Sisi bombs Libyan militants not involved in Egypt attack

REUTERS

Is Egypt bombing the right militants in Libya?

May 31, 2017 

Ahmed Aboulenein and Giles Elgood

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quick to launch air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt - but the attacks do not seem to be targeting those responsible.

The response was popular with many Egyptians. The country's state-owned and private news media celebrated it as swift justice, but the president has been vague about exactly who he is attacking.

The strikes have been directed at Islamist groups other than Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Friday's massacre of dozens in the southern province of Minya, and seem to be intended to shore up Sisi's allies in eastern Libya.

"The attacks in Minya were claimed by Islamic State, and there are Islamic State elements active in Libya, but the reports coming indicate Cairo is targeting other groups," said H.A. Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

In any case, analysts say the strikes will not do much against Islamists in Cairo, Sinai and Upper Egypt, where they have had a stronghold since the 1990s and have been attacking tourists, Copts and government officials.

Bombing the camps in Libya is seen as a diversion for a failure to defeat Islamists inside Egypt.

"It's easier to strike a terrorist camp in Libya by air than it is to clean up serious problems inside Egypt; sectarianism, radicalization, that led to this and other attacks," said Michele Dunne, director of Carnegie's Middle East program.

"All the horrific terrorism that is happening inside Egypt has purely domestic drivers and probably would be happening if Islamic State did not exist. It is not all that different from the home-grown terrorism Egypt experienced in the 1990s, before Al Qaeda or Islamic State even existed," she said.

 

Libyan Ally

Egyptian and Libyan officials said strikes had been launched on camps and ammunition stores belonging to the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council (DMSC). Areas targeted include the western entrance to Derna, Dahr al-Hamar in the south, and al-Fatayeh, a hilly area about 20 km (12 miles) from the city.

Yet the DMSC has never been involved in attacks outside Libya and in fact mostly limits its activities to Derna, rarely fighting in larger conflicts within Libya, according to Mohamed Eljarh, an Atlantic Council political analyst in Libya.

The group has denied taking part in attacks inside Egypt.

In fact, many suggest the air strikes had been planned in advance to shore up support for Sisi's main Libyan ally, Khalifa Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), and that the Minya massacre was used as a pretext to launch them.

Forces loyal to Haftar, a military strongman like Sisi, have long been fighting the DMSC, cutting off supply routes to the city and hitting it with occasional air strikes. Despite the LNA's siege, the military situation in Derna has been in stalemate for months.

Egypt has also carried out strikes in Jufra, where the LNA has been fighting Islamists who fled Benghazi as well as forces linked to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.

The LNA lost dozens of men there in a surprise attack on an air base earlier in May, but has since consolidated control.

The Minya attack was a catalyst for those inside the Egyptian government and military who are in favor of military intervention in Libya, said Mokhtar Awad, who researches extremism at George Washington University.

"This is Egypt taking action not because of the Minya attack but ... to drive out as many extremists as possible from the east," he said.

 

'They Are All Terrorists'

Egypt says it does not target specific groups but that it goes after all militants who could be a threat to its security. A military spokesman told state media on Monday that all the groups targeted have the same ideology as those who carried out the Minya massacre, which is reason enough to bomb them.

"Names are not important for us, they are all terrorists. Those who carried out the Minya operation do not necessarily have to be in these camps but their followers are," an Egyptian intelligence source told Reuters.

Eljarh also said it was likely the air strikes has been planned in advance and that the Minya attack was an opportunity to carry them out, as part of a larger policy towards supporting Haftar, with Egypt bombing groups that constitute the strongest opposition to him.

Egypt sees any militant activity in eastern Libya, which is near its border, as a threat to its national security. One of the reasons Sisi has supported Haftar since 2014 is to ensure that all Islamists are driven out of eastern Libya.

Sisi is getting more involved now because of improved relations with Washington, Eljarh said. He believes U.S President Donald Trump has given him the green light to fight jihadists in Libya and elsewhere.

When Sisi announced the first round of air strikes on television on Friday, he implored Trump to support him.

Trump, who has made a point of improving relations with Cairo, said his country stood with Sisi and the Egyptian people.

Egypt likely bombed wrong targets in Libya airstrikes - as a popular diversion

ANTI-WAR.COM

Egypt Is Likely Bombing the Wrong Targets in Libya Airstrikes Against Derna Are a Popular Diversion

 

May 31, 2017 

 
Jason Ditz

Last week, gunmen attacked a busload of Coptic Christians heading to a monastery in southern Egypt. ISIS was quick to claim credit for the strike, and by the end of the first day, Egypt’s military junta responded with a flurry of airstrikes against militant camps outside of Derna, Libya.

The attacks were popular domestically, so they did some more, and have continued throughout the week striking Derna’s camps, claiming they pose a direct threat to Egypt. Analysts, however, say this is really unlikely, and that indeed these camps almost certainly have nothing to do with the bus attack that preceded them.

Derna is well known as an Islamist hub, with a lot of small factions starting up there. Indeed, the ISIS affiliate in Libya was located there at one time, though that was years ago. If ISIS indeed did the bus attack, and signs are that they probably did, it was likely Egypt’s own ISIS affiliate, not Libya’s, and either way, they had nothing to do with the Derna camps being hit.

Egypt has had long-standing problems with Islamist militant groups attacking their Christian minority, and those attacks have almost exclusively been homegrown. Reacting by attacking something in Libya was a convenient distraction for the junta, and when the Egyptian public started cheering their firm response, they just kept doing it.

At this point, however, Egyptian officials are freely admitting that they are “not targeting specific groups” with their airstrikes in Derna, and that they’re hitting random camps on the assumption that “all the groups targeted have the same ideology” as the bus attackers, which is good enough for them.

