Egypt authorities refuse presence of Italy prosecutors during questioning of police who probed Giulio Regeni

ANSA News

Egypt No to Italy Regeni prosecutors 

Slain researchers' parents meet Pignatone

Friday, 16 June 2017

(ANSA) - Rome  - Egyptian authorities have turned down a request from Rome prosecutors probing the Cairo torture and murder of Giulio Regeni to be present at the questioning of Egyptian police officers who carried out investigations into the Friuli-born Cambridge University researcher.   

They said Egyptian law forbids the presence of foreign magistrates during judicial activity. Regeni's parents Claudio and Paola were informed of the refusal during a meeting Friday with Rome chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone and his assistant Sergio Colaiocco.  

Cairo prosecutors have, however, sent their Italian counterparts a second report on testimony from the seven policemen who probed Regeni, who disappeared on January 25 2016 and whose mutilated body was found on the road to Alexandria eight days later.   

The testimony is a summary of what the agents said and not their testimony in full, judicial sources said.   

Italian magistrates are hoping for a third tranche of documents, starting with questioning of the national security chief who investigated Regeni a few days before his disappearance, as well as testimony given in March 2016 by the agent who searched the home of the alleged head of a kidnapping gang suspected of abducting and robbing foreigners.

Regeni, 28, went missing in the Egyptian capital on January 25, 2016, on the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman and president Hosni Mubarak.

His severely tortured, mutilated body was found on February 3 in a ditch on the city's outskirts.   

Egypt has denied speculation its security forces, who are frequently accused of brutally repressing opposition, were involved in the death of the Cambridge doctoral student.

Regeni was researching street vendors' trade unions, a sensitive topic.   

Egyptian and Italian prosecutors have been working on the case but Rome has yet to send a new ambassador to Cairo in protest at the lack of progress.

"Italy has mourned the killing of one of its studious young people, Giulio Regeni, without full light being shed on this tragic case for a year and despite the intense efforts of our judiciary and our diplomacy," President Sergio Mattarella said on the first anniversary of Regeni's disappearance.   

"We call for broader and more effective cooperation so that the culprits are brought to justice".   

Premier Paolo Gentiloni expressed his support for Regeni's family and said his government was determined to get to the truth.   

Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano echoed his words and said that the young man's death "deprives all of us of a generous heart that could have done a great deal for others".   

The message on the foreign ministry website said that "the tragic death of Giulio Regeni is still an open wound not only for his family, who remain in our thoughts, but for our entire country."   

A video recently surfaced in which the head of the Cairo street traders' union, Mohammed Abdallah, secretly filmed Regeni asking him questions about the union using a police shirt-button microcamera.

Abdallah said he was doing his patriotic duty because Regeni, he said, was a spy.   

Egypt has furnished several explanations for Regeni's death ranging from a car accident to a gay fight to a kidnapping, all of which have been dismissed by Italy. 

Suspicion has fallen on seven members of the Egyptian police and intelligence services who used Abdallah as an informant and who later were responsible for wiping out the alleged kidnapping gang.   

Regeni's personal documents were allegedly found in the house of the sister of one of the alleged gang's members.    

There seem to have been signs of Egyptian cooperation on Giulio Regeni's death thanks to the work of Rome prosecutors but there is absolutely no evidence of true cooperation from Egyptian authorities, Regeni's parents said recently.   

Paola and Claudio Regeni urged that Italy's ambassador to Cairo not return to Egypt, since this "would give a signal of detente that must not be given", and stressed the importance of not sending Egypt spare parts for F35 fighter jets until justice has been served.

ITUC demands that Egypt ensures full investigation into Giulio Regeni's murder

International Trade Union Confederation
Egypt: Justice for Murdered Researcher Giulio Regeni

The ITUC has called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to ensure a full investigation into the murder of PhD student Giulio Regeni in Cairo 

January 24, 2017

Twenty-eight-year-old Regeni, a student at Cambridge University researching Egypt’s independent trade union movement, was brutally tortured and murdered on 25 January.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “This atrocity, against an innocent young researcher, must be fully investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. The heavy-handed tactics of Egypt’s police, the string of disappearances in recent months and the mounting repression of civil society show that President Sisi’s government is heading in the wrong direction.

The prospects for fundamental democratic rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of association for the country’s workers, are receding by the day. We call upon the government to change course, to support and protect human rights and avoid yet more bloodshed and the possibility of further mass unrest.”

Italy: Parliament to host Giulio Regeni memorial scholarship campaign

Mada Masr
Italian Parliament to host Giulio Regeni memorial scholarship campaign event

January 19, 2017

Italy’s Parliament has announced it will host an event for the campaign working to establish a scholarship fund in the name of slain researcher Giulio Regeni, which would allow an Egyptian student to study at the United World College (UWC) of the Adriatic to obtain the two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.

The campaign organizers have told Mada Masr that they will launch their fundraising efforts during the parliamentary event, relying on crowdfunding to supply the necessary money for the 2018 scholarship and a matching funds program through which institutions and corporations can donate money to ensure the scholarship’s continuation.

Regeni, the 28-year-old student whose body was found in a ditch in a Cairo suburb on February 3, 2016 exhibiting signs of torture, studied at UWC-USA in New Mexico.

The idea was suggested by Regeni’s former UWC-USA classmates, Federico Torracchi and Lorenzo Bartolucci, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.

The scholarship fund “sends a message that counters hatred,” Bartolucci told La Repubblica. “Giulio wanted to improve people’s lives. We want to remind people about who he was and what he did before he died.”

Regeni, a Cambridge University doctoral student, was researching labor issues and writing his PhD dissertation on Egypt’s independent trade union movement. He was conducting field research in Egypt through a one-year visiting scholar program at the American University in Cairo. He went missing on January 25, 2016, as he was traveling from his apartment in Cairo’s Dokki neighborhood in the direction of Tahrir Square amid a heavy security presence for the fifth anniversary of the January 25 revolution.

