Middle East landscape rapidly changing

Started by give her dixie, January 25, 2011, 02:05:36 PM

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give her dixie

In Tiananmen Square in 1989 one man stood in front of a line of Chinese tanks with his arms raised in protest. To this day his image is seen as the turning point in the history of modern day China.

Yesterday, one man stood with is hands in the air in front of US supplied tanks and trained soldiers and took a stand just like that of Tiananmen Square 24 years ago.

While the Chinese showed restraint, the western backed Egyptian Military just opened fire.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK1fP-n9qtc
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

Denn Forever

I have more respect for a man
that says what he means and
means what he says...

mylestheslasher

Why is none of this horrendous footage making onto the RTE or BBC news? Is it because secretly we don't like the results of the democratic elections that were held in Egypt? That is a blatant breach of every law there is right there. Disgraceful stuff.

give her dixie

The four Irish citizens who were caught up in the Cairo mosque stand-off yesterday are all being held at a prison in the city, it has emerged.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, their father Hussein Halawa, who is the Imam at the Clonskeagh mosque in Dublin, said that information coming from Egypt suggests that his three daughters and his son were all taken by security forces when they raided the mosque yesterday.

Immediately after security forces stormed the mosque, 21-year-old Omaima Halawa called her family in Dublin to tell them she and one of her sisters, Fatima, aged 23, were both being arrested. However she said she did not know the whereabouts of her other sister Somaia, 27 or her brother Ibrihim, aged 17.

"When they went out of the mosque yesterday, some people took everything from them so I think someone gave her a phone to use for a minute," he said. "She said 'Dad, I am with the army and policemen and I don't know anything about my brother and sister'".

Halawa said that he has not had any contact with any of his four missing children since then. However a call from a woman in Cairo today who had also been in the mosque with them suggested that all four were arrested and are being held at Tora Prison.

"I have been trying to phone them all day today but nothing," Halawa said. "It's very bad, their mother is crying all the time. They just went over to go on a summer holiday, they live here with me, but they went there for a holiday to stay with their aunt."

Speaking to RTÉ, Minister of State Joe Costello confirmed that the four Irish citizens are being detained at Tora Prison and said that the Irish ambassador is now trying to ensure that they are in good health.

http://www.thejournal.ie/four-irish-citizens-being-held-at-cairo-prison-1042571-Aug2013/?utm_source=facebook_short
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

give her dixie

next stop, September 10, for number 4......

omagh_gael

Quote from: give her dixie on August 18, 2013, 12:53:39 AM
In Tiananmen Square in 1989 one man stood in front of a line of Chinese tanks with his arms raised in protest. To this day his image is seen as the turning point in the history of modern day China.

Yesterday, one man stood with is hands in the air in front of US supplied tanks and trained soldiers and took a stand just like that of Tiananmen Square 24 years ago.

While the Chinese showed restraint, the western backed Egyptian Military just opened fire.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK1fP-n9qtc

That is crazy. Sickening how situations like this (and Syria) are treated completely different to places like Libya and Iraq.

give her dixie

Democracy is fine, as long as the winner is a friend of the west.

A few years back, free and fair elections were held in Palestine. In a major shock, Hamas topped the poll
and were elected. The US and Israel backed a coup by Fatah, which backfired badly. Then we saw the
siege imposed on Gaza and constant attacks by the US/Israel. All this to try and overthrow Hamas, which did
nothing but strengthen them.

we have now witnessed the same actions in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood won a free and fair election, but
certain leaders in the region and in the west didn't like the result, and hey, they had to go. In a bloody coup
that has left over 1,000 dead in a week, and thousands more injured, the Muslim Brotherhood have been seriously
damaged. Thousands of their supporters and their leadership are in jail, and who knows what will happen to them.

Whenever Gadaffi threatened those who were setting out to topple him, the west circled their wagons and saw their
chance to get rid of him. They called it a "Humanitarian Intervention", and in reality it was a bloody invasion the killed thousands and has left the country in ruins. But hey, they got rid of Gadaffi, installed their own leader and secured the oil.

What we have witnessed this week is just another bloody stain on the hands of western leaders who to date, have shown
absolutely no compassion or humanity towards the Egyptians who are suffering in a cruel and brutal way. Shame on them,
and shame on those who cheer this on.

next stop, September 10, for number 4......

seafoid

#517
Quote from: give her dixie on August 18, 2013, 04:44:00 PM
Democracy is fine, as long as the winner is a friend of the west.

