MENA House: Egypt as "A Nation Without Trust"?

In a heated discussion, television commentators Amr Adeeb and Amal Othman raised the subject  "A Nation Without Trust" (Watan bila thika).

The reason for this debate? In recent weeks, headlines have featured events bringing into question the integrity of the judiciary, medical examiners, and police forces.  In the words of  Adeeb, this is a "catastrophe".

MENA House: The Pharaoh’s Music in Today’s Egypt

Case 1: The Beating of Khalid Saeed

On 6 June, Khalid Saeed was assaulted and murdered by, according to eyewitnesses, two policemen.  Al Masry Al Youm obtained exclusive material, including more eyewtiness accounts and testimonies revealing the attack caused severe bruising and bleeding.  Pictures of the victim were then released matching  the description.

The events that followed that raised even more eyebrows throughout the nation.  Saeed's brother Ahmed claims that, informed of his brother's death, he went to the morgue.  Officers refused to let him enter and took him to the police station, where he was given a story completely different that of all the eyewitnesses.

The prosecutor interrogated the medical examiner at the morgue, "Afify Abdel Al Afify", who claimed that there was  a "bruise under Saeed’s left eye and scratches on his lips, but no other injuries".  The examiner added that the victim's mother and brother did in fact visit the morgue, however, he "forgot" to add this to the visitors' logbook.

A new medical report is being written to confirm/revoke the previous account.

Case 2: Lawyers vs. Judges

Two lawyers were convicted and sentenced to five-year prison terms for assaulting the district attorney in the Nile Delta city of Tanta, northwest of Cairo.  It is alleged that the lawyers slapped the prosecutor.  However, accounts of the event differ over who initiated the scuffle.

At the hearing, a judge ruled in favour of the prosecutor, a decision which defense lawyers claim was biased.  This led to numerous protests against prosecutors, with lawyers handing out leaflets condemning judges of not being objective and failing to do their job properly.

While the judges, defence lawyers and prosecutors argue amongst themselves, it is the Egyptian citizen who is affected. Videos show empty courtrooms, in contrast to the normal rush of judicial business.

In the words of Adeeb, the Egyptian citizen is being abused twice over.  First, their legal dealings are stalled because of the dispute within the judiciary.  Secondly, their trust is being killed.

Returning to the Khalid Saeed case, what happens if the final report is published and it states that he was in fact murdered by policemen? This means that police officers and the forensice medical examiner can change their reports from one extreme to another.  Whom does an Egyptian citizen trust?

What on the other hand happens if the report concludes that Saeed was not killed, contrary to all eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence of the assault? Again, whom should an Egyptian citizen trust?

Iran's Persecution of Rights: The Pursuit of Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei (Shahryar)

A few weeks ago, my significant other and I were having a conversation about the state of affairs in Iran in the wake of the Green Movement’s uprising and the Government's attempt to stop it.. After looking at all the information at hand, she looked at me and said, “They started with arresting ordinary Iranians, then, journalists; I wonder who is next.”

Well, her question seems to have been answered. Human Rights Lawyers.

Prominent human rights activist and lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei was questioned last week by authorities. A couple of days later, they came against for him, this time for detention. Apparently, he was not in his office; he remains missing. His wife Fereshteh Halimi, and brother-in-law, Farhad Haleemi, who were near the office, were arrested.

Mostafaei is not the first lawyer the government has wanted to detain. Many were arrested early in the crisis and then released, including influential feminist and human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr. But in those days, the government was arresting anyone it could get its hands on. They didn’t really care if the jails were filled because their other detention facilities --– such as the infamous Kahrizak Prison --- had shipping containers on hand to hold detainees if no cells were available.

Now that the situation is calmer, at least in appearance, the government has embarked on a campaign to detain prominent Iranians fighting for human rights. Mostafaei’s case may be the most crucial because he is probably the most overburdened lawyer in Tehran.

Recently, Mostafaei emerged in the Western media through his representation of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the woman convicted of adultery who was about to be stoned to death. She, however, is only one of his clients. The majority of human rights cases currently in courts in Tehran that we here in West get to hear about are all cases that Mostafaei has taken and worked on for years. Every time a child is facing the death penalty in Iran, he is the first lawyer to take up the case. He also takes on most of the other cases involving women accused of adultery, a crime punishable by stoning in Iran. Journalists, human rights activists,and political dissidents cases are also represented by Mostafaei.

