Continue building up the wall of the prison – tomorrow the revolution will rise and won’t let anything

Down with the military rule

Maikel Nabil Sanad
El-Marg general prison
2011/11/28

In Syria, Syrian security forces have shot dead at least seven protesters on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. Protests erupted in many towns and cities on Tuesday morning, after Muslims performed the Eid prayer marking the end of Ramadan then took to the streets in mass protests against the Assad regime and the atrocities it had been committing against the Syrians for the past five and a half months. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) activist network said six of the deaths occurred in the southern province of Daraa and one in Homs in what continues to be a harsh crackdown imposed by the Assad regime over protesters and activists ever since the eruption of the #Mar15 revolution in Syria.

In Bahrain, a 14-year old boy with the name of Ali Jawwad has been reported killed by Bahraini security forces during a protest in Sitra against the al-Khalifa regime after he was directly hit by a tear gas canister on his head fired at a close range, Bahrain’s Ministry of Health stated that a 14-year-old boy was killed but gave no details as to the circumstances of his death. This marks as the 32nd civilian that has been killed by the regime ever since the beginning of a civil uprising in Bahrain on #Feb14 that had been oppressed by both the al-Khalifa regime and the GCC’s Peninsula Shield forces.

In Nigeria, tensions between Christians and Muslims over the Muslim holiday Eid have resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people in the central Nigerian city of Jos. Sectarian violence broke out after Christian youths attacked Muslims trying to perform worship in a mosque that had been burned in previous clashes in that city, the military was called in to put an end to the violence and shot at the crowd, most of the deaths are reported to be caused by the military forces. The clashes are part of ongoing violence that began with last Christmas Eve’s bomb blasts in two Christian communities in Jos, the state capital that lies on a faith-based fault line between Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria and the mainly Christian southern Nigeria, ever since then both Muslims and Christians have been killed based on their religious identity.

In Denmark, one man was killed and two more wounded in a shoot-out outside a mosque in central Copenhagen, the attacks came as worshippers left the mosque after the Eid prayers, according to witnesses it was a drive-by shooting and around 20 bullets were fired from what seemed to be a hand gun. The police confirmed that the man had died within minutes after he was shot three times in the head, and that a second 50-year-old man was being treated in hospital. A third person, who rushed away in a private car, was shot in the leg.

What a sad way to mark the end of a holy month and begin what should have been the festivities of a beautiful Eid. What should have been a day of celebration will be a day of mourning for all those families, whose loved ones ended up in the morgue rather than at their homes on that day.

Dear Director of El-Marg Public Prison,

Due to the severe injustice committed against me by the Military Justice Administration such as:

1. Having an unfair, secret, trial before a military court, even though I am a civilian
2. The extreme delay of the appeal of the sentence against me by the Military Justice Administration
3. The clear distinction made by the Military Justice Administration between the way my case is treated and the treatment given to similar cases such as those of Nabil Sharf el Din, Hussem Al-Hamlawi and Asma Mahfouz

I have therefore decided the following:

Firstly: Refrain from all litigation before an unfair, military court for it is illogical to ask for justice from the unjust

Secondly: To go on a hunger strike, starting from today. Should there be no response, I will escalate my hunger strike to include water and medicines. It will continue until death or until I am set free

I therefore request you to take the following actions:

1. To edit the minutes of the case as proof and notify the Public Prosecutor to carry out an investigation
2. Inform the management of the prison hospital to take responsibility for my safety
I will not accept any more injustice, and if my death is the price to be paid to put an end to the excesses of the Military Justice Administration, then it is a small price to pay.

Thank you very much.

Maikel Nabil Sanad Ibrahim
El-Marg Public Prison
23 August 2011

Maikel Nabil has begun today a hunger strike in his cell in Marg Prison, north-east Cairo.

Maikel Nabil Sanad, an Egyptian blogger, and both MEYEnglish and MEYArabic member, was arrested on the night of Monday 28th March 2011 from his home in north Cairo, by the military police, for allegedly defaming the armed forces. Thirteen days later, and after a Kafkaesque military trial procedures, he was sentenced to three years on charges of “insulting the military institution and publishing false news about it” and “disturbing public security.”

Maikel, an anti-militarism activist, pacifist and conscientious objector, now faces an unknown fate, and his only crime was blogging a post criticising the military!

Maikel has faced lots of harassments in different cells, injustices and disregard to his serious medical conditions. Let alone the legitimacy of this trial from the very beginning, Sanad is a civilian who should not stand before a military court, which normally does not have any jurisdiction over civilians.

More than 10,000 civilians have been prosecuted by military tribunals since Mubarak’s ouster, according to human rights groups.