Indeed some analysts believe that Egypt’s junta, long keen on exporting their style of government to Libya by backing Gen. Khalifa Hafter, had been drawing up plans for attacks around Derna and other Islamist hotbeds in eastern Libya long before the bus attack happened, and this just served as a useful pretext to go ahead with them.

Security forces' campaign of extrajudicial murders in N. Sinai?

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Egypt: Video of extrajudicial executions offers glimpse of hidden abuses by military in North Sinai

21 April 2017

Information gathered by Amnesty International confirms that members of Egyptian military are responsible for at least seven unlawful killings, including shooting dead at point blank range an unarmed man and a 17-year-old child.

The organization’s experts analyzed leaked video footage of the killings and compared it with photographs and a YouTube video published by the Egyptian military, as well as interviewing Sinai-based sources and experts.  The footage shows a member of the Egyptian military shooting the child dead alongside another man in military uniform, whose accent indicates that he is a Sinai local.



The bodies of five other men who appear to have been killed earlier also appear in the video.

“The ease with which the members of the Egyptian military forces participated in the killing of defenseless men in cold blood shows that they fear no oversight or accountability for their actions.

These killings amount to extrajudicial executions, crimes which Egypt has an obligation under international law to investigate, prosecute and punish. They fit into a disturbing pattern of apparent such killings in North Sinai,” said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty International’s Campaigns director for North Africa.

In January, Amnesty International highlighted the extrajudicial execution of six men by members of the security forces in North Sinai. The men had been in state custody for one to three months at the time of their killing.

The leaked video broadcast on the Islamist-leaning TV station Mekameleen also shows members of the Egyptian military holding at least two unarmed men in US Humvee armoured vehicles before they were shot dead. The USA is Egypt’s main supplier of military equipment.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the USA has delivered over 1,000 Armoured Personnel Vehicles to Egypt since 2003, including 100 Humvees (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles.)

“States including the USA have been transferring arms used by the military in North Sinai without ensuring any oversight or monitoring of the extent to which they may being used to commit or to facilitate the commission of serious human rights violations. All such transfers must be halted,” said Najia Bounaim.

Amnesty International has confirmed that a Facebook statement by Egypt’s military spokesperson in December 2016 and YouTube video by the Ministry of Defense on 5 November 2016 showed images of at least two of the victims who are seen being killed in the leaked video.

The spokesman said these were “terrorists” killed by the military during counter-terror operations in North Sinai. The leaked video however, shows that at least two of the men killed were unarmed at the time and analysis of the footage indicates that the arms were later planted by the military next to their bodies to make it appear as if they were fighters killed after an exchange of fire.

In analyzing the video, Amnesty International experts also confirmed that this incident took place before 5 November 2016 given the video posted by the Ministry of Defense was posted on that date.

According to Sinai-based sources, this video was shot in a desert area that lies between south Sheikh Zowaid and Rafah in North Sinai. Online local news outlet Sinai 24 reported that two of the victims are brothers, named Abd el-Hady Sabry, aged 16 and Dawood Sabry aged 19. They both belong to a tribe called al-Awabda from Rafah town on the Egypt-Israel border. This is consistent with the video, which shows that prior to being shot dead the teenager said that he belonged to the al-Awabda tribe and was from Rafah.

The video clearly shows the man in uniform with a Sinai accent, believed to be a local bedouin recruit operating under military control, shooting an unarmed man with five bullets to the head.  Over the past couple of years the military in Sinai has increasingly relied on some local Sinai families to assist them in intelligence gathering.

An August 2016 Mada Masr article cites interviews with Sinai recruits who acted as auxiliaries to assist the military in conducting operations in areas where the military could otherwise not enter.

Sinai observer, Mohannad Sabry, said that this had created much friction between Sinai tribes related to revenge and retaliation given these non-military armed members acted outside of the law on many occasions against Sinai residents.

“Whether or not he is a full member of the Egyptian military, this man was acting under military command and control. The Egyptian military is responsible for these cold blooded killings,” said Najia Bounaim.

“It is crucial that those responsible for these appalling killings do not go unpunished.  A failure to prosecute and punish those responsible will further fuel the pervasive impunity for crimes committed by security forces and give a green light for an escalation of violations.”

Additional information: Analysis of photographic and video evidence 

Analysis of a leaked video do not appear to show any signs of manipulation or staging. Photos published by the Army spokesperson on December 6 , 2016, show two bodies that are also visible in the leaked video.

The same bodies appear in a video released by the Ministry of Defense on November 5, 2016, the incident thus had to happened before that date.

There are several serious concerns that should be raised: Most importantly, a corpse of a person who was filmed being executed while in custody of armed forces appears to displays the same body posture (face up, right knee at an angle, right hand on crotch) and clothes (blue jeans, dark sweater) as a corpse visible in a video released by the ministry of Defense on November 5, 2016. In the video released by the MoD,  a rifle is visible next to the body, which was not present when the person was executed.

 Corpse after execution visible in a leaked video 

Corpse displaying same body posture and clothes then the person being executed while in custody of armed forces. Rifle is seen next to body, which was absent at the moment person was executed. Screenshot taken from MoD video

A further question raises the following scene, where again a rifle was probably placed next to a corpse.

 

In a leaked video published on April 20. Rifle visible in the photo released by the Army spokesperson appears to be missing.

Finally, the first person being seen executed in the April 20 video is unarmed at the moment of the execution. 30 seconds later in the video, a rifle is being seen as nicely being placed on his body.