Even before the publicity for his representation of Ashtiani, Mostafaei had won a hard-fought battle in Iran’s courts when he was able to convince the family of a victim to forgive juvenile Hossein Haghi, accused of murder when he was 14. His work with juvenile offenders has won him respect among human rights activists not just in Iran but also abroad.

Mostafaei was one of the early detainees after the election last year in June, but was later released on bail. The arrest did not deter him, as he took on more clients. The pressure to take up more of these cases was prompted by two factors. Other human rights lawyers like Nobel Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Shadi Sadr had been forced into exile by the government, and the regime was detaining more and more Iranians on almost a daily basis.

Last Saturday, Mostafaei was summoned to Evin prison and questioned about his work for hours. He later posted a blog entry hinting that he believed he would be arrested. If imprisoned, he will join human rights lawyers Mohammad Oliayifard, currently serving a one-year sentence. If he makes it out of the country, he will join an alarming number of Iranian intellectuals who have been forced into exile. In either case, he will not be able to defend Iranians against the regime's interpretation and application of the law

Most importantly, as Mostafaei was the most prominent human rights lawyer who had been allowed to work relatively freely inside Iran, his arrest means that his colleagues will have to be extremely careful from now on. The duties of a human rights lawyer in Iran are now even more dangerous than it was before.

Iran Document: Karroubi Strongly Criticises Head of Guardian Council (29 July)

In a statement on his website, Mehdi Karroubi writes to Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, responding to Jannati's speech supporting the Supreme Leader and accusing the US and Saudi Arabia of offering $50 billion for "regime change" (see separate analysis on EA). Translation from the Facebook page supporting Mir Hossein Mousavi:

In the name of God,

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Head of the Guardian Council and Friday Prayer Imam of Tehran

Greetings,

According to the news and reports published by some news agencies and news websites, recently you had an extensive political speech at Qom’s Jamkaran Mosque for the celebration of the birthday of Imam Mehdi [Shia’s "hidden" 12th Imam]. In the worst manner, you abused the pure and devoted religious gathering of Muslims who had gathered in that place only, because of their beliefs, to show respect to and ask for help from Imam Mehdi. Relying on the power and assumed immunity from liability for what you make up, you stated some imaginary unproven and divisive remarks and added the fuel of hatred and discord on the fire of difference you have started.

Among these repetitive shabby and outdated false allegations and rumours of yours against Imam Khomeini’s friends and the defenders of the people’s fundamental rights and all the noble people and freedom seekers, what was new was that you said: “I  have acquired a document that [shows] the Americans have paid $1 billion to the “heads of the conspiracy" [the Iranian opposition] via Saudi people who are currently agents of the United States in the region’s countries. These Saudis, who were speaking on behalf of the United States, told [them] if you manage to overthrow the establishment, we will pay you up to another $50 billion, but God put out this “conspiracy” with the hands of his pure believers.”

Mr. Jannati, what you call “conspiracy” was the election that, as usual, was engineered by you and the intelligence rooms guiding those like you in the Guardian Council and Interior Ministry to provide what was favoured by those who engineered this election. But despite the expectation and unlike the norm (and God is the best planner), the plan of yours and other power grabbers was not successful and the salty stew you cooked up and was hastily
fed to the nation made them angry and [this] interrupted your show election.

So you and the other designers and engineers of the election scenario, with disbelief and despite the empty claim of abiding to people’s votes, repressed people’s protest in the most extreme and most brutal way possible. And then, at the height of your fear from people’s anger, you posed victoriously and, to complete your projects, staged show trials to quiet the remnants of any objective voice, putting the silence seal on the land of dead that you had dreamed of in your mind. This method of alleging and giving out sentences has unfortunately been the method based on which, for years, many of
the pure children of this nation have been denied their rights, such as electing or being elected because their qualifications have also been rejected based on these types of reports.

However, after more than a year from what has happened [since the election], you still are having nightmares from what you have done and the response you have received, and you are constantly trying to find a pretext so that the outcome of the fantasy that you made up and the lies you
created would become smooth for you.

Mr. Jannati, in the lexicon you created following the Presidential elections you called those “conspirators” who are the majority of the Iranian nation and are considered leaders for them (I bet Mehdi Karroubi is one of them). But in the same lexicon, which fortunately was defined correctly by the nation, some have become well-known for their hypocrisy, trickery, shams, killing, abuse of religion, and deceit of faith. Undoubtedly,  no doubt if
you are not one of the obvious examples of them, you are indeed someone who made this path clear for them to achieve their goals.