Everybody at Mideast Youth is seriously concerned with Maikel’s case, and closely tracks the events. And we urge you to spread the word about Maikel in the global Blogging Day for Maikel Nabil which is today, Tuesday 23rd August.

How to help Maikel?!

Join the growing Facebook campaign page, follow @FreeMaikel on Twitter, tweet about Maikel using hashtags: #FMNC; #FreeMaikel and #MaikelNabil; spread his blogs from jail; sign this petition; or at least share this post.

Read How to help Maikel in prison? for further guidance. Read all Maikel Nabil articles on MEY here.

Watch this video for an art-installation, created by the Egyptian graffiti artist, Ganzeer, and set near Tahrir Sq. This piece is one of many contemporary art pieces trying to bring attention to the SCAF (The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) intolerance to criticism and trickery on the revolution, which has obviously happened with Maikel. The installation was labelled “Soldier’s Dance.”

With so much little attention given by Arabs to the situation of Somalia, I thought I should write about it for a bit.

Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda are among countries in a vast African region being affected by severe drought.

An illustration of the drought in East Africa and the African Horn.

The UN has warned that the situation is deteriorating to the point of famine in some areas, with hundreds of thousands facing starvation in the next three months – the year’s driest period.

In Somalia, continuing violence in southern and central parts of the country, compounded by drought, has seen 135,000 people flee so far this year.

In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the borders into Kenya and Ethiopia – three times the number of people who fled in May.

The UN Refugee agency warned on Tuesday that more than 50% of Somali children arriving in Ethiopia are seriously malnourished.

As families walk for days and sometimes weeks to reach refuge at camps in Somalia’s neighbouring countries, vulnerable children are often too weak to survive the journey.

Something must be done to help the Somalians, we are witnessing massive loads of people slowly dying from hunger and starvation, while some people do not even stop to finish a meal before throwing it in a garbage can. Donations are needed to help buy food and supplies and have them delivered so these people can be properly fed. We have a humanitarian crisis in our hands and these people need our help, caring for one another is what essentially makes is human beings.

Donations can be made through these organizations,

• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
• CARE
• International Rescue Committee (IRC)
• Doctors Without Borders
• UNICEF
• MercyCorps
• İnsani Yardım Vakfı (IHH)

Do not waste anymore time, use that credit card and donate if as little as $1-5, coming from you and a few hundred thousand. That $1 would amass to maybe $1 million through the cumulative effect. You can make that difference, from the very comfort of your home with only a computer and internet access. I hope when you are done reading this post you will not hesitate to spare 30 minutes of your time and help Somalia.

The recent murder of Vittorio Arrigoni, age 36, comes to mind, although there are numerous examples to be found in all the nooks and crannies of the Middle East. Vittorio was an Italian activist and journalist, who chose to live in Gaza since 2008, and who championed the rights of Palestinians for the last several years. He was abducted quite recently by a radical Islamic group inspired by al Qaeda, and was used as a bargaining chip to pressure Hamas, the ruling political faction in Gaza, to release some political prisoners, including a Sheikh whom they consider their leader.

The group threatened to kill Vittorio if their demands were not met, and a short deadline of 30 hours was put in place. Perhaps the victim tried to convince his captors that he too was fighting for justice for Palestinians. But in the end, the group decided to mete out its own brand of justice. In an unfortunate turn of events, the group’s demands were not met, and Vittorio was strangled to death, even before the deadline had elapsed.

Up until several days ago, I would have thought that Hamas was pretty extreme, calling for such tidbits as the destruction of the State of Israel, and death to the Jews. But now, however, it seems that this Salafist group may be even more extreme than Hamas, murdering an advocate for the Palestinian cause, even as Hamas watched in disbelief, and was rendered powerless to stop it from happening. Is it possible that this extremist group, which has become a thorn in Hamas’ side, could be a wake-up call to Hamas, that maybe there is a better way to move forward? Perhaps, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.

Such is the nature of extremism. There is no stopping it once it takes hold. One act of terror begets another, as the cold-hearted calculus of our cause takes us to a place where there is no mercy, where almost anything goes, and where almost any heartless act of violence is deemed justifiable in the name of a greater purpose.

Aristotle taught us, a long time ago, that the truth is rarely to be found in the extremes. Rather, truth is usually to be found somewhere in the middle. In short, truth is not an extremist position. For example, if you were to ask Aristotle to define courage, he would probably say that it is somewhere in the middle between being foolhardy on the one hand, and being a coward on the other. It is somewhere in the middle, somewhere that Aristotle called The Golden Mean.