A few years back, free and fair elections were held in Palestine. In a major shock, Hamas topped the poll
and were elected. The US and Israel backed a coup by Fatah, which backfired badly. Then we saw the
siege imposed on Gaza and constant attacks by the US/Israel. All this to try and overthrow Hamas, which did
nothing but strengthen them.

we have now witnessed the same actions in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood won a free and fair election, but
certain leaders in the region and in the west didn't like the result, and hey, they had to go. In a bloody coup
that has left over 1,000 dead in a week, and thousands more injured, the Muslim Brotherhood have been seriously
damaged. Thousands of their supporters and their leadership are in jail, and who knows what will happen to them.

Whenever Gadaffi threatened those who were setting out to topple him, the west circled their wagons and saw their
chance to get rid of him. They called it a "Humanitarian Intervention", and in reality it was a bloody invasion the killed thousands and has left the country in ruins. But hey, they got rid of Gadaffi, installed their own leader and secured the oil.

What we have witnessed this week is just another bloody stain on the hands of western leaders who to date, have shown
absolutely no compassion or humanity towards the Egyptians who are suffering in a cruel and brutal way. Shame on them,
and shame on those who cheer this on.
"Democracy is fine, as long as the winner is a friend of the west."

True but in this case the soldiers are all Egyptian. The Cairo elite is driving this in cahoots with the Gulf countries and the West.
The Israelis have been in constant contact with the generals, of course. 
"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

give her dixie

Around 38 Muslim Brotherhood prisoners die trying to escape

A number of Muslim Brotherhood supporters died in prison on Sunday while trying to escape, the Interior Ministry said as cited by Reuters. A conflicting report on Twitter claimed the prisoners suffocated from tear gas while being transferred in a truck.

While there was no official death toll immediately available following the incident that took place in Abu Zaabal prison near Cairo, security sources quoted by Reuters put the number of deaths at 38.

The ministry's statement did not provide a detailed picture of the incident, but indicated that the killed detainees were trying to escape.

According to the version given by the state media EGYNews.net and quoted by RT's Bel Trew, a police truck transporting detainees was attacked by a group of armed men. During the incident, which was said to be taking place in a car park, a police officer was taken hostage. Officers responded by firing tear gas, and the people inside the prison truck subsequently suffocated to death.

Wildly varying accounts of the events immediately emerged in the media and on Twitter.

AFP cited official sources saying the men were teargassed after starting a prison mutiny, and that they were all Islamists.

Al Jazeera quoted a source who said that all 38 prisoners were shot after taking a police officer hostage. The media outlet also said the men were being transported to the Cairo prison, adding that they were all detained in the Al-Fath mosque siege.


http://rt.com/news/egypt-prisoners-die-brotherhood-642/
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

give her dixie

Egypt army chief vows to use full force

The Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said he will no longer restrain his forces from confronting "attackers who want to destroy Egypt", in his first public comments since a security crackdown on anti-coup protesters that left an estimated 600 people dead.

"Our self-restraint will not continue. We will not accept any more attacks. We will meet with full force. Attackers want to destroy Egypt," he said in a speech televised on Egyptian television on Sunday.

He vowed to stand firm in the face of violence. "Whoever imagines violence will make the state and Egyptians kneel must reconsider; we will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country," he said.

Sisi removed president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July in a coup, saying he could not ignore the widespread protests against Morsi's rule.

'We are guardians'

Egypt has since spiralled into violence, with hundreds of Morsi's supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-coup groups being killed by government forces during protests. On August 14, an estimated 600 were killed when riot police moved in on two huge sit-in protest camps in Cairo.

In more conciliatory language, Sisi said there was "room for everyone" in Egypt and that his forces would not  "conspire" to take power.

"The will of the Egyptian people is free, their will is free, they can choose whoever they want to rule them, and we are the guardians of this will," he said as members of the audience - mostly military and police officers - applauded his comments.

"The army and the police right now are the guardians of the will of the people with regard to choosing who their leaders will be.

"I said previously that Egyptians if they want to change the world, they are capable of that, and I tell the Egyptian people now that if you want to build Egypt and its future, you will and you can, and you can make it 'Egypt the mother of all nations' Egypt will be as big as the world itself, with God's will."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/08/201381817321417962.html
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

give her dixie

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/how-some-ordinary-egyptians-became-malicious-terrorists-8773354.html

Robert Fisk......

Disgust, shame, outrage.