Egypt's judiciary is the counter-revolution

Mubarak acquitted & released from army hospital; Meanwhile, 1,000s of political detainees languish in their prison cells


Thanks to Sisi's judiciary...Dictator Mubarak is acquitted & released from "detention" in luxury hospital ward

Justice for 800+ murdered protesters - Egypt's very independent judges acquit Mubarak & his entire regime, along with all police forces

 *Artwork by Carlos Latuff (2012 & 2014) courtesy of Latuff Cartoons

Toppled dictator Mubarak freed after 6 yrs in luxury hospital ward

The Guardian
Hosni Mubarak: Egypt's toppled dictator freed after six years in custody 

Ex-president acquitted this month on all charges of murdering protesters before he was ousted in Arab spring uprising in 2011

Ruth Michaelson

Friday 24 March 2017

Egypt’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak has left the Cairo military hospital where he had been held in custody for much of the past six years, and returned to his home in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, his lawyer said.

Mubarak, 88, was acquitted by Egypt’s highest appeals court on 2 March of conspiring to kill protesters in the final verdict in a long-running case that originally resulted in him being sentenced to life in prison in 2012 over the deaths of 239 people in Arab spring protests against his rule. A separate corruption charge was overturned in January 2015.

He left the Maadi military hospital on Friday morning and returned to his home, where he had breakfast with his family and a number of friends, according to a report in the privately owned newspaper al-Masy al-Youm. His lawyer, Farid al-Deeb, told the paper that Mubarak thanked those who had supported him throughout his trial.

The strongman, who ruled Egypt for nearly three decades, often appeared in a frail state during his court appearances, attending on a stretcher and wearing dark sunglasses, but the appearances put paid to repeated rumors of his death.

  

Mubarak was also healthy enough to appear at the window of his hospital room to wave to supporters gathered outside on occasions including his birthday and the anniversary of Egypt’s 1973 war with Israel.

For those who worked to topple the former dictator, Mubarak’s freedom marks a grim moment in Egypt’s modern history. Yet some reacted with little more than resignation as his release became imminent, numbed by the years of political turmoil since his fall.

Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown in a popularly backed military coup in 2013. Many see echoes of Mubarak’s style of leadership in Egypt’s current leader, the former general Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

“I’m neither sad nor disappointed,” said Tarek el-Khatib, whose brother, Mustafa, was killed in the struggle to topple Mubarak. “I’d have been surprised had things happened otherwise. Politically, everything flew in this direction and paved the way for the normality of this moment.”

Over the past six years there have been repeated efforts to punish family members and business associates who profited from Mubarak’s regime, largely without lasting consequence. Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed in October 2015, with a judge stating that they had served adequate jail time on charges of corruption and embezzlement of public funds.

The notorious steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, formerly the secretary general of Mubarak’s now defunct National Democratic party, was named as an honorary leader of a political party in 2016, although he had previously served three years on corruption charges.

Despite describing the revolution that ended Mubarak’s rule as “a turning point in Egypt’s history,” Sisi and his military-backed government are regarded as the autocrat’s political heirs.

“I think that Mubarak’s release was something expected as his students are ruling the country,” said Mahienour el Massry, an activist and lawyer who served 15 months in prison under Sisi’s rule. “The same regime, the same corruption, the same brutality.

“Mubarak might be released, but in the eyes of those who believe in the revolution he will always be a criminal killer and the godfather of corruption,” she said. “This might be another round that we have lost, but we will keep on fighting to change the inhuman regime that releases criminals and imprisons innocent people.”

Others were less hopeful. Mubarak’s freedom meant the families of those killed were “now praying for divine justice”, said Mohsen Bahnasy, a human rights lawyer who served as a member of the commission of inquiry into military abuses committed during the 2011 revolution.

Egypt’s highest appeals court previously rejected demands by the families of those killed during the uprising to bring civil suits against Mubarak for his role in the deaths of protesters. An official inquiry later concluded that 846 people died and a further 6,467 were injured during the revolution, as Egyptian security forces violently suppressed the protests which packed Cairo’s central Tahrir Square.

“The Mubarak acquittal is of significant symbolic value in that it reflects an absolute failure of Egyptian judicial and legal institutions to hold a single official accountable for the killing of almost 900 protesters during the January 25 revolution. It is indicative of a deeper, compounded crisis of transitional justice,” said Mai el Sedany, a legal expert with the Washington thinktank the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

“This is a clear message to all Egyptians that no one will be held accountable for any corruption or oppression in this country – the state is loyal to its men and will continue to be,” said Khatib. “Don’t dream of any revolution again.”

Mubarak’s release comes amid an economic crisis following years of political tumult and worsening security. Egyptians complain of empty pockets and rumbling bellies as inflation exceeds 30% and the government tightens its belt in return for loans from the International Monetary Fund.

“The economic crisis we are living in and the high prices take priority over everything, as does the fear of terrorism. That is what preoccupies ordinary citizens, not Mubarak,” said Khaled Dawoud, an opposition politician who opposed the Islamists but also condemned the bloody crackdown on them.

“When you see the group of people who show up and cheer and support him, you are talking about 150, 200 people,” he said, referring to occasional shows of support outside the Maadi hospital when Mubarak was there.


*Additional reporting by Sharif Abdel Kouddous in Cairo*
*Photos by Mohamed Abd El Ghany and Youssef Boudlal courtesy of Reuters

Egypt topped developing countries in arms imports in 2015 - Sisi continues to squander national budget

Mada Masr
US report: Egypt topped developing countries in arms imports in 2015

December 27, 2016

 
Egypt imported US$5.3 billion worth of arms in 2015, more than any other developing country, according to a report released this month by Congressional Research Service, a public policy research arm of the United States Congress.

Egypt also came second among developing countries in 2015 arms transfer agreements — agreements that were signed but not necessarily delivered — signing agreements worth $11.9 billion. Qatar ranked first, with agreements worth $17.5 billion.

