Alexandria Troubles

[Goddess]

Not sure if anyone is keeping up with the latest in Egypt, and the young man that was (allegedly) killed by the police, but it seems to be turning into a big thing in Alex.
Last night on the corniche there must have been 40 plus riot police vans, and a veritable army of riot police. Why? To stop more troubles flaring up as presidential hopeful Mr Baradei walked down the corniche in protest about police brutality.
There was also a silent protest at the same time, youth dressed in black lined the length of the corniche, facing out to sea reading something, may have been the Quran - that felt very effective. Was a shame there was a group of noisy schoolkids out at the same time doing a separate march; seemed to negate their silent protest a tad, which was a shame.

More info here:-

ElBaradei leads big Egypt anti-torture protest
(Reuters)

26 June 2010
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - Potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei led thousands of people on Friday in an anti-torture protest that analysts said was significant for joining disparate groups in a common cause.

Around 4,000 people, representing varied political views, and many ordinary citizens greeted ElBaradei, 68, the former nuclear inspector, as he visited the port city of Alexandria to offer condolences to the family of Khaled Mohammed Said, an Egyptian who rights groups say was beaten to death by police.

The protest, ElBaradei’s second public appearance this month and the first in which his family joined him in public, was his biggest rally so far. Earlier in June he visited Fayoum in a signature drive campaign that drew some 3,500 supporters.

The events in part reflect pent up frustration in Egypt after almost three decades of rule by President Hosni Mubarak, 82, and with an emergency law that gives authorities wide powers to quash dissent.

Mubarak has no designated successor and has not said if he will seek another term in the 2011 presidential election. If he does not, the most common view is that he will hand power to his politician son Gamal, 46.

ElBaradei, the former U.N. nuclear watchdog head, has said he may run in the 2011 presidential vote if there were constitutional reforms, but the existing rules make it almost impossible for an independent to get on the ballot. The government insists the electoral system is free and fair.

In the latest protest, crowds chanted pro-democracy slogans and waved images of Said while ElBaradei, flanked by hundreds of worshippers, emerged from a mosque after Muslim prayers.

Youths and activists from political and online groups including the Facebook group “ElBaradei for presidency of 2011” joined the protest. Some chanted “Down Down Hosni Mubarak” and “Said you are a martyr” while rushing to meet ElBaradei.

Said’s death has become a rallying point for government opponents demanding an end to 30 years of emergency law, which they say allows police to abuse citizens with impunity.

“This gathering of people from all walks of life and the anger they expressed against practices of torture is a message to the regime that Egyptians are against such inhumane practices,” ElBaradei told Reuters.

But he added: “Breaking the barrier of fear is an incremental process that takes time. But with democracy we will have no fear.”

Thousands of riot police spread across the city and surrounded the mosque, forming a tight cordon around excited protesters, but only after ElBaradei was let past the crowd and away from the area.

A security source said 60 armoured trucks full of riot police were sent to Alexandria in anticipation of the protest.

Earlier protests in Cairo against police brutality have been forcibly broken up by police and dozens of protesters detained.

Egyptian authorities say Said died of choking on drugs and and despite signs of beating that was not the cause of death.

Numerous witnesses gave Human Rights Watch (HRW) corroborating descriptions of Said being beaten to death, prompting the rights group on Thursday to call on Egypt to prosecute the culprits.

“We know the price Egyptian citizens pay for giving testimony against the interior ministry or the police force,” political analyst Amr El Shobky said. “Yet despite that, those who saw what happened spoke of it.”


http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarti ... eeast&col=

[Claire]

I had n't heard anything about this so thanks for sharing and please keep us posted.

[Goddess]

2 policemen on trial over blogger's death
By Ashraf Madbouli
Saturday, July 3, 2010 07:31:13 PM

ALEXANDRIA(Updated)-Egypt's Chief Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on Saturday referred two detectives to the criminal court for allegedly beating, illegally arresting and maltreating a 28-year-old blogger, whose death was the epicentre of a controversy from local and international human rights activists.


