Skip to main content

Egyptian revolutionary blogger and TV presenter face military judges for criticising rights abuses


Hossam el-Hamalawy is being hauled before military Judges tomorrow (with other journalists, including TV presenter Reem Maged) for criticising human rights violations by the new Egyptian military government.

He is very important for the Revolution. Please defend him and the others by sending the statement below to menasolidarity@gmail.com (website is here) as soon as possible:

We condemn the decision to refer journalists Hossam el-Hamalawy and Reem Maged for questioning by military judges on Tuesday 31 May in relation to their discussion of violations of human rights by the Egyptian military police and the ruling Supreme Military Council on Reem’s political talkshow which aired on ONTV on 26 May 2011. We likewise condemn the decision to refer journalist Nabil Sharaf al-Din for questioning by military judges in relation to comments he also made on ONTV.


We will not stand by and see courageous journalists silenced, and we stand in solidarity with all Egyptians who are fighting to defend their rights to protest, strike and express themselves freely. These are precious gains of the revolution of 25 January, during which nearly 1000 Egyptians sacrificed their lives.

We call on the Supreme Military Council to cease its harassment of journalists, activists and citizens who exercise their basic human rights to question their rulers.

We affirm our support for the statement below on the right to strike and protest in Egypt which was first issued in March following the Egyptian cabinet’s decision to criminalise protests and strikes, but which is now more urgent than ever.

“The Egyptian people showed immense courage in overthrowing the dictator Mubarak. They braved armoured cars and bullets in order to win freedom and social justice. We call on Egypt’s current military and civilian rulers to respect the Egyptian people’s democratic rights, including the right to protest and strike. We call on the Egyptian cabinet to reverse its decision of 23 March 2011 to criminalise protests and strike action and to threaten those ‘inciting’ such action with imprisonment or huge fines. We demand that the British government cease to provide assistance, arms or equipment to the Egyptian army and security forces which could be used to repress strikes and protests.

We send our greetings to our brothers and sisters in Egypt’s independent trade unions, and pledge that we will not stand by while their rights are under threat. We will mobilise whatever solidarity we can to support their struggle for political freedom and social justice.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

'Coronavirus-free' Gaza prepares for the worst

Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of  the novel coronavirus  spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with  some joking  that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario.  But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned.  "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible

Boycott of New York diamond dealer launched to protest settlement construction

Members of Adalah NY call for boycott of Leviev for its crimes against Palestinians and South Africans New York, NY, May 9 – On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel . The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company. Thanks to vivapalestina.us (not co

Support striking Palestinian quarry workers demanding their rights from Israeli employer

On 16 June, 35 Palestinian workers at Salit Quarries in Mishor Adumim (in area C, east of Jerusalem, in the Occupied West Bank) began a strike. The workers, organized with the independent union WAC-Ma'an, are demanding an end to exploitation and humiliation, and insist on signing a first collective agreement. Salit Quarries’ main customer is Readymix Industries (Israel). The total reliance of Salit Quarry on Readymix as their biggest and by far the most important customer puts responsibility on Readymix to make sure that their clients abides by labour laws and safeguards elementary rights for the workers of Salit. We call upon Readymix to urge the Salit management to terminate this unnecessary strike by signing the collective agreement with the workers and WAC-Ma’an. Click this protest link to send your message. The text of the message is as follows: I write to you to express my grave concern about the failure of Salit management to sign a collective agreement with the workers of