Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Amelia Smith
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New leaks allegedly prove bribery, corruption among Egypt’s presidential advisers
Earlier this week Egyptian police arrested the father of popular YouTuber Abdullah El-Sherif after he broadcast a phone call between two presidential advisers appearing to show one of them accepting bribes in exchange for granting the other exclusive tender on upcoming construction projects. In the leaked recording Major General Farouk…
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Patrick Zaki’s release an effort to whitewash Egypt’s regime, says rights advocate
Egyptian activist and former EIPR researcher Patrick George Zaki has been released from detention after 22 months. According to Mada Masr, his mother Hala Sobhy fainted upon hearing the news that the court had ordered his release. “I’m jumping for joy!” she told AFP. “We’re now on our way to…
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Social media users rally against ‘vaccine apartheid’ and ‘Afrophobia’ as travel bans come into force
Over 30 countries have imposed restrictions on travel from southern African countries as concerns rise over a new strain of coronavirus reported in South Africa last week. The @WHO has identified a new COVID variant which is spreading through Southern Africa. As a precautionary measure until we have more information,…
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Naguib Sawiris trends on social media as critics accuse him of hypocrisy
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is trending again on social media after warning that the government’s monopoly over the economy is creating an unfair playing field in Egypt. “Companies that are government-owned or with the military don’t pay taxes or customs,” he told AFP from his luxury hotel in the Red…
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A virtual visit to Tabaneh village in Area C where Palestinians travel 4 hours to get healthcare
Before the Separation Wall was built around East Jerusalem it was easy for residents of Tabaneh village in the West Bank to get to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. Now they must go to Jericho and a simple check-up can take the whole day. Because of the effort involved, pregnant…
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France continues to ignore human rights abuses and invests in Egypt
This week the French train manufacturer Alstom announced that it had secured a $1 billion deal to upgrade Cairo’s oldest metro line. It follows a contract the same company signed in 2019, to design, implement and operate two monorail lines between the new capital and east Cairo, and another between…
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Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands
In a village in Palestine long ago the women are not allowed to leave or learn to read, and the elders have banned bright clothes because they consider them extravagant. Here, at the foot of the mountains, the villagers live under a curse where women and animals are only able…
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Little Amal takes her first steps in Folkestone as first leg of the UK tour
Greeted by a choir singing Hayati, a song written by young people from Kent Refugee Action Network and the musician Anil Sebastian, kids held up signs that read “Refugees Welcome” and spectators spilled across the renovated platform. The marionette Amal depicts a young girl and is controlled by three puppeteers,…
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The Sea Ahead is a melancholy drag through Beirut’s spiralling crisis
When Jana returns home from studying abroad in Paris, her hometown Beirut is not what she remembers. A disappearing view of the sea at her parents’ house and a downtown that keeps growing into the sky, are just some of the changes that have taken place in her absence. Jana…
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The Beauty of Your Face
Afaf Rahman is the principal of the Nurrideen School in Tempest, Illinois, who must lead this all-girls’ faith school through the hostility of its surrounding community, who are wary of immigrants in their neighbourhood, and the parents of the pupils who fear their children are being led astray by their…
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Egyptians are dying to live as suicide rates soar
Two weeks ago, a fourth-year dentist student in Egypt committed suicide after becoming severely depressed because her family were putting pressure on her not to leave the house. Egypt’s Public Prosecution moved quickly to stop the video circulating on social media, promising the sharp hand of the law for anyone…
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Tantawi is no hero: He oversaw some of the most brutal massacres in Egypt’s modern history
The former Defence Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who died yesterday, is trending on Twitter in Egypt. Whilst the state-run media praise him as a “loyal son”, a “military symbol” and a “hero” of the October War, Egyptians say he has blood on his hands. Tantawi became a known face…
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The Man Who Sold His Skin: How one Syrian refugee became a piece of art to reach Europe
After a young Syrian man escapes his hometown of Raqqa, he must make it to Belgium so he can be reunited with the love of his life. His first stop is neighbouring Lebanon, where he crashes an exhibition launch to steal the free food, and to take a break from…
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‘My gun is my body’, says Syrian dancer Nidal Abdo
For a Palestinian-Syrian-Ukrainian who grew up in the largest refugee camp in Syria, becoming a dancer doesn’t strike me as the most obvious career choice. Yet of the three main dance companies in Syria, the choreographers that founded them were all Palestinians who were born and raised in Yarmouk camp.…
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In Egypt it is a crime to read books
Because it has no real popular support, for any dictatorship to survive censorship is central to their modus operandi. True to form, since the military take-over of power in 2013, Egypt has waged a war on the popular musalsalet and blocked some 500 news websites. Last year Egypt banned Ya…
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Afghanistan is the latest example the Tories are incompetent
The Conservative Party is embroiled in a new scandal with their handling of the crisis in Afghanistan at the eye of the storm, demonstrating that once again they are a party that put their own interests above that of the people. News has now emerged that the UK Foreign Secretary…
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Egypt’s air strikes on Sinai good timing for $1.3bn US military aid package
On Tuesday Egyptian warplanes launched airstrikes on North Sinai in response to the death of a senior army brigadier who was killed after Wilayat Sinai targeted his vehicle. Local sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that fighter planes hit the city of Sheikh Zuweid and west of the town of Rafah. Rafah…
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Tunisia: Journalists contend against Saudi, UAE bots to warn against crushing hard won civil liberties
On Sunday Tunisia’s President, Kais Saeid assumed emergency powers to sack the prime minister, suspend parliament and the immunity of parliamentarians, and assume authority of the government. The birthplace of the Arab Spring has made headlines since the weekend as the head of state announced a month-long curfew and placed…
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Egypt and Ethiopia at war, virtually, over the Renaissance Dam
Opposing Arabic hashtags “Renaissance Dam” and “fill the dam” are trending in Egypt and Ethiopia following the news that Addis Ababa has begun the second phase of filling the dam, a reflection of how polarised the issue has become between the two Nile basin countries. The downstream states Egypt and…
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Biden writes another blank cheque for Sisi
This week Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s notorious intelligence chief, is visiting Washington to meet with US intelligence officials and several senators. The upcoming trip coincides with news that Egypt may well have played a key role in the Jamal Khashoggi assassination, after Yahoo News reported that the hit squad stopped off…
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Egypt continues execution spree, with impunity
On 15 July 2013 four men left the Rabaa sit-in, got into a car and drove away from the protests. On their way out of the square they saw another man who had been wounded and they picked him up, planning to take him to the nearest hospital. As they…
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‘Most of them died whilst they were sleeping’, Gaza doctor recalls the destruction
For the 11 days Israeli air strikes pummelled Gaza, Dr Khamis would try to take a two-hour nap around 8am, the only time he could catch some much needed rest. Israel would carpet bomb different areas of the Strip at roughly 11pm every night when there was no electricity in…
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Egypt will never be an honest broker for Palestine until facts really change on the ground
One week into the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, at least 192 people had been killed including 58 children and the AP and Al Jazeera offices were razed to the ground. In Egypt authorities issued instructions to the media to turn their spotlight on Israeli violence in Jerusalem and Gaza, to…
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Egypt on the brink as third covid wave engulfs the country
Earlier this week, Egypt’s Ministry of Health denied the news that covid cases had spiralled out of control in Sohag Governorate and reassured the public that there were enough hospital beds for everyone. The announcement sparked outrage on social media – 14 people had died in one day according to one…