Seeming to borrow a page from the Hosni Mubarak playbook, Egyptian security forces yesterday raided the offices of two Egyptian, two American and one German non-governmental organization and held their staffs inside these offices while police and prosecutors search their papers and computers. The reason for the raids is still unclear, but it is known [...]
Nassary Hassan is an Egyptian citizen living in Germany. Last March, he was in Egypt and, during a visit to Hurghada – a resort town on the Red Sea — he saw piles of garbage in the streets. He carried a banner reading, “The people want to clean Hurghada,” heading towards the City Council. He [...]
As the date approaches for Egypt’s first “free” elections in thirty years, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the iconic Tahrir Square Friday to demand that the Army back off its proposal to give itself perpetual veto power over a new constitution and continued freedom from public scrutiny. Egyptians will go to the polls [...]
While the leaders of Egypt’s revolution argue with the ruling generals about when to hold elections and when to rewrite the Constitution, many Egypt experts are saying that the problem central to the success of the revolution is being cosmeticized or ignored altogether: Overhaul of the government security apparatus. “Comprehensive reform of the security state [...]
It should have been expected that the various groups who demonstrated in such a strong, unified position in Tahrir Square and elsewhere in Egypt would begin to show their differences after Mubarak resigned. After all, they won! So what to do now? Governing is a lot harder than demonstrating. And, besides, they weren’t the government; [...]
The man who was Hosni Mubarak’s Vice President and Egypt’s top spy is telling prosecutors that the aging dictator was aware that his security services were firing at peaceful protestors during the January 25 uprisings in Tahrir Square and elsewhere. Testimony by Omar Suleiman could constitute key evidence against Mubarak, who will be tried for [...]
Mounting criticism of the way the Egyptian Army is governing Egypt grew louder yesterday with press reports that one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers has been arrested and will likely face a military trial. Amidst a flurry of confusion about the fate of the well-known human rights crusader, The Egyptian Daily News [...]
Close to two-thirds of the Egyptian public is satisfied with the way things are going in their country, pleased that former president Hosni Mubarak is gone, and optimistic about the future, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. But the readiness of the public to accept military rule, or [...]
I haven’t had this much fun since Grandma let all the cousins, nieces and nephews rummage through her big Brooklyn house in our fierce competition for the title “Scavenger of the Month.” Well, imagine the sheer glee, the unbridled joy that an unreconstructed scavenger feels when you let him/her loose in the archives of the [...]
Pro-democracy protesters filled Tahrir Square in central Cairo and an estimated 2000 gathered outside the State Radio and TV headquarters in the Maspero section last week to express their anger over a new law approved by the Egyptian cabinet that would criminalize demonstrations that “disrupt society or business.” The demonstrations in Tahrir Square and many [...]