Regeni’s body was found bearing signs of torture, evident from cigarette burns, cuts, bruises and his de-nailed fingers — all hallmarks of Egyptian security forces’ torture practices. However, Egypt’s Interior Ministry has repeatedly denied responsibility for his torture and death and sought to distance themselves from the case, causing strained diplomatic relations between Egypt and Italy.

The initial police investigations to emerge from Egypt claimed that Regeni had died in a traffic accident, despite subsequent autopsy reports, which confirmed he was tortured over a period of several days.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry later claimed security forces had shot and killed five members of a gang that it claimed often stole the identities of foreign nations and with whom Regeni’s personal belongings were allegedly found. However, the family members of the five men strongly denied these claims.

Italian politicians and investigators have persistently urged Egyptian authorities to hand over all evidence concerning the case, and to cooperate more fully on ascertaining details concerning his death.

United World Colleges has played a prominent role in providing Egyptian students with education opportunities for the last 30 years.



*Photo by Riccardo Antimiani, courtesy of CameraPress/Redux

Italy: Protests continue for Egyptian worker killed on picket line

Mada Masr
Protests continue in Italy in solidarity with Egyptian worker killed on picket line

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Jano Charbel

Italian workers, unionists and labor activists continue protests two weeks after the death of Egyptian worker Abdel Salam al-Danf in the northern city of Piacenza and other locations across the country.

Danf was fatally injured on September 14 by a truck at a General Logistics Services (GLS) plant in Piacenza, where he was employed and striking to demand that managerial staff uphold contractual agreements for 13 of his co-workers.

The plant at Piacenza is owned by the parcel delivery company GLS, but is contracted to the SEAM company, which recently sacked over 37 temporary workers.

Staff at the plant say managerial staff urged a driver to use his truck to break the picket line on the night of September 14.

A day of national protests was observed at several locations across Italy from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. Most protests were organized and coordinated by the USB union (Unione Sindacale di Base) and the Cobas union confederation (Confederazione dei Comitati di Base), along with the Communist Refoundation Party (Rifondazione Communista), among others.

The 53-year-old father of five, who was formerly a teacher in Egypt, was a member of the USB labor union, and a longtime employee at the GLS plant in Italy.

The USB union explained on its webpage that a strike and picket line was organized at the Piacenza plant on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to demand justice for Danf and “fight for the recognition of the rights of precarious labor.”

Mario Cipriani, an Italian video maker and social media journalist, who took part in the protests, told Mada Masr that strikes are being organized at Piacenza’s GLS warehouses for the next six days.

Cipriani explained why Danf’s death is so significant. “Over the past 30 years in Italy, nobody has been killed during a strike,” he said, adding that chants and slogans used during protests were: “We are all Abdel Salam” and “GLS are killers.”

Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding Danf’s death, including viewing footage from a surveillance camera at the plant.

Citing Alfredo Zampogna, a lawyer for the GLS management, La Repubblica reported: “The videos in our possession reveal that there was no incitement” by managerial staff to use the company’s truck to break the picket line.

It is not yet clear if the Danf family, who have been long-term residents in Italy, will take legal action against the GLS or SEAM management at the Piacenza plant.

The hashtag #Abdesselem was used widely in Italy to commemorate Danf, express solidarity with his family, and to spread information regarding local protests in the wake of his death.

Diplomatic relations have been strained between Egypt and Italy since the beginning of this year, when 28-year-old Italian researcher and PhD candidate Giulio Regeni was found dead on a road in one of Cairo’s suburbs on February 3, with his body showing clear signs of torture.

Regeni had been researching labor issues and Egypt’s independent labor union movement before his disappearance on January 25th, the fifth anniversary of the popular uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak.

While it is not clear who is responsible for Regeni’s death, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior has repeatedly denied any responsibility, despite speculation security forces may have been involved.

Initial police reports claimed Regeni died in a traffic accident, the Ministry of Interior then claimed forces had shot dead five suspects in a gang responsible for kidnapping, torturing, and murdering the Italian student.

The UN-affiliated International Labor Organization issued a statement in April, calling on the Egyptian government to “clarify all the facts surrounding the death of Mr. Regeni.”

Shortly after the discovery of Regeni’s body in February, the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) issued a statement expressing “great sorrow for the killing of the Italian student,” dismissing claims that Egyptian security forces were involved in Regeni’s disappearance, torture, or death.

“The ETUF refuses this harsh attack against Egypt conducted by foreign organizations, supported by illegal organizations in Egypt, that try to manipulate the event to disseminate their poisons to attack stability in Egypt,” the statement asserted.

“ETUF is stressing that Egyptian workers are fully aware of the plots against their country conducted by foreign or local plotters,” it continued, adding, “We Egyptian workers are one front against any illegal organization’s plots.”

*Photo of Italian solidarity rally for Danf family, courtesy of @Tino

Egyptian authorities deport French journalist

Associated Press
Egypt Deports French Journalist in Latest Crackdown on Press

May 25, 2016

Brian Rohan

Egypt deported a French journalist without explanation, the reporter said Wednesday, the latest move in an ongoing crackdown by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's government on freedom of expression and the media.

Correspondent Remy Pigaglio, who worked for several publications including Catholic daily La Croix and was based in Egypt since 2014, was returning from vacation in France and prevented from entering the country on Monday. Pigaglio said he has a valid residency work permit and a press card, and was detained for 30 hours at Cairo International Airport before being sent back to Paris.

Authorities took away his mobile phone and examined photos on it, confiscated his passport, and barred him from speaking with embassy officials and family until Monday evening, he said by telephone from Paris. He was held overnight in a cell at the airport.

"I don't understand it at all, and still don't know why they decided to ban me from entering the territory," he said, adding that he wasn't treated badly. He said none of his photos were suspicious but that some of them were of journalists holding a general assembly meeting at their union headquarters amid a sit-in earlier this month.

The French ambassador to Cairo tried to intervene on his behalf but did not manage to prevent the deportation, and is urging Egyptian authorities to reconsider their decision, France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In Paris, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that he protested the move, calling his Egyptian counterpart and telling him he "couldn't remain indifferent to a situation that infringes the freedom of the press."

French journalists in Egypt demanded an explanation, saying in a statement that the deportation was a sign of "authorities' growing repression of Egyptian and foreign media: surveillance, arrest, expulsion and detention."

Journalists have been regularly detained, jailed, and prosecuted under the rule of el-Sissi, who led the 2013 military overthrow of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected but divisive president. Foreigners working in a variety of fields have been denied entry to Egypt without explanation.

Egypt was ranked 158 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Press Freedom Index, according to Reporters Without Borders, a freedom of expression advocacy group. In December, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Egypt was second only to China as the world's worst jailer of journalists in 2015.

One of Pigaglio's last articles covered the sit-in at the headquarters of Egypt's journalists' union in downtown Cairo where he took the photos on his phone, and where demonstrators were protesting the arrest of two journalists police seized from the building.

In an unrelated development, defense lawyers said a Cairo appeals court quashed five-year prison terms handed down on May 14 against 47 anti-government protesters convicted of breaking a law that effectively bans street demonstrations.

However, they said the court upheld the lower tribunal's decision to slap a fine of 100,000 pounds (about 10,000 dollars) on each of the 47 protesters. The appeals court verdict was passed late Tuesday.

The 47 were among a total of 152 protesters convicted on May 14 of breaking the demonstrations law during protests on April 25 against the government's decision to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The 152 were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to five years; many were tried in absentia.

Earlier this month, a new draft bill was submitted to Egypt's parliament on regulating the media.

Journalists say it would likely bring the demise of dozens of low-budget, online media outlets serving as refuge for young writers and liberal activists escaping government restrictions on freedom of expression. Awaiting approval by a parliament dominated by el-Sissi loyalists, lawmakers are also set to approve clauses that would ban all live video transmissions without permits. Insiders expect such permits will be denied to non-state media.

European Union member states broadly back el-Sissi and continue to sell Egypt sophisticated weaponry under the rationale that the country needs the firepower to fight a growing insurgency by Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt, they argue, remains a bulwark of stability in a volatile Middle East.

A French parliamentary delegation was in Cairo the very day Pigaglio was detained, with Philippe Folliot, head of the French-Egyptian friendship group in the National Assembly telling The Associated Press that "nothing" could impact good relations between the two countries. He later however denounced Pigaglio's expulsion on Twitter, saying that it "doesn't improve Egypt's image."

El-Sissi's harsh crackdown on critics has left thousands jailed and fanned doubts over his leadership, with many nations voicing concerns.

Close partner Italy has been particularly critical after an Italian doctoral student was found tortured to death after disappearing on Jan. 25, a day that saw a massive police presence in Cairo, prompting accusations that Egypt's security services were involved.

Italy has withdrawn its ambassador to Cairo over the case of Giulio Regeni and said Egypt was not being sufficiently cooperative in the investigation. Egypt denies its security services were involved in Regeni's killing.

———

*Sylvie Corbet  contributed to this report.

Leaked MOI memos reveal intent to issue gag orders on Journalists Syndicate raid & Regeni murder

Mada Masr
Leaked MOI memos reveal intentions to issue gag orders on Journalists Syndicate raid, Regeni's murder

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Mohamed Hamama

 

Amid its feud with the Journalists Syndicate, the Interior Ministry accidentally revealed its media strategies regarding several pressing issues, including the death of Italian Student Giulio Regeni and individual violations committed by security forces.

The Ministry of Interior’s media office mistakenly sent its media plan on Monday to a list of journalists. The document, which appeared to contain a number of internal memos, included proposals on how to deal with the ministry’s current crisis with journalists, a request for a gag order on the case of Regeni's murder, and other notes on the ministry’s strategy to combat media coverage of police violations and proposed solutions to raise the morale of police officers in Sinai.

Public Prosecutor Nabil Sadek issued a gag order on Tuesday prohibiting coverage of the security raid on the Journalists Syndicate on Sunday and the arrest of journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud al-Sakka.

The gag order was issued hours after a number of journalists received the 144-page document from the ministry’s public relations office, which included the ministry’s plan to counter the backlash it currently faces.

One memo in the document proposed that the ministry asserts that the syndicate’s actions regarding journalists Badr and Sakka constitute a crime of harboring fugitives, since both journalists have arrest warrants issued against them but were participating in the sit-in inside the syndicate.

The ministry also accused Journalists Syndicate head Yehia Qallash, along with syndicate board members Khaled al-Balshy and Hanan Fekry, and former board member Mohamed Abdel Koddous, of “intentional escalation” of the crisis with the aim of “making electoral gains.”

The memo also noted that the ministry cannot back down from its position "because to retreat would mean a mistake had been made, and if there was one, who would be responsible and who would be held accountable?"

The leaked memo included suggestions to coordinate with popular television shows to host former generals, who would explain and support the ministry’s position. The memo specifies that the generals should be chosen carefully, given the severity of current media backlash against the ministry.

The leaked document raised concerns regarding the ministry’s role in issuing judicial gag orders, with one page revealing a proposal by the ministry to “coordinate with the public prosecutor” to issue a gag order on the coverage of Regeni's murder until investigations are completed.

Another memo in the document states that the request for a gag order is in response to “intentions by some media platforms to escalate [the campaign against the ministry] during the coming period and to intentionally implicate the ministry in the incident.”

