The Skeptic الشكاك

122 The Syrian Crackdown

Last week, Syrian State Security arrested 12 activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Anwar Al-Bunni (right) and well-known writer Michel Kilo, for signing a manifesto calling for improved relations between Syria and Lebanon. Human rights groups expect more arrests to follow.

I’ve interviewed Anwar al-Bunni several times and hold him in the highest respect. He knows what he’s talking about and he won’t be intimidated. He’s been in and out of detention so many times I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lost count. Yet he never minces words. State Security keeps locking him up, he keeps getting out, and he keeps right on talking. Mindful of his past problems, I’ve always asked him if he’d prefer to be quoted anonymously. He’s always insisted on speaking on the record. I doubt I’d have the same courage.

A blog has been set up to campaign for the detainees’ release. “The Assads have just written themselves off as viable players on the scene,” Ammar Abd al-Hamid writes, though he cautions that the Assads might be trying to force an international confrontation. “Who’s next after Michel Kilo?” Rime Allaf asks (See also her review of the Baathist government’s achievements in the past 40 years).

[tags]Syria, arrests, al-bunni, al-bounni[/tags]

121 For Shame

On May 18, Tunisian State Security officers prevented mourners from gathering to memorialize Adel Arfaoui at the headquarters of the Ligue Tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH). Arfaoui was a teacher and a senior member of the LTDH. He died of heart problems on May 11. He was 45 years old, married, and had five children.

I met Arfaoui several times on trips to Tunisia. I didn’t know him well. But I knew him professionally as an informed, understated and thoroughly reliable observer. Even when describing the most egregious abuses, he never strayed into polemic. A colleague who knew him better than I did described him as “a gentle person devoted to the idea that letting the facts speak for themselves is the best way to advance human rights.” That’s a good description.
Barring his friends and colleagues from meeting to grieve his death together was a petty, cruel, and arbitrary act. Ya 3aib. My sympathies to his family and everyone who knew him well. I know he’ll be missed.

[tags]Tunisia, tunisie[/tags]

120 The Bad News First

Not much new to say about this, but I just wanted to take note of today’s violent repression of protests in Cairo. By the numbers, today’s repression was the worst since this crackdown began. Issandr and Nora have photos on Flickr. See also the BBC story, which has more on the beatings, and HRW’s latest press release, which also refers to problems in Alexandria.

The disciplinary tribunal cleared Justice Ahmed Mekky of charges of “disparaging the Supreme Judicial Council” and “talking to the press about political affairs.” It “only” censured Justice Hisham al-Bastawissy, who is still recovering from a heart attack, for the same charges. The tribunal had the authority to fire them, and I suspect it would have (and many others after them) if their case hadn’t created such a brouhaha. That the tribunal let ringleader Mekky off the hook—apparently against the letter of the law—and merely slapped the convalescing Al-Bastawissy on the wrist gives me some cause for optimism.

Yes, optimism, strange as it is to speak of optimism when hundreds of protesters were detained and dozens were beaten only hours ago. Optimism because the tribunal’s decision suggests the government hasn’t completely lost its mind. It may yet seek a compromise with the Judges’ Club: a watered-down version of legislation giving the judges more autonomy, perhaps.

Will the judges compromise? They did before the elections—dropping their threats to boycott their role as monitors while leaving the terms of their participation in dispute. They may again. Perhaps it’s too early to ask the question. On balance, the slap-on-the-wrist decision from the disciplinary tribunal hardly carries the same weight as the government’s other actions in this showdown, none of which suggest the government is in a conciliatory mood.
[tags]Egypt, protests, judges[/tags]

118 When the Going Gets Weird…

At this risk of burying the lede, let me start with the event at the center of today’s violence. Today in Cairo, two outspoken, senior judges refused to appear before an extraordinary disciplinary board convened to punish them for speaking out against vote-rigging and voter intimidation in last year’s elections because they could not bring their defense lawyers with them.

Outside, police violently dispersed demonstrations in their support, again. This time, police and “middle-aged men with walkie-talkies” (Issandr’s description) also beat journalists from Al-Jazeera, Reuters, and the Associated Press. They also briefly detained an employee of the U.S. Embassy. Sandmonkey was blogging the day’s events in real-time. Issandr has a good account at Arabist and photographs on Flickr. A friend sent me an account with some analysis by email. (I wasn’t there. I’ve moved from idyllic Brooklyn to even-more-idyllic Prince Edward Island. Given the government’s increasingly bizarre behavior, am starting to wonder if I’ll be let back into Egypt. All bets are off.)

