Special female police unit to combat violence against women

Al-Masry Al-Youm — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

The head of Egypt's National Council for Women Mervat al-Tallawy met Wednesday with members of a new special unit of female police officers formed by the Interior Ministry to combat violence against women.

Tallawy praised the Interior Minister’s decision to form such a special force during a meeting with the Interior Minister’s Assistant for Human Rights Hussain Fikry, officials from the ministry’s community outreach department, and four female officers from the force.

“This is a positive step towards addressing this growing phenomenon,” she said. “We thank the ministry for responding to our request to form this unit.”

Fikry said that the meeting would mark the beginning of close collaboration with the National Council for Women, adding that the ministry is reforming itself to better serve citizens.

He explained that each team of 10 qualified officers in the special unit would be concerned with cases of sexual harassment as well as all other forms of violence against women, and provide psychological support to the victims of such violence.

“We will issue a periodical bulletin to inform the public of our efforts,” he said.

Sexual harassment and violence against women has been highlighted in the Egyptian media recently, particularly after a series of brutal sexual assaults on female protesters and activists during protests sparked by the second anniversary of the January 25 Revolution.

The National Council for Women had repeatedly called on all state institutions to work towards ending violations against women’s rights, and had specifically requested that the Interior Ministry take action against the perpetrators of violence against women.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Four sentenced to death for murder of Assiut priest

MENA — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:15:00 +0000

The Assiut Criminal Court sentenced four defendants to death and another one to ten years on Wednesday, after finding them guilty of the murder of a priest in February 2011.

State-run agency MENA reported that one of the four defendants was handed the death sentence in absentia, while the same applied to the defendant sentenced to prison.

Assiut prosecutors had charged the defendants with the premeditated murder of Father Dawood Botrous Paules, whom they stabbed several stabs with a bladed weapon in order to steal his possessions.

One of the defendants, the priest's employee, facilitated the murderers' access to the victim's house, according to the prosecution.

Edited translation from MENA

Morsy urges dialogue, calls on militants to turn in weapons

Egypt Independent — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:08:00 +0000

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has called on political powers and Egyptians to engage in dialogue and on militants who possess weapons to turn them in.

Morsy spoke to the press on Wednesday morning at the Almaza airforce base in Cairo, where he received the seven soldiers who were kidnapped last week in Sinai and then released after an Egyptian military operation on Tuesday night.

"We are not warmongers, though we can enforce order," he said, emphasizing that only those in power should possess weapons.

"To all my brothers who are concerned about public and political affairs and who love Egypt from among politicians and the opposition, let us embrace broader horizons and be part of one system to reach a consensus and love one another so each of us can tell the other what he or she wants,” he said.

This is the third time for Morsy to call on political forces to join him in dialogue. Previous invitations were boycotted by major secular opposition parties such as Dostour and Popular Current, saying that Morsy's invitations were not serious.

"I extend my hand to all of those who want good for this country-- and I believe everyone does -- in order for us to genuinely be the owners of the 25 January revolution. Let us be one body even if we have to step on thorns.”

In his remarks, Morsy commended the Armed Forces for the “very precise operation" they carried out to liberate the abducted soldiers, praising the fact that they preserved the lives of Sinai residents.

"We have a unified leadership and one major goal, a government that carries out its role, farmers who produce, an industry that functions, and investments that create opportunities."

Morsy also touched upon the economic issue of the government’s reconciliation with businessmen linked to the previous regime who have been accused of corruption.

"Let us sit and talk and look forward not backwards,” he said. “Let us reconcile with those businessmen and investors who want reconciliation.”

With regards to the current state of lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula, he said: “Those who have weapons should turn them in and those who have grievances should submit them.”

Court clears seven policemen accused of killing protesters in 2011 uprising

Al-Masry Al-Youm — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

The North Cairo Criminal Court on Wednesday acquitted seven policemen accused of killing one protester and injuring 11 others in the Cairo neighborhood of Marg during the 25 January revolution.

It was the second time for the case to appear in that court, after a previous panel of judges at the same court declined to review the case, and the Appeals Court then assigned a different panel to do so.

The Public Prosecution had charged three high-ranking policemen and four low-ranking policemen with attempted and premeditated murder.

According to the Ministry of Health, some 850 protesters were killed and 6,000 injured from excessive force used by the police against protesters during the 18-day uprising.