A number of media reports have held security forces responsible for Regeni’s death. Reuters published a report quoting six different security forces stating that Regeni was in security custody before his severely tortured body was found in early February on the outskirts of Cairo.

The document also includes a request to add 10 ministry employees to the ministry's media center in order to “facilitate the monitoring of all online news websites in the next 24 hours.” The note explained that the rate of publishing on media websites surpasses that of print newspapers and that a separate department is needed to follow their coverage closely.

One memo sent by the ministry’s deputy for media and public relations, Abu Bakr Abdel Karim, to the deputy for legal affairs concerns “the implementation of the recommendations to counter 'attempts to abuse individual acts by policemen'.”

In recent months, the Interior Ministry has described police violations, including those in which policemen have killed citizens in clashes, as "individual acts."

The stated recommendations in the memo include “a daily announcement of the ministry’s efforts through a daily newsletter ... increasing awareness of all efforts of a humanitarian nature made by all ministry departments.”

 

*Translated by Heba Afify; Photo by Virginie Nguyen

Egypt: Unshackle Workers' Right to Organize!

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Egypt: Unshackle Workers’ Right to Organize 

Draft Law Should Guarantee Unions’ Independence

April 30, 2016

 

 

The Egyptian government should legalize independent trade unions, Human Rights Watch said today, on International Workers’ Day. Egypt should also end the decades-old single official union system and allow free and fair elections to union boards for the first time since the country’s 2011 uprising. 

 

Egypt’s 1976 Trade Union Law does not recognize any trade unions except the official government-controlled unions affiliated with the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF). Independent trade unions proliferated after the 2011 uprising, but the government has not officially recognized them, even though the 2014 constitution guarantees freedom of association.

“Egypt’s government is ignoring the basic right of workers to organize independently,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “The government seems intent on stifling the freedom Egypt’s labor movement only gained after years of struggle that culminated in the 2011 uprising.”

The government has announced its intention to propose a new trade union law, but no final draft has been made public. The failure of successive governments to amend the Trade Union Law, as well as recent decisions by the cabinet and Interior Ministry to stop dealing with the de-facto independent unions, have led labor activists to fear that labor rights gains since 2011 are facing erosion.

According to activists, once Manpower Minister Gamal Sorour took office in September 2015, no new independent unions have been able to register. Activists also expressed fears that members of independent unions might face prosecution after an official newspaper on April 17, 2016, said that an investigation is being conducted that could lead to charges against leaders and members of these unions.

On April 8, the director general of the International Labour Organization (ILO,) Guy Ryder, condemned Egypt’s refusal to recognize independent unions and said that its refusal “prohibits collective bargaining and exposes union leaders to the risk of dismissal and arrest.”

Ryder also asked the Egyptian government to “expeditiously clarify all the facts” surrounding the death of Giulio Regeni, an Italian PhD student who researched independent unions and other workers’ issues in Egypt. Regeni was found dead on February 4, 2016, after last being seen in Cairo on January 25, amid a heavy police presence accompanying the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak.

On March 1, 2016, local news websites reported that the Interior Ministry had issued an internal decision to no longer accept documents stamped by independent unions. The ministry stated that the decision came after recommendations from its National Security Agency.

On March 8, lawyers for the General Union for Professionals, Technicians and Artisans filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.

The Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS), one of Egypt’s oldest independent groups advocating workers’ rights, said the prime minister issued a memo in November 2015, ordering ministries to cooperate only with the Egyptian Trade Union Federation. The directive stated that this was meant to help take action “against independent unions and instigators,” the center said.

Kamal Abbas, the head of the center and a member of the National Council for Human Rights, told Human Rights Watch that the Interior Ministry’s March 1 decision was unconstitutional. He said that workers need a stamped document from their union to be able to obtain various government documents and that this decision would force workers to belong to an official union.

Egypt’s 2014 constitution states in article 13 that the government “shall protect workers’ rights and strive to build balanced work relationships between both parties to the production process. It shall ensure means for collective negotiations.” Article 76 guarantees the right to form independent syndicates and unions.

Egypt is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which establishes the right to strike as well as the right to form and join trade unions and national and international confederations.

Egypt is also a member of the ILO and has ratified all of its eight fundamental conventions, including convention 87 of 1948 on freedom of association and convention 98 of 1949 on the right to organize.

Convention 87 states that workers have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.

“Protecting workers’ rights to independently organize is a basic right, not a luxury,” Houry said. “Egypt needs economic development for all, but such development doesn’t come with oppressing workers.”

DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING TRADE UNIONS

Egypt created the Egyptian Trade Union Federation, a government-controlled trade union framework, in the 1950s as an extension of the state. Between 2008 and the 2011 uprising, workers tried to establish independent trade unions, but the Manpower Ministry rejected their articles of association.

Independent unions proliferated after the January 2011 uprising. Ahmed al-Borie, who was appointed as manpower minister in 2011, presented the “Declaration of Union Freedoms” in March 2011, which was meant to pave the way to remove legal restrictions on workers’ right to organize.

After al-Borie’s declaration, the independent unions gained partial government recognition, which allowed them to register. Al-Borie also prepared a draft law that labor activists described as the most progressive of those proposed since January 2011.

Successive governments prepared at least two other draft laws since then but none was adopted.

Human Rights Watch received a copy of the latest available draft trade union law that the government prepared under former Manpower Minister Nahed al-Ashry between 2014 and 2015. The draft law would end the single union system but restrict organizations’ rights in other ways, such as punishing with prison time those who establish unions without approval.

The governments’ and parliaments’ failure to amend restrictive laws made it easy for the authorities to increasingly erode these limited concessions. For example, independent unions that were able to register cannot deduct dues from members’ salaries, and their members have not usually been allowed to serve as workers’ representatives on national councils or in negotiations with business owners.

The 1976 Trade Union Law permits only officially recognized unions to operate. The law established the trade union federation, a single pyramidal government-controlled entity with 24 officially recognized general unions.

The law originally established 21 general unions and gave the government and the federation absolute control over the establishment of new unions. Since its issuance, the federation has approved only three more unions, the most recent of which was the Tax, Customs and Finance General Union in 2010.

According to activists, its establishment was a step to undermine anti-government mobilization, including large sit-ins, organized by workers who had been trying to establish an independent union for Real Estate Tax Authority workers.

The government dissolved the boards of the federation and several official unions in August 2011, following multiple court decisions ruling the previous board elections, in 2006, illegal based on a lack of judicial supervision.

But successive Egyptian governments have not allowed new elections and have kept in place unelected boards appointed by various manpower ministers.

In November 2012, then-President Mohamed Morsy, who was ousted by the military in July 2013, postponed federation and general unions’ elections for six months, ordered the retirement of union leaders over age 60, and gave the manpower minister the authority to choose new leaders for the vacated or otherwise unoccupied seats.

On May 30, 2013, Morsy decreed a one-year extension of the appointed leadership. In May 2015, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi postponed the union board elections again and extended the current boards’ term for one year.

Following Morsy’s removal by the military, the authorities found themselves with more leeway to crack down on independent unions amid a broader stifling of dissent, said a workers’ rights researcher at the Egyptian Center for Social and Economic Rights, an independent group.

On February 4, 2016, Gamal Sorour, who was appointed manpower minister after al-Ashry, said in an interview with the privately owned newspaper al-Masry al-Youm that he would draft a new trade union law that would not recognize independent unions.

Sorour was replaced by Mohamed Safaan, a federation board member, in a cabinet reshuffle on March 23. Safaan then declined to meet with a delegation representing independent unions, said Abbas, the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services head. Safaan said that he could “only meet with them as individual workers but not as representatives of entities that he did not acknowledge,” Abbas told Human Rights Watch.

The privately owned newspaper el-Watan reported on February 11, that the head of the federation, Gebaly al-Maraghy, who is also a member of parliament, said that a federation “legislative committee” had prepared a new draft law that would dissolve all independent unions and sent it to the government, which would send it to parliament in “a matter of weeks.” On April 23, al- Maraghy was elected head of parliament’s Manpower Committee.

Federation board members, including al-Maraghy, have spoken publicly against independent unions and opposed legalizing them, saying it would harm the economy and foster instability. Recently, the head of the official Union of Tax, Finance and Customs Workers, an affiliate of the federation, filed suit before the Administrative Court, which rules on the legality of government actions, demanding the dissolution of independent unions. The court said it would issue its verdict on June 26.

Abbas said he believes the government’s escalation might include arrests and prosecutions. The government-owned newspaper al-Ahram reported on April 17, that the Social Solidarity and Manpower Ministries were looking into the funds of independent unions after “monitoring communications between theses unions and foreign international organizations aiming at instigating workers’ protests.”



*Photo courtesy of Hossam el-Hamalawy

100s protest as policeman shoots dead tea vendor & injures 2 others

BBC NEWS
Egypt protest after tea vendor 'killed by police'

19 April, 2016

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Egypt's capital, Cairo, to protest after a tea vendor was allegedly shot dead by police.

The unrest erupted after a policeman allegedly killed the man and wounded two others during an argument over the price of a cup of tea.

The policeman has been arrested and the case referred to prosecutors.

Video footage showed angry protesters overturning a police vehicle while chanting "the police are thugs."


Egypt has seen a series of allegations of police brutality in recent months, stoking public anger.

The interior ministry said that Tuesday's incident in the eastern suburb of Rehab began with an argument over the price of a cup of tea between several policeman and a street vendor.

One policeman opened fire, killing the vendor and wounding two passersby, it added.

Photographs showed what appeared to be a man lying still on the floor, covered in blood, surrounded by angry onlookers.

Witnesses said the protest began shortly after the incident.

"Security forces brought in two riot police vehicles and an armoured truck and the victim's family is here and pelting them with rocks," one witness told the Reuters news agency.

"Security forces are retreating and promising justice but the crowd is demanding police hand over the killer."

In February, there was a protest outside the Cairo security directorate after a policeman reportedly shot dead a driver in a street in an argument over a fare.

There were also riots in Ismailia and the southern city of Luxor after at least three people died in police custody in a single week in November.

The government has also been forced to repeatedly deny allegations that security services were responsible for the killing of Italian academic Giulio Regeni in Cairo earlier this year.

Officials have blamed a criminal gang for his abduction and torture.




*Video Courtesy of Euronews

Largest demonstration since 2013 Coup, protesters demand fall of Sisi for handover of islands to KSA

REUTERS
Protesters demand fall of Egypt's government over islands deal
 
Fri Apr 15, 2016

CAIRO | By Ahmed Aboulenein and Eric Knecht

 

Thousands of Egyptians angered by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia called on Friday for the government to fall, chanting a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Their protests signaled that the former general, who is also under mounting criticism over the struggling economy, no longer enjoys the broad public support that let him round up thousands of opponents after he seized power in 2013.

In the evening, riot police who had surrounded the site of the biggest demonstration, in the heart of downtown Cairo, dispersed the crowd with tear gas, Reuters witnesses said.

Egyptian security forces detained a total of 119 protesters at several demonstrations, according to security officials.

Sisi's government prompted an outcry in Egyptian newspapers and on social media last week when it announced an accord that put the uninhabited Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.

"The people want the downfall of the regime!" protesters cried outside the Cairo press syndicate, using the signature chant of the 2011 revolt against then-president Hosni Mubarak, who later stepped down.

They also chanted: "Sisi - Mubarak", "We don't want you, leave" and "We own the land and you are agents who sold our land." In other parts of Cairo, police fired tear gas at protesters, security sources said.

