Egyptian Sinai: Important Indepth Egyptian perspective

As always, most of the western and mainstream media analysis on this part of Egypt are especially biased and highly politicized, merely serving the interest of western governments and their Egyptian military ally Sisi without any consideration to the reality of the situation on the ground nor any due respect to the Egyptian victims.

Considering the lack of balanced writings on Sinai, and that Egyptian voices from Sinai are rarely heard and forcibly silenced by the Egyptian regime and the international media alike, we wanted to share the following English tweets on Sinai by researcher and journalist Mohannad Sabry. He hasn't said anything publicly since June 2017 but decided to speak up since the last massacre has hit his close friends and family hard.

From his Amazon biography: 
Mohannad Sabry is an Egyptian journalist who has reported extensively from the Sinai Peninsula. 
He was named a finalist for the 2011 Livingston Award for International Reporting and has been published in Foreign Policy, The Miami Herald, GlobalPost, Al-Monitor, and many other international publications. He was the field producer of PBS Frontline's "Egypt in Crisis," aired in 2013 and nominated for the 2014 Emmy Award for News and Documentary.

He is the author of an important book: Sinai: Egypt's Linchpin, Gaza's Lifeline, Israel's Nightmare 

 

The following are Muhannad's tweets on the recent massacre of Rawda mosque:

Several tweets, my thoughts on #Sinai's Rawda massacre. https://t.co/obHsU5io7F

— Mohannad Sabry (@mmsabry) November 27, 2017

1) Out of respect to the fallen, dozens of which are relatives of my dearest friends & colleagues in #Sinai, I decided to break months of silence & write my little thoughts on Friday's #Rawda massacre and #Sisi's so-called war on terror.

2) #Rawda, and Bir ElAbd for that matter, are literally surrounded by military encampments from all sides. One example is the Bardawil Lake, a military zone where fishermen are reeling from the army's control over everything, a few kilometers away from the massacre scene.

3) #Sisi, his regime, military & security departments, as well as journalists, researchers and locals, know that the Sufi community, and the Jararat clan of the Sawarka tribe, are a prime target of #ISIS, their figures and clerics have been assassinated over the past years.

4)  #Sinai's Sufi community, for decades, has succeeded in accomplishing what billions of dollars and hundreds of military lives squandered over the past years in #Sisi's military campaign couldn’t achieve: Keeping thousands of youth from joining ISIS or picking up arms.

5) Bir ElAbd is a part of North #Sinai which the military has claimed over and over again that it maintains full control over, but Sisi's Egypt is a live example of how ironfisted military presence doesn’t in any way resemble control, it just provides easy targets for terrorists.

6) Once again, #ISIS, or whoever is behind the #Rawda massacre, with as little as a bunch of machine guns & SUVs, have destroyed the false claims of success and accomplishments echoed for years by #Sisi's regime and the Egyptian military.

7) As for the military response & expecting any shift in its strategy, if #Sisi cared to change any of this, he would have over hundreds of military and police deaths, including some of the field commanders of the #Sinai campaign.

8)  It is simply naïve, and stupid, to think that the Egyptian military, which killed scores of civilians during its reckless bombardment of villages south of #SheikhZuwayyed & #Rafah, will suddenly overhaul its policy over the death of civilians in a terrorist attack.

9) Most importantly, #Sisi & his military have always used and capitalized on terror attacks to justify and further intensify their oppressive and lethal control over #Egypt, not just #Sinai. I wonder if defeating terrorism is a top priority for this regime.

10) Finally, each and every one of the #Rawda massacre victims, was a true, powerful and peaceful shield in the face of terrorism and its bloody doctrine. May they rest in peace.

Human Rights Day 2017: #SpeakUp4Egypt

The following media is part of a campaign launched by Al Karamah foundation ahead of the International Day for Human Rights to raise awareness about the overlooked ongoing human rights crisis in Egypt. Please follow and write on the hashtag: #SpeakUp4Egypt on Twitter and Facebook.







This is the campaign's video:



The following video profile is on a young Egyptian photographer who is a victim to the unfair judiciary and military system in Egypt.