All these words apply to the disgrace of Egypt these past six weeks. A military coup, millions of enraged supporters of the democratically elected but deposed dictator – reports that indicate well over 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers slaughtered by the security police – and what were we told by the authorities yesterday? That Egypt was subject to "a malicious terrorist plot".

The language speaks for itself. Not just a common or garden "terrorist" plot – but a "terrorist" plot so terrible that it is "malicious". Naturally, the government acquired this use of the "terrorist" word from Bush and Blair, another Western contribution to Arab culture. But it goes further. The country, we are now informed, is at the mercy of "extremist forces who want to create war". You would think, on hearing this, that most of the dead these past six weeks were soldiers and policemen, whereas in fact most were unarmed demonstrators.

And who is to blame? Obama, of course, for "encouraging terrorism" by his wimpish complaints last week – so claim the Egyptian authorities. And our old friend, the "foreign media". It is the infidel channels – including al-Jazeera – which has been feeding hatred into the land of the Pharaohs, according to the Egyptian press (which is now almost as wimpish as Obama in its fealty to its new rulers).

Outside the al-Fath mosque in Cairo on Saturday, supporters of the military were roughing up reporters and cameramen, Italians and Germans among them, and even al-Jazeera briefly high-tailed it from the scene. The Independent took its chances, with Alastair Beach inside the besieged mosque with the Brotherhood. Outside, I was wearing a scruffy tourist hat among the security thugs and Army supporters, where an Egyptian friend helped me – rather unkindly, I thought – by explaining to men with clubs that I was an elderly English tourist who had just popped out from his Cairo hotel to see what was going on. I kept my notebook and my mobile phone in my pocket. "Welcome to Cairo," I was repeatedly told.

To be fair, let me just recount one little, heartening moment amid Saturday's mosque drama. Two Egyptian men walked up to me and said, quite simply, that "it is very unfair to keep these people in the mosque without water and food. They are human beings just like us." The men were not Morsi supporters, but didn't seem too keen on the police. They were just good, decent, humane Egyptians, the kind we all hope are in the real majority.

But this leads me to remember a typically Obama-like piece of lying last week. It came when the US president decided to take a break from his golfing holiday to comment on the violence in Egypt. He described Morsi's opponents – now represented by a general, Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi, who is also the defence minister and the deputy prime minister – as "many Egyptians, millions of Egyptians, perhaps even a majority of Egyptians". And there you had it – Obama had credited the coup with a majority following.

How General al-Sisi – who speaks excellent American English – must have been delighted with this little set of code words.

And it's odd, isn't it, how the supposedly malicious journalists have been playing down the murderous actions of the Egyptian security cops. They were repeatedly referred to on Al-Jazeera last week as "armed men" – as if they were not in uniform and shooting from the roof of a police station. Western editorials have described Egyptian police killings as "heavy-handed', as if Inspector Lewis and Sergeant Hathaway had biffed a few bad guys over the head.

A trustworthy friend of mine put it to me the other day that our Western leaders are so sick of the demonstrators that plague G8 summits – where the usual "terror" warnings always apply – that they have an innate sympathy with policemen and a built-in hatred of protesters.

But it's our dear friends the Saudis whom the Egyptian army and police can count on for help. King Abdullah himself has promised billions of dollars for poor old Egypt, now that Qatari generosity has dried up. But Egyptians should beware Saudis bearing gifts. The House of Saud is not really interested in helping foreign armies – unless they are coming to save Saudi Arabia – but it is very much involved in supporting the Salafists of the Egyptian Noor party. It is the Noor religious fundamentalists who won an extraordinary 24 per cent in the last parliamentary election – and who ruthlessly decided to ally themselves with General al-Sisi when Morsi was dethroned. The conservative Salafists are much more to Saudi taste than potentially liberal members of the Brotherhood. It is for them that the King is opening his purse. And if by some mischance, the Salafists can drum up a majority from disenchanted members of the Brotherhood in the next election, then the Caliphate of Egypt is a step nearer.

And the Other Side of the Story. It is true that gunmen have fired from Brotherhood crowds. A handful at most – and it does not justify the Egyptian press calling tens of thousands of people "terrorists" – but both my colleague and I have seen armed men among protesters. The attacks on the churches are real. Churches have been burned, Christian homes vandalised.

The anti-Christian fury is now political-ideological. It is persecution. Pope Tawadros might perhaps now regret having his photo taken alongside the coup supporters. But the sheikh of Al Azhar was in the same picture – and so were the Salafists.