The U.S. government, which sees Cairo as a critical Middle East ally, will continue to watch carefully the situation in Egypt, the White House said.

Saudi and Egyptian officials say the islands belong to the kingdom across the Red Sea and were only under Egyptian control because Riyadh had asked Cairo in 1950 to protect them.

Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf Arab states showered Egypt with billions of dollars in aid and grants after Sisi toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, following mass protests against him.

But a sharp drop in oil prices and differences with Cairo over such regional issues as the war in Yemen have raised questions over whether strong Gulf Arab support can be sustained.

MISHANDLED CRISES

Egyptians are eager for an economic revival after years of political upheaval. But the islands issue seems to have hurt their national pride, prompting thousands to return to the streets to confront their leader.

There are no signs that Sisi's rule is under immediate threat. However, even local media, which once suggested he could do no wrong, have been attacking the president.

Critics say the government has mishandled a series of crises, from an investigation into the killing of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, 28, in Cairo, to a bomb that brought down a Russian airliner in the Sinai Peninsula last October.

Torture marks on Regini's body prompted human rights groups to conclude he died at the hands of security forces, which Egypt denies. That revived complaints of police brutality, one of the issues that led Egyptians to challenge Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Sisi has made fighting corruption a top priority. But he drew fire last month after sacking Hesham Geneina, Egypt's top auditor, who had stirred controversy by publicly concluding that state corruption had cost the country billions of dollars.

In a tweet, Geneina described the protests as the "purest, bravest and most noble demonstration of Egyptians" in decades.

Many Egyptians enthusiastically welcomed Sisi when he took over. They turned a blind eye as Islamists and other opponents were rounded up, swelling the number of political prisoners to about 40,000, according to estimates by human rights groups.

PATIENCE WITH SISI FADING

A growing number are now losing patience over corruption, poverty and unemployment, the same issues that led to Mubarak's downfall, while Sisi has appeared increasingly authoritarian in televised speeches.

"We want the downfall of the regime," said Abdelrahman Abdellatif, 29, an air conditioning engineer, at the Cairo protest. "The youth of the revolution are still here ... We are experiencing unprecedented fascism and dictatorship."

There were also Sisi supporters, including a woman wearing a shirt with an image of the former military intelligence chief.

In Alexandria, around 500 people gathered near a railway station. Meanwhile, 300 Sisi supporters holding up photographs of him demonstrated outside a mosque in the port city.

Calls for protests have gathered thousands of supporters on Facebook, including from the outlawed Brotherhood, which accused Sisi of staging a coup when it was ousted and rolling back freedoms won after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians protested five years ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square against Mubarak.


*Photos courtesy of Reuters
**Additional reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Ola Noureldin, Ali Abdelaty and Omar Fahmy in Cairo and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Larry King

ILO tells Egypt to stop repressing independent labor unions

Mada Masr
ILO to Egypt: Stop repressing independent trade unions

Monday, April 11, 2016

Jano Charbel 

The United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a statement Friday criticizing Egypt’s ongoing repression of independent trade unions and workers’ freedom of association.

The ILO also lambasted the Egyptian authorities for their handling of investigations into the torture and murder of Italian PhD candidate Giulio Regeni, who was in Egypt researching and writing on the condition of the local independent labor movement prior to his death.

In a message directed at President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ILO Director General Guy Ryder “expressed concern over threats to human and trade union rights in Egypt,” while calling for clear answers regarding Regeni’s brutal death.

Ryder also criticized the Egyptian government’s recent violations against independent unions, including restrictions on the publication of official documents, prohibiting their participation in collective bargaining and subjecting independent union organizers to the risk of layoffs, and even arrests.

“I wish to stress that it is the responsibility of the [Egyptian] government to ensure the application of the international labor conventions on freedom of association that it has freely ratified, and which must be respected by all state authorities,” Ryder argued.

But officials from the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) dismissively responded to the ILO’s criticisms.

The ILO statement “represents an unwarranted interference in Egypt’s affairs,” said ETUF President Gebali al-Maraghi, the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Sunday.

Maraghi further called for “the issuing of an official statement to condemn this intervention into the affairs of Egypt, or any other Arab state.”

As the UN’s labor agency, the ILO is officially entrusted with overseeing the implementation of international labor conventions that world states have voluntarily ratified. According to Ryder, these conventions are persistently violated in Egypt.

The ILO was established in 1919 — more than two decades prior to the establishment of the UN — and Egypt joined in 1936. Since then, Egypt has voluntarily ratified several of its conventions.

However, Friday’s statement claimed that not only does the Egyptian state fail to enforce the conventions, but appears to actively violate them.

Ryder pointed to the ILO conventions on freedom of association (Convention 87) and the right to organize (Convention 98), both ratified by Egypt in the 1950s.

The current administration’s recent actions against Egypt’s independent trade unions include a lawsuit filed before an administrative court to outlaw and dissolve independent unions and federations, legislative threats against basic union rights from ETUF representatives in Parliament, and the appointment of the new Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan, a senior ETUF chief who largely opposes the organizational freedoms of unions.

Critics also highlight the absence of ETUF elections, which are overdue since 2011, Sisi’s presidential decree to extend the ETUF leadership’s term of office, and the appointment of ETUF chiefs by the ministers of manpower for the past five years.

“For several years, the International Labor Organization has been calling upon the government to end discrepancies between existing national legislation, in particular as regards the Trade Union Act No. 35 of 1976, and ILO Conventions 87 and 98,” Ryder said.

In contravention to ILO Conventions 87 and 98, Egypt’s trade union law recognizes the existence of only one trade union federation — the ETUF — and holds that all labor unions must affiliate themselves to this state-controlled entity.

The ETUF has held a complete monopoly over the trade union movement since its formation in 1957. However, since the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, independent trade union federations have emerged to challenge its unilateral control.