Most of the policemen charged in the protesters’ deaths have been cleared of the charges.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Egypt reopens Rafah crossing following release of kidnap victims

Al-Masry Al-Youm — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:24:00 +0000

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip reopened on Wednesday morning after five days of closure, following the release of seven Egyptian soldiers kidnapped last week in Sinai.

Border police working at the land crossing ended the protest that they started on Friday to pressure the Cairo government to help free the men, a security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The seven servicemen were released late Tuesday, shortly after the Egyptian military launched an operation in North Sinai to free them.

President Mohamed Morsy received the freed soldiers at the Almaza military base in Cairo.

Meanwhile, AFP quoted Hamas’ interior ministry in Gaza as saying that the crossing would reopen for Palestinian travelers at 9 am.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Power outage at Cairo airport

DPA,MENA — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:13:00 +0000

Power went out more than once at the Cairo International Airport on Wednesday, causing some X-ray machines to go out of order.

Official sources at the airport said electricity was cut twice at Arrival Hall 3 on Tuesday, prompting passengers to use their mobile phones for lighting.

Electricity also went out at Arrival Hall 1 at a time when no flights were scheduled to arrive.

X-ray machines at Departure Hall 1 also broke down while passengers were arriving from several flights and technicians were asked to repair them.

In April, Cairo Airport authorities started to implement a plan to reduce the consumption of energy after midnight, as part of a plan to face an electricity shortage expected in the summer.

Meanwhile, airliners are adjusting their schedules to avoid taking off and landing during the night hours, when the airport will be partially closed.

Airport authorities are reducing the lighting in arrival and departure halls, particularly at those times when no planes are arriving or leaving. This procedure comes ahead of the partial closure of the airport expected in June.

Militants release seven Egyptians kidnapped in Sinai

Reuters — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:43:00 +0000

Seven members of the Egyptian security forces kidnapped by Islamist militants in Sinai last week were released on Wednesday, ending a crisis that has highlighted lawlessness in the desert peninsula bordering Israel.

Security sources said the men were freed following talks mediated by Bedouin tribal leaders. They were handed over to the army in an area south of Rafah, a town straddling the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

The kidnappers had demanded the release of members of an Islamist group convicted last September of carrying out a series of attacks in North Sinai in 2011 that killed seven people.

The abduction pointed to the threat still posed by radical Islamists who expanded into a security vacuum in Sinai that the state has struggled to fill since an uprising swept autocrat Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011. The groups have launched attacks on Israel and targets in North Sinai.

"I salute the commanders and soldiers of the armed forces, the police, the general and military intelligence," President Mohamed Morsy wrote on Twitter after the men's release.

A security official in Sinai and a Bedouin sheikh involved in the mediation said the kidnappers' demand had not been met. The militants had decided to release the men because they feared a confrontation with the armed forces, they said.

The crisis had piled domestic pressure on the Islamist president to act and enraged Egyptian security forces who have closed border crossings to Gaza and Israel in protest. Earlier this week, Morsy said there would be no negotiations with militants he described as criminals.

A statement posted on the army spokesman's Facebook page on Wednesday said the seven captives had been freed "as a result of the efforts of the military intelligence in cooperation with the tribal leaders and the honorable people of Sinai" and were on their way to Cairo. It gave no further details.

The army sent reinforcements to Sinai this week as part of its efforts to secure the release of the men - six policemen and one soldier - who were kidnapped last Thursday as they traveled between the North Sinai towns of El-Arish and Rafah.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt - closed for five days by border Egyptian security officers angered at the kidnapping - was reopened early on Wednesday. Two of the captives had worked at the crossing.

Egyptian security forces launched a security operation to re-establish control in Sinai last August after an attack that killed 16 Egyptian border guards.

Egypt's army blocks roads in Sinai in hunt for kidnappers

Reuters — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:32:00 +0000

Egypt's army and police stepped up roadblocks in an area of northern Sinai as they tried to track down militant Islamists who kidnapped seven security officers last week, a security source said on Tuesday.

The militants seized the men on a road between the towns of el-Arish and Rafah near the border with Gaza on Thursday, in a challenge to the government's failing efforts to impose its authority in the lawless Sinai.

The desert region on Egypt's border with Israel has slipped further into anarchy since president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011.