If I am a conspirator because I object [to the Presidential election], then you are a partner of those who stole this nation’s vote and are disloyal to the nation because the footsteps of your foolish acts are evident in the events that have happened both before and after the election. Unfortunately, in every case you stood against the people and took side with the violent and oppressive movement.

This time for the false accusations you made against those who you call “the heads of the conspiracy”, claiming that they have received money from
Saudis to topple the system, first of all I will file charges against you to the Islamic Republic’s judiciary, although I have no hope that this will be processed. Secondly I write this letter so that you realise that I am protesting to your remarks. I ask you here to reveal any reason, document, and
evidence you have, otherwise I will unveil your growing lies and scandals publicly everywhere and by any means possible.

In conclusion, I remind you that you are at the end of the path that is called life and whatever you have done, if it has been done for the love of this world and its possessions, then you have definitely achieved it....

Mr. Jannati, history repeats itself and it is incumbent upon the politicians to learn from it. You certainly remember that after the uprising of Khordad 15 [5 June 1963] and the arrest of Imam [Khomeini] and a group of great [religious] scholars and many of the people and the butchering of the nation by the government’s soldiers and thugs in various cities, the Shah’s regime announced that they have arrested someone named “Jo Jo” at [Tehran's] Mehrabad airport who had brought two million tomans for Imam Khomeini to use for rioting against the regime.

The planners and scene-writers affiliated with the deceased Shah seemed experienced enough that, when they created a lie, they at least made it plausible for some of the people. Unfortunately you and your friends or, better said, your sources, when you create a lie, it is implausible and unacceptable. I seek refuge to God from the injustice that the government’s religious instructors and preachers have done and continue to do to the real and oppressed clergymen and the true preachers of Islam and Shia.

You also seek refuge to God and fear for your afterlife. Ask God for forgiveness and ask the great nation of Iran for mercy. There is hope that people and the almighty God may forgive your sins.

So learn a lesson, you insightful ones (from the Holy Quran)

Mehdi Karroubi

Mordad 7, 1389 6 (29 July 2010)

The Latest from Iran (29 July): 22% Support?

1935 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist Hoda Saber, who was mysteriously taken by unknown persons on Saturday, has called his family from Evin Prison. The reason for arrest is unknown.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran updates on the transfer of 15 political prisoners, including student activist Abdollah Momeni and journalist Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, to solitary confinement in Evin Prison. (We have previously reported that 10 detainees were transferred.) The 15 are protesting the “unsuitable treatment of prisoners and their families by prison authorities and Ward 350 officers on visitation days; lack of health and welfare facilities; as well as suspension of visitation privileges of several prisoners.”

NEW Iran Analysis: Twisting & Turning to Prove the Leader is Supreme (Verde)
NEW Iran: How “Ahmadinejad v. Paul the Octopus” Became a Global Showdown
Iran Analysis: The Hardliners Take on Ahmadinejad
Latest Iran Video: Ahmadinejad on Afghanistan, Sanctions, & the US (26 July)
The Latest from Iran (28 July): A Presidential Target?

1730 GMT: Sporting Moment. Kodoom reports on triumph turned into trouble....

Hossein Askari, riding for the Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team, won the Tour of Qinghai Lake in China.  However, according to Ali Zangiabadi, the director of the Iranian Cycling Federation, Askari will face disciplinary action in Iran after he popped the cork from a champagne bottle in his victory celebration.



1720 GMT: Academic Corner. The Educational Testing Service has announced that it is resuming registrations in Iran for TOEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) and GRE (Graduate Record Examination) tests.

The examinations, which are vital for many Iranian students who wish to study abroad, were suspended two weeks ago after tighter U.N. Security Council restrictions on financial transactions involving Iran led to ETS's banking arrangements being discontinued. Students wishing to take the tests may now register through Iran's National Organization of Educational Testing or mayn use credit/debit cards issued by banks that are not prohibited under UN or US sanctions.

1530 GMT: Solving the Oil Squeeze? Three Russian state-controlled oil companies may begin delivering gasoline to Iran in a month, the head of the Iran Commission of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said. Talks are being held on a “working level” and the first delivery may take place in late August or September.

1500 GMT: Karroubi Answers. Mehdi Karroubi has offered a response to Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council (see separate entry): "If I am an intriguer, then you are in league with those who stole the people's votes....What you called sedition was an election which was as usual engineered by you and think tanks led by you or others like you at the Ministry of Interior and Guardian Council."

1420 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Iranian activists have posted an updated letter, addressed to the Supreme Leader, requesting commutation of the death sentences of Jafar Kazemi (see 1110 GMT) and Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei, both arrested during post-election protests and accused of "mohareb" (war against God).

Radio Zamaneh has now posted an English text of the news of Kazemi's sentence.

1410 GMT: Oil Squeeze. Reports indicate that Iran shipped around 9 million barrels of crude oil to China in June, a fall of 13.1 million barrels from last year.

1400 GMT: Water Watch. The Los Angeles Times updates on the reports that water in parts of Tehran are contaminated with high levels of toxic nitrate.

The article reports that the Ministry of Power has handed out free bottles of water to an underprivileged suburb south of the city. The Water and Sewage Waste Organization has recently dug new wells to expand the water supply. However, Minister of Health Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi announced that the amount of nitrate found in the drinking water in parts of Tehran exceeded the appropriate level, posing a serious threat to city-dwellers’ health.

1310 GMT: Mousavi Watch (1988 Edition). An EA correspondent checks in:

"The big news today is Enqelab Eslami, the Paris newspaper of former President Abulhassan Bani-Sadr, is allegedly re-leaking the full contents of the letter that Mousavi wrote to Ayatollah Khamenei in 1988 explaining his sudden resignation as Prime Minister. (The resignation was refused by Khomeini, who forced Mousavi to stay on.)

The contents, which I am trying to verify, are amusing: Mousavi decries his total lack of control or even information over events surrounding Iranian foreign policy and activities. For example, he states that he received word through the press that Iranian pilgrims have been apprehended in Jeddah carrying firearms or that the Speaker or Parliament, Hashemi Rafsanjani, exchanged letters with the Prime Minister of Japan and Mousavi only got wind of it when both sides finished the exchange.

Essentially this is a strong accusation against the un-constitutional accumulation of powers by Khamenei. Enqelab Eslami first leaked the letter in 1988, prior to Khomeini's death. It now republishes iafter Mousavi's threat to reveal all, (see the letter posted on EA).

Now the ball's firmly in Mousavi's own court: he either needs to deny the veracity of the claims or confirm the letter...."

1140 GMT: Mousavi Watch. Kalemeh has a short report of Mir Hossein Mousavi's meeting this morning with members of the Assembly of Teachers and Researchers of Qom.

1110 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An Iranian activist reports that he death sentence of political prisoner Jafar Kazemi has been upheld by an appellate court.

Kazemi, arrested last September during protests, was convicted of "mohareb" (war against God) for connections with Mujahedin-e-Khalq, a charge that he has denied. He was also in prison for nine yers during the 1980s.

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the "abuse" of detained journalist Abdolreza Tajik and other political prisoners, “It is time for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay to press the Iranian authorities to accept a visit from the UN special rapporteur on torture, so that he can investigate the allegations of mistreatment in Iranian prisons.”

This week the Tajik family wrote Iran’s head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, that the journalist said during a prison the privisit that he had been “dishonoured” and that he demanded to see his lawyer, Mohammad Sharif, and Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi.

1005 GMT: Oil Squeeze. The New York Times summarises Iran's announcement that it will increase domestic gasoline production by converting two petrochemical plants so they can produce gasoline by processing benzene.

Minister of Oil Masoud Mirkazemi's all-is-well alert was that Iran would become a net exporter of gasoline by 2015. Other scientists say, however, that gasoline from benzene will burn poorly with more impurities than regular gasoline, damaging engines.

0955 GMT: Security Escalation. Aftab News reports that 7000 bases for Basij militia are to be constructed, including 100 in Zanjan Province.

0930 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Add Australia to the list of countries ramping up restrictions on Tehran. Following the UN, US, and European Union measures, Canberra has tightened restrictions on Iranian oil and gas groups and companies for the first time and has banned trade of weapons and related material, including anything that could be used for development of nuclear, missile, chemical or biological capability.

0755 GMT: We have posted an analysis by Mr Verde, considering the significance of a speech by Ayatollah Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, "Twisting & Turning to Prove the Leader is Supreme".

0600 GMT: While we catch up with "other" news, we open today with a feature, "How 'Ahmadinejad v. Paul the Octopus' Became a Global Showdown".

The President may also want to take note of a recent poll conducted by the Iranian Student Polling Agency in which 56 percent of participants believe his popularity has declined over the past year while only 22 percent believe it has increased.

As readers know, we are cautious about any poll carried out inside Iran, but the ISPA, which surveyed 1172 people is is linked to Jahad Daneshgahi, an academic body which in turn is overseen by the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution, headed by President Ahmadinejad.