"The two policemen will stand trial for the use of force against Khaled Saeed, as well as threatening and physically torturing him," said Yasser Refai, the Alexandria Public Attorney.
He added that both policemen could be jailed for around three years if found guilty. Witnesses said two plainclothes police officers had beaten Saeed, an Internet blogger, and dragged him out of an Alexandria cyber café, where he died.
Egyptian authorities previously said that he died from asphyxiation after he swallowed a packet of drugs, an allegation confirmed by two autopsy reports.
The circumstances surrounding Saeed's death are unclear. Police say he was wanted for theft and weapons possession and that he resisted arrest.
Supporters say he was targeted for trying to expose official corruption.
His June 6 death has since become a rallying point for human rights activists.
Since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets of Alexandria and Cairo to condemn alleged police brutality.
Some carried posters that said: "Killed by barbarians".
"We are going to file a petition to the General Prosecution in order to give us a permission to assign a forensic doctor to make a new autopsy on Khaled's body," said Mohamed Abdel Aziz, a lawyer for Saeed.
He added that the final autopsy report had some loopholes and some unanswered questions.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former chief of the UN nuclear agency and now an Egyptian reformist figure, visited Saeed's family last week to offer his condolences.
"I think the message should be clear," said ElBaradei, making his most highprofile appearance since leaving the International Atomic Energy Agency late last month. "This should be the last time we witness torture in Egypt."
Aphotograph of Said's pummeled face is on a Facebook page devoted to him.

http://www.egyptiangazette.net/news-102 ... death.html

[Rachel Turner]

There are probably hundreds of cases we dont hear about that are just swept under the carpet-
The lady who lost her husband, recently in Luxor is still fighting the cause for the justice for Khalad on facebook she is a poster on Luxor4u -she emailed recently to say she was at Court in Cairo - not heard anything since.
More people need to join the causes for these poor innocent victims of violence and corruption within the authorities, i admire this lady as she is fighting this cause...

[Goddess]

Solidarity continues
Silent vigils, and government insistence that the culprits will be held accountable, continue, reports Mohamed El-Sayed

The case of Khaled Said, the 28-year-old man from Alexandria allegedly beaten to death at the hands of the police, continues to make waves home and abroad.

The Alexandria Court of Appeals has set the 27 July for the start of the trial of the two policemen, Warrant Officer Mahmoud Salah and Sergeant Awad Ismail, charged with "illegal arrest, using physical torture and brutality" when they tried to detain Said on 6 June.

Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, from Al-Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Violence and a member of Said's legal team, expressed anger that five police officers at Sidi Gaber Police Station implicated in the case have been excluded from the charge sheet.

"I wonder how they managed to escape. There is very clear evidence, for instance, that Mohamed Thabet, one of the five, fabricated a record of criminal charges against Said," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Said's legal team, says Abdel-Aziz, has commissioned its own report from forensic experts to challenge the findings of the official forensic examination conducted by the three-man team appointed by the prosecutor-general. The second official autopsy concluded that "Said's death was a result of asphyxiation after swallowing a packet of narcotics".

"There were bruises and injuries due to collision with a rough surface, the result of resisting the police, but the injuries were not the cause of his death," the report stated. It also said that traces of drugs had been found in Said's stomach.

Said's family and lawyers dismiss the report as a whitewash. They will argue that Said's death was premeditated murder, planned in advance because Said had disseminated mobile video footage of police officers at Sidi Gaber Police Station dividing the spoils of a drug raid among themselves.

The Ministry of Interior claims the video shows officers celebrating a successful drug bust after they had "put their life in jeopardy".

Support for Said continued on Friday, with hundreds of people responding to a call by the Facebook group "My Name is Khaled Said" to hold silent vigils on the corniches of Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Damietta, Beni Sweif, and in Fayoum. A call for a similar vigil to be held tomorrow has been issued by the group.

Hundreds of Egyptian expatriates in the UK, the US and Canada also observed a silent vigil in solidarity with Said last Friday.

According to news reports, EU ambassadors in Cairo are due to meet today to discuss developments in Said's case. An earlier statement issued by EU heads of mission expressing concern about the circumstances of Said's death and the discrepancies between eyewitness accounts and the Ministry of Interior's version of events have been widely credited with upping the political ante.

Key government officials have continued to depict Said's alleged murder as an isolated incident. Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab this week said that, "Khaled Said's case is not a phenomenon, and it's not a result of a state policy aimed at torturing people."

"Said's is an isolated incident, and the state will not tolerate such violations of the law... anyone who assaults a citizen in a police station or violates a human right... will be severely punished."

Alieddin Hilal, head of the National Democratic Party's Media Committee, wrote in the daily official Al-Ahram that the government and concerned agencies had "failed to recognise early enough that the case was one of public opinion and could not be dealt with in a bureaucratic way".

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1007/eg8.htm