On June 1, 2015, Omar Mohamed Ali and his wife, Esraa Eltaweel, were leaving a restaurant in Cairo when they were stopped by police officers, and subsequently disappeared for 15 days. While Esraa was charged with "spreading false news" and imprisoned for 7 months, Omar's case was transferred to a military court, and he was sentenced to life in prison on May 29, 2016. Omar was charged with "leaking classified military information", though no evidence has ever been found against him.

Disability as a price for #Jan25

The following are two examples we came across for ordinary young Egyptians who lost the ability to walk in their early twenties as a result of being injured in a peaceful protest against the military leadership after the military coup in 2013. 

As always, we try our best to highlight the voices and perspectives which don't get the same attention in the English and western media which likes to paint a black and white image for what has gone and is going on in Egypt. These two had very normal lives like any other university student in Egypt or the world until they decided to stand up for the truth. The price they paid for this was rather expensive.  

Asmaa Gamal who is pictured above is a young Egyptian woman from Alexandria who lost her leg for the revolution exactly 4 years ago, in November 2013. When he was shooting her, the police office said: "Now you won't be able to march in any protests any more".

Asmaa was shot by an Egyptian police officer during a protest in her leg and went through an amputation operation to remove her leg right after that. 

Asmaa walks on one leg since 2013 but since then she has also continued to be a huge source of hope, inspiration, and faith for so many in her circle as well as for thousands of social media followers. 

                           

Mohammad Yousry a young Egyptian man from Alexandria was badly injured by the Egyptian security forces during the protests which took place as a response to the military coup shortly after it took place in July 2013.

He was paralyzed as a result and lost the ability to move. Like many revolutionary youth who were injured during the revolution, he is now on a wheel chair.

When you feel that your loss was big, when you feel despair and disappointed, remember the heroes who fought for a better future for Egypt!

Remember their sacrifices and the very high price they paid for the revolution and for standing up for justice, freedom, and truth. 

Egypt's Ultras: A documentary

There has been very little that was written or documented in English and western narratives on the Egyptian Ultras, a very significant force in the Egyptian revolutionary movement and the Egyptian political scene.

This recent documentary production gives you a good overview on the Ultras and their role in the Egyptian revolution. For more information, check out our other blogs under the hashtags: Ultras, Port Said.

Stop the execution of 6 innocent Egyptian youth!

Ibrahim Yahya Azab

Ahmed El Walid El Shall

Mahmoud Wahba

Khaled Askar

Basem Mohsen

Abdul Rahman Mohamed Abdou

These are the names of 6 Egyptian young men whose death sentence was confirmed just a few days ago after the last appeal was refused. The only way to stop their execution is a presidential pardon. 

They are all loved and respected by everyone in their circles and are distinguished individuals who are students and graduates of the faculties of medicine, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and sciences.

As many might know, execution has been used as a political punishment in Egypt since 2013. 

In this case, the young Egyptian men were all kidnapped, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and forced to confess to a proposed crime of killing one person! 

This is how they looked like before and after they were tortured by the Egyptian security forces:

Ibrahim Azab's parents with a portrait of their son whose death sentence was recently confirmed

Their families and supporters in Egypt have been blogging and writing about their case on the following hashtags on social media:

#٦_مظاليم 

#اعدام_برئ 

#قتل_الحارس 

#اعدام_الشباب

!There is also a petition which you can sign to stop their execution 

Reem Qutb: From Hollywood to women prison in Egypt

A story of a young Egyptian woman from Hollywood to Qanater Women prison in Egypt.

English, Español, Arabic available!

من هوليود إلى القناطر ..

للناس اللي ماتعرفش قصة ريم قطب

ريم مواطنة مصرية بتدرس إخراج في هوليود بأمريكا، كانت جاية مصر يوم 26 ديسمبر 2016 تزور أهلها، فوجئت بأمن المطار بيوقفها عشان معاها كاميرا تصوير متطورة من اللي بتستخدمهم في شغلها ..

ماكتفوش بالتحقيق معاها أو مصادرة الكاميرا، لا اعتقلوها من المطار، بتهمة انها شغالة في الجزيرة "وتم إعدادها وتأهيلها من خلال دورات تدريبية على استخدام طائرات التجسس والتصوير، لاستخدامها فى تصوير الأحداث وإرسالها للقناة فى الدوحة" على حسب وصف الداخلية.

