As usual Egypt again keeps us busy this week, where a security guard has been sentenced to six months [1] in prison for refusing to guard the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
Egyptian blogger Nora Younis, posts a poem [2] 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 [3].
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
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 [4], saying that he has been sentenced to six months imprisonment and is on hunger strike.
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.
In conclusion, Nora urges all those interested in the case to sign a petition, calling for the guard's immediate release.
This seems to be a particularly busy period for Egypt's bloggers and courts, following the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman [5]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 [6], which also seems to want to a share the limelight with Kareem and the security guard, is entangled in another court case there [7].
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 [8] while his fellow blogger Abdulmonem Mahmood posts more pictures and a commentary on the trial. [9]