Arabisc: An Ode to a Jailed Egyptian Security Guard

As usual Egypt again keeps us busy this week, where a security guard has been sentenced to six months in prison for refusing to guard the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.

Egyptian blogger Nora Younis, posts a poem by Majeed Al-Barghouthi dedicated to jailed Egyptian security guard Mohammed Khalaf Hassan Ibrahim. Ibrahim, as I have mentioned earlier, had refused to obey orders and guard the Israeli Embassy in his country.

عمّ محمد
شرطي أمين
واقف حارس .. حارس مين؟
مصر الحرة
مصر الثورة
مصر الناس المحترمين
لما الضابط أمره يرابط
علشان يحمي سفارة .. مين؟
قاللو سفارة اسرائيل
عند الجيزة
جنب النيل
عم محمد رفض الأمر
أصله حالف ألف يمين
إنه حارس حارس مين
مصر الحرة
مصر الثورة
مصر الناس المحترمين
Uncle Mohammed
Is a trusted cop
He is a guard..guarding whom?
Egypt the free
Egypt the revolution
Egypt the country of respected people
When his officer asked him to guard
to protect the Embassy of whom?
He was told the Embassy of Israel
Near Giza
Next to the Nile
Uncle Mohammed refused the order
For he has sworn
That he would only guard
Egypt the free
Egypt the revolution
Egypt the country of respectable people.

In another post, Nora also writes an update on Ibrahim's condition, saying that he has been sentenced to six months imprisonment and is on hunger strike.

منذ يوم 16 فبراير 2007 قرر أمين الشرطة محمد خلف الدخول في الإضراب عن الطعام احتجاجا على نقله، والظروف المعيشية السيئة، واعتراضه على مكان عمله في حراسة السفارة الإسرائيلية، ومازال الإضراب مستمر حتى كتابة هذه السطور، وقد تم إحالته إلي مستشفي أم المصريين وأودع قسم الطوارئ تحت الحراسة
وكما تم إحالته إلي التحقيق أمام النيابة العسكرية، التي أمرت بحبسه احتياطيا خمسة عشر يوما، وتم التحقيق معه على أساس امتناعه عن العمل، … حيث تم منع أي زيارة عنه والضغط عليه لإنهاء إضرابه عن الطعام
وبتاريخ 25 فبراير أصدرت المحكمة العسكرية بالجيزة حكمها بحبس أمين الشرطة محمد خلف ستة اشهر بعد أن استمرت الجلسة ثلاث ساعات
وبتاريخ اليوم 28 فبراير 2007 تم نقل أمين الشرطة إلي سجن القطا العسكري .. في وضع صحي متدهور نتيجة للإضراب.
“Policeman Mohammed Khalaf has been on hunger strike since February 16 in protest against the conditions of his detention, his difficult circumstances and being forced to stand guard at the Israeli Embassy. His hunger strike continues as I write this. He was also transferred to the Umm Al Masreen Hospital, where he was kept in the Emergency Department, under heavy security. He was then taken to the military prosecutor, who ordered his detention for 15 more days. He was interrogated for refusing to work. His family was also stopped from visiting him as a means of pressuring him into giving up his hunger strike. On February 25, the Military Court of Giza sentenced him to six months in prison after a three-hour trial. On February 28, he was transferred to Al Qata Military Prison, where his health continues to deteriorate,” she wrote.

In conclusion, Nora urges all those interested in the case to sign a petition, calling for the guard's immediate release.

وتناشد المؤسسات .. نقابة الأطباء لزيارته والوقوف على حقيقة حالته الصحية، كما تناشد كافة الهيئات والمؤسسات المعنية بالتضامن مع أمين الشرطة في موقفه، والمطالبة بالإفراج الفوري عنه. وحفظ القضية.
“The organisations.. urge the Doctor's Union to visit him and report on his medical condition and also urge other organisations to show their solidarity with the security guard's stance and call for his immediate release and shelving the case,” she writes.

This seems to be a particularly busy period for Egypt's bloggers and courts, following the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman to four years in prison last week.

These two court cases aren't the only ones which are keeping Egypt's bloggers up, for the Muslim Brotherhood, which also seems to want to a share the limelight with Kareem and the security guard, is entangled in another court case there.

According to Reuters report, a Cairo court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on the assets of 29 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement. The public prosecutor ordered the freeze on January 28 after accusing them of money laundering and other offences. The Islamist Brotherhood has dismissed the decision as a politically motivated attempt to disrupt the organisation's activities.

Blogger Abdulrahman Ayyash posts pictures of the crowds which gathered outside the court house here while his fellow blogger Abdulmonem Mahmood posts more pictures and a commentary on the trial.

لم استطع أن ادون منذ يوم السبت الماضي وبالتحديد منذ جلسة الطعن علي قرار التحفظ علي أموال الاخوان , فقد ارهقني بشدة ما رايت فمشهد عائشة ابنة حسن مالك وهي تصرخ وتنادي علي والدها من خلال السلك السميك للقفص الموضوع به المتهمين …عائشة كانت تصرخ بابا بابا شايفني يا بابا وصارت تبكي وتصرخ عندما شاهدت والدها وهي عاجزة ان تقبله أو يقبلها , دموعها كانت مؤلمة ..كانت تحاول ان تمرر يديها الصغيرة لمجرد ان تمس يدي والدها لكنها لم تستطيع , عائشة قالت لي بكل براءة : ” عارف يا عموا هم اخدو بابا ليه ..عشان هم معندهمش رحمه ”
“I haven't been able to blog since Saturday or more specifically since the appeal case in which the court froze the assets of the Muslim Brotherhood. I was very exhausted by what I saw especially from Aysha, the daughter of Hassan Malek. She was called her father through the think metal mesh of the cage in which the accused were kept. Aysha was shouting ‘Baba! Baba! Can you see me?’ and then started crying and screaming when she saw that she couldn't kiss or embrace her father. Her tears were painful. She was trying to pass her small hands through the holes to touch her father but she couldn't. Aysha told me in all innocence: ‘Uncle, do you know why they took away Baba? Because they have no mercy,'” he wrote.

11 comments

  • Helge

    Majeed,
    I think you just stopped our conversation. Even if we might disagree about major Middle East issues, there might be common ground for debating the smaller issue of principles of policing. Or must I adopt your positions on Israel in order to partake?
    Respectfully,
    Helge

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