As we search for new paths in the Middle East, paths that are more likely to take us to a better place, we should never lose sight of the fact that there are people out there who will tell us “No!” at every turn. These are people who are very committed to their cause, and for whom failure is not an option. Many of them have convinced themselves that God is on their side, and they have no qualms about killing in His name, even though it is precisely His creatures they are killing.

We should keep the extremist agenda in mind as we venture forth to realize a Vision of Hope, a vision of Peace, Prosperity and Freedom. An opportunity exists, this time around, to make something happen along these lines. But the extremists will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to derail us. Therefore, we will have no choice but to commit ourselves as strongly to our cause as they are to theirs. We will embrace moderation as tightly as they embrace extremism. We will dare to see the world in shades of gray, as they see only black and white. We will accommodate ourselves to our sense of self-doubt, as they convince themselves of the certainly of their cause.

To triumph over extremism, we will chart for ourselves a course that is likely to take us to a new Middle East, and we will not deviate from our journey, even as fear and intimidation are thrust upon us. We realize that much of what preceded us has led us astray, and we know too that there are those among us who would wish to confound our sense of right and wrong, but we will be true to ourselves as we venture forth to what promises to be a promised land.

Please join us at www.sellingavisionofhope.org

New update: Maikel Nabil Sanad was sentenced to 3 years in jail on Sunday April 10th 2011.

Update: The trial was adjourned again to Sunday 10th April 2011.

Update: The third court hearing, on Monday 4th April, was adjourned again to Wednesday 6th April 2011.

Update: The second court hearing, on Sunday 3rd April, was adjourned again to Monday 4th April 2011.

Maikel Nabil Sanad, an Egyptian blogger, and both MEYEnglish and MEYArabic member, was arrested on the night of Monday 28th March 2011 from his home in north Cairo, by the military police, for allegedly defaming the armed forces in his blog.

The next day of his arrest, he was ordered a held for 15 days for investigation. Then the first court hearing was held on Thursday 31st March 2011, and no one was allowed to attend except his lawyers and family. Later, the trial was adjourned to Sunday 3rd of April. Now, Maikel is facing a possible three-year jail sentence on charges of “insulting the military institution and publishing false news about it” and “disturbing public security.”

Sanad, anti-militarism activist, pacifist, and conscientious objector, has already denied all the charges in the first court hearing last Thursday. Let alone the legitimacy of this trial from the very beginning, Sanad is a civilian who should not stand before a military court, which normally does not have any jurisdiction over civilians.

Although Maikel has thanked the Armed Forces for supporting Jan 25 revolution, he has then changed his mind by posting a blog titled, “The people and the armed forces were never friends“, reciprocating the frequent famous chant heard at Tahrir Sq., following the deployment of the armed forces on the evening of Jan 28th 2011, “The people and the armed forces are friends.” In this mentioned blog post, he criticised the lack of transparency in the armed forces since President Hosni Mubarak’s departure.

“How can one trust an institution that promises a democratic transition with civil society’s participation and then jails a pacifist blogger and conscientious objector at the first sign of any criticism?”

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard asks. Then he continues:

“This arrest raises questions about the reality of free speech in Egypt and whether the armed forces are ready to respect it.”

This is not the first challenge between Maikel Nabil and the armed forces in Egypt, as he was detained 2 times in the past 5 months, and set free within 24 hours in the both of them. The first incident was on 12th of November 2010 because he refused to enlist, later he was exempted and released. The second incident was on 4th of February 2011, during the Egyptian revolution, while Maikel was trying to reach Tahrir Sq. to join the massive protests. Maikel has written about this second incident on MEYEnglish here. However, this third challenge is the first to include a military court.

Sanad, a 25 year old who has graduated from a veterinary medicine school, has stirred controversy in his homeland because of his pro-Israel, anti-militarism, and open atheistic views. That’s why we, in MEY, have invited him to contribute to our websites, because we believe in freedom of expression. Regardless our own opinion, Maikel should be completely free to express his own opinions. But letters, sadly, can be taken to court in our region!

Everybody at Mideast Youth is deeply saddened and shocked by what Maikel could face in this unjustified trial, with only less than 12 hours separate us from the final verdict.

Please help to spread the word about Maikel to pressure the decision makers in Egypt before his trial tomorrow morning at a military court.

Sign this petition, join Free Maikel Nabil on Facebook, follow Maikel Nabil on Twitter, and also follow the hashtags #MaikelNabil #FreeMaikel #FreeMaikelNabil.

Worthy to mention that Egypt went from being an “Enemy of the Internet” to a “country under surveillance” in the annual Internet report that Reporters Without Borders released on 12th March this year.

