2015: A Year of Animal Headlines in Egypt

Mada Masr

A year of animals making headlines

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Jano Charbel 

Animals proved to be veritable news-makers in Egypt in 2015: From monkey antics on the streets of Nasr City to aggressive airport cats, and from calls to give up meat in protest at rising prices to calls to take up camel meat as an alternative, animals made headlines throughout the year.

Local residents chasing monkeys in the streets in Cairo’s eastern district of Nasr City came to public attention in March. Over a dozen moneys escaped from a veterinary hospital, wreaking havoc, jumping onto ledges of buildings, windowsills, and into trees.

Some outlets reported that 14 monkeys – with others reporting 18 – escaped together from a clinic into a highly populated urban landscape.

Some residents of Nasr City reported that these monkeys rampaged through their urban gardens, eating and destroying some vegetation.

Some users of social networking sites in Nasr City called for poisoning the monkeys while others proposed non-lethal ways of capturing them, such as luring them into cages.

A local resident tweeted: “We should welcome the monkeys and let them live among us like the street dogs do.”

How these monkeys were ultimately captured or apprehended was not subsequently reported on.

Then there was the donkey who made his way to Cairo International Airport on April 27. After breaching fences and several lines of security, the donkey reportedly found its way to Terminal 3. For two days, the donkey lingered around the parking lot as talk-show hosts discussed the issue.

 
“The donkey was chased out by the police and security personnel at the airport,” a statement by the airport police force's general directorate read, adding that the donkey is believed to belong to one of the garbage collectors who frequent the area surrounding the airport.

A source at the airport described the incident at the time to privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm as an “unprecedented scandal,” that can only be an indication of “serious flaws in the performance of the Ministries of Interior and Civil Aviation.”

According to the anonymous source, it was not the first time this donkey had breached security surrounding the airport.

Photos and videos of the donkey wandering through the parking lot at the airport were widely circulated on social media platforms. Several users suggested that even donkeys want to leave the country. “Donkey emigration … The donkey headed to Terminal 3 in hopes of leaving Egypt and its problems behind.”

In a separate incident in Terminal 3 of Cairo Airport, the chief quarantine officer there told media outlets that four EgyptAir employees were injured when a male cat violently attacked them on September 30. This cat had been sheltering in a storage room, and reportedly pounced upon the employees as they were attempting to remove some items from storage. Scratching and biting them, this aggressive kitty left his mark on the four employees.

Associated Press reported that authorities and staff were trying to capture a “rebellious feline” running around through the airport – ahead of a visit by representatives of the International Civil Aviation Organization. AP reported that as of October 28, airport staff were still chasing the cat around, unable to catch it. Passengers and airport staff had reportedly been feeding it.
AP added that airport authorities had declared the cat to be “persona non grata.”

Camels also captured headlines this year. An escaped camel ran loose through the new campus of the American University in Cairo (AUC) in May after jumping out a vehicle and then running through the campus gates.

When American porn actress Carmen De Luz posted a photo of herself in skimpy underwear on a camel during a visit to the Giza Pyramids, local media outlets reported that she was shooting an erotic film by the historic site.

 
An investigation ensued and De Luz apologized on her Twitter account for any inconvenience that her actions may have caused.

In other news, camel meat — which is not widely consumed as a source of protein in Egypt — is being promoted as an alternative to beef and other red meats, which is growing increasingly costly and beyond the means of many Egyptians. The state-owned Al-Gomhuriyya has recently been encouraging the expansion of the camel meat industry, indicating it currently represents just 2 percent of domestic meat consumption.

Some nutrition specialists have even been questioning the use of donkey meat as a source of protein. Speaking on a talk-show broadcast on Al-Assema satellite channel in June, Hussein Mansour, president of Egypt’s National Food Safety Agency, commented that donkey meat is indeed mixed-in among other meats and sold at some markets and restaurants in order to cut their expenses.

The only way to ensure that donkey meat — or that of cats or dogs — was not being mixed into minced beef was to conduct DNA tests on samples, he said.

With the cost of beef ranging between LE35 per kilo (for lower grade meat) and LE100, a popular campaign emerged in August to boycott red meats altogether.

The campaign dubbed ‘Balaha Lahma,’ which loosely translates as “Let’s forget about meat,” encouraged consumers to refrain from purchasing meat with the aim of forcing the meat industry to bring down its prices to affordable levels. While this campaign picked up steam prior to the Eid al-Adha holiday when sheep are traditionally slaughtered, and even received mainstream media attention, it does not appear to have made much of an impact on the market prices of meat, or the population’s dietary habits.

Also related to the Eid al-Adha holiday and the consumption of livestock, poet Fatima Naoot stood trial this year on charges of blasphemy due to her critical online postings regarding the ritual slaughter of animals on this Islamic festival commemorating Abraham’s sacrifice of a sheep rather than his son.

Naoot’s trial began in January, after a lawsuit was filed against her by a conservative lawyer. In late 2014, Naoot had written, “Millions of innocent creatures have been driven to the most horrible massacres committed by humans for ten and a half centuries,” Naoot wrote. “A massacre that is repeated every year because of the nightmare of a righteous man about his good son.”

The blasphemy charges leveled against Naoot were subsequently referred to another court - for which she could face up to three years imprisonment.

During the last week of this year, the appointment of a new governor in Alexandria has reportedly led to a policy of killing street dogs after complaints from residents about the dogs’ growing numbers and their barking.

The governor denied these allegations while municipal veterinary employees also denied their involvement claiming that they had stopped the practice of killing street animals with shotguns since the year 2011.

A hashtag emerged on social networking sites denouncing the new governor, “The Governor of Alexandria is a Butcher.”

Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that some animal rights activists even sent photos of these dead dogs to Vladimir Putin’s Facebook page as the Russian president is apparently a major dog-lover.

In March, a rare verdict against an act of animal cruelty was issued, in which the Shobra al-Kheima Criminal Court sentenced four men to three years imprisonment in association with the brutal killing of a street dog.

Another act of animal cruelty — resulting in the deaths of several cats — was not referred to trial. In November, cats that had previously roamed throughout the grounds of Cairo’s Ahly Sporting Club were found dead at the entrance.

The club’s media spokesperson initially denied the incident, claiming that a contracted company had only drugged the cats, but protests by club members and animal rights activists against Al-Ahly Club’s management ensued.

According to media reports, after samples from two of the dead cats were sent for veterinary forensic analysis, the results revealed that poison had been put in their food. An official complaint was filed at the local police station, and the Qasr al-Nil District Prosecutor was notified of the vet’s findings, but the incident has not been referred to trial.

Cat killings, reportedly on a larger scale, have also taken place at Cairo’s Gezira Sporting Club in previous years. Similarly, this has resulted in outrage and protests, but no trials.

However, a cartoon animal – Mickey Mouse — did result in a trial and sentencing this year. In October, a military court sentenced 22-year-old army conscript Amr Nohan to three years imprisonment after he digitally altered an image of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, putting Mickey Mouse ears atop his head, and posted it on his Facebook account.

Nohan was then charged and reportedly found guilty of defaming the president and conspiring to overthrow the ruling regime.

Egypt: In one week, three cases of torture & deaths in police custody

______________

Ahram Online

Egypt policeman accused of torture, murder transferred from Luxor post

Saturday 28 Nov 2015

Media reports citing security sources have suggested that the policeman accused of torturing a man to death in Luxor earlier this week has been transferred from his post at the El-Awameya police station.

On Friday, hundreds marched across Luxor to protest the death of Talaat Shabeeb, with demonstrators chanting anti-police slogans and demanding the dismissal of the head of the El-Awameya police station where the victim was being held.

The prosecutor-general has opened an investigation into the case and the forensic authority has been tasked with determining the cause of death.

On Thursday, Luxor’s prosecutor-general ordered the release of 24 people who were arrested on Wednesday night after demonstrators clashed with police outside El-Awameya police station over Shabeeb’s death.

There have been unconfirmed reports on Saturday that Luxor Security Directorate officers will stage a vigil later tonight to offer condolences to Shabeeb’s family.

Security officials had said on Wednesday that the 47-year-old Shabeeb, a father of four, was arrested at a local El-Awameya café for the illegal possession of prescription painkillers, and had later fallen ill before being taken to Luxor International Hospital where he died.

In a press statement released shortly after his death, the head of Luxor security Essam El-Hamali claimed that Shabeeb was a drug dealer and had a criminal record.

Shabeeb's family, however, claims that Shabeeb was in fact arrested over a personal dispute with a policeman, and not for drug possession.

The family denied that Shabeeb was a drug dealer, stating that he worked as a papyrus vendor at Luxor's ancient temples.

Shabeeb’s family also claims that Shabeeb died at the police station, not the hospital, half an hour after his arrest.

A video and photos of Shabeeb's dead body have been released online by his family, showing what the family says are signs he sustained beatings before he died.

Ahram Online could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

The family also released a copy of what they say is a hospital medical report stating that Shabeeb was already dead upon arriving at the hospital.

The assistant to the interior minister for media and public relations, Major General Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim, has repeatedly stated that if any policeman is found guilty of wrongdoing, they will be held accountable.

Some locals in Luxor, Upper Egypt, have set up a Facebook page titled "We are Talaat Shabeeb."

Shabeeb’s case is the third in Egypt involving allegations of police abuse over the past week, with the latest involving an Ismailiya policeman who is accused of torturing a man to death while he was in police custody.

On Thursday, another police officer was detained in Greater Cairo for four days pending an investigation into allegations of assault and abuse of power. The officer is being accused of assaulting a bus driver in the satellite city of 6 October over a traffic dispute, as well as conducting a false arrest and filing a false police report accusing the driver of illicit drug possession.

Torture is prohibited by Egypt's 2014 constitution, with Article 52 stating that "torture in all its forms is a crime without a statute of limitations."

However, local and international rights group have said that torture by security forces remains prevalent in Egypt.

Judge sentences democracy activst to 3 years in jail for Facebook questions

Buzzfeed 
Egyptian Democracy Activist Jailed For Accusing Judge Of Bias In Facebook Comments

 

Ahmed Douma was found to have “insulted the court” after he accused the judge of making anti-opposition comments on Facebook.

David Mack

December 9, 2014

One of the more prominent young democracy activists in Egypt, Ahmed Douma, was sentenced to three years in jail on Tuesday for contempt of court, multiple outlets have reported.

Douma, an activist aligned with Egypt’s secular and liberal democracy movement, was jailed for “insulting the court” after he accused Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata of bias against the opposition.

He questioned whether the judge was using a Facebook account to denounce opposition members, a popular theory among activists on social media.
 

The judge reportedly denied having an account, saying only people like Douma and “his friends” use the site, according to the English-language site Ahram Online.

The judge then found Douma to be in contempt of court, imposing the jail sentence and fining him almost $1,400. Douma responded by shouting, “Down, down, military rule!” from his court-room cage, according to Reuters.

 

Last month, Egypt’s lawyers union publicly criticized Judge Shehata for “disparaging” and “terrorizing” Douma’s defense team.

Douma had been on trial with more than 260 other defendants, accused of attacking a government building in December 2011.

He was a leading figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak, but also took part in later demonstrations against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, as well as the current role played by the military in Egypt.

In June, Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata also presided over the notorious trial in which three Al Jazeera journalists – an Australian, a Canadian, and an Egyptian – were jailed from seven to 10 years – on evidence widely denounced as ridiculous – for supposedly supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

Last week, Shehata sentenced 188 defendants to death for an alleged attack on a police station in 2013.

 

*Photo of Douma by Amr Dalsh, courtesy of Reuters

**Photo of Judge Nagy Shehata courtesy of Getty Images

 

TV host leads police raid on "Gay Bathhouse" - 26 jailed

Mada Masr

TV host works with police to raid Cairo bathhouse; dozens arrested on perversion charges

Monday - December 8, 2014 

Dozens of men were arrested on "perversion" charges in a bathhouse in downtown Cairo’s Ramses area on Sunday, according to broadcast journalist Mona Iraqi, who filmed the security raid.

Iraqi, a presenter on “Al-Mestakhabi” (The Hidden), an investigative journalism show that broadcasts on the privately owned channel Al-Qahera wal Nas, wrote on her Facebook page that she and her team had been investigating the bathhouse, alleging it was a “den of illegal gay sex workers.”

“Today is one of Al-Mestakhabi’s good days — we have to share with you a new and big victory for the program. Al-Mestakhabi managed to shut down a den of group sex for men, and they were all arrested red-handed,” she wrote.

“Success is great and achieving goals are greater,” she added.

Iraqi also posted photos showing dozens of almost-naked men being arrested in the public bathhouse, which she alleged was a popular site for both Egyptian and foreign gay men. She further accused the 60-year-old manager of running a sex ring.

Al-Mestakhabi reporters secretly infiltrated the bathhouse and filmed what Iraqi described as “gay sex parties,” as well as the owner’s “confessions.”

The owner of the bathhouse had kicked Iraqi and her team out of his establishment before security forces conducted the raid.

The first episode on the investigation was to be aired next week, but Iraqi claimed the broadcast would be postponed “to give police forces the chance to raid the bathhouse and arrest those involved.”

Human rights activists and social media users took to the Internet to lambaste Iraqi’s Facebook report, decrying the journalist’s cooperation with police forces as a flagrant violation of citizens’ personal rights.

Homosexuality is not a crime according to the Egyptian Penal Code, and furthermore, Iraqi did not prove any prostitution had occurred in the bathhouse, rights activist Sherif Azer wrote in response to Iraqi’s post.

Responding to the attacks, Iraqi claimed that the investigation was part of her program’s work on social groups that are most vulnerable to AIDS, as International AIDS Awareness Day was December 1.

“In case of public indecency, it has to be done in public. Is the bathhouse a public place? What are the accusations you presented to the prosecution so that they are arrested? If they [the detained men] are really patients of AIDS, they should be treated as patients not criminals and given proper medical support even if it is contagious. Do you accept seeing one of your family members who has a serious disease to be arrested naked by police?” Azer continued.

Others questioned Iraqi’s ethics and journalistic reputation given her cooperation with the police.

“The airing of the two-episodes investigation was adjourned for human, ethical and security reasons, and all the incident’s inside affairs shall be aired in a third episode. We did our work with the highest levels of professionalism and accuracy, and we urge the public not to judge the episodes positively or negatively before watching them,” Iraqi defended herself in a statement released on Monday.

But internet commentators continued to castigate the journalist, accusing her of heedlessly destroying the reputation of the arrested men — whose faces appeared in the photos she posted on her Facebook page — in her pursuit of fame.

US-based rights activist Scott Long blogged about the incident in his blog, the Paper Bird, and suggested the possibility of a government-sponsored campaign against gay rights.

“What’s clear is that another pro-Sisi media organ is working in close collusion with security forces, to produce a sensational show about sex with appalling and terrifying images, to invade privacy and engorge the prisons and destroy innocent people’s lives,” he wrote.

Long highlighted another recent incident in which eight men appearing in a video that allegedly portrayed a gay marriage ceremony were sentenced to three years in prison on charges of perversion.

“This message about ‘networks’ is a menacing constant. Egypt’s powers-that-be treat homosexuality and gender dissidence as political, and — like any kind of politics under an ever more constricting dictatorship — conspiratorial and sinister,” Long added.

 

*Photo from Facebook page of police-informer Mona Iraqi

 Read also:

Film festival fires TV reporter who led police arrests at 'gay bathhouse'

***

Police arrest & investigate student for atheist Facebook group

AhramOnline
Egypt security investigates student for forming 'atheist' Facebook group

Suez Canal University filed a complaint against a 20 year-old commerce student who started a Facebook group for atheists 

Monday, Oct. 28, 2013

National security officials in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia are conducting investigations into a university student who allegedly set-up a Facebook group calling for atheism.

Police arrested the 20-year old student of the Faculty of Commerce, Suez Canal University, following a report submitted by the university's administration saying he had formed a group for atheists on the social networking site.

The accused student appeared before the prosecution, who transferred him to national security for further investigation.

In December 2012, an Egyptian court sentenced activist Alber Saber to three years in jail for posting the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims on his Facebook page. He was released after paying bail.

Article 98 of Egypt's penal code says anyone convicted of offending religion in any form can face up to six years in prison.

Egypt: Do Not Return Asylum Seekers to Syria

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Egypt: Do Not Return Asylum Seekers to Syria 

Syrians Summarily Returned; Registered Asylum Seekers Denied Reentry

July 10, 2013

(New York) – Egypt should allow those fleeing Syria full access to the UN refugee agency to have their asylum claims properly examined, and should also allow Syrians already registered with the UN body to reenter the country after periods abroad, Human Rights Watch said today.

Without prior warning, on July 8, the Egyptian government changed its entry policy for Syrians arriving in Egypt by requiring them to obtain a visa and security clearance before arriving in the country. According to media reports, on the same day Egypt denied entry to 276 people arriving from Syria, including a plane with Syrian nationals on board, who were then flown back to the Syrian town of Latakia.

The new policy has also left several Syrians stranded in Alexandria’s international airport, including at least three people already registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt, who say the authorities plan to return them to the countries from which they arrived.

“Egypt may be going through tumultuous times, but it must not return anyone, including Syrians, to somewhere threatening their life or freedom,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While the Egyptian government can require foreign nationals to obtain visas before arriving in Egypt, it must properly protect them. Egypt should continue to allow those fleeing from Syria to lodge asylum claims with UNHCR and receive protection.”

To date, UNHCR in Egypt has registered, or is in the process of registering, some 90,000 asylum seekers from Syria.

On its official Facebook page, Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that a new visa policy had been implemented but said the decision was temporary, and a result of the current unrest in the country. According to one media account, airport officials also said that the new requirement followed reports that Syrians in Egypt were supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, and that some had participated in violent protests following President Mohamed Morsy’s removal from power.

Under international refugee and human rights law, the Egyptian government may not send anyone back to a place threatening their life or freedom, or where they risk inhuman or degrading treatment or torture. Before deporting anyone to Syria, Egypt should therefore guarantee all asylum seekers from Syria access to UNHCR which, under a 1954 agreement with Egypt, conducts refugee status determination procedures in the country.

Egypt should also guarantee the right of all Syrians already registered as asylum seekers in Egypt to freely move in and out of the country. Human Rights Watch said that refusing such people reentry into Egypt after travel abroad would expose them to the risk of getting stuck in limbo, with no country allowing them entry.

Two Syrians told Human Rights Watch that they’ve been trapped at Alexandria’s international airport since July 8, despite being registered as asylum seekers with UNHCR in Egypt.

One woman who spoke to Human Rights Watch explained that she’d been residing in Egypt with her family for nearly six months, but that she recently had to travel with her mother to renew their passports in Amman, Jordan. After renewing their passports, they returned to Egypt from Amman. But when they arrived at the airport in Alexandria on July 8, an airport official informed them they would not be allowed into the country because of the new visa rules – despite the fact that they are registered asylum seekers.

In addition to her fear of being separated from her family, including her three daughters and husband who reside in Alexandria, the woman told Human Rights Watch that she was concerned about her mother’s health. She said her mother suffers from diabetes and that she was running out of the medication she needs to manage her condition. According to the daughter, her mother requested to see a doctor in the airport, and while one was provided for her, he was not able to give her the medication she needs.

Under international human rights law, Egypt is obliged to protect the right to health of everyone within its territory, including ensuring, as a core minimum obligation, access to essential medication.

A Syrian man, who also told Human Rights Watch that he is registered as an asylum seeker with UNHCR in Egypt, was also being held in Alexandria airport. He said he came to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, where he works, to see his family members who have resided in Egypt for the past seven months. He said airport officials told him that he would not be allowed entry because of the new visa rules, and that he would be returned to Saudi Arabia.

“While Egypt is going through a very difficult period, it simply should not strand Syrians this way, especially those who have fled such a devastating conflict at home,” Houry said.

‘Don’t Pay Electric Bills’ Campaign Protests Blackouts

Al-Arabiya News

‘Don’t pay electricity bills!’ Egypt campaign protests blackouts

 

Saturday, 25 May 2013

 

Shounaz Mekky

 

 

Egyptians across the country are becoming increasingly frustrated with repeated electricity cuts in recent weeks, prompting campaigns urging consumers not to pay their bills until service is fully restored.

A Facebook campaign called “No service, No payment” urges users not to pay electricity bills. 

 

The page posted pictures of residents putting notes on their doors that read: “Dear electricity bill collector, kindly respect yourself and do not knock on this door. Take the expense of electricity – which we are not using – from those who are cutting it. Forewarned is forearmed.”

Group administrator, Hassan Nassar, told Al Arabiya English on Saturday that this is “a peaceful tool” to protest against the electricity ministry.

“We are not receiving the service, why should we pay for it?” he said, adding that power outages occur for 3-5 hours on a daily basis in several Cairo districts.

Nassar said that people living in el-Marg, a district in the north-east of Cairo, positively responded to the initiative.

In Egypt’s large industrial and agricultural city, el-Mahalla el-Kubra, a number of worshipers during Friday prayers used speakers to urge citizens not to pay electricity bills, a local newspaper said.

Leaflets distributed out to worshipers called on the city’s residents not to pay in protest against the continuous blackouts, the Youm7 newspaper reported.

Throughout the past days, Egyptian youth flooded Facebook and Twitter with their frustrations over the power cuts.

“The worst job you can have now in Egypt is to be an electricity bill collector,” wrote Twitter user @HanyAEllatif2h.

This week, a comical poster created by social media users urged the ministry of electricity to avoid a blackout on Friday night to ensure they are able to watch a weekly show hosted by Egypt’s popular satirist Bassem Yousef, as well as pan-Arab talent show Arab Idol.

But for many students trying to prepare for their exams, the issue was more serious.

“Every time I decide to study electricity blacks out; I don’t know if it’s my luck or somebody else’s stupidity,” said Twitter user @ahmedwida2h.

Port Said resident Shahinda Gharib, who is continuing a master degree in Family and Child Studies, told Al Arabiya English the blackouts are a major obstacle for students.

“Students lose concentration. With this hot weather and lack of light, I’m no longer motivated to study,” she said.

Blackouts tied to politics

The latest wave of electricity blackouts in Egypt has sparked public anger against President Mohammed Mursi’s government, which seems to be struggling with what turned to be a seasonal drawback in electricity supply.

“Is it possible for our genius government to tell us how many tons of meat got spoiled as a result of power outage?!! How many tons of medicine, especially insulin?? #Egypt #Mursi” said Twitter user Mostafa Dawood.

The electricity ministry apologized in an official statement last week for the nationwide power cuts, saying “fuel shortages have made it difficult for allocated generators to keep up with mounting consumption,” according to al-Ahram Online.

Coptic teacher to be tried for 'insulting Islam'

REUTERS 
Christian teacher to be tried in Egypt for insulting Islam

Tue May 14, 2013 

CAIRO | (Reuters) - Egypt's prosecutors on Tuesday referred a Christian schoolteacher to trial on charges of insulting Islam, judicial sources said.

Dimiana Abdel-Nour, who was arrested on Wednesday, was accused by her Muslim students' parents of insulting Islam and comparing it to Christianity by saying that the late Coptic Pope Shenouda was better than the Prophet Mohammad.

Alongside the political and economic turmoil Egypt has endured since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February 2011, tensions have risen between Muslims and Christians, especially since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in June.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 84 million people and have complained that the authorities have failed to protect them since Mubarak was ousted, giving radical Islamists a free hand.

Last year, an Egyptian court sentenced a 17-year-old Christian to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet, triggering sectarian violence.

At least three people were killed and more than 80 injured in clashes last month between Christians and Muslims at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo after a funeral service for four Christians killed in sectarian violence with Muslims.

Abdel-Nour will appear in a court in Luxor next Tuesday, a judicial source said. She was free on bail of 20 thousand Egyptian pounds ($2,900) pending her trial.

($1 = 6.9645 Egyptian pounds)


*Writing by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Alison Williams

Campaign to rid national IDs of religion

Daily News Egypt

My religion is “none of your business:” Campaigning against division

April 21, 2013  

Sarah El Masry 

Following sectarian strife that hit Egypt a few weeks ago, a group of young activists initiated the “none of your business” online campaign against division and sectarianism. The campaign is calling for concealing religious affiliation on national identity cards, stirring controversy and debate in different media outlets. Daily News Egypt speaks to the campaign’s organisers, supporters and opposition.

 
In the past few weeks, Egypt has witnessed sectarian confrontation in the village of Al-Khosous in Qaliubiya governorate that led to the death of seven deaths. The incident was followed by an attack on St Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral during the funeral of the Christian victims of Al-Khosous that left behind two dead and 14 wounded.

Egypt’s religious institutions, political parties, civil society organisations and activists condemned this new episode of sectarian violence. And like other sectarian clashes in the past, the incident has provoked debate about how to end sectarian tension once and for all.

My religion is “none of your business”

In an effort to take action against sectarianism, a group of youth and activists initiated an online campaign on Facebook that is calling for the concealing of religious affiliation on national identity cards. “None of your business” (“haga tekhosini” in Arabic) identifies itself as “a campaign against interference in citizens’ private lives by the state, and by other citizens.”

“The religion field in official documents serves no purpose. It is a reminder that the state’s handling of religion over the decades, its classification of citizens on religious lines has succeeded only in alienating them from each other and intensified Egypt’s sectarian problem, and we are seeing the results today,” reads the description of the “none of your business” campaign.

Aalam Wassef, one of the campaign’s organisers, produced a video for the campaign that is going viral over the video sharing website YouTube. As a result of the publicity, the campaign has attracted the attention of about 1,000 supporters in one week.

The supporters responded to the campaign’s Facebook page and Twitter account by posting photos of their identity cards with the religious affiliation covered up with messages such as “none of your business”, “guess”, and “human” in Arabic.

Mohamad Adam is one of the organisers of the campaign. He explains how the idea came into being. “We don’t claim by any means that we were the first to initiate such a call. Many before us called for the removal of the religion field from ID cards. However, after Sarah Carr (a British-Egyptian journalist and blogger) reported on the events of Al-Khosous, the cathedral and Maspero in 2011, she concealed religion on her ID. Then it started from there,” the organiser says.

Adam confirms that the recent sectarian clashes are what charged the campaign. “We first posted our own covered ID cards on our personal Facebook accounts. Then when it got popular with friends and colleagues, we decided to create a Facebook page, Twitter account and then finally the video,” says Adam.

He says the page received a barrage of criticism, explaining that any new idea in Egypt takes a little bit of time for people to accept. “We have been living under oppression for so long and people fear change, especially if this new step is related to religion,” he says.

“We couldn’t find any one who gave us reasonable justifications or the purpose of having your religion on your ID card,” he adds.

Previous attempts

As Adam notes, the “none of your business” campaign was not the first to call for the removal of the field of religion. In fact several activists and human rights groups called for it before and after the revolution.

One of them is Almaneyoun, or “Seculars”, movement. It is a movement that calls for secularising the state and society on a grassroots level. It was established in December 2011 and has recently organised a stand in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court in February under the slogan “one nation without discrimination: removing religion from identity cards.”

The movement has been accused of propagating atheism and secularism and attempting to strip Egypt of its Islamic identity. However, the movement is continuing its activities and planning for another demonstration on 27 April in Alexandria to continue applying pressure on the state.

Rasha Abdullah is a professor and the former chair of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at the American University in Cairo. She is among those who called for the removal of religious affiliation.

In 2007, she was among a team supervised by Cairo University to conduct a survey on citizenship. One of the questions of the survey asked about cancelling out religion from national identity cards. State Security, which was still active at the time, got involved and removed the question from the survey.

“This really infuriated me because if you’re conducting a survey on citizenship, that’s what you ask about. Ever since then, the question had been on my mind. In 2010, I established an online group on Facebook calling for the removal of religion from IDs,” says Abdullah.

The response to Abdullah’s group helped to attract a couple of hundred members.  Nevertheless, when she heard of the “none of your business” campaign, she communicated with the organisers to join the efforts of the two groups and expand its influence.

Abdullah saw the responses against the call and wonders: “Why would we need to have religious labels on our IDs? Is it for people to treat you in a certain way? Is it to favour you if you’re a Muslim?”

She adds: “There are infinitely other documents that people could refer back to if they wanted to know information about the religious affiliation of a person such as the birth certificate. But to carry something on a daily basis that states your religion allows discrimination.”

Abdullah believes that the time of the campaign is significant because “if we spread awareness and asked people why we need religion on our IDs, people will eventually realise that we don’t need it. The main goal here is to spread awareness at this point and get people to think about the issue; about why we need to carry a label saying ‘I’m Muslim or Christian’.”

A tool of discrimination and control

“It allows for establishing a national database for citizens… simplifies procedures…connects all sectors citizens deal with throughout his or her life… It facilitates extracting statistics such as the number of males and females, married, single or divorced individuals and coordinates with security authorities to arrest outlaws who are wanted by authorities.”

This is how the Ministry of Interior’s Civil Status Sector identifies the significance of national identity card and the purposes of different fields. However, no clause interprets or justifies why a field for religious affiliation is displayed.

Gamal Eid is a lawyer and the director of Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. He comments on how a person’s religion is not required information for any governmental papers or institutions.

“The removal of the religious affiliation from the ID has been a demand we pushed for long ago. The only purpose religion might be needed in official papers is when the matter has to do with marriage or inheritance. In these two cases, you can use your birth certificate and not the national ID card,” he explains.

Eid adds: “The religion field on IDs has been used by the state to brown nose Islamist religious groups since the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Al-Sadat. The state is always seeking to prove it is not against religion.”

Adam shares similar sentiments with Eid. He says: “Through national ID cards, the state collects information about its citizens (name, address, religion and marital status and so on). Why would religion be an important piece of info for the state, unless it would be used to discriminate one group against the other?”

Adam explains that the campaign received other suggestions, such as removing the job identification entry of IDs. He posits that those holding powerful jobs may be able to get away with breaking the law because of their perceived influence, whereas citizens of more modest means suffer the full force of a discriminatory police force.

Why keep religion on identity cards?

After the wide response the campaign acquired over one week, debates and discussion took place online.

BBC Arabic’s website held a poll asking readers if they agree to the removal of the religion field from the identity cards. About 1,921 individuals voted in the poll; 57% of them agreed with the removal while 43% disagreed.

However, the response from people on the streets of Cairo disagreed with the online voting. Speaking to seven individuals, their responses were as follows:

Nariman, a 46-year-old housewife, forcefully says: “This is our religion and we shouldn’t disown it in any way. I take pride in my religion; why should they remove it from my ID? Additionally, having it on my ID means nothing to other people. It won’t affect how I deal with others because in daily interactions we [Egyptians] don’t ask each other to show our IDs before talking. Since we were born our IDs had our religion. I think the youth wants this because they’ll manipulate it by pursuing each other while coming from different religious backgrounds.”

Fatma, who is 20 years younger, is a tour guide. She thinks it is crucial to have religion on identity cards. “What if some people deceived each other? What if a boy tells a girl he’s Muslim and makes her fall in love with him while he is Christian?” she asks.

Am Mahmoud, a janitor in his 50s, also thinks it is important to keep religion on ID cards. He assumes: “What if someone died all of a sudden and people needed to know about where to bury him in Christians’ tombs or Muslims’? What rituals should they follow? This will help as a quick means of identification then.”

Sherif, 30, a lawyer at a company, argues that legally having the religion on the ID can differentiate between people with similar names. “In some criminal cases, the tiniest differences can help identify the right suspect. Also, I do not think having religion affects relationships between citizens, rather it’s between the state and its citizens.

Until Egypt develops a good documentation system for of its citizens, having as much information on the ID as possible is useful from a legal aspect,” he asserts.

One dissenter who disagreed with this crowd was Marian, a 45-year-old housewife. She says: “No, it shouldn’t be there. Religion should be disentangled from politics. Having religion on IDs is related to the current tensions the country suffers from.”

Facing the waves of criticism

Similar responses echo these comments on the “none of your business” campaign. Adam, in response to them, thinks the campaign is not against the Islamic identity of Egypt nor religion in general.

He says: “At the time of Prophet Muhammed, the people did not have ID cards to prove they were Muslims. Also, faith is kept in the heart, we don’t want a label to be used to favour the majority over the minority and same thing goes for the minority. We do not want to use a piece of paper to receive privileges. We want everyone to be equal by the law and the state.”

He cites the example of Lebanon which removed the religion field from national identity cards in 2009. There, identity cards were associated to sectarian violence. Adam explains: “We saw in Lebanon how killings used to happen based on your religion if you’re Sunni or Shi’a Muslim or with any other religious affiliation you could be killed in the street. After removing the religion from ID, the situation got a bit better.”

“We need to learn from countries with no IDs for their citizens like the United Kingdom and neighbouring countries that faced similar sectarian issues like us,” he adds.

The “none of your business” campaign was launched without a long term plan. However, after receiving wide support across social media outlets, the campaign expects to apply more pressure and spread more awareness. According to Adam, the campaign is now planning to approach sheikhs of Al-Azhar, clerics from churches and political parties.

He says: “We are merely proposing an idea that will improve the status of citizenship in our country and make the state neutral towards its citizens. We are not imposing our will on the people, but we will continue to engage in discussions with those who disagree with us until we reach a conclusion.”

Egypt: Crackdown against media reaches new lows

Committee to Protect Journalists

In Egypt, crackdown against media reaches new lows

March 28, 2013

Sherif Mansour

The government of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continues to escalate its offensive against journalists. Details of the most recent case, in which an arrest warrant was issued for blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah for inciting "aggression" against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, show how low the government is willing to go in order to silence its critics.

Abdel Fattah went voluntarily Tuesday to the office of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah after hearing about the warrant against him in the media. What followed was a mockery. According to his testimony, the questions he received were all about comments by others posted on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, not about things he said or did.

There was no evidence, witnesses, or even a sign of prior investigation by police. Their focus was on a Twitter mention of his user name by another Twitterer, going by the handle Princess Joumana. The naïve members of the Muslim Brotherhood who filed the complaint against Abdel Fattah apparently thought the interaction on social media was a conspiracy involving a real princess--possibly from a hostile government such as that of the United Arab Emirates, where Brotherhood members are being put on trial.

Furthermore, according to Abdel Fattah, there was never a need to issue an arrest warrant, since he was never asked, and never declined, to appear in front of the authorities for investigation. Even more astonishing, the arrest order came only three days after the complaints were presented to the Prosecutor General, while many other complaints and requests for investigation--including into attacks by members of the Muslim Brotherhood--have not been carried out.

Why the rush to investigate a Twitter mention while turning a blind eye to assaults and other human rights violations by Muslim Brothers and Egyptian police which have been documented and shown on TV?

The answer is clear. When your adversary is also the judge, a Twitter mention can become evidence. In his testimony, Abdel Fattah said he denounced the investigation and sought an independent judge to run it instead of the prosecutor general.

The latter, in Abdel Fattah's view, is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, who initiated the complaint against him. Abdullah was appointed by Morsi in November in a power grab that resulted in a series of protests by the opposition and strikes within the judiciary.

Today, in fact, Egypt's Court of Appeals ruled that Morsi's sacking of Abdullah's predecessor was illegal and void, according to news reports, and the Egyptian Syndicate for Journalists announced that it would not cooperate with him.

Abdel Fattah is a well-known blogger who also refused to cooperate with a military court investigation against him last year for criticism of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which released him.

On Tuesday, hundreds of his friends, supporters, and volunteer lawyers accompanied him to the prosecutor general's office. The show of support forced prosecutors, once again, to release him without bail--but what happens to others in the Egyptian media who do not have his profile and support?

There are reports that the investigation against Abdel Fattah is one of dozens, and that other journalists critical of the Muslim Brotherhood will be next. Today, government newspaper Al-Ahram reported that Lamees al-Hadidy, Amro Adeeb, and Youssef al-Husseiny, who host three of the top talk shows on CBC, OnTV, and Orbit private TV channels, respectively, will be investigated for "violating journalist's ethics in order to incite sedition and chaos and threatening national peace."

Those in media are already coming under pressure from inflammatory, anti-press comments by Morsi and members of the Brotherhood, and now they can witness how the law is being abused and the justice system bent backwards in order to silence them.

As troubling as this is, it's perhaps more troubling that young activists who use social media to disseminate information and news about the Muslim Brotherhood are taking a direct hit. The government, in order to continue investigations and produce evidence, has decided to launch an Internet monitoring operation by those police who usually patrol the Internet for fraud and other online crimes.

There is a fear that this will be used to track activist down and violate their privacy. Today, local news reported that Essam Mohamed, a Facebook activist who runs an anti-Muslim Brotherhood page under a fake name, was arrested without charge in the industrial city of Mahalaa on a complaint to the public prosecutor that he, like Abdel Fattah, incited "aggression" against members of the Brotherhood.


*Photo by Mostafa Darwish, courtesy of the Associated Press

Sit-ins at Saudi embassy & consulate, protesters recount prison abuse

Egypt Independent

Protesters outside Saudi consulate recount prison abuse

Tues. Nov. 6, 2012 

Jano Charbel 

Families and friends of Egyptian detainees languishing in Saudi prisons launched an open-ended sit-in outside the kingdom’s embassy in Giza and its consulate in Alexandria on Monday.

In Giza, dozens of family members, friends and activists are protesting on the sidewalk just across the street from the Saudi Embassy, demanding the trial or release of 31 Egyptians who are being detained incommunicado in the Gulf monarchy’s prisons.

Protesters gave horrific accounts of corporal punishment, torture, physical and psychological abuse in a number of prisons across Saudi Arabia.

The campaign, organized by the League of Families of Prisoners in Saudi Arabia, is the latest attempt to pressure Saudi and Egyptian authorities into respecting the rights of these detainees to due process, a fair trial and humane prison conditions.

The league’s origins date back to 2010, when family and friends of detainees began to network with each other. According to rights activist and campaign organizer Shereen Farid, the gathering is its 60th rally, and fourth sit-in outside the Saudi Embassy.

“Many of us are willing to escalate this sit-in protest into a hunger strike if our demands are not met,” Farid adds.  

She points to Article 144 of the Saudi Penal Code, which she says stipulates a maximum of six months imprisonment for suspects without legal charges; beyond this limit, detainees must either be charged or released.

“However, these 31 detainees have been held in prisons for periods ranging from three and a half years to 19 years — without charges or trials,” says Farid. “The most basic rights of Egyptians are violated both here and abroad. However, Saudi Arabia is at the forefront of states which systematically violate the rights of Egyptian expatriates.”

The campaign organizer explained that the league had resorted to protesting outside the embassy and consulate numerous times, along with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the Cabinet and Parliament, to resolve their grievances. However, these desperate attempts yielded no actual results.

“Our league has filed more than 20 requests and appeals to meet with President [Mohamed] Morsy or his staff in the hopes of gaining their intercession, or at least having them hear our pleas, all to no avail,” Farid says.

In a statement seen exclusively by Egypt Independent, Nagla Wafa, an Egyptian professional languishing in Malaz Prison in Riyadh since September 2009, wrote: “I am being destroyed physically and morally.”

After more than 20 months in detention without charge, in June 2011, Wafa was sentenced to five years in prison and 500 lashes She has already received 400 lashes, 50 lashes at a time.

Wafa who was caught up in a professional dispute with a Saudi princess, reiterated her innocence in her latest statement. Addressing the Morsy regime, she asked: “Does Egypt have no dignity? I am asking only for a just trial.”

Addressing her Saudi captors she asked: “What is the real reason behind my imprisonment here? I demand a clear and honest explanation, not baseless charges.”

Sitting on a carpet placed over the sidewalk, Om Mohamed, a mother of one of the detainees, shouts, “Morsy values the loans from Saudi Arabia more than he values the lives of our children! He’s afraid to stand up to the Saudi ruling family, even if it is to defend the lives of his fellow citizens, innocent souls. We don’t care about money or wealth, we only want our children back. Shame on these Arab rulers!”

On the sidewalk men, women and children sit, sleep, chat, sip tea and eat. Banners and posters bearing the photos of detainees were hung along a fence behind them. Just across the street a line of soldiers in camouflage suits bearing machine guns stand guard over the embassy, while another line of black-clad riot-police, bearing shields and clubs, are deployed in front of them.

Uniformed police officers, together with plain-clothed policemen holding walkie-talkies, step onto the sidewalk in an attempt to persuade the protesters to pack-up and leave. The police officer explains, “We won’t be here at night time, so we can’t guarantee your protection from trouble makers.”

“We can protect ourselves!” a male protester shouts in response.

Protester Hesham Ezz Eddin says that prison police in Saudi Arabia nearly debilitated his hand from “relentless beatings.”

“Arab rulers still think they can resolve any problem through their security forces,” he says. Sporting an Islamist-style beard and trimmed mustache, Ezz Eddin displayed his right hand, which bears numerous scars and stitch marks.

Ezz Eddin explained that he had worked in the holy city of Medina for over 12 years. His wife and three children moved to Saudi Arabia to reside with him, but his experience in prison tore his family apart. Ezz Eddin was arrested in 2008 and was imprisoned for two and a half years — without official charges — before being deported.

“Until this day I don’t know why I was arrested,” says Ezz Eddin. “My interrogators accused me of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, and contacting subversive elements in the kingdom, along with other fabricated accusations, but the prosecution never leveled official charges against me.”

Ezz Eddin claims that he was held in solitary confinement for the first two and a half months. Prison police then began physically torturing him — whipping him with hoses and beating him with clubs while blind-folded and bound by his hands and feet.

“Their intent was not only torture, but also humiliation,” says Ezz Eddin. “They told me: ‘You are being beaten like a donkey. We are beating you to humiliate you, this is what you want’ and ‘Egyptians here are worth only 20 Riyals, the cost of a burial shroud.’”

Ezz Eddin claims that an officer psychologically tortured him by telling him he was going to be beheaded. “I believed him, and was actually preparing myself to face my execution.”

The bearded man explains that he developed psychological illnesses months later upon learning that police had arrested his wife and children.

Ezz Eddin’s three children, aged 3 to 7 at the time, and his wife were locked up in a detention center for one month, after which they were deported. Ezz Eddin was deported about one year later, after forfeiting his small grocery shop, money and car.

“These difficult tribulations, along with my mental condition,” led Ezz Eddin’s wife to file for a divorce a few months after his return to Egypt.

In another case, the Egyptian agricultural worker Yasser Abdallah has been locked up for three years in Saudi Arabia’s Abha Prison without charge or trial. Saleh and Salah — Abdallah’s two brothers — along with his wife and infant son traveled from the Upper Egyptian governorate of Assiut to join the protest outside the Saudi Embassy.

“There are no official charges against Yasser, only false accusations made-up by police there,” Salah says. Yasser’s brothers explain that he is being held in solitary confinement and is only allowed to contact his family members “once every six months or so.”

Yasser’s wife, holding their 3-year-old son, Maged, says, “He frequently asks me, ‘Where is Baba? When is he coming back? When can we see him?’ He’s too young to understand.” The mother explains that Yasser never saw his son, as he was imprisoned when Maged was still in her womb.

Also being held incommunicado in Abha Prison for the past three years is Mostafa al-Baradei. His mother claims that Baradei has “lost much of his vision due to torture and being locked up in solitary confinement in a small cell with no light, cooling or heating.”

As for Ibrahim Emeira, he has reportedly been detained in Riyadh’s Kharg Prison for the past seven years, “although he served and finished his sentence three years ago,” according to his elderly mother.

Emeira was charged with stealing a safe full of money and put on trial. Yet an appeal hearing proved Emeira’s innocence by producing DNA samples at the scene of the crime. Emeira was due to be released in 2009, yet remains in prison.

Egyptians are not the only foreign victims of unlawful detention within Saudi Arabia’s prisons. There are countless number of others — primarily from African and Asian countries — who are being held without charge or trial.

More Egyptian atheists struggle to assert identity

Egypt Independent

The unbelievers: Post-Alber Saber, more atheists struggle to assert their identity

Sun, 28/10/2012

Jano Charbel & Sherif Zaazaa

Five male members of an atheist group congregate in one of Cairo’s crowded downtown bars, sipping beer and Pepsi as they discuss their thoughts on religion, sex, science, culture, politics and Egypt’s new ruling regime.

This group — centered on an atheist website — has been holding weekly meetings since Mohamed Morsy won the presidential election on 24 June. It consists of both former Muslims and former Christians.

Mohamed, the group’s founder, says the group holds weekly get-togethers “as a forum where we can openly speak our minds.” Like the other atheists quoted in this story, his full name has not been used for his own security.

Group members say they do not seek to proselytize for their beliefs. “We are not a church, nor a religion,” one says.

Discussing the ongoing trial of Egyptian atheist Alber Saber on charges of blasphemy, in light of his Facebook posts, the same participant comments that this trial “makes me worried, and has made me think twice before posting my thoughts on Facebook.”

Discussing atheism or criticizing religion in Egypt has typically been done in closed circles like these.

Several Facebook groups about atheism have been “voluntarily” shut down over the past few weeks, and most atheists appear to be keeping a low profile since Saber’s arrest last month. On the other hand, other atheists have been coming out of the closet and expressing their beliefs — or disbelief — as openly as possible.

COMING OUT

The Internet has connected many non-believers together, introducing them to a virtual community that shares many of their outlooks.

The widespread taboo of “thou shall not question” was gradually weakened with the advent of forums, blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and credible research online.

Before the pervasive expansion of social networks in the region, the most prominent blog among non-believers was the Network of Arab Atheists, created in March 2006, Shady, another non-believer, explains.

Though it has been hacked many times, the site acted as a portal for many atheists in Egypt and the region. However, anonymity remained the norm for most members.

Since then, the number of Arab atheist groups, blogs and forums has been dramatically increasing.

Most sites haven’t been set up to promote atheism, as Mohamed explains, but rather as forums for like-minded people to share their thoughts.

He says there’s been a massive increase in new members since the revolution. “The numbers went up dramatically, more than tenfold; it’s as if people were waiting for that space of freedom to express themselves openly.”

Offline meetings are regularly organized through his group, although the locations are never publicly advertised.

What is possible or permissible — in terms of atheists’ freedom of expression — is determined not only by Egypt’s criminal law, but also by law enforcement officials and popular religious sentiment.

THE 'A' WORD

In Egypt, atheists represent a small segment of the population that refuses to adhere to religious doctrines. This tendency has been more or less tolerated, as long as atheists keep their beliefs to themselves.

On the other hand, disseminating atheistic views can be viewed as blasphemy, denigration, defamation or contempt of religion — all crimes punishable by law.

Mob violence, as in the case of Saber, is also a threat that some atheists fear.