His successor Mohamed Morsy ordered the security forces almost a year ago to bring the well-armed militant groups to heel following a deadly assault on a border post by Islamist gunmen. The new hostage crisis poses a fresh challenge to his government as it struggles with an economic crisis and political unrest.

Army and police forces set up new roadblocks and reinforced existing ones in a zone running from the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zuwayed towards al-Jura further south, trying to choke off supplies and reinforcements for the kidnappers, the source said.

Witnesses saw a military aircraft flying over a convoy of armoured personnel carriers in the area.

The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said the security forces were moving to surround the kidnappers and quoted a military source as saying a military solution would be the last option.

Morsy had said on Monday there would be no talks with "criminals" and vowed not to submit to blackmail.

The kidnappers are demanding the release of jailed Islamists.

The incident has outraged an already disgruntled police force - officers have blocked a land crossing with the Gaza Strip for five days and temporarily closed off a commercial crossing with Israel in protest at the kidnapping.

Armed groups that espouse a more radical brand of Islam than Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood have exploited a security vacuum in Sinai to launch a series of attacks on Israel and Egyptian security forces.

Cairo's 1979 peace treaty with Israel limits the number of troops it can deploy in Sinai, but Israel agreed to Egypt's request to send in more troops as security unraveled there in 2011. Israel has not commented on the new deployment.

The thinly populated desert region has a string of international tourist resorts along its southern Red Sea coast.

Security tightened at Ettehadiya ahead of Morsy's one-year anniversary

Al-Masry Al-Youm — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:33:00 +0000

On Monday, the Republican Guard started to increase security measures in the area surrounding the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace, in anticipation of mass protests planned by revolutionary groups who oppose President Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Black Block and Tamarod, or "Rebellion," movements began calling for the demonstrations last week. They said the protests would be ongoing starting last Friday, when demonstrations were held all over the country against the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, until 30 June, at which point they want to hold early presidential elections.

The Tamarod campaign, which was launched this month, is seeking to gather 15 million signatures in support of holding early presidential elections. Media outlets report that the movement has managed to collect over three million signatures. Meanwhile, Islamist groups are questioning the constitutionality of the campaign.

Morsy took office on 30 June last year. Observers claim that since the start of his term, freedom of expression and the press have declined and the economy has deteriorated. Furthermore, liberal and secular forces accuse his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, of manipulating the political arena.

Security sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the presidential office has received reports concerning potential clashes on 30 June and the possibility that protesters may storm the presidential palace.

Al-Masry Al-Youm observed the measures being taken at gate 5 of the presidential palace. This included the construction of more crowd control barricades and digging at one of the gates in order to erect a hydraulic barricade.

Sources at the presidential palace told Al-Masry Al-Youm that one construction company was tasked with building two electronic gates in a street leading to the palace.

An official at the construction area, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the president's office contacted a company to erect four gates around the palace. Two of them would be in the street leading to gate 5 of the palace.

The official from the construction company added that electric shock devices would be placed under all the gates. He revealed that the president's office mandated that all construction work be completed before 30 June.

Edited translations from Al-Masry Al-Youm

23 tunnels to Gaza found in May, says Egyptian military

Egypt Independent — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:43:00 +0000

In less than three weeks, Egypt's army has found entrances to 23 tunnels to the Gaza Strip, Egyptian military spokesperson Ahmed Ali said on Monday.

The tunnels were located 250-500 meters west of the international border with Gaza, the spokesperson said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The recent discovery of these tunnels comes amid "extensive efforts by border troops to secure the border of the country… and to thwart all plots that aim to destabilize Egyptian society and national security," according to the statement.

In February, Egypt’s army started to flood all smuggling tunnels to Gaza, which are estimated to number around 1,200. Hamas, which governs the strip, has denounced the move.

The tunnel network has been a lifeline for some 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, especially since Israel imposed a severe blockade on the strip in 2007.

Top stories

Special female police unit to combat violence against women

Four sentenced to death for murder of Assiut priest

Morsy urges dialogue, calls on militants to turn in weapons

Court clears seven policemen accused of killing protesters in 2011 uprising

Egypt reopens Rafah crossing following release of kidnap victims

Power outage at Cairo airport

Militants release seven Egyptians kidnapped in Sinai

Egypt's army blocks roads in Sinai in hunt for kidnappers

Security tightened at Ettehadiya ahead of Morsy's one-year anniversary

23 tunnels to Gaza found in May, says Egyptian military