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Arabisc: Prison Adventures and a Yemeni Cure for Aids!

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, North America, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, U.S.A., Yemen, Breaking News, Citizen Media, Elections, Ethnicity & Race, Freedom of Speech, Health, Human Rights, Humor, Ideas, Politics, Religion

Yemeni Advert

Remember Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Sulieman [1]? Well, he is still being detained [2] and investigated on five charges, which include incitement to hate Islam, spreading malicious rumours that disrupt public security and defaming the Egyptian President.

From prison, Kareem smuggles notes for his friends to blog and tell the world about his plight. His arrest has made him come to the realisation that speaking his mind has put him in danger.

بعد مجهود طويل و تعب, توصلت إلى حقيقة -لا مفر منها- مفادها أن استخدام الإنسان لعقله و تعبيره الحر عن رأيه -في بلادنا- أخطر بكثير من إعتداءه على ممتلكات الغير أو اتجاره في السموم و مغيبات العقول
“After a lot of effort I have come to the conclusion – a reality I cannot escape from – and it is that a person using his brain and expressing his ideas freely is more dangerous in our country than destroying the property of others and dealing in drugs,” he wrote.

Kareem, who was detained in early November and who is being held in custody until a hearing on December 16, says he doesn't expect to be released anytime soon. Meanwhile, he has to continue to stomach pain at a detention centre swarming with drug peddlers, petty criminals and thieves, among other colourful characters, who would do anything to exchange their cells with a hospital bed.

فكما حاولت التكيف مع الأمر في البداية عليَّ أن أعوِّد نفسي عليه لفترة قابلة للزيادة, و عليَّ أن أحتمل المشاهد الكفيلة بتحطيم الأعصاب و التي أراها يومياً حولي في صورة أشخاص دمرتهم المخدرات و حولتهم إلى أشباح تسير على قدمين, كما علي أن أحتمل مشاهد إيذاء البعض منهم لأنفسهم للهروب من الترحيل إلى السجن و التي تجلت أبشع صورها في حقن أحدهم لنفسه بحقنة ملوثة بالبراز في قدمه و هو الأمر الذي كاد أن يتسبب في تلفها لولا أنه نقل إلى المستشفى بعد إستئذان النيابة و علاجه, و آخر حاول كسر يده عن طريق إغلاق باب الحجز الحديدي عليها, و آخر قام بابتلاع قدر لا بأس به من الأمواس و المسامير المعدنية!!.
“Just as I taught myself to adapt to the situation earlier, I should become used to the fact that my stay here could be for longer. I should also become stronger to take in the scenes which shatter one's emotions, which I see daily in the form of people whose lives were destroyed with drugs and who have become like ghosts walking on two legs. I should also take in the pain of people hurting themselves to escape the detention centre and prison which came to the forefront recently when a prisoner injected his foot with a needle full of faeces and had to be rushed to hospital after being granted permission from the Public Prosecutor or that of a man who closed the prison metal door on his arm in an attempt to break it or the inmate who swallowed a sizeable amount of razors and metal nails,” wrote Kareem.

From the darkness of Kareem's prison cell let's move to Tunisia, where Subzero Blue tells us about a new miracle cure for Aids [3], developed and tested in Yemen.

أعلن رئيس جامعة الإيمان اليمنية الشيخ عبد المجيد الزنداني اكتشافه علاجا من الأعشاب الطبيعية للشفاء من مرض نقص المناعة المكتسب (الإيدز).
وقال الزنداني وفريقه العلمي إن نحو 15 شخصا استطاعوا التخلص من الفيروس خلال فترة تراوحت من ثلاثة أشهر إلى سنة بعد تعاطيهم العلاج، مشيرا إلى أن الفحوصات الطبية أثبتت خلوهم من الفيروس.
“Al Eman University President Shaikh Abdulmajeed Al Zendani announced his discovery of a cure for Aids which is made up of natural herbs. Zendani and his scientific team said that 15 patients were cured from the disease after taking the medicine for a period ranging from three months to a year. Medical examinations proved that they are now free from the disease,” he wrote.

And since we have mentioned Yemen, let's stop at an interesting blog by Saudi Anas Qasim, which keeps track of funny adverts, shop signage, billboards, signs and the like. Here [4] he posts a sign put up in a hospital in Yemen which says people with guns and daggers will not be permitted! (See picture above)

Away from the Arab region, Jordanian blogger Omar Al Azabi reports to us how a newly elected US congressman is hoping to take his oath to office [5] on the Holy Quran instead of the Bible next month.

أثار إصرار أول نائب أمريكي مسلم عن الديمقراطيين في الكونغرس الأمريكي على أداء القسم على القرآن وليس الإنجيل، غضب المحافظين خلال احتفالات تنصيب الأعضاء المقرر إجراؤها الشهر المقبل‏,‏ فيما يعد أول حادثة من نوعها في التاريخ الأمريكي‏. وأعلن كيث اليسون، وهو محام يبلغ من العمر 43 عاما، في بيان أنه سيؤدي القسم على القرآن وليس الإنجيل في احتفالات تنصيب أعضاء الكونغر
“The insistance of the first Muslim Democrat Congressman to be elected to office to take his oath using the Holy Quran rather than the Bible during the oath-taking ceremony scheduled for next month has angered some Conservatives. It is the first time for such an incident in American history. Lawyer Keith Ellison [6], 43, announced that he would make his oath using the Quran,” he said.

Speaking of Jordan, let us make our last stop this week a post by Jordanian blogger Qwaider, who is based in the US and has just returned to his country for a holiday. While back home, he remembered a photograph taken by one his colleagues of a Jordanian flag flying on the skies of Amman and thought that he too, would take a similar shot – if not better [7]. But that was not to be the case!

في اكبر من هيك فضيحة؟ ما في… اليوم… و بكل فخر… منعتني قوات “الف تحية و الف سلام لقوّات الامن العام” من تصوير العلم..امّا جوجل ايرث…. معلش يصوّر اللي بدّو ايّاه
“Is there a bigger scandal than this? The public security forces stopped me from taking a photograph of my country's flag today! However, Google Earth can take pictures of whatever it wants,” he wrote sarcastically, while uploading an image of the flag from Google Earth.

After much questioning by the police after he asked them for permission to take a picture of the flag, he was verbally reprimanded and threatened that if he ever tried taking a photograph of the flag from that location .. he may be .. erm.. subjected to further action!!

If I were Qwaider.. I would say: No thanks!