The state “does not recognize atheism, as a belief or religion, by law,” says Sherif Azer of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

Egyptians can’t put “atheist’ on their national ID cards in the space allocated for religion, Azer explains. They must choose from three religions: Islam, Christianity or Judaism.

One atheist, Ahmed, says atheism “is not a religion, it is the lack of religion. I do not want it written on my ID. I don’t want to have any beliefs written on anyone’s ID.”

He explains that, given the conservative nature of society, most other Egyptian atheists would probably be unwilling to have “atheist” written on their ID cards, out of fear of discriminatory treatment or abuse at the hands of officials and employers.

According to the Penal Code, there are three articles criminalizing such affronts.

Article 98(e) stipulates that “the contempt of heavenly religions” by written, oral or any other means is punishable by six months to five years in prison, and/or fines of LE500 to LE1,000.

According to Article 160, the desecration of religious symbols is punishable by imprisonment of up to five years, and/or fines of LE100 to LE500.

Article 161 stipulates that mocking a religion or religious rite in public is a crime carrying the same penalties as Article 160.

Azer says the willingness to tolerate or criminalize atheism is still being tested under President Mohamed Morsy.

“The Morsy government isn’t clearly against or with these freedoms. We still have the same laws and same mentalities as before,” he says.

PERSECUTE, MUTE, MAYBE EXECUTE?

While it might be tolerated to one extent or another, atheism is not welcome among religious societies in Egypt. Families can go as far as disowning their own relatives, friends might turn away, and, in more conservative communities, the reactions to atheism and/or atheists can be calamitous.

Neveen, at 27, is a graduate of biology school who lost her faith in religion years ago. Egypt Independent sat in on an informal discussion with her and several of her friends who share a similar understanding of the world.

Their stories of growing up in a country saturated with religious beliefs reveal intolerance to any mindset that deviates from the “God-sent” norms.

“Why are we hated for the way our minds are wired?” she exclaims despondently, sitting with a few friends who share her beliefs. “Why are we scorned, looked down upon and persecuted for our personal logic?”

She recalls being grounded for questioning a verse in the Quran that conflicted with what she had learned in biology about the stages of fetal development. The incident propelled her yearning for knowledge and her choice of career.

Her friend Mohamed says he has been living a secret life, hiding his atheism from his parents since the age of 19, pretending to fast and pray when he’s called to.

“I put my head down and act the way they do. I know they’ll never understand,” he explains in a somber tone.

Conversely, Shady is a non-religious agnostic whose lack of participation in religious traditions like fasting and praying constantly raises the question of “Why?” — a question he refuses to answer for fear of prejudice.

A lack of Abrahamic belief is often associated with an absence of morals. “Many believe the stick-and- carrot dogma of religion is what creates human ethics,” Shady explains.

He then recalls how a Salafi coworker responded to a mention of atheists with “Killing them would not suffice.”

Yet a few atheists also express haughty and judgmental outlooks on their religious counterparts.
For example, Mido says, “I personally see religious people as being mentally ill. I could still love them and befriend them, but I do feel superior to them, to be honest.”

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?

Abdel Aziz, an atheist and advocate for freedom of thought, left Egypt for South Africa after failing to find any common ground with the culture he was raised in. Although his family had accepted his way of life, he couldn’t deal with a society that treated him like an outcast.

He recalls the day when he attempted to change the religion slot on his national ID from Muslim to vacant, which ended in a contentious, fruitless argument on both sides.

Ahmed has a different opinion regarding Egyptian mentalities toward atheists.

“I think [atheism] has already been spreading among the community, especially over the last decade,” Ahmed says.

He thinks that “more people will come to question the fundamentals of [religion].”

As for Mido, who has more recently ‘come out’ of the atheist closet, he believes that the ideas are spreading.

“But I don’t see it taking over religion, especially not in Egypt ... perhaps in several hundred years,” he says.

*Art by Mohamed Qandeel

*This piece was originally published in Egypt Independent's weekly print edition.

Egypt: Release man on trial for criticizing religions

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Egypt must release man on trial for criticizing religion 

16 October 2012

A man facing trial for publishing videos critical of religions should be immediately released by the Egyptian authorities and all charges against him dropped, Amnesty International said today.

Alber Saber Ayad, an activist from the 2011 uprising, is charged with "defamation of religion". If convicted he could receive a six-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 Egyptian Pounds (US$82). His trial resumes on Wednesday before a Cairo misdemeanour court.

"Alber Saber Ayad is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and should be released immediately and unconditionally," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"Criticism of religions and other beliefs and ideas is a vital component of the right to freedom of expression. Laws – such as blasphemy laws – that criminalize such criticism violate human rights.

"Criticism, insult or mockery does not interfere with the individual believer’s freedom of religion, however offensive they may find it."

Alber Saber Ayad told his lawyers that while in detention, a police officer in El Marg Prison incited other detainees to attack him.

The detainees beat Alber Saber Ayad and cut him with a razor blade along his neck. He was then taken to another room where he was beaten by 20 prisoners and forced to remain standing all night.

His lawyers fear for his safety in prison and outside if released. They also fear for the safety of his mother and sister who have been threatened and forced to leave their home which was surrounded by angry mobs.

Ahmed Ezzat, Alber Saber Ayad’s defence lawyer and legal unit director at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, said: “I am concerned by the attitude of a religious judge who cannot separate his personal views from the legal safeguards for defendants”.

"The Egyptian authorities must complete a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into Alber Saber Ayad’s treatment while in detention and bring those responsible to justice. They must also ensure that he and his family are protected from further harassment and threats," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Alber Saber Ayad was arrested at his home in Cairo on 13 September, a day after angry groups of men had surrounded and tried to break into his house and called for his death, accusing him of heresy and atheism and of promoting “Innocence of Muslims” – a short film regarded by many to be offensive.

His mother called the police for protection but when they eventually arrived the next day they arrested Alber Saber Ayad and confiscated his personal computer and CDs.

Alber Saber Ayad's mother, Kariman Masihah Ghali said that the Public Prosecutor in charge of the investigation had put pressure on her about her own faith asking whether she was a Christian and what she thought of Christianity and of Islam. When she replied that she would be judged by god on these questions he ordered it be recorded that she had refused to give an answer.

Alber Saber Ayad has been charged with “defamation of Islam and Christianity”, “insulting the divine” and “satirizing religious rituals and sanctities and prophets” under articles 98 (f), 160 and 161 of the Egyptian Penal Code.

"Many others in Egypt like Alber Saber Ayad are being prosecuted for blasphemy. These cases set a dangerous precedent for the Egyptian authorities' tolerance of freedom of expression in the country," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

"Action must be taken now to stop the detention of more prisoners of conscience. The authorities must abolish the 'blasphemy' provisions in Egyptian law which are increasingly being used to suppress legitimate freedom of expression."