According to the report, which traces arms sales to developing nations between 2008 and 2015, Egypt signed arms transfers agreements totaling $30 billion, coming third after Saudi Arabia and India.

Egypt ranked sixth among developing countries in total arms transfers agreements between 2008 and 2011, worth $8.6 billion. The US was the biggest arms exporter to Egypt in this period, with 79 percent of total arms transfer agreements, followed by China then Russia.

In the same period, Egypt’s actual arms imports reached $5 billion, the fifth largest among developing countries. Between 2012 and 2015, Egypt ranked fourth in arms imports at a total of $9.8 billion, preceded by Saudi, India and Iraq. The report indicates that Egypt’s arms transfer agreements for this period reached $21.5 billion.

Western European countries and Russia were major arms exporters to Egypt in this period, with 43 percent of agreements respectively, then came the US with 6 percent.

The report revealed that US and Russia were major arms exporters to developing countries in the period between 2012 and 2015, with 81 percent of the total arms transfer agreements.

In 2015 only, Qatar topped the developing nations signing arms transfer agreements with $17.5 billion, followed by Egypt with $11.9 billion, Saudi with $8.6 billion, then South Korea with $5.4 billion.

Arms transfer agreements signed by Egypt in 2015 represented 15 percent of total agreements signed worldwide, which reached $80 billion, according to the report.

But the database of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has shown that Egypt’s arms imports between 2011 and 2015 reached just $3.4 billion, ranking 12th worldwide.

A report published by London-based global analysis firm IHS Markit. indicated that Egypt’s military imports reached $2.268 billion in 2015, making it the world’s fourth-largest defense importer.

Egypt receives $1.3 billion in annual military aid from the US, and under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi it has also made major purchases from other exporting countries, including Russia and France.

High-profile deals include a 2015 agreement with France to purchase 5.2 billion euro worth of military equipment, including 24 Rafale fighter jets and a naval frigate, and a contract with Russian firm Rosoboronexport to buy 46 attack helicopters.

Al Jazeera documentary on conscription in Egypt sparks uproar in mainstream media

Mada Masr

Egyptian press, MPs and social media bash Al Jazeera for Armed Forces conscript documentary

Monday November 28, 2016

The Doha-based Al Jazeera television channel and the Qatari government continue to face rebuke in Egypt following Sunday night’s broadcast of a documentary on the conditions of conscripts in Egypt’s Armed Forces.

While Egyptian media have been the principal figures leading the response, nationalist hashtags supporting the military surfaced on social media and members of Egypt’s Parliament called for an end to diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Anger toward the film, titled The Soldiers: Story of conscription in the Egyptian Armed Forces, began on Friday with the release of its trailer, which includes reenactment footage of soldiers crawling through a field in their undergarments.


The film consists of the testimonies of former military conscripts regarding the abuse they faced while enlisted. Many said that the training they received was futile and did not prepare them for combat.

Some of the media coverage became more incendiary on Monday, following the broadcast. The privately owned al-Bawaba newspaper’s Managing Editor Mohamed al-Baz wrote an article titled “A look at our mentally ill Qatari brother,” contending that Qatar’s jealousy of Egypt’s size and significance prompted it to betray its fellow Arab country to conspire with their common enemies.

In the same issue, Al-Bawaba columnist Nashat al-Deihy wrote an opinion article that begins with the sentence, “The prince is gay and his mother is a prostitute.” He proceeds to call Qatar, “The island of gays and prostitutes.”

Several daily newspapers also published accounts on Monday of reporters who were allowed to visit military training camps, using phrasing such as “the den of lions” and “the factory of saviors” for what the Al Jazeera documentary portrayed as places of abuse.

The privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper published a cartoon on Monday depicting Qatari nationals watching the film and asking one another, “What is a military?” a reference to the country’s smaller military. This follows a cartoon in Sunday’s issue featuring an Egyptian struggling to point out where Qatar is on the map due to its small size.

However, these gestures are only the most recent in a series of comments issued by a broad range of figures across Egyptian society in the days leading up to the broadcast.

During a telephone interview on Youssef al-Husseini’s “Sada al-Muhtaramon” (Respectable Gentlemen) on Sunday, Foreign Minister spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid stated that it was clear that the film aimed to destabilize public confidence in the Armed Forces, a goal he asserted it would not accomplish. While Egypt’s media could address the claims advanced by the documentary, the Egyptian government, he continued, would not respond to a news channel.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawky Allam also affirmed support for Egypt’s military, saying it stands like a “proud mountain” and would not be affected by the slander propagated by partisan media platforms.
Amr Adib took to the air on Sunday night, saying that Qatar’s military is dependent on foreign elements and that the country does not understand the structure of Egypt’s Armed Forces. “Al-Ashera Masa’an” (10 pm) host Wael al-Ebrashy argued that outsiders “may not understand that compulsory military service in Egypt is a national and humanitarian duty.”

Lamis al-Hadidy, the host of “Huna al-'Asema” (Here’s the Capital) appealed to how conscription unifies Egyptians from every class, religion and race in the service of a nationalist endeavor. “Our military is a great national army. It is not a mercenary army. It is an army whose members come from every household in Egypt. Sacrifice, self-denial and glory are the slogans of the Egyptian solider.”

Regime supporters rallied around the hashtag “We will beat Tamim with a shoe” ahead of the screening on Sunday, a reference to the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Ahmed Moussa is reported to have promoted use of the hashtag on his show “‘Ala Mas'ouliti” (My Responsibility.)

A photo depicting a military boot over Tamim’s head and bearing the caption, “Al Jazeera is under the boot of the Egyptian military” was widely circulated on social media. Another hashtag called on users to “Tweet in support of the Egyptian Armed Forces.”