Several bills have been presented since 2011 to replace the trade union law which would recognize independent unions and federations. However, they have repeatedly been shelved by consecutive governments, and the old union law still remains in effect. 

“Since the International Labor Conference of 2008, requests have been made to [Egypt] to adopt a new trade union law in order to ensure full respect for freedom of association rights,” the ILO statement said.

Since 2008, the ILO had repeatedly placed Egypt on its shortlist of states which violate the organization’s conventions.

“The government of Egypt has committed that all trade unions in the country, including the independent trade unions, would be able to exercise their activities and elect their officers in full freedom in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations according to ILO Convention 87, pending the adoption of a new freedom of association law,” the ILO statement pointed out.

However, ETUF parliamentarians and the new minister of manpower appear to remain adamant on retaining those provisions of the trade union law that stipulate the state-controlled federation’s grip over the labor movement.

The ILO also referred to a previous statement issued by its governing body in March, entitled, “The Threat to Human and Trade Union Rights in Egypt.” The statement referred to “systematic attacks” by the Ministry of Manpower “against independent trade union organizations.”

The March statement then “expressed outrage about the death of Giulio Regeni,” who was researching trade unions and freedom of association in Egypt before he went missing on January 25, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 revolution.His dead body was found on February 3, bearing signs of torture.

The ILO Workers’ Group earlier called for an independent inquiry into Regeni’s torture and murder. However, Egyptian authorities have continued to withhold vital information and communications from Italian prosecutors and investigators.

The ILO’s director general issued an emphatic call for the Egyptian government to “expeditiously clarify all the facts surrounding the death of Mr. Regeni.”

In mid-February, the ETUF issued a statement expressing its “great sorrow for the killing of the Italian student.”

However, the ETUF statement also dismissed claims that Egyptian security forces may have been implicated in Regeni’s disappearance and death.

“ETUF refuses this harsh attack against Egypt conducted by foreign organizations supported by illegal organizations in Egypt, that try to manipulate the event to disseminate their poisons to attack stability in Egypt,” the statement said.

“ETUF is stressing that Egyptian workers are fully aware of the plots against their country conducted by foreign or local plotters,” it concluded. “We Egyptian workers are one front against any illegal organizations' plots.”

*Photo courtesy of Libcom.

Egyptian State won't give Italy phone records in slain student case

Associated Press

Egypt won't give Italy phone records in slain student case

 

April 9, 2016

 

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has rejected an Italian request to hand over the phone records of mobile subscribers in the Cairo district where an Italian doctoral student resided before being abducted, tortured and killed, a senior Egyptian official said Saturday.

Senior prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman addressed a news conference a day after Italy recalled its ambassador to protest what it described as a lack of cooperation in the investigation of the killing of Giulio Regeni, whose body was found nine days after he disappeared, bearing signs of torture.

Suleiman said Egypt rejected the request because it violated Egyptian laws and the constitution. He said the Italians told an Egyptian delegation visiting Rome this week that the continuation of cooperation between the two nations over the case hinged on meeting their request for the records, which include those of subscribers in the Cairo suburb where Regeni's body was found Feb. 3.

"Egypt rejected the request, not because it wanted to be intransigent or to conceal, but rather out of respect for the law and the Egyptian constitution," Suleiman said. "That request violates the law and the constitution and whoever meets it will have committed a crime."

Suleiman said the Italians repeated the request on the second and final day of the talks in Rome. "The Egyptian delegation reasserted its uncompromising rejection," he said.

Regeni, who was in Egypt to research labor movements, went missing on Jan. 25, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising, when police were out in force to prevent demonstrations, leading to speculation that Egyptian security forces were behind his abduction and death. The Interior Ministry has denied any involvement.

The Egyptian government has suggested several alternative scenarios. It recently claimed that security forces had killed members of a kidnapping gang in a raid and circulated photos of Regeni's ID cards it said had been found at the scene. That explanation was widely dismissed, including in the Italian media, which has closely followed the case.

Suleiman also said Egyptian investigators could not meet an Italian request for video footage from security cameras at the metro station nearest to Regeni's Cairo apartment, saying the recently installed cameras automatically erased footage. He said the U.S. manufacturers informed the Egyptian investigators that it was not possible to retrieve the erased footage. A German company approached by the Egyptians said retrieval had a 50/50 chance of success but that the procedure was costly.

"We met 98 percent of all the requests made by the Italians," Suleiman said. The Italians, meanwhile, provided the Egyptians with only a small number of more than 500,000 files stored in Regeni's laptop computer, he added. The two sides, however, left on good terms, he said.

"Judicial cooperation between Egypt and Italy is positive and Italy is one of the best countries that deals with Egypt when it comes to judicial matters," he said the start of the news conference. "We are eager to continue this cooperation."

He refused to be drawn into commenting on media reports on the case, saying only that anyone who has a "confirmed and documented" piece of evidence should come forward and submit it to the Egyptian investigators.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said on Tuesday his country deeply regretted Regeni's death and intended to "transparently" continue its "full cooperation" with Italy to resolve the case and bring the culprits to justice.

El-Sissi and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi have forged close ties since the Egyptian leader came to office in June 2014. Italy is Egypt's biggest EU trading partner and the two countries have been coordinating policies on Libya, Egypt's neighbor and Italy's former colony, where the extremist Islamic State group has a local affiliate.

Renzi told reporters on Friday that the decision to recall the Italian ambassador in Egypt was made "immediately" after Italian prosecutors gave their assessment of two days of meetings with the Egyptians that they had hoped would deliver useful evidence.

"Italy, as you know, made a commitment to the family of Giulio Regeni naturally, to the memory of Giulio Regeni, but also to the dignity of all us, saying we'd only stop in front of the truth," Renzi said.

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Saturday that Italy will study other steps to take if the truth about Regeni's slaying doesn't come out, without elaborating.