Two-thirds of the respondents in the poll believe that dissatisfaction with the government remains widespread, if largely covert. Only 18% think that the government was able to control post-election protests.

Perhaps the most striking finding, however, is this: 80% said that economic issues such as inflation, lack of affordable housing, and unemployment are their main priorities. Lack of political and social freedoms was named by only 7%, weakening Islamic values concerned 6%, and international threats such as military attacks or economic sanctions was cited by 4% percent.

Middle East Inside Line: Arab League & Israel-Palestine, British PM on Gaza "Prison Camp", Separation Fence Scandal

Thorny Road to Direct Israel-Palestine Talks: Arab League Foreign Ministers are meeting today in Cairo.

Talking to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that continuing the construction freeze on West Bank settlements would be impossible politically and would bring down the coalition.

A Palestinian official told Reuters, "Abbas will tell [the Arab League] that, until this moment, there is nothing to convince us to go to direct talks.”

Israel-Palestine: Abbas’ Conditions, Netanyahu’s “Eastern Front” Response

Haaretz claims from Palestinian sources that Abbas will seek unequivocal clarifications from the US that the framework for direct talks will include a declaration that the Palestinian state will be based on the borders of 4 June 1967, with adjustments will be based on agreed exchanges of territory. The PA also wants an Israeli declaration that the construction freeze on settlements will continue and that building in East Jerusalem will stop.

Israeli cabinet minister Isaac Herzog (Labor Party) summarizes the dilemma of a "chicken-and-egg" situation. Talking to Israel Radio, he said:

Abu Mazen (Abbas) says: "I don't want to enter direct negotiations until I know what the final result will be."

Netanyahu says: "Enter direct negatiations and I will also tell you what the final result will be."

Each one looks at it opposite, and we are in a sort of political trap.

Britain's Cameron in Turkey, Comments on Gaza: British Prime Minister David Cameron made his first official visit to Turkey, warning European countries about anti-Muslim prejudice and the slow pace of accession talks with Turkey. He told Turkish businessmen:

When I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a NATO ally and what Turkey is doing now in Afghanistan alongside European allies, it makes me angry that your progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been. I believe it's just wrong to say Turkey can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit inside the tent.

Cameron's counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel’s raid on the Freedom Flotilla an act of “piracy” and compared Israeli officials to Somali pirates. Cameron said that the incident was “completely unacceptable” and called for a speedy and transparent Israeli inquiry into the incident. Cameron also sharpened his tone on Gaza:

The situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.

The Israeli embassy in the U.K. responded to Cameron quickly:

The people of Gaza are the prisoners of the terrorist organization Hamas. The situation in Gaza is the direct result of Hamas’ rule and priorities.

We know that the Prime Minister would also share our grave concerns about our own prisoner in the Gaza Strip, Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage there for over four years, without receiving a single Red Cross visit.

Separation Fence Scandal: EA has already reported that Walajeh, a village in the Bethlehem Governorate 8.5 kilometres (5.3 miles) to the southwest of Jerusalem, is in danger of being cut off from the rest of Palestinian lands, leaving 2,000 villagers encircled by Israeli settlements, roads, and security barriers.

In a court hearing on Sunday, it emerged that the order to expropriate village lands for the fence, which enabled the work to begin, had expired a year ago. However, instead of ordering a halt to the work, the court issued an injunction requiring the state to explain within 45 days why construction should not be stopped.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and Palestinian villagers say that since the injunction was issued, the Defense Ministry and the contractors have been working much faster than before.

The Cost of an Eye: Emily Henochowicz, an Israeli-American studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, lost her left eye when Border Guards fired a tear gas canister during a demonstration following the raid on Freedom Flotilla.

According to Henochowicz, one policeman shot a canister directly at her face. Haaretz says that one of its reporter also witnessed the incident.

Following her treatment in Jerusalem, her father was handed a bill for NIS 14,000 (around $3,600). The Ministry of Defense refused to pay, claiming the tear gas was not fired directly at Henochowicz. The statement accused Henochowicz of putting herself at risk by voluntarily participating in a breach of the peace and accused:

From our reports, we know that the Border Police acted in accordance with the law at the violent demonstration at Qalandia, and that the shooting of tear gas canisters at demonstrators was justified. Of course, we regret that Emily Henochowicz was wounded in her eye. But under such circumstances, the Defense Ministry does not cover the expenses of medical treatment.