A lawsuit was reportedly filed against Emad Eldin al-Sayed, the documentary’s director and an Egyptian national, on Sunday, claiming that he had defamed Egypt’s Armed Forces. Other media outlets reported that Sayed is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and an agent of Qatar. The director has denied these claims.

In an interview with the Huffington Post Arabic, Sayed explained that he is not attempting to tarnish the image of Egypt’s military. To the contrary, he told the Qatari-funded site that the “film is biased in favor of the Armed Forces,” adding that he is not opposed to military conscription.

“The film does not reject conscription. Rather, it discusses frequently-occurring incidents and accounts that are known to the Egyptian populace, including the punishment that conscripts face while enlisted, along with the exploitation of conscripted soldiers in labor markets outside the scope of military service.”

Sayed also told the Qatari-funded SasaPost news outlet that much of the documentary draws from footage either filmed by hidden cameras or leaked by conscripts who had captured it while on duty. However, other scenes feature reenactments based on testimony and archival documents.

Using the hashtag “These are Egyptian soldiers,” Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir disseminated footage that emphasized the dignity of soldiers during Armed Forces training exercises.

Security forces raided Al Jazeera’s offices in Egypt during the June 30 revolution. The channel’s employees have been banned from operating in Egypt, with the last affiliate channel, “Mubasher Misr” (Live from Egypt), being shut down in December 2014.

Egyptian police arrested and jailed four members of the Al Jazeera English channel, claiming that the four used rooms in the Marriott Hotel in Cairo to meet with Muslim Brotherhood members. They were charged with broadcasting news that could harm national security and disseminating false information. The ensuing legal proceedings against Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste, Baher Mohamed became known as the “Marriott Cell” case. Greste, an Australian national, was deported in February 2015, and Fahmy, the Egyptian-Canadian bureau chief, and Mohamed, an Egyptian correspondent, were released from jail in September of the same year.

Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government, is widely perceived in Egypt to serve as the mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Two Al Jazeera Arabic reporters – Abdallah al-Shamy and Mohamed Badr – were arrested on August 14, 2013 during the violent dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in, which resulted in the deaths of several hundreds of supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Military conscription in Egypt lasts between one and three years, depending on level of education.

Conscription is limited to able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 30 years old and is pursuant to the completion of formal education. Conscripts with little or no formal education are often drafted into the Central Security Forces and typically serve for three years under the auspices of the Interior Ministry rather than the Armed Forces.

Egypt's propaganda machine celebrates Turkish coup

Open Democracy
Turkey’s coup failed everywhere, except in Egyptian media 

Egypt's media welcomed, unabashedly, the Turkish military coup; prematurely hailing Erdogan’s overthrow
 

July 26, 2016

Ahmed Magdy Youssef 
  

 

On Friday, July 15, in the throes of Turkey's deep crisis which left international media befuddled by who was truly in power, numerous Egyptian media outlets jumped the gun in their reportage. They prematurely declared that the attempted coup had ended in success, heralding the Turkish army's control over the country and overthrow of President Erdogan.

Within hours of the start of the attempted coup, these outlets exposed their un-professionalism by falling prey to propaganda. Despite confirmed news sources proving that the democratically-elected government remained in charge, and people taking to the streets to support Turkish democracy, several Egyptian state-run as well as privately owned newspapers came out on Saturday, July 16, with headlines and front pages showing a different trajectory.

TELEPATHY SYNDROME

State-run newspaper Al-Ahram main front page banner headline stated that the Turkish Armed Forces succeeded in ousting President Erdogan. The red headline said “The Turkish army overthrows Erdogan” and was followed by the subhead “The armed forces seize power, declare martial law and Recep Tayyip vanishes."
 
State-owned Akhbar Al-Youm, announced in its main headline “A military coup in Turkey,” while the subhead said “The military announced it has taken over to protect democracy and human rights, Erdogan calls on supporters to take to the streets to safeguard legitimacy.” 

Taken in this light, Egyptian newspaper’s choice of the word “legitimacy” is a reminder of when former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was mocked for repeating the same word in his final late-night televised speeches when he addressed the nation before being ousted by his army generals three years ago.

Egypt’s privately-owned newspapers had been faring just as badly when it came to their lopsided coverage of the recent tectonic events in Turkey. Under the headline “The army topples Erdogan,” Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper seems to have duplicated Al-Ahram’s headline, however, suggesting their similar biased ideologies.

Other privately-owned newspapers, such as Al-Watan, not only ran the headline “The army takes over, deposes Erdogan,” its subhead also reported that Erdogan tried to claim asylum in Germany at the height of the military coup, citing unreliable western sources.

Unlike the other Egyptian print media outlets that failed dismally at journalism and excelled at propaganda, it was only the privately-owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that delivered impartial and balanced coverage. It ran a headline on its front page entitled “An attempted coup in Turkey, Erdogan announces quashing it.” 

Aside from printed newspapers, the Egyptian news website Al-Youm Al-Sabea published a report on its social media account naming “the reasons that led to Erdogan’s fall." The most important of which was Erdogan's animosity towards Egypt.

However, when Erdogan had largely succeeded in quashing the coup, Al-Youm Al-Sabea resorted to publishing a story that claimed the coup was merely an “epic theatrical act” put on by Erdogan himself.

“A REVOLUTION, NOT A MILITARY COUP”

Anyone who casually swapped between Egyptian state-run or even privately-owned channels during the chaotic early hours of Friday night knew that Erdogan's government was not in favour.     

Ahmed Moussa, one of the most popular TV presenters in Egypt, praised the military coup and the Turkish army, defining the events as “a revolution, not a military coup.” Moussa, who hosts a TV show broadcast on the privately-owned channel Sada El-Balad, continued by saying: “Erdogan spent millions of US Dollars on terrorist groups…Erdogan has to learn a lesson: there is a difference between the coup in Turkey and the revolution in Egypt. He (Erdogan) relentlessly tried to label Egypt’s events on June 30 as a coup.”