طائرة التجسس اللي بيقولوا عليها دي مجرد كاميرا متطورة بتتباع في كل المواقع، والمضحك انهم متهمين ريم انها هتستخدمها في "إعداد تقارير مصورة تسيء لمصر قبل 25 يناير" وكأنه تصوير مظاهرة محتاج لكاميرات متطورة أصلا، أو إنه الجواسيس بينزلوا بمعداتهم عن طريق المطار بمنتهى الذوق عادي جدا!

ريم دلوقتي اترحلت سجن القناطر بعد شهور في قسم القطامية، وبتتحاكم على 3 تهم (التمويل من جهة أجنبية، انتماء، إشاعة أخبار كاذبة) ..

واحدة من آلاف قصص الظلم والغباء اللي بيحصل في مصر وكتير مايعرفهوش ..

Reem Qutb is a young Egyptian woman who's studying film in California, US. She traveled to Egypt on vacation in December 2016.

Upon arriving to Cairo's international airport, she was arrested for possession of a camera! The security forces accused her of receiving 'foreign funds' and using highly advanced equipments to ruin Egypt's reputation in the international community, an accusation they have ready for any Egyptian journalist.

Reem is now in the infamous Al Qanater women prison. Her list of accusations is: Belonging to a terrorist organization, receiving foreign funds, and spreading false news about Egypt.

Reem wasn't a journalist to begin, she only traveled to Egypt as an Egyptian with a camera. Of course there isn't a single one mention to her case in any non-Arabic media outlets. 

Español

Reem Qutb es una joven egipcia que estudia cine en California, Estados Unidos. Ella viajó a #Egipto de vacaciones en Diciembre del 2016.
Al llegar al aeropuerto internacional de #El_Cairo, fue detenida ¡por posesión de una cámara! Las fuerzas de seguridad la acusaron de recibir fondos extranjeros y del uso de equipo avanzado para arruinar la reputación de Egipto ante la comunidad internacional; acusación que tienen preparada para cualquier periodista egipcio.
Reem ahora está ahora en la infame prisión de mujeres de #Al_Qanater. Su lista de acusaciones es:
- Pertenecer a una organización terrorista
- Recibir fondos del exterior
- Difusión de noticias falsas sobre Egipto.
Para empezar, Reem, sólo viajó a Egipto con una cámara. No hay ni una sola mención de su caso en ningún medio de difusión no árabes.

Pictures: 200 political prisoners released in Egypt

The Egyptian military government decided to pardon 200 Egyptian prisoner. Take a look at this emotional and powerful moment, at this expression of freedom.
These prisoners suffered so much inside and their families suffered with them along the way. 

It's worth mentioning that the Egyptian state media declared that they will not pardon a single one member of the Muslim Brotherhood or any political Islamic movement in Egypt. This verify two things:

1- The secular Egyptian state is oppressing and discriminating against Egyptians who have certain political and intellectual orientation even while they are innocent and non-violent.

2- There are over 60,000 Egyptian political prisoner and they are not all only Morsi supporters and Muslim Brotherhood like the western media likes to label them all.

Check our Facebook page for more pictures and news:

Who pays the price of political imprisonment?

Like everywhere else in the world, the political prisoner isn't the only victim of the trial of imprisonment, his family and loved ones are also victims and they live their pains and different other types of pains.

Some people probably heard about the Egyptian researcher Ismail Al Iskandarani who's been in prison since last year and is targeted mainly for his research and work about Sinai and the people of Sinai in Egypt, something the tyrannical military didn't like. Ismail's work was widely respected and published locally and internationally, and as a result caused his arrest upon returning to Egypt at one of the airport. He's been experiencing indefinite detention since late 2015 until today. 

But this is his wife Kadeega Gaffar, a prominent researcher and writer herself whose work And contribution are very respected and recognized locally and internationally.

You can see the toll of the hardship on her face and her soul.

In late April 2016 it was the first time her husband Ismail appeared to a court since they stopped him at the airport in November 2015. ‪

For more information about Ismail you can check out what we wrote about him here:

http://www.unheardegypt.com/2016/04/Sinai-Egypt-violations.html

And also follow the campaign dedicated to his release on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/FreeAlexandrani/

Posted originally on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Unheard.Egypt/posts/1303775592985024

2017: 1500 Egyptians put on 'terrorist list' in Egypt!

