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1 June 2010 Blogger Amr Salama, author of the blog “Lessa Aish,” was arrested because of his coverage of electoral developments.  His last posts to Facebook before his arrest were the following: “After the National Democratic Party canceled elections in Sharqeya's Haheya district, in blatant disregard of court orders, I went to the Abu Kabir and Faqous districts – the most contested in Sharqeya.  I took photographs from inside polling staff headquarters, where they sat eating kofta and kebab and forging votes on election…

On the 12th of June 2010 the department of media and public relations of the Egyptian ministry of interior issued a statement denying the content of the testimonies of eyewitnesses as well as reports by human rights organizations regarding the killing of Khaled Said in Alexandria, accusing those statement of inaccuracy, flagrant falsification, and crossing the line in dissemination of lies etc. the following is our reply: The statement by the MOI refers to "certain elements and circles": We are not "elements" or "certain…

1 May General Ismail El Shaer, first assistant to the Minister of Interior, sends a warning to independent MPs refusing their request to organize a peaceful demonstration demanding political reform. The demonstration was planned to head to parliament to submit the demands to the chair. In its refusal, the Cairo security directorate states that within the current security situation such demonstrations and protests may lead to disruption of public security in the capital and obstruct traffic to the disadvantage of citizens…

A new massacre to add to Israel's criminal record of killing civilians; this time against 750 citizens from 40 Arab and European countries. Their crime is the organization of a humanitarian relief convoy to the Palestinians besieged in Gaza, hostages to a siege that has lasted for more than 4 years. The solidarity flotilla was attacked in international waters before approaching the shores of Gaza, which are none of Israel's concern. It was attacked from air and sea resulting in the murder of 19 activists and the injury of 40…

On Tuesday, 11 May, the Prime Minister announced in a speech to the People’s Assembly, “As it seeks a two-year extension of the Emergency Law, the government vows before the People’s Assembly not to employ the exceptional measures permitted by the Emergency Law except to confront the dangers of terrorism and drugs and to the degree necessary to confront them…The Emergency Law shall not be used to encroach on liberties or diminish rights…if the issue is not these two dangers…The government also vows to limit provisions of the…

The Egyptian government is often forced to recognize past abuses in the course of putting a pretty face on future ones, as aptly illustrated by a presidential decree issued on May 11 that extended the State of Emergency for another two years. This time, the Prime Minister and parliamentarians with the ruling party swore that the Emergency Law would only be applied in terrorism and drug cases, implicitly admitting that it has been applied much more broadly over the last 29 years, despite repeated denials by the…

Tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd of May 2010 at 9 a.m. Ahmed Seif, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, Gamal Eid, director of the Arab network for human rights information and Amr Gharbeya, human rights activist and blogger will present in front of the Khalifeh court of misdemeanor, in case no. 8260/2009 to face charges by judge Abdel Fattah Murad of defamation, threat and misuse of communication tools. It is noteworthy that the charges against the three defenders by Judge Murad were restricted to defamation and threat.…

“Police treatment of citizens in Egypt is some of the best in the world.  It is a far cry from what is circulated in some of the media outlets, which merely want to incite confusion on the Egyptian street.”      -- Dr. Nadia Makram Ebeid Former Minister of Environmental affairs and member of the “Police and the Egyptian People” Association 1 April Human Rights Watch said that Egyptian border guards fired on and killed three refugees as they tried to cross the border into Israel over the course of the four preceding days,…

After three decades of continuous renewal of the emergency state as well as national and international advocacy by the Egyptian government for the necessity of  maintaining the emergency state to combat terrorism and drug dealing, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) finally disclosed its real vision of what constitutes terrorism and how to combat it. Terrorism from the point of view of the ruling party is not limited to armed actions or even violent actions, but includes also peaceful demonstrations such as the 6th of…