So what to make of this? I’m looking to Hunter S. Thompson for wisdom. “When the going gets weird,” the Doctor wrote, “the weird turn pro.” Well, the going has definitely got weird. The Egyptian government behaves more erratically by the day. Allowing protests to be filmed during an election year served the government’s purposes at the time. Detaining Al-Jazeera bureau chiefs and beating Al-Jazeera cameramen does not. Detaining more than 100 secular activists and Muslim Brothers does not. Imprisoning an internationally known blogger does not. While the post-election crackdown does not come as a surprise, its severity and clumsiness does. I have always given the government credit for more intelligence than this. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps the government is just playing the same game it always had, perhaps it’s just now turning pro.

The going is certainly getting weird(er) in Washington. The State Department’s statement this afternoon was about as strong as these statements come:

We are deeply concerned by reports of Egyptian Government arrests and repression of demonstrators protesting election fraud and calling for an independent judiciary. Particularly troubling are reports of Egyptian police tactics against demonstrators and journalists covering the event that left many injured. We urge the Egyptian Government to permit peaceful demonstrations on behalf of reform and civil liberties by those exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

We are also troubled by reports that the periods of detention of many of those arrested have been extended and that security-related charges have been filed against them. We have noted our serious concern about the path of political reform and democracy in Egypt and actions such as these are incongruous with the Egyptian Government’s professed commitment to increased political openness and dialogue within Egyptian society. We will be following up with the Egyptian Government regarding our concerns and will continue to push for political reform and freedom of speech and press. We support the rights of Egyptians and people throughout the Middle East to peacefully advocate for democracy and political reform.

A good, strong statement. It’s about time. And yet one State Dept. correspondent, a Barry (who Issandr speculates might be the AP’s Barry Schweid), seems to be veering past weird. He seems, in fact, to be emulating Dr. Thompson, sitting in the back row with a vial of acid and a copy of Revelations. First question: “Yeah, but you’re calling for a dialogue and there are people in Sardis who would like to overthrow the government and are far less democratic than it is to —”

What?

Another reporter—Sue, I think—reads off the tattered, boring script pulled out at cocktail parties across Amrika whenever Egypt comes up: “Why do we give Egypt foreign aid?” Right. OK. Next.

Apparently the only two reporters in the room with brains in their heads are two women named Teri and Sylvie, who press McCormack on whether a higher-level statement will follow, or should have already been issued.

I’ve been thinking of Ahmed Seif al-Islam telling the BBC last year that “the government would pay a heavy price if it cracked down” on Egyptian democrats.

Everyone seems to agree that the U.S. government won’t extract that price. The Egyptian government can confidently calculate that the U.S. might issue statements, but that push won’t ever come to shove (so long as support for Israel is the cornerstone of U.S. Middle East policy and there’s a peace to be bought). The two judges whose troubles were the proximate cause for these abortive protests don’t think the U.S. government really gives a shit about them (and why should they when the State Department cheered the same elections the judges criticized?). State Security officers agree (and apparently don’t think the U.S. Embassy would be concerned even about the arrest of a U.S. citizen observing a protest, if the threats to detain my penpal are any indication). Your average citizen in Cairo, Beirut, or Amman is pretty sure the U.S. government cares only about oil and Israel.

Still, the Americans can exert some pressure. And they’re not the only game in town. When one NGO wrote a letter to Chirac asking him to bring up human rights concerns in his recent meeting with Mubarak, it made the front page of every big French daily. The Germans, mindful of their own recent past, are usually anxious to do the right thing these days. The British can be surprisingly idealistic in their foreign policy. And foreign aid isn’t everything. These crackdowns have a nasty way of coming up in negotiations about trade deals, arms deals, and important votes at the UN. Everybody needs somebody sometime.

And even the most cavalier governments need their people all the time. Tunisia’s Ben Ali rules by fear, yes, but more importantly, he rules because things work… sort of. There are new cars. There’s clean-ish water in the taps. There aren’t heaps of trash in most streets. Things haven’t always worked as smoothly in Egypt, but then again, at least you were marvelously free on the streets of Cairo compared to your friends on the streets of Tunis, Damascus, or Baghdad.

There’s an old Tunisian joke comparing Tunisia and Algeria, but it could work equally well for Tunisia and Egypt (except that they don’t border each other): Two dogs, one Tunisian and one Algerian, meet each other at the border. The Tunisian dog is coiffed and pretty, with a red bow around its neck, and is crossing the border to Algeria. The Algerian dog is scruffy and dirty, and is crossing the border to Tunisia. The Algerian dog says, “Are you crazy? Look at yourself: You’re clean, rich, and pretty. What are you doing leaving your comfy home for Algeria?” The Tunisian dog says, “I want to bark.”

