Hind al-Hinnawy is a slight, 29-year-old Egyptian mother. She's also a household name in Egypt, thanks to a high-profile paternity case she brought in 2004 against a famous actor, Ahmed al-Fishawy, who she says is the father of her 16-month old daughter, Lina.

Alaa Abd El-Fatah, one of the Egyptian political activists, and one of the first bloggers in Egypt was arrested today (May 8) together with around ten more activists during a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with sixty activists who were arrested over the past two weeks in a non-violent sit in, as well who were held in custody for two weeks under investigation for “crimes” that if anything would raise only mockery including, humiliating the president, possession of “publishing equipment”(graffiti spray) and blocking traffic.

The two big stories on the African Blogosphere this week are the arrest of 10 Egyptian activists, including blogger Alaa Abd El-Fatah, last Sunday and the acquittal of Jacob Zuma on charges of rape in South Africa. Due to the large number of posts I am only including the Blog name and a short quote from each.

The comments on the Zuma trial range from outright disgust at the verdict to agreement with the verdict but disgust with Zuma’s perceived immoral behaviour to no comment on the verdict but an analysis of the political repercussions.

The outraged

Chump Style (http://chump-style.blogspot.com/2006/05/zuma-fucks-over-south-africa.ht…):

“He gets acquitted of the charges, thereby sending a message out to all rape-inclined men, ‘hey guys it’s ok if you rape a woman, if she isn’t wearing 300 layers of clothing down to her toes…She is asking for it!”

Shailja Blog (http://shailja.com/news/newsletterblog/2006/05/false-accusations.html), in response to the judges comment that the compliant had a had a history of making false accusations of rape:

“The prospect of crowds of his supporters, chanting for my blood, sending death threats, yelling ‘Burn the bitch’ outside the courthouse, just thrills me! I can't wait to be grilled on my whole life and sexual history in an open witness stand. Thank God South African law doesn't allow rape victims to testify in camera!”

Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/05/zuma_aquitted_.html):

“The verdict is a loss for Khwezi and for all the other women who will now be deterred from reporting rape knowing that they cannot expect justice to be done. That their personal lives will be invaded in the courtroom should it reach that far. That their credibility as sane people will be challenged. That she will be abused and denigrated in the media and on the streets. That other women will stand against her and heckle her.”

Nigeria, What’s New (http://nigeriawhatisnew.blogspot.com/2006/05/dreadful-men-power.html):

“In a world of shrinking leadership, the news that former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has been acquitted of raping a 31-year-old family friend and the Judge's conclusion: ‘The complainant was inclined to accuse men of raping her or attempting to rape her’ is greeted here with shame, shame, shame. When is it acceptable to have sex with a young daughter of a close and long-standing friend? Someone that calls you Dad!”

The Moral Disgust

Urban Trash (http://urbantrash.co.za/blog/?p=122):

* he cheated on his wife (or wives);
* his sexual immorality has expressed great disrespect towards his family and peers;
* he had consensual sex with a HIV-positive family friend;
* he had consensual sex with a HIV-positive family friend half his age;
* he is a self righteous, arrogant harlequin.

It’s The Question That Drives Us Mad (http://itisthequestion.blogspot.com/2006/05/was-justice-served-in-jacob…):

“But Mr Zuma, you have coloured my perception of you with your anachronistic beliefs and chauvinist attitude. You have shamed men as you have sung your war songs with phallic symbolism. You and your supporters may be loud and visible, but you represent an ugly side of mankind.”

Acoustic Motorbike (http://ggernst.blogeasy.com/article.view.run?articleID=314708), on a recent visit to South Africa from Zimbabwe:

“Others were dismissive of the trial based on the complainant’s history and her perceived lack of credibility. One taxi driver I spoke with at length said that he feared it would make it more difficult for other women to report rape in the future. In my cynicism, I fear he might be right. Not that the complainant’s case was necessarily unfounded. But in a culture that doesn’t treat domestic violence or women’s rights with much seriousness, it’s hard not to trust that the slightest loophole won’t be exploited.”

The political fallout

The Fish Bowl (http://jontyfisher.blogspot.com/2006/05/ancs-zuma-dilemma-as-i-had-thou…):

“Many have written off Zuma's chances…but I'm not so sure. This is a man that is clearly not being judged by his populist support on his Western-style leadership credentials, but rather on the fact that he is ‘their man’. If he comes through these two trials unscathed, he may not count on the elite votes, but I would imagine he would still have much of his populist support intact.”

Yebo Gogo (http://americanafrican.blogspot.com/2006/05/zuma-acquitted-of-rape.html):

“So what does this mean for the country's politics? It's obviously a bit too early to tell, but this is the Internet, so I feel like I should have some comment. Zuma will walk away a free man, but his political history is likely done. He was, entering the trial, considered one of the nicest men in all of South African politics and a hero of the left because of his populist leanings. But even being found guilty, would the ANC still risk putting him up as president? Would a breakaway left-leaning political group (possibly a breakaway consisting of the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions)?”

The arrest of the 10 Egyptian activists has caused outrage in the Egyptian blogosphere and a campaign is already underway for their release. The campaign has been taken up throughout the African blogosphere with bloggers using “Googles Blog Bomb” to spread the word throughout the blogosphere. Anyone clicking on Egypt will go straight to the Free Alaa website.

Manal and Alaa’s Bit Bucket (Alaa’s and his wife’s blog) - (http://www.manalaa.net):

“Alaa and the rest of the group that was kidnapped yesterday, will be detained for 15 days. They didn’t go directly to the prison as we thought, but spent the night at the Khalifa's police station and are supposed to be transferred to the prisons now. The 3 women will go to El Qanater prison, as Tora prison where the rest of the 40 detainees are held has no section for women, and the men are supposed to join the rest and go to Tora prison, but some think that they will also be taken to El Qanater prison (which has sections for both men and women).”

Rantings of a Sandmonkey (http://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/05/07/alaa-arrested):

“Alaa, blogger, co-founder of the Egyptian blog aggregator Manalaa and democracy activist, got arrested today during a protest to support the Judiciary's branch fight for independence…The way it worked, the police made sure to press the demonstrators close to the Egyptian museum, where they cordoned them and wouldn't let them leave, while continuously hurling insults at them. The demonstrators tried to get the police to let them go for half an hour, but to no avail. The Police cordon then opened where a group of plain dressed police officers and thugs rushed in and started beating up the demonstrators and dragging them on the asphalt till they threw them in the police vehicles. The Police also made sure that none of the satellite news channels would be able to get video footage of what they did by not allowing the press to come close and keeping them away the entire time.”

Freedom for Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/05/egyptian-regime-is-gett…) provides some background to the arrests:

“Since the beginning of the year, the Judges Club in Cairo and Alexandria has started a nation-wide movement calling for an independent judiciary. The current judiciary system is ruled by the strong grip of the executive authority of the regime of Mubarak. The members of the Judges Club could not tolerate taking the rigging of the parliamentary elections in November/December as a normal procedure to fool the Egyptians and the world. When they tried to take their responsibility and uncover the rigging of the elections they were crushed by the regime and some of them were slapped on the faces in polling stations. The regime made it clear to the Egyptian people and to the judges that there is no will but that of the President.”

The Big Pharaoh (
writes that the Egyptian embassy in Washington DC has been bombarded with free Alaa and other activists emails and for further action he suggests:

“There is a blog dedicated to Alaa and the others who were detained during the demonstration on May 7th. As I stated before, the Egyptian embassy in DC got bombarded by emails from concerned average Americans. We are also suggesting you to contact David Welch, Assistant Secretary and head of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. His email is: [email][email protected].”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to [email protected]

An online boycott of “Ezi Mozo,” an Egyptian juice manufacturer, whose TV ads on many Mideast channels featured close-ups of young women dancing provocatively and seductively whispering the product’s name, is just one of the growing number of Arabic-language online boycotts. For years there have been Arabic-language Web sites discussing current events and issues, but the effective use of economic boycotts in the Arab world is relatively new.

