Microbus drivers launch strike after police kills co-worker

Mada Masr
Maadi microbus drivers launch strike after police fatally shoot colleague

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Mohamed Hamama

Scores of microbus drivers began striking in Cairo’s Maadi district early Monday morning in protest over the fatal shooting of a fellow driver by police earlier in the day.

The strike left throngs of commuters stranded in several parts of Maadi, particularly Al-Arab and Street Seven neighborhoods.

A driver participating in the strike, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Mada Masr that the microbus driver was killed after a minor collision with a police vehicle under a bridge on the ring road in Maadi’s Saqr Qureish neighborhood. They quarreled, and then the officer took out his weapon and shot the microbus driver in the head, his colleague reported.

The Ministry of Interior presented a slightly different account of the event in a statement on Monday, asserting that a member of the Basateen Police Station, who had been called to resolve the quarrel, accidentally killed the driver. Upon arriving at the scene, he reportedly responded by "firing a warning shot in the air from the gun in his possession, which resulted in the accidental death of the driver."

Another striking driver, also speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the deceased driver as a 20-year-old from Beni Suef, known by the nickname “Gamal Julia.” The Ministry of Interior’s statement identified him as “Gamal,” with the initials “N.T.” Other striking drivers stated that their deceased colleague had been married for just under a month.

Despite the microbus strike, taxis and public buses continued to operate on Monday, prompting several drivers to form roadblocks to impede traffic. In some instances, striking drivers threatened other drivers who were not taking part in the collective action.

The fatality in Maadi is the latest in a string of similar incidents in which police have killed unarmed civilians in recent months.

Demonstrators took to the streets of Cairo’s Darb al-Ahmar in February, following the fatal shooting of a civilian by a police officer, leading to clashes between angry residents and police forces in the heavily populated district.

In April, a tea vendor was shot and killed by a police officer outside Rehab City in New Cairo. The officer reportedly opened fire on the vendor following an argument over the price of a tea. Two passersby were reportedly also injured in the shooting, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.

According to the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence of Violence and Torture’s July report, 40 people across the country have died as a result of police brutality this year.

In mid-August, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi introduced amendments to provisions of the police authority law, after Parliament approved the legislation earlier in the month. The amendments impose greater restrictions on the police's use of force and firearms in incidents which do not warrant such a response.

The amendments also mandated that police personnel should not be in constant possession of state-issued firearms, stipulating that they submit their weapons to storage facilities designated by their presiding officers at the conclusion of each shift, except in cases where a presiding officer or authority judges that it is necessary to maintain possession.

The privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported that the Ministry of Interior had moved to keep more than 90 percent of low-ranking police officers from constantly possessing state-issued firearms. According to sources from the Interior Ministry, only a few exceptions have been made to the new regulation — for members actively serving police investigation units and to ensure the security of police directorates, departments and stations.

*Translated by Jano Charbel

Slaughtered & skinned, carcasses of 250 donkeys hazardously dumped without burial in Sohag

Mada Masr
250 skinned donkeys dumped without burial in Sohag

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Officials in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag are conducting investigations to identify those involved in dumping the carcasses of 250 skinned donkeys disposed of on a desert road near the town of Akhmim.

Local media outlets reported that investigations began on Monday, following the discovery of the donkeys the previous day. Graphic photos circulating on social media revealed how the animals were dumped in the open, after being slaughtered and skinned for their hides, which are increasingly being marketed as cattle leather and sold at marked-up prices in domestic markets.

The 250 carcasses were found in one concentrated area along a small desert road near the village of Kola without a safe or hygienic burial, in close proximity to agricultural and residential areas.

Sohag Governor Ayman Abdel Moneim has mobilized a team of veterinarians and environmental specialists from the governorate to safely dispose of the decomposing bodies at a safe distance away from any inhabited areas, reported the privately owned Youm7 news portal.  

The veterinarians noted that the donkeys had not been slaughtered for their meat, but had only been skinned for their hides, a recurring phenomenon in Egypt.

Less than one month ago, three men in Old Cairo were jailed after being apprehended in a tannery with the carcasses of four donkeys. Another three donkeys were found alive in the tannery.

The men reportedly confessed to selling the donkey hides for substantially marked-up prices at local leather shops and tanneries, which market them as being leather from cattle. Jailed pending investigations, they added that they were not slaughtering or selling the donkeys for their meat.

An unnamed veterinarian from the Ministry of Agriculture told local media outlets last month that the average price of an adult donkey may exceed LE200, yet some farmers and vendors of donkeys – who have traditionally supplied local zoos and circuses, to feed lions and tigers – are currently demanding nearly 10 times that price per animal.

He pointed out the sale of donkey hides is far more profitable than the sale of their meat, particularly amid market indicators of a growing overseas demand for donkey hides. Among the countries with the largest demand for donkey hides is China, where they are increasingly used to manufacture gelatin, glue and medicines.

Sisi regime undermines anti-corruption efforts

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Egypt: Prosecution Undermines Anti-Corruption Efforts

Exposing Graft Cost Official His Job, Led to Charges

August 9, 2016 

Egyptian prosecutors should drop a case against the country’s former chief corruption auditor that violates the right to free speech and harms efforts to combat corruption.

A Cairo court for minor offenses convicted Hisham Geneina of disseminating false information and gave him a suspended one-year sentence on July 28, 2016.

Geneina is appealing the verdict but had to pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$2,252) and 10,000 (US$1,126) for bail. Geneina’s defense said that the charges against him were based on a misquoted statement to the media about the cost of corruption.

“The abuse of free speech in Egypt has heightened to the point of turning a misunderstanding into criminal charges punishable by prison,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “This escalation can have a dangerous chilling effect, especially on officials responsible for reporting corruption.”

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi set a precedent by removing Geneina as head of the Central Auditing Organization, a key financial watchdog, in March, after Geneina made several statements to the media asserting that state institutions and prosecutors were ignoring or stymying action on his reports of corruption. Geneina was the only remaining senior official from the administration of President Mohamed Morsy, who was removed in a July 2013 coup led by then-Defense Minister al-Sisi.

Geneina has repeatedly alleged endemic government corruption and said that the country’s prosecutor general was not investigating many of his hundreds of corruption reports, including against the Interior Ministry. In December 2015, the independent newspaper al-Youm al-Sabaa quoted Geneina as saying that corruption had cost Egypt more than 600 billion pounds (US$67.6 billion) that year.

A few days later, Geneina issued a statement clarifying that the figure represented money lost due to corruption between 2012 and 2015, not just in 2015, and his office issued a 350-page report about corruption. But a committee formed by al-Sisi to investigate the claim accused Geneina of “defamation of state apparatuses,” and some members of parliament called for investigating him.

Independent reviews of Geneina’s report by economic journalists and researchers found that despite methodological weaknesses, it did not exaggerate the cost of graft and may have underestimated it.

On March 28, al-Sisi fired Geneina and replaced him with Hisham Badawi, his recently appointed deputy and a former senior member of the Supreme State Security Prosecution who, according to media reports, had investigated corruption cases against former President Hosni Mubarak and several business tycoons, most of which ended with their acquittal.

On May 17, Geneina’s lawyers filed suit at the Administrative Court to contest his dismissal, saying it was unconstitutional and unlawful. They also claimed he was fired after pro-government TV anchors systematically targeted him. A court postponed a hearing on the lawsuit until September 5.

On June 2, the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred Geneina to trial before the New Cairo Minor Offenses Court on charges of disseminating false news that harmed the national interest.

Geneina called the case retaliation for speaking out and challenging his dismissal and refused to pay a 10,000-pound (US$118) bail to avoid pretrial detention. He was detained briefly before his family paid the bail.

On June 28, Geneina’s defense team asked the court to suspend his trial until a verdict was reached in a separate lawsuit Geneina had filed against al-Youm al-Sabaa for misquoting him, since the outcome could affect the charges against him, but the court released its verdict as planned on July 28. The judge imposed the maximum sentence under Article 188 of the penal code for disseminating false news.

By law, Egypt’s president appoints the head of the Central Auditing Organization and other independent agencies but cannot fire them before their term ends. But in July 2015, in the absence of a parliament, al-Sisi issued Decree 89 of 2015, granting himself the authority to dismiss agency heads in certain cases, including if they pose a threat to national security, fail to perform their duties, or lose trust.

According to various studies by economic researchers, Egyptian government corruption is widespread and was one of the main drivers of the 2011 uprising. World Bank research found that firms with political connections to the Mubarak government enjoyed policy privileges that not only made them more profitable, but also suppressed aggregate economic growth and catalyzed unemployment.

One study by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a prominent local human rights group, found that Egypt lost US$10 billion in gas revenues between 2005 and 2011 as a result of corrupt contracts that allowed gas to be sold abroad for below-market prices. Egypt subsequently faced a drastic energy shortage that has caused daily blackouts in parts of the country, interrupting the lives and work of millions of Egyptians, including at vital facilities such as hospitals.


After Mubarak’s ouster, prosecutors charged many of his high-level officials with corruption offenses, though few have been convicted. Mubarak’s interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was acquitted in corruption cases that could have led to 45 years in prison, though he was convicted and served a three-year sentence for forcing Interior Ministry conscripts to work for him and his family without pay. In May 2016, an aide to Egypt’s health minister was arrested after allegedly receiving bribes worth 4.5 million pounds (US$507,000) from a medical device company.

The charges against Geneina violate international human rights laws that protect free speech. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt is a party, guarantees freedom of expression and opinion. Limitations are only permissible when they are stated clearly by law and necessary for the protection of the rights or reputation of others, or the protection of national security, public order, public health or morals.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the ICCPR, has stressed that freedom of expression “is a necessary condition for the realization of the principles of transparency and accountability that are, in turn, essential for the promotion and protection of human rights.”

The firing and prosecution of Geneina raise concerns about government attempts to undermine the independence and efficacy of anti-corruption bodies. The Egyptian government should uphold its obligation to foster the autonomy of investigating authorities under its 2005 ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

As the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights asserts, “corruption is an enormous obstacle to the realization of all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural, as well as the right to development.”

Transparency International, which ranks Egypt 88^th out of 168 countries in terms of corruption, found that bribery is also pervasive both within Egypt and the entire Middle East and North Africa region. It stated that nearly one out of three citizens who try to obtain basic services in the region must resort to paying bribes, which clearly violates the principles of nondiscrimination and equal access embodied in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which Egypt ratified in 1982.

Another study by Transparency International found that two out of three Egyptians believe the parliament, media, judiciary, police, and education system to be corrupt, with more than 80 percent believing that corruption either stayed the same or increased following the 2011 uprising.

“If Sisi is serious about fighting corruption within Egypt, as he has said time and again, he should empower the regulatory agencies charged with investigating graft instead of single-handedly weakening the autonomy they depend on,” Houry said. “Protecting the independence of anti-corruption organizations and their officials protects the freedoms and rights of Egyptians.”

*Photo courtesy of AFP/Getty Images

Outpouring of solidarity with civilian workers from Alexandria Shipyard on military trial

Mada Masr

Petitions support Alexandria shipyard workers standing military trial

August 2, 2016

Jano Charbel 

More than 500 individuals and civil society groups signed petitions in solidarity with 26 civilian workers from Alexandria Shipyard Company who are currently standing trial before a military court.

The case has been ongoing since June 18. The workers, half of whom are being tried in absentia, face charges of instigating strikes and obstructing operations at the company. They deny the charges, claiming they weren’t involved in any strike action but staged a sit-in that did not halt production.

Military prosecutors have charged the workers with violating Article 124 of Egypt’s Penal Code, which stipulates penalties of three months to one year imprisonment and/or fines of up to LE500 for civil servants who deliberately refrain from performing their duties at work.

A verdict in the ongoing case was due to be issued on August 2, but was postponed to August 16.

During the sit-in, staged on May 22 and 23, workers demanded the payment of the national minimum wage (LE1,200 per month), overdue profit-shares, annual Ramadan bonuses, health insurance coverage and the dismissal of the company’s chief administrator, as well as the re-operation of the shipyard’s stalled production lines.

Despite the non-violent nature of their sit-in, military police were deployed to the Shipyard Company, where security forces have prevented nearly 2,500 shipyard workers from entering the premises since May 24, bringing almost all production to a halt.

Military conscripts were deployed to temporarily replace some of the civilian workers at the company, according to lawyer Mohamed Awad, who added that the lockdown is still being enforced despite promises the company would be operational again by August 1.

The company’s nearly 2,500 excluded workers, who are not on trial, have been paid their basic wages, but not the bonuses that usually supplement their incomes, as they didn’t work during the 70-day lockdown, according to Awad. These wages amount to less than the minimum wage.

One online petition, signed by over 330 individuals, calls on Egyptian authorities to end the use of military trials to punish civilian workers for standing up for their rights. The petition adds that Alexandria Military Court should “immediately halt this illegal persecution.”

Another email-based petition, circulated by labor activists, was signed by over 200 people and endorsed by 13 political groups. 

The petition cites Article 204 of Egypt’s 2014 Constitution, which stipulates, “Civilians shall not stand trial before military courts except for crimes that constitute a direct assault on military institutions, the Armed Forces, its camps or any other body under its jurisdiction… including military factories.”

The 13 groups who signed the petition include: The Bread and Freedom Party, the Karama Party, the Strong Egypt Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the National Partnership Current, the Popular Current, the Liberties Committee of the Journalists Syndicate, the Revolutionary Socialists, Youth for Justice and Freedom, the April 6 Youth Movement’s Democratic Front, Toward a Just Labor Law campaign, Workers' Struggle Current, and the Independent General Union for Tourism Workers.

“Neither workers nor other civilians should stand trial before military courts, or any other form of exceptional courts,” the petition stated.

These petitions were preceded by a solidarity conference in Cairo on June 27, titled: Against Military Trials of Workers, which demanded that all charges be dropped and the case be referred to a civilian court.

Some parliamentarians also issued their own statements criticizing the trial, the latest in a number of military trials against civilian workers.

“Egypt is a state, not a military barracks,” Member of Parliament Haitham al-Hariry says, asserting that the trial “aims to intimidate and threaten workers,” and “Civilians should not stand trial before military courts, even if they are working under military administration.”

Officials from the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) have, however, issued statements supporting the military trial.

ETUF Vice President, Magdy al-Badawy told media outlets in late July that the trial of civilian workers before a military court is regular procedure. Badawy added that, since the company is administered by the Defense Ministry, its workers should be subject to the provisions of military laws.

Alexandria Shipyard Company was established as a state-owned enterprise in the 1960s, and has been owned and operated by Egypt’s Defense Ministry since 2007.

At least 18,000 civilians have stood trial before military tribunals since the popular uprising of January 25, 2011, according to rights activists.

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*Alexandria Shipyard workers to remain in jail until 18 September

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*Photo courtesy of ECESR.org