However, as the events unfolded, Moussa shifted to describe the botched coup as an “ousting trial”, hoping that by the end of his TV show, the military coup in Turkey would succeed.

Similarly, the Egyptian media personality Khairy Ramadan, who hosts a talk show on the privately-owned TV channel CBC described Turkish military action as a "revolution” and “retaliation” against Erdogan’s policy towards Egypt after the June 30 revolution and the overthrow of the former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.  

The Egyptian talk-show host Osama Kamal first mocked Erdogan for appearing on CNN-Turk television, holding an interview via mobile phone during the early hours of the military movement. Then, adopting the same strategy of the news website Al-Youm Al-Sabea, Kamal claimed that Erdogan might have “staged” Friday’s bloody coup to win people’s sympathy and regain his popularity among Turkish citizens which had recently declined.

Some other Egyptian media figures avowedly voiced their opinions in the early hours of Turkey’s attempted coup via their social network accounts, especially Twitter.

Prominent journalist and Egyptian MP Mostafa Bakry wrote on Twitter: “The Turkish army declares seizing power. Go to hell Erdogan.” He even wrote another controversial tweet: “Erdogan has gone and [President Bashar] al-Assad remains. Long live the Syrian Arab Army. Erdogan must be trialed as a war criminal."

Another well-known TV anchor Youssef El Hosiny was gloating over Erdogan’s fall by writing a tweet: “These terms will be circulated worldwide to describe what had happened in Turkey: power transfer, restoring constitutional legitimacy, toppling Erdogan, deposing the tyrant and Erdogan’s fall.”

Shortly after the army released a statement on Turkish TV channels of seizing power, the Egyptian state and privately-owned channels were brim with news tickers such as: “Pro-army demonstrations in Turkey, chants against Erdogan,” “Erdogan flees to Germany, seeks safe haven for him and his family,” “Erdogan threatens to create bloodbaths to restore power,” and the like. It was painful to see.

EXPECTED REACTION

In former President Mubarak's era, journalists were divided into two camps: with the president or the opposition.

Today most Egyptian journalists and media figures are siding with the military government. This trend explains why Egyptian media swerved sharply to welcoming, unabashedly, the Turkish military coup, let alone prematurely hailing Erdogan’s overthrow.

Tensions between Egypt and Turkey sparked after the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Since then, the Turkish President, who was an avid supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi, has been harshly condemning Egypt’s military government. He was even seen flashing the four-finger Rabaa sign during several public speeches. Moreover, many of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders found sanctuary in Turkey after fleeing from the bloody crackdown in Rabaa and Nahda.

The animosity between the two Middle Eastern countries reached a crescendo when Egypt objected to a United Nations Security Council statement that urged all parties to "respect the democratically elected government of Turkey." Egypt sees that the council is "in no position to qualify or label that government - or any other government for that matter - as democratically elected or not," according to UN diplomats.

On the other hand, Erdogan excoriated President Sisi on his latest TV interview with Al-Jazeera, saying that he “has nothing to do with democracy. He killed thousands of his people."

In conclusion, one could say that the antagonism between Egypt and Turkey will not come to an end anytime soon, especially when both Sisi and Erdogan are still in power, and Egypt’s media seems to be happy to play along with these political games.

Solidarity! Demand end of military trial of 26 workers from Alexandria Shipyard Co.

Mada Masr
Solidarity conference demands end to military trial of 26 Alexandria Shipyard workers

Monday, June 27, 2016

Jano Charbel

A conference in solidarity with 26 workers from the Alexandria Shipyard Company who are standing military trial on charges of inciting strikes was held in Cairo on Monday.

A host of solidarity statements was also issued demanding that all charges be dropped against the workers, or that the case be referred to a civilian court.

The “Against Military Trials of Workers” conference was held at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) headquarters. It was attended by several political activists, along with dozens of representatives of at least 12 parties, labor groups and rights organizations.

Speaking at the conference, lawyer Osama al-Mahdy from the No Military Trials group called for the immediate release of the workers. Mahdy pointed out that since 2011, at least 18,000 civilians have stood trial before military tribunals, when they should have been referred to the civilian judicial system instead.

“The referral of all issues in the country to the Armed Forces’ command will not help to build a modern civil state,” Khaled Dawoud, spokesperson for the Dostour Party, declared at the conference.

The 26 workers took part in a peaceful sit-in along with most of their 2,500 coworkers on May 22 and 23 to demand the national minimum wage of LE1,200 per month, overdue profit shares, their annual Ramadan bonuses and health insurance, along with the re-operation of stalled production lines.

Originally established as a civilian facility several decades ago, the Alexandria Shipyard Company was taken over by the Ministry of Defense in 2007.

The trial began on June 18, and another hearing was held at the Alexandria Military Court on Monday. The next hearing is scheduled for Saturday, July 2, defense lawyer Mohamed Awad of ECESR told Mada Masr.

The workers are accused of striking and inciting strikes, although they insist that they did not partake in any form of work stoppage, said Awad. Rather, work ground to a halt because Alexandria Shipyard administrators imposed a lockout on their civilian workforce starting on May 24, the defendants claim.

Due to the lockout, the Alexandria Shipyard Company is currently operating at only around 10 percent of capacity, the lawyer said.

Awad added that “some conscripts have recently been brought in to undertake the civilian workers’ jobs.”

Of the 26 workers on trial, 15 have handed themselves in and have been attending the military court’s sessions in Alexandria, one of whom has been released on bail, according to Awad. The remaining 11 workers have not yet handed themselves in.