Egypt's parliament agreed on Sunday (April 30) to a two-year extension of emergency law requested by the government while it prepares replacement anti-terrorism laws. The Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition force, said there was no justification for extending the law, which President Hosni Mubarak last year promised to substitute with anti-terrorism legislation.

Three bombs spaced just minutes apart ripped through the crowded Egyptian beach resort of Dahab on Monday, killing at least 18 people and confirming the extent to which domestic terror groups have reestablished themselves after years of relative peace. It's the third time since October 2004 that Egypt's popular Sinai Peninsula beaches have been targeted. Prior to that first attack - three suicide bombs that killed 31 at Taba - Egypt had not experienced any terror attacks since 1997.

Egypt has long tapped into the Nile's power for energy and irrigation. Now, the country's southern neighbors want their fair share. Twice a year the monks and priests of the Church of Narga Selassie on Dek Island in northern Ethiopia gather to bless an urn of water scooped from the lake that surrounds them. They pray over the water for three days and ask God to sanctify it in the name of Jesus.

Activists renewed calls for official recognition of Islamist opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood after dozens of the banned-but-tolerated party’s members were arrested in recent weeks. “We call for the government to recognise the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate political party,” said Nigad al-Borai, director of the Cairo-based Group for Democratic Development. “Only then will political disputes between the government and the brotherhood be resolved legally.”

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has conferred the 2006 Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award to Mohamed Hashem, an Egyptian publisher who has been threatened and harassed for defending the right to freedom of expression. Hashem is the owner and managing director of Merit Publishing House, an independent company he co-founded in 1998. Merit supports and encourages new writers.

“When I was appointed by the Constitutional Court in 2003, I felt Egypt had taken a very important step towards building a freer, more equal merit-based society,” said Tehany al-Gebaly, Egypt’s only female judge. “Three years on, I am saddened to see that the obstacles to women joining the judiciary remain firmly in place.” In Egypt’s approximately 6,000-strong judicial body, al-Gebaly is the only woman in an executive judicial role.

Activists have accused the state of fabricating evidence to support criminal charges against members of the political opposition. In spite of their relative infrequency, these operations “have wide and long term effects in spreading fear among ordinary citizens and amongst some activists who fear their turn will come,” read a recent report issued by the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo).

A gunfight that broke out at the headquarters of Egypt's oldest opposition party on Saturday served to underscore the plight of Egypt's political opposition, in a state of disarray since parliamentary elections were held three months ago. "The incident is proof that none of the secular opposition parties are capable of resolving their rapidly growing internal differences," said veteran local journalist Gamal Essam El-Din. "It comes as little surprise that people resort to violence when they're prevented from engaging in free political activism."

Egypt plans to lift 25-year-old emergency laws granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention that critics have long claimed are used against opponents of the regime. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif announced the move in a speech to parliament, saying the laws would be replaced by new anti-terror legislation in Egypt, which has witnessed a string of deadly attacks in recent years. Nazif said he had ordered the formation of a committee of experts to draft the new law, without saying when he expected it to come into force.

A collective demand by editors-in-chief of Egyptian newspapers, media professors, and representatives of human rights organizations, to initiate a national campaign to end the possibility of imprisonment for publication offenses is finally being realized. University professors, members of the Higher Education Teaching Association, representatives from civil society, unions and political parties will participate in the campaign which is calling for the adoption of the draft law provided by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate (EJS), annulling imprisonment sentences in opinion and publication cases.

In recent years, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional offices in Cairo, has referred approximately 4,000 recognised refugees per year for resettlement to the United States, Canada, Australia and a number of other smaller receiving countries, making it the largest such programme in the world. But despite this, there has been little research conducted into the expectations and experiences of the refugees themselves on this process. This study aims to investigate Sudanese refugees' expectations of life in resettlement while in Egypt, and upon arrival in the US, Canada and Australia, and hopes to facilitate these findings with governmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental agencies.

