Egypt’s bread subsidy system plagued by corruption

An article by Michael Slackman in Thursday’s New York Times uses the issue of subsidized bread to spotlight Egypt’s corruption problems.

“It is hard to make ends meet in Egypt where about 45 percent of the population survives on just $2 a day,” Slackman writes. “That is one reason trying to buy subsidized bread can be a fierce affair, with fists and elbows flying, men shoving and little children dodging blows to get up to the counter.”

He continues, “Egypt is a state where corruption is widely viewed as systemic, which is also why the crowd gets aggressive trying to buy up the subsidized bread. Cheap state bread can be resold, often for double the original price.”

Slackman later adds, “Much of what ails Egypt seems to converge in the story of subsidized bread. It speaks to a state that is in many ways stuck in the past, struggling to pull itself into the future, unable, or unwilling, to conquer corruption or even to persuade people to care about one another.”

“The most corrupt sector in the country is the provisions sector,” said a government inspector who asked not be identified for fear of punishment. The article says that his job is “to go to bakeries to ensure they are actually using the cheap government flour to produce cheap bread that is sold at the proper price.”

“The inspector explained why the system was so open to abuse,” Slackman writes. “The government sells bakeries 25-pound bags of flour for 8 Egyptian pounds, the equivalent of about $1.50. The bakeries are then supposed to sell the flatbread at the subsidized rate, which gives them a profit of about $10 from each sack. Or the baker can simply sell the flour on the black market for $15 a bag.”

For the full article, click here.

Bush visit spotlights fraying U.S., Egypt relationship

President Bush’s brief stop in Egypt, near the end of his Middle East tour, says much about the fraying state of the U.S.-Egypt relationship, Reuters reported Monday.

“The real value of the U.S. aid package has been falling yearly, reducing U.S. leverage over the Cairo government,” the article says, adding later, “The United States provided about $2 billion a year to Egypt for years after it signed the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.”

It is also noted that “Egypt protested last year when U.S. lawmakers threatened to withhold $200 million in military funds, which help Cairo buy military hardware and finance U.S. military training.”

“The Mubaraks do not give a damn about the civilian part which has steadily declined,” said prominent Egyptian dissident and sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, referring to President Hosni Mubarak, and his son – and, many say, eventual successor – Gamal. “But they went bananas when Congress put some mild conditional ties (on the military aid)... The regime is totally dependent on the army’s support.”

For the full article, click here.

Bush’s Egypt visit clouded by failed democratic push

President Bush’s push for greater democracy in the Middle East is today viewed by many as a failed effort. Egypt, a stop on Bush’s Mideast tour Wednesday, was once seen as a test case but is now mired in stalled reforms and resentment over the jailing of hundreds of dissidents, The Associated Press reported today.

“Activists say the U.S. democracy push has taken a back seat to politics,” the article says. “They blame Washington for easing its pressure on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to win his support on key regional issues such as Iraq and the Israeli-Arab peace process.”

In President Bush’s speech on democracy Sunday he did not mention Egypt “expect for what was widely seen as an implicit criticism of the country’s crackdown on political opponents,” the article states.

It notes later that: “Ayman Nour, a top opposition leader who ran against Mubarak in 2005, was sentenced to five years in prison on forgery charges that his supporters say were trumped up.”

“What is the benefit of talking (about democracy) any more, it is futile,” said Gameela Ismail, Nour’s wife.

U.S. criticism has been tepid or silent. While U.S. officials insist they have kept up the pressure privately, reformists question Washington;s sincerity on democracy.

The response from Washington is that pressure has been applied privately, however, the article says that “reformists question Washington’s sincerity on democracy.”

It adds: “Over the past year, several secular newspaper editors have been tried, some sentenced to prison, for anti-Mubarak writings. Egypt’s most outspoken government critic, Egyptian-American Saad Eddin Ibrahim, has gone to the United States for fear of arrest in Egypt, where he faces trial on accusations of harming national interests.”

For the full article, click here.

Newspaper editors in Egypt sentenced for reporting 'false information' on presidential succession

The editors of four newspapers were given year-long sentences in Egypt for reporting “false information” that President Hosni Mubarak intended to his son succeed him, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Egypt’s next presidential elections take place in 2011. Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son, was recently named to the National Democratic Party’s Supreme Council. Only council members are allowed to run for president, putting Gamal in place for the 2011 elections.

“Anything can happen in Egypt now, and there’s a certain amount of fear,” said Nabil Shawkat, a writer and commentator. “There’s no pressure on the government to democratize. It can do whatever it wants.”

President Bush said in 2004 that Egypt would set the democratic standard in the Middle East. When presidential elections were held in 2005, however, Mubarak began to crack down, beginning with the prosecution of his primary challenger, Ayman Nour. Nour was convicted of falsifying papers to legalize his Tomorrow party.

The editors were sentenced on September 14, but released on bail, pending appeal.

According to Human Rights Watch, “Press freedom does not exist in a country where the state can put you in prison simply for criticizing the president.”

Mubarak defended the prosecutions, telling the weekly Osboa newspaper, “Going too far in publishing lies and false information are issues that have nothing to do with freedom of the press but aim at causing chaos.”

For the full article, click here.

Muslims and Copts clash in central Egypt

Fifteen people were injured and 35 were taken into custody after clashes today in central Egypt between Muslims and Coptic Christians, Reuters reported, citing police sources.

The incident apparently escalated from a dispute over a piece of land between the villages of Maabda and Gabal el-Teir after a rumor that a monastery was planning to annex the land.

According to the article: “The two sides, divided on sectarian lines, threw stones and scuffled until riot police intervened to stop them.”

Relations between Egypt’s Muslim majority and Coptic Christian minority are usually good. However, disputes over such issues as land, religious buildings and women, have led to violence.

For the full article, click here.

Trail dates set for lawsuits against Ibrahim after he calls for reduced U.S. aid

The court dates are now set for private lawsuits against Egyptian-American rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Politicians and lawyers with links to the Egyptian government are charging him with harming Egypt’s economy by calling for cuts in U.S assistance, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

According to the article: “The cases, three of which were brought by leaders of token political parties, will be heard in court on Nov. 8, 18, 20 and Dec. 1. Ibrahim is currently outside the country.”

“We are reluctant to treat this very seriously,” said his wife, U.S.-born Barbara Ibrahim. “There is no substance [to it] and there is no law in Egypt that prevents citizens from having an opinion on the aid.”

The 68-year-old sociologist described, in an August 21 Washington Post opinion piece, the Egyptian government’s crackdown on all forms of opposition in order to engineer an unpopular father-son succession – referring to speculation that President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal will succeed him in office.

“Sadly, this regime has strayed so far from the rule of law that, for my own safety, I have been warned not to return to Egypt,” he wrote. “Regime insiders and those in Cairo’s diplomatic circles have said that I will be arrested or worse.”

Last month several newspaper editors received jail sentences after being sued by private individuals for insulting the government.

For the full article, click here.

Egypt, female circumcision deeply rooted in tradition

As many as 97 percent of the Egyptian women, Christians and Muslims, aged 15 to 49 have undergone as UN refers to call it, genital mutilation or FGM, the AFP reports.

Few women dare to question the tradition that goes back to the time of the pharaohs, despite the stories of bleeding, infections and other nefarious effects. Many women how has undergone the FGM are afraid of what will happen if their daughters do not do it.

The paper reports that around 60 Egyptian women, all circumcised, are gathered to listen to a gynecologist from the NGO.

“People have to know if the girl is normal, if (her sexual organs) are too big, or deformed?” says another. She is echoing a belief among many women here that too ‘prominent’ genitals must be cut off -- at least if they are female.

The gynaecologist states that “comparing female and male circumcision is like the difference between clipping a nail and cutting the whole finger off.”

According to the article the government has even enlisted the country's top religious authorities to drive home the message against what UNICEF describes “one of the most persistent, pervasive and silently endured human rights violations.”

Click here for full article

Christian rights group supporting Egyptian man in conversion case

Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, the first Muslim to file suit against the Egyptian government for not allowing him to change his religion to Christianity on his national identification card, today fears for his life and has been forced into hiding as a result of death threats, according to Open Doors USA, a Christian rights group advocating on his behalf.

According to the article, “Some believe the punishment for apostasy from Islam should be death.”

“I’m full of heartache that in my own country, society has been radicalized to such an extent that I can’t have the right to convert,” Hegazy said.

The Egyptian constitution states that freedom of religion is guaranteed, and converting from one religion to another is permitted. However, as the article notes, “there is no legal way for a Christian convert to have this change recorded on the official ID cards that Egyptian citizens are required to carry. If an Egyptian converts to Islam, the interior ministry readily issues a new ID card verifying that the carrier is Muslim. Yet if a Muslim converts to Christianity, the ministry refuses to issue a new ID card.”

“When Muslims convert to Christianity, they face persecution at the hands of both their family and the Egyptian government,” the article says. Hegazy was imprisoned in 2002 when the police found out about his conversion.

For full article, click here

Quranists released after 130 days of detention

Five members of a group of peaceful and progressive Muslims, the Quranists, have been released by Egyptian authorities after 130 days of arbitrary detention, the International Quranic Center reported Monday.

The men are back safely in their homes, but will be seeking medical attention for physical ailments brought on by “the torture that they received,” the Center says.

The Center reports that they were released because of lack of evidences, saying that no decision has been made on the contempt of religious case that they were involved in.

For the full story, click here.

Council of Europe takes on human rights in Egypt

The Council of Europe has released a statement concerning the deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt. The statement, which appears below, specifically addresses the case of Amr Tharwat, a researcher at Cairo’s Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) who was arrested in May on dubious charges.

The Council is concerned by the deterioration of the human rights situation in Egypt.

The relevant Council bodies as well as the Heads of Mission in Cairo have discussed this worrying situation and are coordinating their further action, in the course of which the Tharwat case could also be addressed.

Egypt should be urged to comply with its international commitments on human rights and fundamental freedoms, not least also in the light of its recent election to the UN Human Rights Council and its expressed willingness to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.

A formal dialogue on human rights and democracy issues is envisaged under the Association Agreement and the ENP Action Plan through the relevant sub-committee whose first meeting is scheduled in November 2007. In its terms of reference, it is mentioned that the “sub-committee aims to facilitate dialogue, within a context of mutual understanding and respect for the positions of both parties, on all aspects of human rights and democracy, international and regional issues, in a comprehensive and non-exclusive way.”

Cairo tightens grip on dissent

There has been a turbulent atmosphere in Egypt the past few months and The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the doors have been closed at an Egyptian human rights law group that was at the forefront of court battles over accusations of torture in Egypt's jails, after the group was accused by the government of illegally receiving funds from abroad.

The past month has seen, among other arrests, the conviction of the four journalists for defaming President Hosni Mubarak.

“What I am feeling is there is a kind of nervousness. They are very nervous within the regime,” said Diaa Rashwan, a political analyst at Cairo’s al-Ahram Centre. “Now there is an effort to prepare for the post-Mubarak era. Nobody knows what is the arrangement, what is already done, what are the chances of his son Gamal Mubarak (taking over).”

Other cases also attest to Cairo’s tightened grip on free expression. According to the article: “Some 40 Brotherhood members, including a top leader, are on trial in a military court on charges including terrorism and money laundering in proceedings rights groups including Amnesty International have dismissed as unfair. More than 120 other Brotherhood men are in jail, unrelated to that case.”

In addition, Egypt faced pressure in 2002 over the arrest of sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim and in 2005 over the detention of opposition politician Ayman Nour.

Other recent cases have also drawn condemnation. According to the article: “A government-appointed panel of forensic experts cleared police of wrongdoing earlier this month in the case of a 13-year-old boy, arrested on suspicion of stealing packets of tea, who died shortly after being released from police custody.” According to an internationally respected Egyptian anti-torture group, the El-Nadim Centre, the boy had been beaten and subjected to electric shocks, and then received inadequate care.

For full article click here.

UNICEF applauds Egypt for leading the battle against female circumcision

Egypt has been one of the leading nations in the attempt to eliminate female circumcision, prompting UNICEF to praise the efforts of government and religious leaders in the country, Herald Tribune reported on Thursday.

During the summer two Egyptian girls died from an operation known as female genital mutilation, which is practiced by both Muslims and Christians in the country.

“Female genital mutilation usually involves the removal of the clitoris and other parts of female genitalia. Those who practice it say it tames a girl's sexual desire and maintains her honor” the Herald Tribune reports.

UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said that since 2002 the National Council on Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) has been working at “both national and sub-national levels, and has succeeded in building partnerships with the different governmental, non-governmental, donor and U.N. stakeholders to advocate against the practice”.

“NCCM's efforts have led several Egyptian villages to denounce female circumcision, part of the positive trend in the country, said UNICEF.

For full story, click here.

In Egypt, debate over religious affiliation on ID cards continues

Identity cards in Egypt currently feature a section which indicates religious affiliation; citizens can choose either Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Wataninet.com reported last week that the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) suggested that the religion box should be deleted from the visible portion of the card and that the information should only be seen while accessing the card’s magnetic strip. Only specialized staff should be able to access this information.

Fouad Riyad, NCHR member and professor of international law, said that “people like Bahai’s were deprived of having birth certificates or IDs unless they agreed to be cited as belonging to one of the three heavenly religions since the State did not recognize any other religion”.

According to the article, Hossam Baghat, the director of the NGO Egyptian initiative for personal rights, highlighted another side of the issue. According to the article, Baghat stated that the ID cards must be discussed within the current political context, “taking into consideration the current rise in sectarian tension”. He went on to say that “many see that rights granted to non-Muslims represent a discount of Muslim rights, with the government ‘spoiling’ non-Muslims in response to international pressure”. He suggested the religion box should be optional.

To read the full story, click here

Mock tourism video advertisement highlights discrimination based on religion in Egypt

All Egyptian citizens are required to register their religious affiliation on a computerized national ID card, without which basic services are impossible to access. However, applicants can only choose from three religions: Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. Baha’is and other minority groups are excluded from obtaining the required cards. The ID cards have since sparked much controversy and several unsuccessful lawsuits to change the discriminatory ID card restrictions.

A recent You Tube video highlights the problem for Egypt’s religious minorities in a mock tourism ad. To view the video, click here.

Click here for more background information about ID cards in Egypt.

IRPP Fellow's Family in Egypt Threatened

LCHR has received the following news update from the Institute of Religion and Public Policy:

PRESS RELEASE CONTACT: Kevin Fahey
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHONE: 202-835-8760
EMAIL: Fahey@religionandpolicy.org

Institute Fellow Threatened for Defending Democracy, Religious Freedom

Washington, D.C. – Institute on Religion and Public Policy Islamic Thought Fellow Sheikh Ahmed Subhy Mansour has reported receiving numerous threats against his family and colleagues in Egypt as a result of his work to advance religious freedom and promote democracy in Egypt.

One message states, "Basically, you escaped to America, but your family and your people are still here in Egypt. We know them one by one. We know their whereabouts and everything about them. What happened lately is just a beginning. We will do them good." The threat was signed by "Abu Hurayrah Al Asiuty."

In May, the Egyptian Security Service unlawfully arrested, detained, and have to date not charged Abdellatif Mohamed Saied, Ahmed Dahmash, Abdelhamed Abdelrahman and Amr Tharwat. The security services also confiscated Quaranist books, research papers, and computers. The Quranists have been targeted for their dedication to the promotion of human rights and democracy in Egypt and for their belief that Islam should be modernized in a peaceful way based on ideologies of democracy and human rights.

Another threat to Dr. Mansour says, "We will make you, the enemy of God, taste the horrible torment….You, the infidel and heretic, you should know that we are watching and awaiting you. Your alliance with the countries of infidelity will not save you, your followers, or all of those who followed you from us. The war has begun, we will exterminate your family and all your people; the people of infidelity. We know about them more than they know about themselves. We know where they live and where they work. We will make them taste the retribution of the agony as they are the enemies of Sunna who despise the companions of the Messenger of God, Peace of God be upon him and his family. What is happening now to your family is just a beginning. Await what is coming." This message was signed "Yousef son of Katada."

In June the Egyptian government continued its series of arrests of members of the Quranist movement in Egypt as Ahmed Sobhy Mansour, leader of Ahl Al-Quran group, was added to the list of Quranists charged with contempt for religion.

An Egyptian national now living in the U.S., Dr. Mansour is a distinguished scholar of Islam with expertise in Islamic history, culture, theology and politics. He was an advocate for democracy and human rights in Egypt for many years, during which time he was isolated and persecuted by religious extremists and by the regime, including having served time in prison for his liberal political, religious and social views.

Having graduated with honors from Al Azhar University of Cairo, one of the oldest and most well respected centers of Islamic thought in the world, he later received his PhD with highest honors from Al Azhar as well. In May 1985, Dr. Mansour was discharged from his teaching and research position there due to his liberal views that were not acceptable to the ultra-conservative religious authorities who controlled much of university policies and programs.

In 1987 and 1988 he was imprisoned by the Egyptian government for his "progressive" views, including the advocacy of religious harmony and tolerance between Egyptian Muslims, Christian Copts, and Jews, his own freedom was greatly restricted. In 1996 Dr. Mansour established a weekly conference at the Ibn Khaldoun Center – headed by Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim – in order to discuss Islamist dogma, religion-based terror and other issues. It functioned until 2000, when the Center was closed down by the Egyptian regime.

Sheikh Mansour sought and was granted political asylum in the United States in 2002. Recently he has served as a visiting fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy and at the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.

Dr. Mansour has authored 24 books and some 500 articles in Arabic, dealing with many aspects of Islamic history, culture, and religion. They include a history of Wahabism in Saudi Arabia; a critique of the concept of Jihad, bigotry and dictatorship in Muslim thought; women’s rights in the Muslim world; the reform of Egyptian education; and various pieces of prose fiction and screen plays.

Well-known Arab poet passes away

Nazik al-Malaika, a well-known poet in the Arab world, has died at the age of 83, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

While Malaika suffered from Parkinson’s disease for years, she died of natural causes last week, according to Nizar Marjan, the Iraqi consul to Egypt. Malaika broke away from tradition in her poetry, causing artists to gravitate to her writings. Her use of classical language and modern themes were an inspiration to many in the Arab world. Below is an example of her captivating style matched with the tense issue of honor killings in “To Wash Disgrace”:

Oh mother, a rattle, tears and darkness

Blood gushed out, and the stabbed body trembled.

“Oh mother!” Heard only by the executioner

Tomorrow the dawn will come and roses will wake up

Youth and enchanted hopes will ask for her

The meadows and the flowers will answer:

She left to wash the disgrace.

The brutal executioner returns

And meets people

“Disgrace!” He wipes his knife

“We’ve torn it apart.”

And returned virtuous with a white reputation.

For the full article, click here.

Ibn Khaldun communications blocked, as founder comes under attack for stance on aid

As noted in a press release issued by the Leadership Council on Tuesday, staff members from Cairo’s Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) have reported that their outgoing communications have been blocked for more than one week, with emails and faxes to ICDS staff outside of Egypt and members of the human rights community being filtered or tampered with.

The embargo on outgoing messages comes as complaints were submitted by Dr. Nabil Lo’a Bibawi to Egypt’s Public Prosecutor, accusing ICDS Founder Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim of, according to an article from this week’s Al-Ahram Weekly, “committing a crime (under the Egyptian penal code), for damaging the state’s economic interests.” The accusation reportedly stems from Ibrahim’s recent meeting in Prague with President Bush. The press has reported that Ibrahim asked Bush to cut down aid to Egypt as a way of pressuring the government to respect human rights. Bibawi argues that this is a crime because Ibrahim was working for a foreign country in a way that could cause harm to Egypt’s political or economic well being. As such he has also charged Ibrahim with espiongage.

The uproar over Ibrahim’s meeting with Bush was also reported in a recent New York Times article.

For the full Times article, click here.

Coptic Christian granted stay of deportation

With the help of the timely support from rights groups such as the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Sameh Khouzam, an Egyptian national currently residing in Pennsylvania, was on June 15 granted an indefinite stay of deportation. Reports by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy and the ACLU state that Khouzam, a Coptic Christian, has been granted a reprieve from the government’s attempt to deport him back to Egypt, where he was would be in danger of police torture.

Khouzam left Egypt for the U.S in 1998 after he was detained by the Egyptian government and reportedly pressured into converting to Islam. After fleeing to the U.S, the Egyptian government accused him of killing a woman, claims which have proven to be unsubstantiated, resulting in the U.S. revoking his visitor’s visa with the intention of deporting him back to Egypt. Khouzam filed for religious asylum for fear that if he returned home he would be subjected to torture, abuse and persecution.

Now, nearly a decade later, a federal judge has ruled that the harm Khouzam would face if deported “outweighs any damage to our government by a delay effecting his removal while the important issues he has presented are adjudicated,” the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported Saturday. This ruling allows Khouzam to stay in the country indefinitely while the decision in his case is being reviewed by the U.S government. The judge went on to say, “While Khouzam may have no right to be in the United States, he most assuredly has the right not to be tortured. The protection against torture is an essential component of the rule of law and a democratic society.”

For the full article, click here.

Mubarak cites own age as reason for lack of reforms

On the day after the U.S House of Representatives advanced legislation that would cut military aid to Egypt as a way to force the nation into improving its human rights record, it was reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told President Bush that he considers himself too old to conduct political reforms, Reuters reported last week

Saad Ibrahim, an Egyptian dissident, said he met with Bush on June 5 in Prague as part of a group of dissidents from around the world. According to Reuters, Ibrahim stated in an interview, “President Bush told me that President Mubarak claims that his age has caught up with hum and he is incapable of change, so let’s leave this to the next generation.” Ibrahim responded by telling Bush that he believed Mubarak’s remark was meant to persuade the U.S. to support the succession of Mubarak’s son, Gamal, who is expected to seek the presidency after his father leaves office.

Mubarak is currently in his fifth and reportedly last, six-year term. Ibrahim went on to say that he told Bush he believes economic assistance to Egypt and other authoritarian states should be connected with progress on political reform and bolstered individual freedoms.

For the full article, click here.

Egypt criticized for response to human trafficking

The State Department’s 2007 report on human trafficking has condemned the Egyptian government for its failure to reduce the number of people being transported through the country, All Headline News reported today.

The report estimates that, according to the article, “approximately one million homeless boys and girls are being exploited in prostitution,” and states that, as the article notes, “Egypt is a transit country for many women coming from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and other Eastern European nations and on to Israel.” These victims – many of whom are girls under the age 18 – are frequently sold by their families for commercial sexual exploitation, such as “temporary marriages” to wealthy men from the Gulf region.

The report states that “Egypt should make a serious effort to increase law enforcement activity against the trafficking of minors, institute formal victim identification procedures to ensure that trafficking victims are not punished or otherwise treated as criminals, and provide protection services for victims.” However, the report also acknowledged that when Egypt does discover victims, it returns them to their respective embassy for assistance. The report also says that, “The Government of Egypt does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”

For the full article, click here.