In this excerpt from his interview on Democracy Now, which can be read in full here, the just-released Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah gives his view of the current stage of the Egyptian revolution: AMY GOODMAN: Alaa, you, in court, refused to answer questions of the military court. Can you explain why, and also who [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights
A child is born… And his father, Alaa, a prisoner of conscience in Egypt, has today been released from detention [while investigations continue]… The Egyptian blogger, Alaa [Abd El Fattah], has been jailed for weeks [54 days, as it happens] by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces [SCAF], for refusing to appear before a [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Egypt, Human Rights
This is only a preliminary report… and is still Breaking News – UPDATE: Nabil Shaath told journalists at a pre-Christmas in Bethlehem tonight [Thursday] that “I heard good news, basically, from Cairo … Hamas is willing to accept non-violence, basically, a long-term ‘hudna’, but they do not want us to talk about it very much [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Israel, Palestine & Palestinians, Quartet, USA
The Jerusalem Post reports today that it has been told that “Palestinian unity efforts stumble” after the reconciliation summit in Cairo on Friday. But, while there may be outstanding differences between the two largest Palestinian political factions, the real delay may be an attempt to avoid various threatened punishments, until something changes… Khaled Abu Toameh, [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights, Palestine & Palestinians
The reconciliation “summit” between PLO Chairman + Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas [on the right in the photo below] and Hamas Politibureau chief Khaled Meshaal [on the left, beaming, beside Abbas] went ahead in Cairo on Thursday 24 November. In an almost-surreal — though all too real — backdrop to this meeting, the widely-detested use of [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights, Palestine & Palestinians
To my surprise, though perfectly according to plan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas turned up in Cairo this morning to meet Field Marshall Tantawy, who as head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [SCAF] of Egypt was handed the country when Husni Mubarak was forced to step down last February. Abbas meeting Tantawi – [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights, Palestine & Palestinians
Protests — and casualties, including deaths — have continued in Egypt today, as a decision was awaited from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on demands for an immediate transition to civilian rule. Egyptian riot police are reportedly responsible for the worst violence, but . A “million man” march was called for 4pm to [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights
Bloody hell broke out at Tahrir Square this weekend. There have been so many deaths and injuries — including a shocking number of protesters injured by rubber bullets in eyes, many of whom have reportedly lost their eyes as a result — that the figures are unreliable, and the tallies by various volunteers and news [...]
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Filed under: Egypt, Human Rights
23:55 pm: A Tweet from Turkish journalist @MahirZeynalov says that 11, not 10, Palestinian released prisoners has arrived in Ankara: “11 released Palestinian prisoners make sajdah right after they leave the plane in Ankara’s airport. Palestinian Amb. to Turkey met them”. UPDATE: The additional person appears to be a woman — perhaps the one [or [...]
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Filed under: Blogging, Egypt, Gaza, Human Rights, International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC, Israel, Journalism and Journalists, Palestine & Palestinians, Turkey
Acknowledging the significance and importance of the moment, after a chaotic day of ambushes, fighting and hot pursuit in the area of Eilat on Thursday — and some 48 hours of subsequent reprisal attacks on Gaza — Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that “Israel regrets the deaths of the three Egyptian policemen during [...]
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Filed under: Boundaries & Borders, Egypt, Gaza, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians