Alaa Abd-El Fattah is a prominent Egyptian activist and blogger. Imprisoned in 2006 for 45 days by the Mubarak regime, he was also detained for more than two months by Egypt's military rulers at the end of 2011.
Nabeel Rajab is the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He has been detained on several occasions by the regime and is currently in prison after his arrest last Saturday.
Just before Rajab's detention, the two men were interviewed by Julian Assange for almost three hours --- Assange's organisation WikiLeaks has posted a full transcript.
On his third day Khaled visited me. It was a surprise. I’d expected that the doctor wouldn’t allow a visit until at least a week. Khaled visited me for half an hour. I held him for ten minutes.
My God! How come he’s so beautiful? Love at first touch! In half an hour he gave me joy to fill the jail for a whole week. In half an hour I gave him love I wished would surround him for a whole week. In half an hour I changed and the universe changed around me. Now I understand why my imprisonment continues: they wanted to deprive me of joy. Now I understand why I will resist: my imprisonment will not stop my love. My happiness is resistance. Holding Khaled for a few moments is carrying on the fight.
2329 GMT: Two important visual pieces of evidence from Bahrain. The first, too graphic to post here, is a picture of the body of young Ali Al Qassab, who was reportedly killed earlier when he was run over. Activists claim he was run over by a police jeep, the government tells a different story.
The second piece of evidence is a video, reportedly taken today, that claims to show a police jeep accelerating towards a group of protesters who are near the side of the road. We've seen many videos like these in the past, and have already posted another video that shows a near-miss between a police vehicle and a pedestrian (see video at 1918):
Footage of security forces suddenly firing --- those posting the clip claim it was a rocket-propelled grenade --- at a rally in Homs Province in Syria last night
2100 GMT: Bikyamasr has more details on the food poisoning suffered by protesters at #OccupyCabinet --- the group that is gathered outside the cabinet building to protest against the Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. According to their reporters, two of whom were victims as well, the perpetrator is being singled out a woman who showed up before the cases broke out and offered protesters hawawshi, a popular Egyptian meat dish.
Hundreds started vomitting and dozens have been hospitalized. However, Bakyamasr denies that anyone has died so far. Full report here.
1930 GMT: Reuters has raised the number of people killed in today's violence across Syria to 30. Their report on Syria also covers the army's assault on the city of Hama to break a 3-day long strike called "The Strike of Dignity". Soldiers fired machineguns and burnts shops that had been closed down in solidarity with the strike. At least 10 people were killed as a result of the assault.
2110 GMT: Tonight's mass demonstration in Deir Ez Zor in northeast Syria:
2048 GMT: Yemen Prime Minister Mohammed Basindwa said today that an interim government will be formed in the next 48 hours.
The announcement came as forces of President Saleh and those of dissident military and tribes pulled back from some positions in the southern city of Taiz, after at least 20 people were killed in the last five days.
2125 GMT: Josh Shahryar has done a great job wrapping up our Egypt coverage in the previous update, and we'll close the blog looking forward. By tomorrow, we should see the fuller results, and we'll watch as the nation, and the political parties, react. Suffice it to say, the Islamists did quite well, though with no single party likely to hold a majority, we'll most likely be looking at a coalition government. Then Egypt will have to learn the first lesson of Democracy - how to govern when not everyone agrees.
In Syria, we started by looking to Turkey, as new sanctions were announced today, but the big stories were closer to home. With tanks storming Dael, a mass-shooting in Idlib, and large student demonstrations in Aleppo, today was just another sign that this conflict is hardly isolated to Homs and Hama. Assad's problems are everywhere.
Which brings up the next point. Idlib has not seen violence like this in many weeks, though protests have steadily been growing there. Dael had zero military presence at the start of the day, and the army had to deploy dozens of tanks, armored vehicles, buses, and perhaps as many as 1000 soldiers to the city in order to commence a new crackdown. Aleppo, once untouchable, has seen protests of some sort nearly every day for the last week. Assad has problems, but he does not have forces everywhere he has problems, and even where he thinks he does not have problems he has problems.
As evidence of this, the LCCS has posted this video, reportedly showing the military bombardment of Rankous, north of Damascus. Two weeks ago we did not know where this town was, but since then we've seen an increased presence of protests, and now several days of bombardment:
And we've seen yet another crack in Assad's armor, as a large army unit defected today in Idlib. So even within Assad's forces, his trusted solution, he still has problems.
Mona Eltahawy After Her ReleaseLast Thursday I woke to the news that Egyptian security forces had detained and beaten the journalist Mona Eltahawy. She was released hours later, with a broken left arm and broken right wrist. In the interim, a vocal campaign had arisen on Twitter, #FreeMona.
Later, I watched Zeynap Tufekci engaged in debate about activism, social movements, and the Internet with Evgeny Morozov, who repeated his standard line that claims of activism's effect via the Web are usually shallow and misguided.
Invoking both analysis and specific cases --- Morozov's general claims often cover up a lack of knowledge or even interest in the reality of events --- Tufekci effectively, if politely, took Morozov apart while putting out a thoughtful examination of what Web-based activism might achieve.
Among the cases that Tufekci considered was the fresh episode of Mona Eltahawy, and by Friday, she was posting a reflection and examination on her blog Technosociology.
One more thought --- after Eltahawy's release but before I read Tufekci's article, I posted the story from Bahrain, "How Activist Zainab Alkhawaja Defied the Police...And Escaped Arrest". In her Twitter narrative, Alkhawaja paid tribute to the power of social media, "I have to thank loads of people, many of them on Twitter. It seems the news got out fast & thats why the orders of arrest were changed".
But she also added this important caveat, "I also feel sad, that my brothers & sisters, the other protesters, who I would die for, are not protected the way I am".
Al Jazeera's Listening Post, takes on the contest between the regime and opposition to frame the presentation of the conflict in Syria, the situation of imprisoned Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, the latest news from Wikileaks and Julian Assange, and the case of an Israeli whistle-blower.
And then there is the last item on how video games are being used to simulate the news, hopefully engaging, educating, and inspiring audiences along the way:
2030 GMT: An anti-regime demonstration in the Midan district of the Syrian capital Damascus tonight:
1910 GMT: Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, has addressed the Syrian people in a televised address tonight. A summary, provided on Twitter:
This crisis has unified efforts of all Syrians....Syria will no longer be like a farm owned by a single family....A new constitution will give rights to minorities, especially Kurds....Power will be in the hands of people, they decide who rule them.
Every drop of blood is one more step on the way to freedom....Those who use violence against their own people are traitors who will fall and lose.
The Syrian National Council is your way to make your voices heard around the world. We are honored by your support....We will not negotiate or compromise.
Regime attempts to buy time will not help them....We have asked the Arab League and UN to protect civilians in Syria....We salute the Free Syrian Army who defended their brothers and their peaceful protests....Syrians will not forget the sacrifices of those who defended the uprising.
We tell people who are undecided, this revolution is yours....Syrians will not forget those who supported their revolutions....The regime of tyranny has fallen, but they are still trying to cling to power.
New Syria is being built today....The future Syria will be coming soon, free, democratic, and without slavery....Long live free Syria.
Alaa at Personal Democracy ForumI did not expect that the very same experience would be repeated after five years, after a revolution in which we have ousted the tyrant, I go back to jail.
The memories of being incarcerated have returned, all the details, from the skills of being able to sleep on the floor with eight colleagues in a small cell (2 x 4 meters) to the songs and discussions of the inmates. But I am completely unable to remember how I secured my glasses while asleep. They was trampled upon three times in one day. I realize suddenly that they are the very same pair I had when I was jailed in 2006, and that I am imprisoned, now, pending investigation under similar flimsy accusations and reasons of that incarceration, the only difference is that we have exchanged State Security prosecution with military prosecution: a change fitting to the military moment we are living.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 7:08