Nearly 1,000 Egyptian judges held a half-hour silent protest Friday (March 17) to demonstrate for full judicial independence and against the government's order to interrogate six of their colleagues who criticized recent elections. The justices, wearing the red and green sashes of their profession, gathered outside their professional association, the Judges' Club, in downtown Cairo ahead of an extraordinary general assembly to discuss their grievances.

On Friday 30, December 2005, Egyptian security police brutally broke up a three-month sit-in protest being held by Sudanese refugees in Cairo, killing 30. As detailed in an October 2005 Pambazuka News article (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29957) the refugees were protesting against their appalling conditions and the constant abuse of their rights and had camped out near the Cairo office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), demanding protection from forced repatriation and protection of vulnerable groups. Three months after the massacre, writes Barbara E. Harrell-Bond, families of the dead are still waiting to bury their loved ones.

What is happening with the bodies of those who were killed in the 30 December 2005 violent expulsion of the three-month peaceful protest aimed at the UN High Commission for Refugees in front of their Cairo offices at the Mustafa Mahmoud Park? To date, there is no evidence of any of the 29 families having lost a loved one, being successful in receiving the body from the government morgue authorities to complete the burial, either in Cairo or back in Sudan. The bodies are slowly decomposing in the central government morgue while distraught family members struggle to obtain some sense of closure in order to move forward in their grieving process.

There were understandable delays in identifying bodies and conducting autopsies. Then, because of rumours among the refugees of organ ‘snatching’, the Sudan government and the SPLM demanded they be allowed to conduct their own investigation. But there has been no public account of their findings. Still the bodies have not been released. For those yet looking for loved ones, they are no longer allowed to enter the morgue, but are shown pictures of bodies yet unidentified.

Mr. Phillip Dominic is the maternal uncle and primary relative of one of the deceased, Colletta Pashikfofe. Her relatives, a mother and brother, want her body to be buried in the Sudan. However, Colletta’s body remains in the morgue after a series of grisly experiences.

Phillip obtained funds from an Egyptian to pay the plane ticket and to have an undertaker preserve the body and prepare it for transport in a sealed casket. He accessed all the necessary documents:

- A death certificate (with no cause of death listed).
- A letter of permission from the Ministry of Health to transport the body to Sudan and confirming Phillip’s authorization as the closest living relative in Cairo to receive the body.
- A letter from the Foreign Affairs Ministry sent from Khartoum via the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo providing permission for Colletta’s body to enter Sudan.
- A document from the Ministry of Justice to confirm again that Phillip is the legal guardian of Colletta’s body and confirming that he officially took possession of the body Friday the 3rd of Feb. 2006.

He was on the way to the airport on that day with the undertaker and Colletta’s body when he was contacted by Mohamed Darwish, a 3 star police officer/general from the Zenhom station just across from the morgue. He was told that he must return immediately with Colletta’s body to the Zenhom morgue and that this order had been received “from above”. He returned as instructed at which point Mohamed Darwish signed the body back into the morgue, essentially putting a “hold” on the body, apparently preventing Phillip from receiving it again.

Phillip at this point went to the Sudanese Embassy requesting assistance and eventually went back to Zenhom on the 9th and 10th February along with the undertaker. He was told by morgue authorities that he had to go to the Interior Ministry in order to obtain a letter to have the hold released. He was also told to go to the police at Zenhom and discuss the matter directly with Darwish, who originally placed the hold.

He did so, only to find no one available, apparently due to a football match. He was told by the airlines that the ticket he purchased would expire so he was hoping to resolve the matter. He has been told by morgue authorities that he should try to convince the airline to extend the ticket until Sunday 12 February and that perhaps the matter would be resolved on the Saturday.