Why would a super star footballer with an international reputation become on a terrorist list?

 Welcome to Egypt!

Mohamamd Abu Treka is one of the Egyptians who're recently put on a terrorist list.

January 17th, 2017:

In another attack on civil rights and liberties in Egypt, 1500 Egyptians were put on a terrorist list, most of them without any prior investigations and solely based on political foundation.

Among the names are Mohammad Morsi, the first civilian democratically elected president of Egypt as well as Mohamamd Abu Treka, one of the most popular Egyptian and Arab footballer and an icon for Al Ahly football team. 

The list has over 100 women, political prisoners, hundreds of youth, journalists, and Egyptians from all walks of life. There are also names of persons who are already dead. 

Some of these individuals have already been imprisoned for several years since the military coup ( over political charges), while the others who're outside will now face a serious threat of their rights being violated, assets being frozen, and passports taken away from them as well as several other restrictions on their travel, movement, and business in Egypt. 

Some of the individuals on the new terrorist list:

Samhy Mostafa is a journalist who's been in prison for 3 years and is serving a life sentence.

 Abu Bakr Mashali, a young Egyptian enginner who left Egypt after the military coup

 Hesham Gaffar, a leftist journalist and academic who's been in prison over political basis.

Sondos Asem, an Egyptian academic in Britain is one of the women who are put on the terrorist list recently and has received a death sentence. You can read her story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-34721589 

Who is a terrorist in Egypt since 2013?

The Egyptian state's definition of who is a terrorist was really stretched since the July 3rd military coup in 2013. Since then it includes anybody who opposes or criticizes the Egyptian state/government. 

It's important for the western policy makers as well as any non-Egyptian reader and follower of the situation in Egypt to understand the motivations behind these decisions made by the Egyptian state. 

UPDATED: Extrajudicial killings of innocent civilians in Sinai

These are six of the ten young Egyptian citizens from Al Arish city in Sinai who were killed today by the Egyptian security forces after being kidnapped and disappeared for several months.

In this photo are Abdel Atty, Bilal, Ahmed, Muhammad, Ahmed, and Mansour. All ten were between the ages of 18 and 27!

The official Egyptian government statements and their subservient media accused the ten young men of being Takfiri terrorists. The young men were mostly students, taxi drivers, and poor unemployed folks - your average people from Sinai. 

We couldn't find any English coverage for the story but the Egyptian Facebook feeds are flooding with accounts from families, supporters, and citizen journalists reports in Arabic only. We are trying to shed some light over the continuity of human rights violations against innocent Egyptians in Sinai.

The Egyptian security forces killed Ahmed Yusuf Muhammad Rasheed and nine other young men today in Sinai.

Ahmed was married three months ago. As the Egyptian security forces kidnapped him from his apartment, they kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, killing her child.

Now she has not only lost her child because of the Egyptian military, but she has lost her husband as well.

Mohammad Ibrahim Ayyub was 22 years old. He was a taxi driver in Al Arish in Sinai. He was disappeared for two months and was among the victims of the Egyptian security forces today.

Bilal Al Naggar, a student who lived in Beer Al Abd in Sinai, was also disappeared for two months and was killed today in the same case.

The families of the 10 young Egyptian men who were kidnapped and then killed today by the Egyptian security forces in Al Arish Sinai after being falsely accused of terrorism. The Egyptian state is covering up on its failure to maintain security on the peninsula by arresting, kidnapping, and killing innocent Egyptians.

UPDATE 1/15/2017:
In response to these extrajudicial killings the community in Al Arish gathered to plan their response:

As we reported, there is almost no English media speaking about these young men, their families, and their millions of Egyptian supporters in English. The only other fair portrayal of events is from Al Jazeera:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/sinai-residents-accuse-state-extrajudicial-killings-170115201441920.html

Today there are thousands of people out in the streets of Al Areesh, Sinai, holding funeral prayers for the young men and protesting against the continued killing of innocent Egyptians by the Egyptian military, all in the name of the War on Terror.

We have photos and video of these protests below:

In the below video protesters are calling for justice, and saying that the young men did not die in vain: