These allegations were denied by Shafiq repeatedly during the elections.

Despite the denials, Shafiq is still facing 35 corruption cases, which were originally handled by a military court and later transferred to the general attorney. Shafiq is also a witness in the controversial trial of the Camel Battle. He has avoided testifying the case.

Further questions and doubts came to surface when Shafiq didn’t attend the funeral of ex-spy chief Omar Sulieman, but Shafiq did not leave people wondering. He announced on his website that he insisted on attending the funeral but security officials said that he was vulnerable to assassination and threatened to cancel the funeral if he insisted on attending, according to media reports.

Shafiq added that Sulieman was the one who advised him to leave Egypt and if he were alive he would have told him not to come.
On 23 July, Shafiq talked to Lamis el Hadidi, a prominent show host, on air and said that he is away because he has business to do and that he has nothing to run or hide from.

He expressed his concern over the situation in Egypt and advised President Mohamed Morsy to choose the right people for the right positions regardless of their political affiliations. Shafiq did not specify when and whether he was coming back.

He was supposed to come back to Cairo after performing the Islamic rite of omrah to establish a political movement that would unite the 13 million who gave him their votes in the presidential elections.

“These people only have in common their love and concern for Egypt, they are the 13 million who supported the wave that could have changed Egypt,” Shafiq told el Hadidy on the phone.

Tarek Kadry, a Shafiq supporter, said Shafiq was in Dubai and that he didn’t intend to start a movement or a political party not to divide the Egyptian people.

“He said if we wanted a political party or a movement he will support us,” Kadry, who voted for Shafiq in both rounds of elections, said. “We’re protesting in Manassa now against the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood over the authority in Egypt”

“We want Shafiq back with us, but we’re worried about his safety. There are people who want him dead,” Kadry added.

There are rumors circulating that Shafiq is working in Dubai as a counselor for the Ruler of Dubai and that he is subject to assassination because of the secrets he was told by Omar Suleiman before his death.

July 26, 2012
Power outage spoils blood in Port Said

Electricity outages have already done damage to blood stocks in Port Said (file photo: AFP)

A one-hour power outage at the Port Said blood bank spoiled most of the blood in reserve, highlighting the growing risk of Egypt’s fragile power grid and the need for enhancements to the crumbling infrastructure throughout the country.

Constant power outages have become more commonplace in Egypt, with many urging President Mohamed Morsy to quickly resolve the issue. In recent weeks, the Minister of Electricity, Hassan Younis, under pressure from protests across the country, held several meetings to address the issue and declared a state of emergency, especially in peak times. Younis clarified that current government policy is to ration power consumption.

This rationing could lead to much more catastrophic events at vital institutions like Egypt’s hospitals and blood banks. With the need for blood on the rise amid rising rates of crime and accidents, the constant need for scarce blood types becomes ever more critical.

Most hospitals, if not all, have backup generators that operate automatically during an outage to keep equipment and refrigerators running, but according to news reports the backup generator of Port Said blood bank has been dysfunctional for over two years, putting patients lives in danger.

Summer is usually a critical time of the year for blood banks in Egypt, as the field campaigns for blood donation in schools and universities stop for the summer vacation. Factories and companies are also affected by the summer as people usually leave Cairo for vacation and so the number of donors deteriorates significantly.

“Last month we couldn’t get 1,000 blood bags when we needed more than 2500, we’re suffering severe shortage and the situation is getting worse” Sherif Mamdouh, the general coordinator of the blood bank team in the oncology institute, told Youm7 newspaper.
“Celebrities and public figures sometimes come to the institute with many of their fans to donate blood, these campaigns are the most successful,” Mamdouh added.

July 25, 2012
Arab League supports Palestinian bid for non-member UN representation

A Palestinian carpenter holds the seat of a hand-made olive-wood chair in the style of an United Nations seat (AFP Photo)

Arab League representatives announced their full support on Sunday for upgrading the status of the Palestinian territories to a non-member state at the United Nations.

The announcement was made during a meeting of a follow up committee on the Palestinian peace process attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas previously announced his intention to seek non-member status last year but the United States and Israel both expressed dismay over the move.

“The Arabs decided to go to the UN to seek non-member state status for Palestine,” Palestinian Peace Negotiator Saeb Erekat told AFP. “It has been agreed that we will start preparing the legal, procedural and political file relating to the Palestinian application for non-state membership.”