Awad told Mada Masr that the shipyard workers are hesitant to speak openly or to accept interviews with the media as they fear for their livelihoods in light of the ongoing lockout and the military trial of their colleagues.

Previous solidarity statements were issued by the Alexandria-based member of Parliament Haitham al-Hariry, who argued, “Civilians should not stand trial before military courts, even if they are working under military administration.”

He claimed that the trial “aims to intimidate and threaten workers," concluding, “Egypt is a state, not a military barracks.”

Monday's solidarity conference was attended by representatives of the Strong Egypt Party, the Dostour Party, the Revolutionary Socialists, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Bread and Freedom Party, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Center for Educational Rights, the Toward a Just Labor Law campaign, the No Military Trials campaign and the ECESR.


*Photos courtesy of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, and Omaldonia.com, respectively

Military prosecutors jail 13 protesting shipyard workers, 13 arrest warrants issued

Mada Masr
Military prosecutors summon 26 workers from Alexandria Shipyard Company for questioning over instigating strikes

Monday, May 30, 2016

Jano Charbel 

Military prosecutors in Alexandria have summoned 26 civilian workers, engineers and administrators from the Alexandria Shipyard Company for questioning on charges of instigating strikes and obstructing production. Thirteen of the workers were remanded into detention for 15 days on Thursday pending investigations.

The arrested workers’ family members wept outside the military prosecutor’s office in the Bolokly district of East Alexandria as their relatives were transported to detention, the privately owned Al-Mesryoon news portal reported on Monday.

The 13 workers who are not in detention but were summoned for questioning have not yet handed themselves over to the authorities, according to Mohamed Awad, a lawyer from the Egyptian Center for Social and Economic rights who is representing the 26 workers.

A majority of the nearly 2,500 employees at the Alexandria Shipyard Company staged a sit-in at the Port of Alexandria from May 22-23 in protest against the non-payment of the national monthly minimum wage, overdue profit-shares and their annual Ramadan bonuses. The workers further demanded health insurance and the dismissal of their company’s chief administrator.

The chief administrators of the state-owned Alexandria Shipyard Company have largely refused the workers’ demands. Military police units and Central Security Forces were deployed in and around the company to intimidate the protesting workers. On May 24, security forces imposed a lockout on the shipyard, bringing all production and services to a halt.

Military prosecutors could charge the workers with violating of Article 124 of the Penal Code, which stipulates prison terms ranging from three months to one year and/or fines of LE100-500 for civil servants who deliberately refrain from performing their duties at work. However, this article appears to be at odds with the Constitution, which guarantees “the right to peaceful strike.”

Awad believes the potential charges are baseless, as the workers “did not engage in any strike action.” Production and services at the state-owned company were shut down by the management’s executive decision to impose a lockout, not the workers’ protest actions, the lawyer argued.

On May 25, the workers even filed a complaint against the management’s lockout at the nearby Mina al-Basal Police Station, Awad added.

Awad explained that the workers are facing military prosecution because the Alexandria Shipyard Company is owned by the Defense Ministry, which acquired the company in 2007.

A senior general who was dispatched to the Alexandria Shipyard last week to negotiate a settlement with the protesting workers “failed to address their grievances, and treated the workers as if they were soldiers,” the lawyer claimed.

“In a just legal system, civilians must not be referred to military prosecution” or military trials, Awad argued. “Civilian workers, employees or administrators in military establishments should be treated as civilians, not as military personnel.”

Several independent organizations were similarly outraged by the detention of the protesting workers. On May 27, the Dockers Federation issued a statement “condemning the repression, abuse, imprisonment and military prosecution suffered by workers at the Alexandria Shipyard Company for simply demanding improved living conditions.”

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information also issued a statement criticizing the arrests and military summons, while the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ services declared that “workers should not be confronted with military tribunals for merely demanding their basic labor rights.”
Alexandria’s shipyard workers and unionists could not be reached for comment.

Several local media outlets reported that a meeting would be held on Tuesday between Alexandria Shipyard Company management and union representatives to work toward resolving the ongoing conflict and reopening the company.

*Photo courtesy of Tahrir News

Labor Day 2016: Sisi addresses nation from luxury hotel, as industrial actions increase nationwide

Mada Masr
Labor Day 2016: Sisi addresses nation from hotel, workers air grievances

Sunday, May 1, 2016 - 13:57

Jano Charbel

 

Over the past three years parades and street rallies for Labor Day have not been permitted in Egypt, and this year too the events have been subdued and held indoors.

An official state celebration was held on April 28 in eastern Cairo, at the Armed Forces’ luxury Al-Masah Hotel, and a smaller commemoration by independent labor organizations is scheduled for the evening of May 1 at the Journalists’ Syndicate in downtown Cairo.

At Al-Masah Hotel, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivered his first televised Labor Day speech to the nation, surrounded by ministers, top generals and leading members of the state-run Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF.)

Last year, Sisi broke with a decades-long presidential tradition of addressing the nation on Labor Day. He commemorated Labor Day at the Police Academy in New Cairo with a select group of workers in lieu of a televised address.

This year, Labor Day comes amid a backdrop of new austerity measures, increased costs of living, faltering industries, a devastated tourism sector, unemployment growing to (officially) nearly 13 percent, and increasing countrywide labor unrest with hundreds of industrial protests and strikes.
Independent trade unions continue to decline and a concerted crackdown on them persists.

Many independent unionists and workers’ rights activists have expressed pessimism regarding the future of Egypt’s labor movement, but Sisi sounded optimistic about how labor relations will develop during his rule.

 
Delivered from a stage covered with the ETUF logo, Sisi’s scripted speech praised Egypt’s workforce of over 28.4 million with patriotic rhetoric and called on workers to “double your efforts.”
“Increased production means increased incomes,” he said.

Like former President Hosni Mubarak in his Labor Day speeches, Sisi emphasized the state’s concern for low-income earners. He did not discuss the austerity measures introduced in 2014, which are said to have impacted millions of low-income families.

“I kindly ask him to actually visit factories and other workplaces, in order to come into contact with real workers and hear their grievances," Kamal al-Fayoumi, a worker leader from the public-sector Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla, tells Mada Masr of Sisi's speech. "Otherwise he just hears the applause and empty talk of ETUF representatives, which does not reflect the reality of our situation.”

Fayoumi spells out his Labor Day aspirations and concerns: “We want wages to increase in line with prices. Our utility bills are increasing exponentially, prices of basic consumer goods are sky-rocketing, while wages stagnate. Real wages are declining, and this will likely contribute to more labor unrest across Egypt.”

Not all workers in public-sector enterprises, let alone private sector workers, are eligible for so-called monthly minimum wage of LE1200 (currently equivalent to $US135), which was introduced in 2014.

Sisi’s speech warned against labor protests, stressing “the importance of promoting dialogue and collective bargaining between both sides of the productive process, to realize amicable resolutions, and to decrease labor protests, which negatively affect production.”

“Who’s going to represent me in this collective bargaining?” asks Seoud Omar, a Suez Canal Authority employee and labor organizer in Suez City. “How are workers supposed to confront exploitation, corruption, mismanagement and poor working conditions when ETUF has failed to over several decades?”

Omar says the ETUF has a membership of nearly 4 million — less than 15 percent of the national workforce — and thus is only capable of bargaining on behalf of a minority of workers. Egypt’s independent trade unions claim a membership of only a few hundred thousand, and have even weaker bargaining powers.

“The ETUF leadership seeks to outlaw independent unions under the pretext that they instigate labor protests and strikes,” points out Omar.

In 2015, 1,117 strikes and other industrial actions were reported across Egypt, according to Egyptian NGO Democracy Meter — an average of three labor protests for each day of the year. As for 2016, it says that, “Between January and April of this year there have been a total of 493 labor protests (including strikes, marches, rallies, occupations, etc.)

This currently represents an average of six industrial actions each day, and a 25 percent increase in such labor unrest in comparison to the same period last year.”

Most of these actions (144) took place in Greater Cairo, followed by the Nile Delta governorates (110), the Suez Canal governorates (63) and Alexandria (60.) Upper Egypt and other governorates witnessed the rest.

These industrial actions affect both unionized and non-unionized workplaces, and include independent unionists and ETUF members alike – although ETUF has officially authorized only two strikes since its establishment in 1957.

“ETUF ignores the national Constitution of 2014 regarding the right to strike (Article 15) and freely establish unions (Article 76),” Omar says, “Just as they ignore international workers’ rights conventions that Egypt ratified decades ago, including the International Labor Organization’s conventions.”

A lawsuit ETUF filed before the Administrative Court demanding the dissolution of independent unions and federations commenced in February and its verdict is scheduled for June 26.

A recently issued ILO statement expressed “concern over threats to human and trade union rights in Egypt” under Sisi. It also cited “the responsibility of the government to ensure the application of international labor conventions on freedom of association that it has freely ratified.”

Egypt has ratified ILO conventions on freedom of association (Convention 87) and the right to organize (Convention 98) since the 1950s, but has not upheld their provisions.

According to domestic trade union legislation, ETUF has been Egypt’s only legally-recognized labor federation since its establishment nearly 60 years ago. It maintained its monopoly until the 2011 uprising against Mubarak, when independent trade union federations emerged to challenge it.

In his Labor Day address, Sisi said the new parliament “will formulate the legislation needed to create an encouraging atmosphere for the process of production, by discussing and issuing the relevant laws, at the forefront of which are the (new) Labor Law and Trade Union Law.”

In an interview posted on ETUF’s website on April 28, newly-appointed Manpower Minister Mohamed Saafan — a leading ETUF member — says his ministry “is adding its finishing touches to the draft laws on labor and trade unions.”

The ministry’s draft laws are to be sent to parliament for review, specifically to the parliamentary Manpower Committee, which is presided over by ETUF chief Gebali al-Maraghi and other members of the state-run federation.

Building on the April ILO statement on Egypt, on April 30 Human Rights Watch called on Egypt to "unshackle workers' right to organize," saying the draft Trade Union Law being prepared should guarantee unions’ independence.

In an interview with the state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper on May 1, Saafan argues that “there is no such thing as independent unions, only parallel organizations. Each one of these organizations has specific objectives, and the last of their concerns are labor rights.”

“Little by little the truth behind this regime’s policies are being exposed,” says Omar, “and workers are realizing that the government and ETUF have no real intention of negotiating with other labor groupings — be they independent unions, federations or independent-minded workers. The regime wants to listen only to its yes-men. It is siding with its own interests and protecting its own privileges.”

As for the May 1 event scheduled to take place at the Journalists’ Syndicate, dubbed “United for Union Freedoms,” it aims to address the grievances of independent unions and discuss their proposed amendments to the extant trade union and labor laws.

“These new laws are unlikely to add any provisions protecting labor rights or freedoms,” says Talal Shokr, an organizer of this event and member of the Independent Pensioners’ Union. “They are likely to maintain the status quo of unbalanced labor relations which existed under Mubarak. Perhaps they will serve to tilt them even further in favor of investors’ interests.”

Concluding his Labor Day speech, Sisi announced he is pledging LE100 million from the publicly-financed Tahya Masr (Long Live Egypt) fund to the Ministry of Manpower’s emergency funds for stalled and faltering industries — particularly the tourism industry. Tourism has been badly affected since the fatal downing of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in late October, in what is widely believed to be a terrorist act.


*Screenshots courtesy of ONTV