Phillip has been back to the morgue, to the UNHCR, and to the Sudanese Embassy on an almost daily basis since mid February. He had to change the details on his authorization letter from the Sudanese Embassy, which he did successfully, after initially having difficulties. He had to obtain a letter from UNHCR which he eventually did. However, his tireless efforts to receive Coletta’s body for transport back to Sudan, even to bury locally, appear not to have yielded any positive results.

The morgue authorities/police posted at the morgue, reportedly stated on 26 February that he could not receive the body for transport back to Sudan because they had not received authorization to release the bodies “from a higher authority”.

Phillip decided (as several other family members have now done), that he had been through enough and that, despite other family member’s wishes to the contrary, he would bury Coletta’s body locally. He assumed that morgue authorities would release the body immediately once he agreed to this. Instead they reportedly told him that he must obtain confirmation from religious figures that he would have a ceremony and burial locally. He did so with church officials confirming his intent to morgue authorities. Following this the authorities again replied that they were sorry but they did not have the authorization required to release Coletta’s body to him, even for local burial.

Phillip tried to participate in a prayer gathering at the morgue for the deceased, however, they were not allowed to gather, with police apparently fearing potential violence. Although the details are unique, in many ways it is representative of similar troubles that other families have also faced during this difficult process of attempting to bury their loved ones since 30th December 2005.

UPDATE: Per my conversations with a few of the family members, and other second hand reports, I understand that funerals did take place over at least 2 days last week, starting mid week. Apparently 8 bodies were buried initially and another 6 the next day. Additional funerals may have taken place over the weekend that I am not aware of.

Apparently representatives from both the Sudanese Embassy and Egyptian Government accompanied the bodies from the Zenholm morgue to graveside in order to ensure that there were no detours to have secondary medical opinions on cause of death (as some family members had requested originally). To date, only death certificates with the section on cause of death left blank have been issued to the families.

Some family members asked the Sudanese and Egyptian officials whose decision it was to prevent the bodies from returning to Sudan, as the government officials from the Sudanese Embassy have been apparently telling the family members that it is the decision of the Egyptian Government. However the Egyptian Government officials have apparently been telling the family members that it was the decision of the Sudanese Government. In response to such questions in the presence of representatives from both governments, the family members were apparently told to stop asking questions least they not be allowed to bury their loved ones at all.

It appears that many of the bodies still have not been buried. Phillip has not yet buried Colletta, but plans to try to do so by Tuesday of this week. Almost all of the family members whom I am in contact with have now collected their 5,700 LE from CARITAS. Average local funeral costs are apparently in the range of 300-500, with the remaining funds being seen as "compensation" for what the families have endured (no matter how grossly inadequate).

* This article was compiled from reports from AMERA-Egypt, a refugee legal aid NGO, operating as a branch of the AMERA UK Charity. Barbara E. Harrell-Bond is distinguished Visiting Professor, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Programme, American University in Cairo.

In light of the state's unjustified ignorance of the President's promise to annul prison sentences in publication cases, on Tuesday 7 March 2006 the Giza Criminal Court issued a one-year imprisonment verdict against Amira Malash, a journalist for Al-Fagr newspaper, in case 1381 [2006]. In his testimony to the representative of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), Nashaat Agha, the journalist's lawyer, declared that the session in court had not exceeded seven minutes when the verdict was issued.

Rights groups have condemned several Arab governments for blocking websites devoted to freedom of speech on political and social issues, calling the move an attempt to limit the free exchange of information. “Most Arab governments largely oppress freedoms of the press and expression,” said Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information's (HRinfo) Programme Coordinator Sally Sami. The criticisms came after a number of Egypt-based websites were recently blocked, as well as several sites in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

Reporters Without Borders has noted the decision of the former housing minister, Mohamed Soliman to withdraw 37 defamation complaints that he had lodged against journalists. This gesture is the result of mediation, undertaken by the information minister and the press council between the housing minister and President of the Egyptian Journalists' Union, Galal Aref, representing the journalists named in the cases.