Erekat added that they will begin consulting UN groups like the African Group, the Non-Aligned Movement, the European Union and the South American Bloc in order to garner their support for the Palestinian request.

The appeal to the General Assembly will be prepared by a separate committee and reported to the next Arab League meeting scheduled 5 September in Cairo, where the date for presenting the application will be specified.

Palestinian officials are seeking General Assembly recognition in order to reaffirm the pre-1967 borders, leaving East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza within the borders of a Palestinian state. The areas were lost to Israel in the 1967 war and since then Israel has moved up to 500,000 settlers to east Jerusalem and West Bank in an effort to blur the pre-1967 borders.

Abbas made a bid for full Palestinian membership to the Security Council in September 2011, in a move that incurred the wrath of the US and Israel who believe negotiations are the only way for the recognition of Palestinian state. Abbas failed to muster the required votes.

This time, Palestinian officials feel confident in acquiring the simple majority required to win a seat at the General Assembly. The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad El-Malki told Ma’an News agency that he expects Palestine to get a majority of roughly 130-140 votes.

Another important detail about the bid is its timing. If the Palestinians make their move before November this could affect the course of the US presidential elections.

Earlier this month, news reports mentioned that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Abbas in Paris that if they sought a bid before the US elections, the Palestinian Authority would be subjected to political and economic sanctions.

El-Malki told Ma’an news that Palestinian officials do not fear US sanctions. “The decision is that the Palestinian leadership will go to the General Assembly despite the consequences,” Malki said.

July 24, 2012
A second building in Alexandria collapses

Rescue workers look for survivors in last Sunday’s collapse of four buildings in Alexandria (file photo: AFP)

A mother and her two daughters were killed in west Alexandria on Monday when the one story building they were living in collapsed only a week after a building collapse claimed 20 lives in a nearby neighbourhood.

Reports stated that the building located in the El-Amreya district on Seven Up Street was built on a sandy land and collapsed due to a landslide.

Ahmed Essmat, an Alexandrian Journalist, said many buildings in Alexandria are prone to collapse. However, Essmat said, residents who live in buildings on uneven ground, or hazardous dwellings have nowhere to move.

“Recently a building in Sidi Beshr was leaning and people asked the residents to evacuate it, but they refused. They have nowhere to go,” Essmat said.

“There are more than 50 similar cases in Alexandria and the Governor isn’t doing anything about it,” he added.

Hassan Allam,the head of Egypt’s Building Inspectorate, told The Egyptian Gazette two million buildings over the past few years have violated construction regulations across Egypt and 180,000 of them are in Alexandria.

The building collapse last Sunday in the “Gomrok” area of Alexandria a week crashed into three adjacent buildings as it fell, accounting for the extraordinary toll of lives. The building’s owner had been repeatedly warned about its weakness and has since been arrested for negligence in relation to the collapse.

In addition to signs of structural weaknesses in many buildings to explain the fall, several rumours surfaced including a suggestion that the woman and her children were digging for antiquities and roman monuments under their house.

July 24, 2012
Congresswoman claims Muslim Brotherhood infiltrating US Government

United States Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and four other congress members called on security agencies to investigate possible Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into the American government, accusing a number of American officials of conspiring against the United States and promoting the cause of the Brotherhood.

The claims made by Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a member of the house Intelligence Committee along with Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland, were based on a report called “Muslim Brotherhood in America” produced by the conservative Center for Security Policy which is led by Frank Gaffney. Gaffney is known for his strong anti-Brotherhood and Islamic Shari’a stances.

These allegations have raised controversy within American government and media circles. Among those accused are, Huma Abedin, a top aide of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress.

Bachmann attacked Ellison on a conservative radio show on Thursday saying Ellison “has a long record of being associated with CAIR (the Council on American–Islamic Relations) and with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Ellison said on CNN that the only thing he could recall about the Brotherhood is that one of its candidates, formerly a professor in an American college, was elected Egypt’s President.

In a statement on her website, Bachmann criticised the Obama administration for giving Hani Nour Eldin, a member of Egyptian Islamist Group that was banned until the 25 January revolution, a visa to enter the US and granting him a meeting with National Security Council officials inside the White House.

During the meeting, he called for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is imprisoned for participating in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing and planning other terrorist attacks in the US.

Bachmann was criticised equally by Democrats and Republicans for her statements that could fuel hatred against American Muslims and “unveil a phobia against Arabs, Muslims and the Islamic religion” Republican Senator John McCain said in his floor speech in the US Senate. “When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it,” McCain said.

Samir El- Wesseimy, member of the media committee of the freedom and justice party (the political arm of the brotherhood) told the Daily News Egypt that the Congresswoman’s allegations are illogical and unsubstantiated. “Is the Brotherhood that powerful to influence the decisions and policy of the world’s greatest country?” El-Wesseimy asked. He added “even during Mubarak’s era when any foreign embassy or ministry wanted to convene with the Muslim Brotherhood, we made it clear that there will be no meetings without representatives from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. Working in the shadows is unacceptable for us.”

El-Wesseimy said such allegations aim to distort the image of the Brotherhood and could only mean that a select group of American politicians do not want seek better relations with Arabs, especially Egypt. “We have our differences with the American administration regarding issues like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the situation in Iraq,” El-Wesseimy said. “The only relationship we have with the US is the normal political and diplomatic one that developed when the party’s candidate, Mohamed Morsy, became president.”

Bachmann has a history of false allegations, according to CNN television two years ago said one of President Barack Obama’s trips to India would cost tax payers $200 million a day, citing an Indian newspaper. The Indian report quoted an anonymous source who was supposedly an Indian official. The claim was proven to be false.

July 21, 2012
Ultras attacked in a vigil for Port Said massacre victims

Photo from Twitter by Yehia El Gammal shows Ultras protesting outside the Journalist Syndicate

Six people were injured on Tuesday night in clashes between the Ultras Ahlawy, Ultras White Knights and “unknown” assailants who threw stones, glass shards and bottles as well as fired shotguns at the Ultras as they honoured victims of the “Port Said Massacre,” the Health Ministry reported.

The clashes occurred during a march organised by the Ultras from Al- Ahly club in Zamalek to the Journalists’ Syndicate where they were to hold a press conference with the Port Said victims’ families.

The Ultras had promised to unveil secrets about the ‘Port Said Massacre’ during the conference.

There were conflicting reports about the identity of the attackers. Some news agencies reported that they were ‘thugs’, a term often used in post-uprising Egypt to signify plainclothes security officials who are loyal to the previous regime.

Other observers and those down at the march said the assailants were a mix of residents in the area and angry shop owners who were fed up with the protests.

Another news report implicated the Ultras in starting the fracas.

According to the report, members of the Ultras forcibly took bottles of soda and water from a kiosk prompting its owner to ask residents for help.

The story could not be verified since members of the Ultras refuse to talk with the press.

A syndicate security guard told Al-Ahram Online “Some people, out of nowhere, attacked the Ultras with bottles and stones, we also heard shotgun discharges.”

The clashes lasted for 30 minutes before the Ultras decided to return to the club headquarters and sit-in.

During the march, Ultras chanted against Al-Ahly’s board, particularly its head, Hassan Hamdy and the players for inaction in regards to pursing who the perpetrators of the Port Said Massacre were.

The Ultras said the club “forgot” about the martyrs.

The Club and the Ultras have had strained relations as of late, especially after Coach Hossam El-Badry had to cancel a recent training after Ultras stormed the stadium.

The board later issued a strongly-worded statement denouncing their behaviour and saying the club took all possible measures to defend the martyrs and preserve their families’ rights.

A number of Al-Masry football club fans and security officials face charges of premeditated murder and negligence respectively, the trial was postponed by Port Said Criminal Court to 25 August.

July 19, 2012
Doctors: attacks at hospital should be treated like ‘attempted murder’

Doctors’ Syndicate, Cairo

The Doctor’s Syndicate held a press conference on Tuesday decrying the lack of security at hospitals around the country, where doctors have been attacked, highlighting the need for heightened security around emergency rooms in particular. The doctors called for harsher penalties on people who attack hospitals, who they believe are should be charged with “attempted murder.”

Doctors had forced to close their emergency rooms in response to the attacks, further complicating matters by endangering patients as a result. A number of doctors have been attacked by patients’ families in recent days.

Usually general hospitals receive too many patients which adds more pressure on the doctors without the necessary facilities and space to treat them in intensive care units.

Dr. Mona Mina, a member of the syndicate’s board and the general coordinator for the group “Doctors Without Rights,” said shuttering the emergency rooms of some hospitals around the country was not a form of strike, but a security measure that ensured doctors would be safe while doing their jobs. “We’re concerned about the lives of both the patients and the doctors,” Mina said. She said the syndicate had not called for a full-scale strike, but doctors have the right to a partial strike until their demands are met. “Doctors need a secure environment to be able to treat people,” she said.

Dr. Rashwan Shaaban, a member of “Doctors Without Rights” said “Closing down el Qasr Al-Einy hospital for four days has more impact than closing the Suez Canal” he added “this crisis is more dangerous than the bread or gas crisis.” “Doctors Without Rights” started a protest Sunday morning at the Doctor’s Syndicate to demand more hospital security, after a several medical staff across the country were assaulted at hospitals.

Doctors forcibly closed facilities and entire hospitals like El Qasr El-Einy, Bolaq El Dakroor, Om El Masryeen. The doctors also closed emergency rooms. El- Hussien Hospital shut down by 8 pm, despite the need for its emergency room to be functional 24-hours day.

The protesting doctors said in a statement that when assaults become commonplace in hospitals, with some patients threatening doctors with machine guns and knives, action should be taken before someone dies. The doctors have asked President Mohamed Morsy to interfere. In Ismailia, doctors closed down the emergency room of the general hospital after people attacked Dr. Mohammed Jamal, a resident doctor at the hospital who suffered bruises and cuts on his face.

The Ministry of the Interior responded to the request of the syndicate and assigned 50 policemen to secure El-Qasr El-Einy, whose emergency room was reopened after 4 days of closure.

July 17, 2012
Sinai hostage taker: If my uncle dies in prison, the American hostages will die

A pass through Sinai’s rugged terrain similar to where a man claims he is keeping three hostages (AFP)

In two brief conversations by telephone with the man holding two Americans and an Egyptian hostage, the Daily News Egypt learned that Jirmy Abu-Masuh is hiding the two in the mountains, but not in his home, as has been reported.

Abu-Masuh said that the two American hostages, the man, 61, the woman, 39, were fine and he will observe Bedouin tradition be keeping them well fed and comfortable for three days. But after that, there will be no more phone calls and their treatment will be “more like prisoners.” To illustrate he said they would be tied up and in the worst case scenario, left in the mountains, “where they will be attacked by scorpions and snakes.”

Abu-Masuh claims that he only took the 28 year-old Egyptian guide with them to assist with translation.

Abu-Masuh explains that if his uncle, detained in Borg-el Arab prison in Alexandria, is released, he will give up the hostages in an arrangement of their choice, including leaving them at the US embassy or “his men will drive them to Cairo.”

However, he insists that after the three days, a deadline which he says expires tomorrow, if the relevant authorities do not release his uncle he will not release his hostages and will abduct more tourists of different nationalities “and Jews.”

If authorities attempt to arrest him, however, Abu-Masuh says he is ready to kill the Americans, and himself, but not their guide because Abu-Masuh says he would not harm an Egyptian who, “is innocent and just working to make money for his family.”

Abu-Masuh says his uncle’s charges, drug smuggling among others, are fabricated. According to Abu-Masuh the weakness of the charges is llustrated by the fact that the policemen who arrested him offered to release him for 500,000LE, though this has not been confirmed. Since his uncle does not have that money, Abu-Masuh says, his uncle is in jail, “these are Mubarak-era police.”

Abu-Masuh’s demands include the immediate freedom of his uncle, and the prosecution of the police officer who tried to extort his uncles for money for his release.

Abu-Masuh says is will to give the police a deadline of 9 AM tomorrow morning or he will “do something”.

He said Al-Ganzoury and chief of intelligence called him, and they asked him to release the hostages but Abu-Masuh is tying the fate of his uncle to his kidnapped guests.

“My uncle has heart issues, diabetes and metal plates in his back, so if he dies in prison, these hostages will be killed. If he is sentenced to 25 years I will keep them for 25 years.”

Sinai activist Ahmed Abu Thira’, says that Abu-Masuh himself has been sentenced to 100 years in prison (four life sentences) for charges including drug smuggling but could not comment on the veracity of the charges or why he is not currently serving his time.

In regards to his sentence, Abu-Masuh said, “One hundred year sentence means I will be released when I am 132. I will be dead before I am released anyways.”

Abu Thira’ said he spoke to the three hostages yesterday to make sure they were ok, and claims they are “safe and fine.”

Daily News Egypt asked to speak to the hostages and was told no by Abu-Masuh, because he “cannot speak to his uncle.”

July 14, 2012