Gewalteskalation in Ägypten: Radikalisierung der Muslimbrüder erwünscht
Victims still 'disappearing' from Egyptian streets
It was 3 a.m. on May 24 when an armed force burst into the Khalil family home. Noor Khalil opened his eyes to eight masked men. He was pulled out of bed, bound and blindfolded. Then he dropped off the face of the earth for four days. In an Egyptian Homeland Security building, where physical constraints were accompanied by a gun to his head, Khalil said he learned that his brother had met with the same fate, except the latter would not resurface for 122 days.
A United Nations international convention defines enforced disappearance as the arrest, detention, abduction or other deprivation of liberty by a state or state-authorized agents, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the act. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/egypt-forced-disappearances-arrests-security-sisi.html#
Egypt Running on Empty
An authoritarian regime may be unpopular, even loathed, but at least it has rules. The rules may bear little resemblance to the law, but relations between state officials and society come to have a predictable rhythm. People understand where the red lines are, and they can choose to stay within them or to step across. Egypt does not work this way under the field marshal who became president, Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi.
Nearly three years since the military coup that brought Sisi to power, not only are the red lines blurred, but the unconsolidated regime itself is so fuzzily defined that Egyptians doubt it is one coherent entity. The security forces seem to have slipped the leash of the executive branch. As one journalist told me in Cairo, You never know which security branch it is any more. The only thing thats clear is that Sisi does not control them. Its unpredictable and unsettled. Thats what makes everything dangerous. You cant see it coming. http://merip.org/mero/mero030816
No to normalisation
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon admitted in his speech at the annual AIPAC conference, the largest Zionist lobby supporting Israel in the US, that the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi and the installation of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi was planned, in cooperation with generals in the Egyptian and Gulf armies and intelligence agencies. He also said that Israels interests will always be served by having military regimes in the Arab world, especially in Egypt.
He apologised that the military regimes usually disregard democracy in Egypt but called on the lobby to provide more support for Al-Sisi. Yaalon also explicitly said: We decided to allow General Al-Sisi, who was the defence minister at the time, to take over power by mobilising the army in order to become a president. The West should consider this of strategic interest for them as well. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/24563-no-to-normalisation
Nicht nur Giulio Regeni: es muss in allen Fällen von erzwungenen Verschwinden, Folterungen und Todesfällen in Haft ermittelt werden Offener Brief an den ägyptischen Präsidenten Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=17237
Egypt vows to shed light on 'tortured' Italian student death
Egypt's president on Wednesday vowed to do everything he could to shed light on the death of a young Italian student whose badly mutilated body was found in Cairo.
Cambridge University PhD student Giulio Regeni, 28, was found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo in February, in a case that has strained ties between Italy and Egypt.
Egyptian authorities are working "day and night" to solve the crime, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.
"I promise you that we will do everything to shed light (on the case) and we will get to the truth," he said.
Addressing Regeni's family, he added: "We will work with the Italian authorities to bring to justice and punish the criminals that killed your son." http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-vows-shed-light-tortured-italian-student-death-1709261325
Aber sicher es wird keine drück von dem italianische staat um eine Seriöse Untersuchung in diese Fall gegeben , weil die Eni https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eni_%28Unternehmen%29 hat eine Große Investition von Gasförderung vor den Küsten dem Ägypten , "il più grande giacimento [...] del Mediterraneo"... Das ableckerbeinen des Oberst http://www.infoaut.org/index.php/blog/editoriali/item/16728-i-leccapiedi-del-colonnello
Will Egyptian parliament cut into the military's profit margin?
Armies are the basis of the administration and the administration is everything, Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Nasr said at a conference four years ago on the role of the Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF) in supporting the economy through the institutions many projects. At the same conference, held in Cairo and organized by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, he stressed that the so-called "army economy" is not derived from state funds, but rather from returns on Ministry of Defense projects.
The Defense Ministrys projects and finances have long lacked transparency, and many critics have questioned whether its funds constitute a black-market budget. Some estimate the size of the armys economy at 35-45% of the Egyptian economy. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied both assertions during his election campaign. In a May 2014 interview with Reuters, Sisi said the correct number was no more than 2%. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/egypt-military-economic-empire-sisi-parliament-limit.html#
Thousands join protests in Egypt against Red Sea islands deal
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Cairo on Friday to picket the government's decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, with authorities moving in to disperse the crowds and reportedly firing tear gas and warning shots.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, meanwhile, spoke at a housing and tourism project, saying he feared "Egypt might be broken.
I am not concerned about the outside, but I am very concerned about the inside because of the planning of the devils, he said, adding that the powers of evil don't want Egyptians to see what we are achieving because they want to destroy all the components of the state".