Oh yes, and the government is now rumbling on about the need to "dissolve" the Brotherhood. Since members are already being rounded up by the cops, I'm not quite sure what "dissolution" is supposed to achieve. Didn't the Brits once declare the IRA "illegal"? Did that make them go away?

I was crossing the 6 October bridge over the Nile after curfew on Friday when I found more than 30 young men in galabia gowns sitting on the pavement with their hands over their heads. Striding among them were black-uniformed cops with shotguns, and gangs of "beltagi" – the bully-boys employed by state security (I suppose we might call them the "good' terrorists") – and I suddenly saw what "state of emergency" means. Fear. No rights. No arrest warrants. No law.
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

seafoid


http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/world/middleeast/israel-puts-more-urgency-on-shaping-allies-actions.html

"WEST JERUSALEM — Israel plans this week to intensify its diplomatic campaign urging Europe and the United States to support the military-backed government in Egypt despite its deadly crackdown on Islamist protesters, according to a senior Israeli official involved in the effort.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of an edict from the prime minister not to discuss the Egyptian crisis, said Israeli ambassadors in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and other capitals would lobby foreign ministers. At the same time, leaders here will press the case with diplomats from abroad that the military is the only hope to prevent further chaos in Cairo.

With the European Union planning an urgent review of its relations with Egypt in a meeting Monday, the message, in part, is that concerns about democracy and human rights should take a back seat to stability and security because of Egypt's size and strategic importance.
"We're trying to talk to key actors, key countries, and share our view that you may not like what you see, but what's the alternative?" the official explained. "If you insist on big principles, then you will miss the essential — the essential being putting Egypt back on track at whatever cost. First, save what you can, and then deal with democracy and freedom and so on.

"At this point," the official added, "it's army or anarchy."

Israeli leaders have made no public statements and have refused interviews since Wednesday's brutal clearing of two Muslim Brotherhood protest encampments. But even as the death toll climbed in ensuing gunfights in mosques and on streets, officials spoke frequently to members of Congress, officials at the Pentagon and State Department, and European diplomats.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who convened an emergency meeting of his inner cabinet Friday regarding Egypt, has not spoken since the crackdown to President Obama, who on Thursday rebuked the Egyptian government by canceling joint military exercises set for next month. But Mr. Netanyahu has discussed the situation with Secretary of State John Kerry; Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was in Israel last week; and a visiting delegation of more than two dozen Republicans from Congress, led by the majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia.

General Dempsey and Israel's military chief have also consulted on Egypt, as have Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Israeli counterpart. Michael B. Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States, has been forcefully arguing for sustaining Washington's $1.5 billion annual aid to Egypt since the July 3 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi by Egypt's military commander, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi.

"Israel is in a state of diplomatic emergency," Alex Fishman, a leading Israeli columnist, wrote in Sunday's Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "It has been waging an almost desperate diplomatic battle in Washington."

While Israel is careful to argue that Egypt is critical to broad Western interests in the Middle East, its motivation is largely parochial: the American aid underpins the 34-year-old peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, so its withdrawal could lead to the unraveling of the agreement. More immediately, Israel is deeply worried that Egypt's strife could create more openings for terrorist attacks on its territory from the Sinai Peninsula.

At the same time, Israeli officials are aware that the aid package is one of the Obama administration's biggest potential levers against Egypt's military rulers — and a topic of debate within the White House.

"From the Israeli perspective it is security, security and security — and then other issues," said Yoram Meital, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "The Obama administration took a stand that has a lot to do with universal values. Of course, killing hundreds of protesters in this brutal way should be condemned. If we study the Israeli perspective, then these universal values are secondary to the top priorities of security and security."

Most Israeli experts on Egypt share the government's support for the Sisi government and view Mr. Morsi's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement as a dangerous threat. But several said Israel's diplomatic push was risky because it could promote a backlash in Egypt and across the Arab world and hurt Israel's credibility as a democracy.

"This is a very big mistake to interfere in what happens in Egypt," said Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and director of its new Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam.

Dr. Kedar invoked an old joke about a lifeguard kicking a boy out of a pool for urinating — from the diving board. "You can do things, but do them under the water," he said. "Israel, by supporting explicitly the army, exposes itself to retaliation. Israel should have done things behind the scenes, under the surface, without being associated with any side of the Egyptian problem."

But Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, praised Mr. Netanyahu's government for "acting very discreetly," and Yitzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to Egypt until 2011, said the lobbying had not been aggressive.

"We are talking to a lot of friends," said Mr. Levanon, who teaches a course on Egypt at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "Pushing? I don't think that this is the word. We are expressing what we believe is best for the region."