Egypt has always been greatest when the people have been behind the program. So where are they?

Baheyya is optimistic on this score:

What is happening in Egypt today has caught the men of the regime off guard. They never anticipated the resolve of judges to follow through on their mission of ensuring clean elections. They never anticipated the persistence and depth of popular support for the judges. And they never imagined that indiscriminate and brute force would only reinforce the resolve of both judges and activist segments of the public. Most of all, they never thought that election-time mobilisation would continue well after elections were over.

Sometimes, it is the simple but fatal mistake of miscalculation that is the undoing of the high and mighty.

My emailing friend is less so:

This state is hopeless. It is authoritarian and rotten to its core and one can only hope that some sort of change occurs. Yet, I remain skeptical that no matter how brave or stubborn the social forces resisting the state are, that much can be achieved. In Egypt, there can be no third way. This is not a state that is behaving like its scared or weak. It is a state that is boldly asserting its repressive power against its unarmed citizens. This state is not interested in practicing politics. It is incapable of dealing with its polity politically or diffusing political problems. Instead, it relies on repression, coercion, and intimidation. A high majority of Egyptians will be forced in acquiescence through fear. Yet, fear cannot and will not ever expand regime power.

Meshi. I’m out of town. The only Egyptian I’ve met face-to-face in a week had just come from a protest in front of the Egyptian Consulate in New York. But I suspect most people back in Cairo, as anywhere, still just want to live. I suspect most still don’t care much about the judges. Or if they do, they care more about their families, enough so that they won’t risk 15-45 days in prison. They can’t afford the break from work.

But I hope the next time the government is thinking about roughing up demonstrators and reporters it will remember: everybody needs somebody sometimes. You never know when you might need Egypt again.

[tags]Egypt, protests[/tags]

119 Alaa Blogging from Prison

I think this is the first time anyone has blogged from Prison.

He sounds well. It’s encouraging. And heartbreaking to hear how much he and Manal miss each other. They’re one of those rare couples that glows with mutual happiness and love when they’re together. May they be reunited soon.
[tags]egypt, alaa[/tags]

116 Human Rights Watch on Alaa

Human Rights Watch has issued a press release on Alaa and the others detained May 7, repeating its concerns about the broader crackdown:

Egypt: Award-Winning Blogger Among New Arrests
More Than 100 Now Held in Political Protests
(New York, May 10, 2006) ? Egyptian security officials arrested 11 more political reform activists, including an award-winning blogger, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. This brings to more than 100 the number of people detained over the past two weeks for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression.

Approximately half of those arrested are members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were putting up posters and distributing leaflets protesting the April 30 extension of emergency rule for another two years. The Emergency Law has been in effect since President Hosni Mubarak came to power in October 1981. The others were detained for demonstrating in support of a group of judges campaigning for greater judicial independence.

?These new arrests indicate that President Mubarak intends to silence all peaceful opposition,? said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch?s Middle East and North Africa division.

The latest arrests occurred on May 7 near the South Cairo Court where activists arrested on April 24 were scheduled to appear before a judge. Police released three of the 11 new detainees, but transferred the remaining eight to the Heliopolis state security prosecutor, who extended their detention for 15 days. The eight detained are: Ahmed `Abd al-Gawad, Ahmed `Abd al-Ghaffar, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Asma?a `Ali, Fadi Iskandar, Karim al-Sha`ir, Nada al-Qassas and Rasha Azab.

On May 8, authorities extended for another 15 days the detention of a dozen activists arrested on April 24. They initially faced charges of blocking traffic, but the authorities later transferred their cases to state security prosecutors. Yesterday, authorities extended the detention of 28 activists arrested on April 26 and 27 for another 15 days. All those arrested between April 24 and May 7 for demonstrating now face charges of ?insulting the president,? ?spreading false rumors,? and ?disturbing public order? under the parallel state security legal system set up under the Emergency Law.

According to a statement published on an activist Web site, activists detained between April 24 and 27 have begun a hunger strike to protest prison conditions, including threats of torture and ill-treatment.

?The activists detained over the past two weeks should be released immediately, unharmed,? Stork said. ?The Egyptian government is responsible under international law for their safety.?

The campaign of judges for greater judicial independence has become a rallying point for political reform activists. The Judges? Club, the quasi-official professional organization for members of the judiciary, refused to certify the results of last year?s parliamentary elections after more than 100 of the judges reported irregularities at polling stations. In February, the government-controlled Supreme Judicial Council stripped four of the most vocal judges of their judicial immunity.

For the names of demonstrators detained prior to May 7, please click here.