Reporters Without Borders was among the international organizations that called for the release of Karman and the stopping of the ongoing ruthless attacks against Yemeni journalists. The Paris-based organization had added Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh to its list of the world’s 40 “Predators of Press Freedom” last year, and ranked Yemen as 170th out of 178 countries in its 2010 press freedom index.

Several national organizations including the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate denounced those acts and demanded the swift release of Karman and the other detainees calling the kidnapping an illegal act that violated the most basic constitutional rights of citizens.

Karman is the founder and director of the prominent NGO Women Journalists Without Borders and a strong advocate for the rights of marginalized groups, journalists and oppressed in the country. She is also known for her strong critique of the oppressive practices of the regime.

Plans are being set for further demonstrations in various cities in Yemen to demand the release of Karman and the other demonstrators and call upon the authorities to respect the constitution and human rights.

Human rights activists in Yemen called upon international human rights organizations and the international community to help in freeing Karman. Some hoped that the U.S. secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was on a visit to Yemen recently and personally met with Karman in Sana’a, to ask the Yemeni authorities to free Karman and the other activists.

Free Karman and the other detainees!

Habibollah Latifi, a Kurdish law student at Azad University and political activist was held for four months under solitary confinement undergoing harsh torture following his arrest on October 23, 2007. Nine days after his arrest Latifi was taken to the hospital with a kidney hemorrhage. A relative who spotted Latifi in the hospital said that he saw “a boy with puffed eyes, grey skin, torn lips. He was unable to stand on his feet. He was being dragged by three people while eight military and plainclothes agents were escorting them.” Latifi was beaten by six men with batons and his head was broken in three places. Following this, Latifi was able only to crawl for a month.

Latifi was tried on the charge of “acting against national security and the regime” on June 30, 2008 in a process that lasted only a few minutes in branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court. According to ICHRI, the accusations leveled against Latifi include involvement in several acoustic explosions, as well as filming and photographing them, in the city of Sanandaj. It also includes an assassination attempt on the life of the Sanandaj Prosecutor, as well as an attack on a local police station. During his trials Habibollah Latifi strongly denied involvement in any of these events.

According to CHRR, Judge Hassan Babaei presiding over the case cited verse 33 of a chapter titled Maedeh in the Qur’an, articles 1,3, and 5 of chapter 6 of a Tahrir oll-masael, a book written by Ayatollah Khomeini, and sections 183, 186, 190, and 191 of the Islamic Penal code to find Mr. Latifi guilty of Moharebeh (enmity with God), and sentenced him to death. The Court of Appeals upheld this verdict on January 29, 2009. Only a week after the case was sent to the Supreme Court in late March 2009, the appeal was denied. The case then went before the Pardoning Committee of the Supreme Court. After 10 months of secrecy, his lawyer, Dr. Nikbakht, was informed that the Committee had refused to hear the case.

Since the Judiciary informed Latifi’s lawyer of the execution on December 22, Latifi’s family and lawyer have been in a race against time to try to stop the execution. Latifi’s lawyer told ICHRI that there are several problems with the case and that Latifi’s legel team has request a re-trial and stay of execution. Elahe Latifi, Habibollah’s sister, said in an interview that “nobody from officials nor representatives have answered us. Nobody is taking responsibility, we do not know what to do.” Regarding her last visit with her brother she said that “I last visited Habib on Tuesday, at that time he was told the execution sentence for 12 individuals have been finalized and said maybe I am one of them. I told him not to even think that way because his case was heading a positive direction.” Habibollah’s niece, Sogand Ahmadzadeh, told ICHRI that “the prison telephones are cut off and this worries us more, because when they want to execute someone, they cut off the prison telephones a few days before the execution so that no one can contact outside. He usually calls on Thursdays. We don’t know whether he knows about his execution order or not, or how he’s doing.”

International human rights organizations have condemned the planned execution and called on the Iranian authorities to rescind the execution order. Amnesty International issued a statement calling for clemency to Latifi. Amnesty’s Director for Middle East and North Africa Malcolm Smart said that “it is clear that Habibollah Latifi did not receive a fair trail by international standards, which makes the news of his impending execution all the more abhorrent.” Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said “as in numerous previous security cases, intelligence agents appear to have subjected Latifi to torture and a court sentenced him to death without any convincing evidence against him. The head of Iran’s judiciary should immediately rescind the execution order.”

The Kurdish militia PJAK warned Iranian authorities that if Latifi’s execution takes place, they will review their unilateral ceasefire declaration from last year. The PJAK statement said that “we will use our right to retaliate against Iran’s attacks and executions.”