Mr. Shaked said that unlike the Obama administration and the European Union, Israel did "not have any illusions about the possibility of a democracy in Egypt."

"I understand Washington and Europe with their criticism, but there is no alternative to letting the army in Egypt try by force," he said. "We have to choose here not between the good guys and the bad guys — we don't have good guys. It is a situation where you have to choose who is less harmful."

The Israeli official who described the diplomatic campaign acknowledged that Washington's suspension of the military exercises and Europe's announcement Sunday that it would review its relations with Cairo did not signal success so far.

"It's very important for us to make certain countries understand the situation as we see it," the official said. "We do that with a sense of urgency. This is something we're going to try and share with as many influential countries as we can this week.""

"f**k it, just score"- Donaghy   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxG2WwVRjU

give her dixie

This is just unbelievable.....


(Reuters) - Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president overthrown in an uprising in 2011, will be released from jail soon after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer and a judicial source said on Monday.

Mubarak, 85, was arrested after he was ousted. In scenes that mesmerised Arabs, the former leader appeared in a court-room cage during his trial on charges that ranged from corruption to complicity in the murder of protesters.

More than a year on, the only legal grounds for Mubarak's continued detention rest on another corruption case which his lawyer, Fareed el-Deeb, said would be settled swiftly.

"All we have left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than 48 hours. He should be freed by the end of the week," Deeb told Reuters.

Without confirming that Mubarak would be freed, a judicial source said the former leader would spend another two weeks behind bars before judicial authorities made a final decision in the outstanding case against him.

Mubarak, along with his interior minister, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the revolt that swept him from power.

He still faces a retrial in that case after appeals from the prosecution and defence, but this would not necessarily require him to stay in jail. Mubarak did not appear at a hearing in the case on Saturday. He was also absent from Monday's proceedings.

Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, is being held at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of Cairo, the facility where senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been detained since they were arrested in a crackdown on the organisation that began in July.

The military removed President Mohamed Mursi, a senior Brotherhood official, on July 3 after mass protests against his rule. Mursi is in detention at an undisclosed location.

He faces an investigation into accusations stemming from his escape from prison during the anti-Mubarak revolt. These include murder and conspiring with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Mursi has not been formally indicted.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/19/uk-egypt-protests-mubarak-lawyer-idUKBRE97I0EN20130819
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

give her dixie

While the media in Ireland is fixated with 2 Irish girls at present, one in Peru and the other at Slane, 3 sisters and their brother from Dublin are currently in jail in Cairo facing serious charges arising out of the siege on the mosque at the weekend.

Considering what is going on in Cairo, and the complete lack of concern from the International community, I really feel these 4 are going to spend quite a while in jail.

To me, this is what we should be talking and doing something about, and not about what happened at Slane or in Peru. But hey, that is just my opinion.

Latest article from the Irish Times:

Egyptian media today reported that four Irish citizens are among nine foreigners to be jailed for up to 15 days pending investigation into charges including attempted murder, arson, belonging to an armed gang, and possession of arms and explosives.

The reports claim that the nine foreigners, who also include Canadian, Turkish and Syrian nationals, deny all charges which relate to the siege of Cairo's al-Fath mosque at the weekend.

While the four Irish citizens were not named by the media outlets, it is understood they are the Halawa siblings.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the media reports in Egypt. "Unfortunately the situation in relation to legal proceedings against [the Halawas] is unclear at present," he said.

The reports emerged after a representative from the Irish embassy in Cairo was granted consular access to four Irish siblings detained after security forces stormed the mosque on Saturday.

The diplomat met Omaima Halawa (21), her sisters Fatima (23) and Soumaya (27) and brother Ibrahim (17) at the security forces headquarters in the Tora district of Cairo this afternoon. The Halawas are the only Irish nationals being detained in in Cairo.

All four are being held together at the facility. The diplomat "spoke freely to them in person for an extended period of time" and passed on personal items from their mother who is in Cairo, according to sources. "They are upset about being in detention," said one source.

The Halawa sisters appeared in good health but Ibrahim Halawa had a bandaged hand. He told the visiting diplomat that the injury was a result of a gunshot wound sustained during the mosque siege.

The Halawa family moved to Ireland 18 years ago. Their father, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, is imam at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, which is located in Clonskeagh, Dublin.

The Halawa sisters were born in Egypt and their brother was born in Ireland. All are Irish citizens and, according to their family in Dublin, all travelled to Egypt on Irish passports.