Demonstrators chanted slogans from the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, saying: "People want the downfall of the regime," MEE contributor Belal Darder said.
They also shouted: "Sisi, Mubarak, we don't want you, leave," in reference to long-time strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted during the 2011 revolution and to current President Sisi, who led a military coup against Mubarak's successor, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-police-encircle-cairo-prevent-red-sea-island-protest-1026999708
Controversy over Italian student's murder threatens Egypt's tourism sector
On April 2, the Italian Association for Responsible Tourism (AITR) issued a statement noting that all its travel packages to Egypt would be suspended until the tragic events of [Guilio] Regenis murder are revealed. Regeni, an Italian graduate student conducting research in Egypt, went missing on the fifth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution. His body was found Feb. 3 on the outskirts of Cairo with clear signs of torture. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/egypt-italy-regeni-murder-tourism-decline.html#
Nicht nur Giulio Regeni: es muss in allen Fällen von erzwungenen Verschwinden, Folterungen und Todesfällen in Haft ermittelt werden Offener Brief an den ägyptischen Präsidenten Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=17237
Syria death toll likely as high as 400,000: UN envoy
The death toll from Syria's civil war could be as high as 400,000, the UN envoy said on Friday, in what would be a major revision of casualty figures.
Speaking during a press conference in Geneva where parties to the conflict are holding fraught talks Staffan de Mistura stressed that the figure was based on his own personal estimate, but said the UN's current figures are out of date.
We had 250,000 as a figure two years ago, de Mistura told reporters. Well, two years ago was two years ago. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-death-toll-likely-high-400000-un-envoy-1560547008
Shelling of Aleppo neighborhood threatens to stir up Arab-Kurdish strife
Since February, the Syrian armed opposition has been shelling Aleppos Kurdish Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood, where the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and about 25 armed opposition factions have been fighting. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/sheikh-maksoud-neighborhood-shelling-kurds-arab-strife.html#
Three years after the coup, lessons still unlearned from Egypt's tragedy
Had it been allowed to continue, last Thursday would have seen Mohamed Morsis four-year term as president of a post-authoritarian Egypt draw to a close. Instead, last week marked the third anniversary of Morsis forced removal by a military coup that has reimposed a perpetual dictatorship upon 90 million citizens.
The calamity of Egypt continues to unfold daily, with mounting human rights abuses, stifling of dissent, widespread corruption, economic crisis, and the consolidation of power in the hands of a new authoritarian ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/lessons-still-unlearned-egypts-tragedy-502416402
Secret US meeting between Egyptian Salafist and Tzipi Livni sparks controversy
Revelations of a secret meeting between a leading Egyptian Salafist and former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni have set Egyptian media ablaze.
Egyptian tabloid Youm7 reported over the weekend that Nader Bakkar, the deputy chairman of Egypts Salafist Nour Party, met with the high-ranking Israeli politician in April at Harvard university at Bakkars request.
Bakkar graduated on Friday from Harvards Kennedy School of Government with an MPA in public administration. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/secret-meeting-between-egyptian-salafist-and-tzipi-livni-causes-controversy-2074031569
Egyptian police quashed a few small protests across the country on Friday and arrested dozens of protesters as calls for an uprising against poverty went largely unheeded.
Police rounded up at least 130 protesters across the country, a security official said.
Riot police and armoured vehicles filled the otherwise empty streets of central Cairo early on Friday as security forces built up a heavy presence in anticipation of popular protests over deteriorating economic conditions. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/cairo-locked-down-streets-empty-as-weary-egyptians-shun-protest-call-117479557
11/11 in Egypt: The invisible demonstrations
This is the largest number of guns I have ever prayed with, Haitham el-Tabei, AFPs Cairo correspondent, told me. The number of security praying exceeded the civilian faithful. http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/1111-egypt-invisible-demonstrations-1438901447
Egypt in crisis: Impoverished on brink of explosion,' spy chiefs warn Sisi
Egypt faces social unrest stirred by its ongoing economic hardship, intelligence officials have warned President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as Cairo went into lockdown on Friday amid protests against price rises and austerity measures. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-in-economic-crisis-impoverished-on-brink-of-explosion-spy-chiefs-warn-Sisi-704166796
Sinai residents accuse state of extrajudicial killings
Egyptians in El Arish, a city in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, are accusing the government of the extra-judicial killing of 10 youths by security forces.
The Egyptian interior ministry, which heads the security forces, said on Friday that members of an armed group opened fire at the security personnel as they approached their hideout in an abandoned house.
It also described those killed as "terrorists". http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/sinai-residents-accuse-state-extrajudicial-killings-170115201441920.html