Gentiloni recalled that he has said "we will adopt immediate and proportional measures," the Italian news agency ANSA reported from Tokyo, where he was participating in a G-7 ministers' meeting. "We committed ourselves to doing this, and we will do this."

Last week, Regeni's parents urged the Italian government to declare Egypt "unsafe" for Italians to visit, saying their son was only one of many torture victims in the Arab nation. Egypt's Red Sea resorts have for years been a popular destination for hundreds of thousands of Italians who visited Egypt annually.

Egypt's bloody dictator faces unusually stinging criticism at home

Associated Press 

Egypt's president under unusually stinging criticism at home

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

CAIRO (AP) — Criticism of Egypt's president has gathered momentum in recent weeks as Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's honeymoon in power appears to be ending.
The boldness of the criticism suggests that el-Sissi's aura as the man who "saved the nation" from Muslim Brotherhood rule and the chaos of revolution has faded. Replacing it now is the image of a leader struggling to fix the economy, stop police abuses or suppress an insurgency by Islamic militants.

A recent speech in which el-Sissi seemed angry and frustrated was widely derided not only by social media mockery but also by powerful voices in the media who had backed el-Sissi's rise to power.
"Mr. President and you gentlemen running the security agencies, you are wrong, and what you are doing will lead to the return of the Brotherhood. That will be hell for you and the people," veteran politician Mohammed Abu el-Ghar wrote. "Read history and think a little, so we can all save Egypt."

For nearly two years, the media commentariat, politicians, officials and religious leaders have pushed a message that any criticism of el-Sissi, his government or security agencies was tantamount to treason, undermining security.

El-Sissi vaulted to heroic status in the media when, as military chief, he led the army's July 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi amid massive protests against political dominance by the Brotherhood. He then won the presidency in a landslide election victory.

Since then, he has waged a fierce crackdown, arresting thousands of Islamists and killing hundreds more and suppressing pro-democracy activists who fueled the 2011 uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Public protests have been effectively banned. Rights activists have raised alarm over widespread torture and secret detentions by police.

For nearly two years there was little outcry from the public as many supported any measures to restore stability. But a string of recent troubles has pointed to problems that are harder to explain away as caused by "enemies of Egypt."

The downing of a Russian passenger jet — widely blamed on Islamic militants — highlighted security failures, and the government's reluctance to acknowledge it as a terror attack raised criticism. The attack was a devastating blow to Egypt's tourism industry, which further gutted the economy.

The culture of abuse inside security forces, meanwhile, may have landed el-Sissi's government in an international scandal. An Italian graduate student, Giulio Regeni, disappeared on Jan. 25 and he was later found tortured to death.

Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution that stopped just short of accusing Egyptian authorities of killing Regeni. Egyptian officials deny police were behind his death, but even some supporters in the media have cast doubt on the denials.

The government's image was dented by a series of court rulings seen as outrageous. Among them, a young author was sentenced to two years in prison for the publication of sexually explicit excerpts from his novel — a step not taken under Mubarak or the Islamist Morsi. The sentence angered artists and intelligentsia who long cheered el-Sissi out of fear of Islamists.

"Your state is a theocracy, Mr. President," columnist Ibrahim Eissa wrote. "Your state and its agencies, just like those of your predecessor, hate intellectuals, thought and creativity."

El-Sissi has also appeared vulnerable in his government's struggles to repair an economy deeply damaged by five years of turmoil.

The government has been forced to let the Egyptian pound's official value slide to record lows. That has prompted public fears of price increases, given Egypt's dependence on imports.

Another difficult question is how to deal with subsidies that eat up billions of dollars but are vital for millions of impoverished Egyptians. El-Sissi partially lifted fuel subsides last year without unrest, a tribute to his popularity. But another envisaged round of reductions may not go down so well as Egyptians cope with higher prices and unemployment.

Abdullah el-Sennawy, a prominent pro-el-Sissi columnist, warned that further cuts would be "political suicide."

"To recklessly deal with the lives of ordinary people who can barely secure basic life requirements is a recipe for social unrest that security agencies won't be able to contain," he wrote in the Al-Shorouk newspaper.

El-Sissi's own ranting, televised speech on Feb. 24 damaged his image of being in control.

He demanded Egyptians listen to no one but him and stop criticizing the government, vowing to "remove from the face of the Earth" anyone who tries to "bring down" the state.

On the economy, he called on Egyptians to work harder and donate to the government. In a melodramatic gesture, he said he was prepared to sell himself if that would benefit Egypt — opening a rich vein of mockery on social media. Someone quickly posted an ad on the auction website eBay for a "slightly used" general, with el-Sissi's picture.

The speech went over terribly.

"Don't tell us we must listen to you alone," said Youssef el-Husseini, a TV anchorman and firm el-Sissi supporter. "No, we want to do a great deal of talking, discussions and speaking about democracy. Is it democratic to tell us to only listen to you?"

Azza el-Hennawy, an outspoken state TV host, blasted el-Sissi's call for Egyptians to work harder.
"Egyptians do work," she said, "but most, perhaps even all, government leaders don't work. You too, your excellency, don't work. You have not resolved a single issue since you took office."

With the bolder criticism, budding dissent emerged last week within long silent political circles.

A group of politicians and public figures led by leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who ran for president against el-Sissi in 2014, announced a coalition to create a "political alternative" toward a democratic Egypt.

The group avoided directly challenging el-Sissi, but the open talk of an "alternative" was startling.
Also, members of the 50-seat assembly that drafted the 2014 constitution and several prominent figures announced they would work to "protect" the document, opening up a new front of political pressure.

That constitution — perhaps Egypt's most liberal ever — set strong civil rights guarantees and liberties that have been widely ignored since, particularly by the security agencies and the judiciary.


*Artwork courtesy of Carlos Latuff