The siblings were on their annual family holiday to Egypt when they decided to take part in protests against the military overthrow last month of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president.

The Halawas joined demonstrations on Cairo's Ramses Square on Friday, the day the Muslim Brotherhood called for rallies against the ousting of the Brotherhood's Morsi and the deadly security operation last Wednesday to evict his supporters from protest camps in the city.

Sheikh Halawa said he advised his children to seek refuge in the nearby al-Fath mosque after clashes that eventually claimed the lives of scores of people erupted in Ramses Square. Gunfights took place around the mosque as hundreds of Morsi supporters barricaded themselves inside. Security forces eventually overran the complex.

The Halawa siblings had also taken part in the weeks-long sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya, one of two encampments broken up by security forces last week with the loss of more than 600 lives.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/irish-in-cairo-reportedly-jailed-as-charges-investigated-1.1499862
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

give her dixie

Egypt crisis: A national tragedy plays out at Cairo's stinking mortuary

ROBERT FISK

Monday 19 August 2013


They had been cooked. It was the first expression that came to mind – and all too accurately – when I saw the remains of nine of the 34 prisoners who died at the hands of the Egyptian police on Sunday night.
Out on the desert road close to the Abu Zaabal prison, these men – seized in Ramses Square on Saturday after the Cairo police and the army stormed into the al Fath mosque – supposedly tried to overturn the prison van taking them to jail. The state security police fired a tear gas grenade into the vehicle, and all died. And having looked at those awful cadavers in Cairo's stinking mortuary, I have to say that these poor men – not charged with any crime, unaccused, untried, victims of the glorious 'state of emergency' with which Egypt is now blessed – died most terribly.

There comes a time when mere descriptions cannot balance the horror of the dead. But lest history forget or treat them with less compassion than they deserve, we must, I fear, confront the reality. The bodies were hideously bloated and they had been burned from head to toe. One man had a laceration at the throat, caused perhaps by a knife or a bullet. A colleague saw five other corpses in a similar state but with bullet holes in the throat. Outside the mortuary, the state-hired thugs of the Egyptian interior ministry tried to frighten journalists away.

A middle-aged man whose friend had lost his son to police gunfire on Wednesday emerged from amid the screaming relatives – some of whom were vomiting on the concrete – and took me to a Sunni imam, immaculate in his red and white turban, who gently led me through two iron doors into the room of death. One of the morticians, Mohamed Doma, stared at the corpses in disbelief. So did the imam. And so did I. After walking past nine of these pitiful creatures – children of Egypt – I could see further corpses in another corridor. All, according to the medical staff, had been brought from Abu  Zaabal prison.

Not that they ever reached the jail – which I went to see yesterday – beside a grotty Nile canal fringed by old cement factories 28 miles north of Cairo. The prison walls are high, its gates attached to neo-Pharaonic pillars. According to the police, the 34 prisoners – some reports speak of 36 dead men – rocked the truck when it was part of a police convoy approaching the institution. When it was forced to stop, the prisoners – and this, remember, is the story from the police, who are believed to have killed more than 1000 of their fellow citizens these past few days – grabbed one of the policemen and, in a successful attempt to rescue him, his colleagues fired a tear gas grenade into the truck which was packed with prisoners.

So many 'security force' stories – like Muslim Brotherhood stories – have been proved untrue over the past few weeks. Another story, from the newly obedient Egyptian press, reports that "terrorists" stopped the convoy and tried to free the prisoners. Since the prisoners all died, we may never know how or why they were slaughtered. Needless to say, the dead had become 'terrorists' by last night – why else would 'terrorists' try to free them, if indeed they did? – and, once Egyptians had absorbed the news of the equally awful massacre of Egyptian security men in Sinai, this now became the Abu Zaabal Massacre, to be remembered alongside the Rabaa Massacre, the Nahda Massacre, the Ramses Square massacre and all the other massacres that seem likely to come.

After these ghastly scenes, the statistics of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Research make solemn reading. It says that 1,295 Egyptians were killed between Wednesday morning and Friday, 1,063 on Wednesday alone – including 983 civilians 52 security personnel and 28 bodies found under the platform of the Rabaa mosque. Thirteen policemen and three civilians were killed in an attack on the police station in Kerdasa, 24 civilians in Alexandria, six in Sharqeya, six in Damietta, 13 in Suez, 45 in Fayoum 21 in Beni Suef, 68 in Minya. This is a national rather than a Cairo tragedy. But those bodies in the morgue I suppose, represent all of them.
next stop, September 10, for number 4......