[tags]Egypt, Alaa, human rights[/tags]

115 Kifaya Under Arrest

There’s a gentle spring breeze blowing in Brooklyn, and the sounds of kids playing basketball are coming in through the window from the schoolyard next door. It’s early evening, at the end of a sunny weekend. Across the street, neighbors are singing intentionally off-key to an earnest version of “Wimoweh.” It’s clashing with the piano from downstairs. I’m sunburned from a day eating homemade Indian food with an old friend in Prospect Park.

And I’m stunned, sickened, and anxious to get back to Cairo. Another friend of mine, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, went to jail there today (May 7). He was among 11 young people arrested for turning out to support Kifaya activists arrested in last week’s crackdown at the latter’s scheduled hearing this morning. The tireless Aida Seif El-Dawla, who was there, says a senior intelligence officer Assistant Interior Minister who goes by the false name Sami Sedhom told the protesters, “You bitches. You sons of bitches. This is how it is going to be from now on if you do not behave and know your limits. If you do not behave you’ll have the bottom of my old shoes all over you.”

Police released three people—Sara Abd al-Gilil, Mohammed Awaad, and Yasser Abbas Mohammed—and held the rest in the Saida Zainab police station before transferring them to the Heliopolis State Security Prosecutor’s office. A friend who works for a wire agency tells me he just heard the prosecutor has ordered them held for 15 days.

“We were just there to be present at the court hearing,” Aida said. “They encircled us…they wouldn’t let us go.”

Friends of two of the detainees told Aida that security agents had called to say they were “screwing them right now.”

The eight people still in custody from today’s arrests are:

1. Ahmed Abd al-Gawad
2. Ahmed Abd al-Ghaffar
3. Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam
4. Asmaa Ali
5. Fadi Iskandar
6. Karim El-Shaer
7. Nada al-Qassas
8. Rasha Azab

I’ve met these people. I can’t imagine the Interior Ministry honestly regards them as a threat. True, Alaa is an award-winning blogger and the son of veteran rights activist Ahmed Seif al-Islam, but the protests represent a nuisance rather than an existential threat to the regime. Yet the Interior Ministry does seem to recognize that the arrests could backfire: A spokesman told Al-Jazeera that those arrested the morning of May 7 had been released (just as they were being transferred to the Heliopolis State Security Prosecutor’s office) and the Interior Ministry told Reuters that no one had been arrested.

So is this the regime’s new idea? Crack down, arrest those protesting the crackdown, arrest those protesting the arrest of those protesting the crackdown, deny everything? Protests are no longer tolerated. The core of the Kifaya movement is now in jail.

When I first met Alaa in the summer of 2005, I told him I was worried the government would crack down on the Kifaya protesters after the elections, when the world’s attention was elsewhere. I asked him if he was worried about what would happen if that came to pass: Many of the protesters were young, they had never been in jail, they didn’t know what could happen to them. He said he believed that it was too late for the government to put an end to the protests, that once people had tasted a bit of freedom, the regime couldn’t roll it back.

“The government would pay a heavy price if it clamps down on us,” Alaa’s father told the BBC’s Heba Saleh last year. The coming days and weeks will see both those predictions tested.

[tags]Egypt, human rights, kifaya, protests[/tags]

114 Roasting Bush

Just landed in Amrika, got this in my email, and was reminded of why this country, for all its problems, is still a pretty amazing place: Because you can do this. Can you imagine Ibrahim Eissa doing something similar to Mubarak’s face on Nile TV?
[tags]bush, colbert, united states[/tags]

113 Free Malek

…And the other 50 people arrested last week for peacefully expressing their solidarity with judges campaigning for judicial independence and clean elections in Egypt.

So why Malek in particular? Because he has volunteered his time to campaign for Egyptians detained for their online activities, regardless of his opinion of them. If you keep a blog in Egypt, you want Malek to be free in case Al-Adly comes for you. Because it’d be nice if there were more people like Malek: people who believe in Egypt, Islam, tolerance, democracy, and human rights—and who are proud of it (Malek refuses to learn English better until he’s perfected Arabic, for example—“There’s so much I haven’t read in Arabic, why should I start reading in English?”). People who can put aside petty disagreements and ideological squabbles to campaign for shared goals.
[tags]Egypt, bloggers, blogs, arrests[/tags]

111 Another Paeon to Lewis

A few days ago, Issandr at Arabist.net linked to an article in which The New York Sun gave the ancient Bernard Lewis a blowjob. Now it’s Fouad Ajami’s turn. For those who don’t subscribe, the full text of his sickening (if meatier) Wall Street Journal article on Lewis continues below the break. Thanks also to Nutgraph (I’m becoming a big fan), for pointing me to this critique of Lewis’ work and legacy.
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