New York, July 12, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by the Security and National Intelligence Service to bar publication of the daily Al-Intibaha. Authorities suspended the newspaper last week because of the newspaper’s supposed role “in strengthening separatist tendencies in the south and the north,” a security official told local reporters.The suspension stemmed from a July 4 article by Editor-in-Chief El-Tayeb Mustafa that criticized Libyan involvement in Darfur and the role Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, plays in hosting a Sudanese rebel group in Libya, according to news reports. The newspaper’s editorial stance supports the separation between the northern and southern Sudan, CPJ research shows. “This suspension is clearly intended to silence any potential critics ahead of next year’s referendum,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “The authorities should immediately lift the suspension and allow public debate on this issue.” The Security and National Intelligence Service informed the newspaper by phone that it would be suspended “indefinitely” and that its July 6 edition was being confiscated. The newspaper did not receive any written notice, according to a statement published on Al-Intibaha website. The newspaper plans to appeal the action to the country’s constitutional court, Mustafa said at a news conference in Khartoum last week. He said the intelligence and security forces have no legal authority to suspend a newspaper. It can be only done by a court order. Article 39 of the Sudanese Constitution guarantees freedom of the press. The atmosphere in Sudan is heated ahead of a referendum scheduled for January 2011 that will determine whether the south will separate from the rest of the country. Sudanese authorities have intensified a crackdown on journalists and critical newspapers in recent months as a result.

via CPJ condemns censorship of Sudanese paper – Committee to Protect Journalists.

New York, July 6, 2010—An appeals court in Tunisia today upheld a criminal conviction and prison sentence handed down to Fahem Boukadous, a correspondent for the satellite television station Al-Hiwar al-Tunisi, in connection with his coverage of violent labor protests in the Gafsa mining region in 2008. Boukadous faces a four-year prison term on charges of “belonging to a criminal association” and spreading materials “likely to harm public order.” In an interview with CPJ, Boukadous said he is suffering from acute asthma and had been admitted to Farhat Hached Hospital in Sousse on Friday. He said he was unable to attend today’s appellate court hearing in Gafsa. Boukadous told CPJ that Tunisian police had unsuccessfully pressured hospital officials to discharge him in time for the hearing.

via CPJ condemns prison term against Tunisian TV journalist – Committee to Protect Journalists.

From CSMonitor.com:

Egypt’s general prosecutor said Wednesday that the results of a second autopsy uphold the conclusion that a young Egyptian businessman whose death has incited anger and protests died from choking on a bag of drugs – not from a police beating.

Witnesses say that police dragged Mr. Said out of an Internet cafe in Alexandria June 6 and beat him to death in the street. Graphic photos of his facial injuries, circulated on the Internet, support their account. Said was reportedly targeted because he was planning to make public a video that shows police officers dividing the spoils of a drug bust.

The prosecutor general ordered a second autopsy after Said’s case sparked an uproar, with protests in Cairo and Alexandria and international calls for an investigation. The US last week urged Egypt to conduct a “transparent” investigation of Said’s “troubling” death.

via Egypt’s denial of police brutality in Khalid Said death spurs fresh protest – CSMonitor.com.

US Hikers Were Seized in Iraq | The Nation.

Since their arrest last July by Iranian forces near the Iraq border, three Americans—Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd—have been at the center of a high-stakes diplomatic struggle between Tehran and Washington. Iranian authorities have repeatedly accused the three of entering Iran to conduct espionage.

Meanwhile, friends and family of the three, along with the State Department, the Committee to Protect Journalists and this magazine [Bauer has written for The Nation; see "Iraq's New Death Squad," June 22, 2009], have rejected the spying charge and suggested that the Americansaccidentally crossed the border while on a recreational hike. Despite a well-publicized visit by the detainees’ mothers in May, Iran has released little information about the circumstances of their arrest or the status of their case.

Now a five-month investigation by The Nation and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute has located two witnesses to the arrest who claim that Bauer, Fattal and Shourd were on Iraqi territory when they were arrested—not in Iran, as Iranian officials have asserted. Two additional sources report that the Revolutionary Guards officer who likely ordered their detention has since been arrested on charges of smuggling, kidnapping and murder. – Read on

Video shot by Oriana Bolden:

Oakland, CA Boycott of Israeli Ship: June 20, 2010 from Oriana Bolden on Vimeo.

From Committee to Protect Journalists:

New York, June 21, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Syrian authorities to release a journalist who is being held despite having completed a 30-month prison sentence in Damascus.

Ali al-Abdallah, a freelance journalist who has regularly written for numerous prominent Arabic-language publications outside Syria, was supposed to be released on June 17 but a military court informed him that he will be given new charges and must remain in jail.

“It is outrageous that Ali al-Abdallah should be held beyond his court-imposed sentence,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. “We call on the authorities to stop fabricating charges against him and release him immediately.”

Al-Abdallah was arrested in December 2007 after he was elected to the secretariat of the Damascus Declaration, a reform movement calling for peaceful and democratic changes in Syria. He was charged with “disseminating false information with the aim of harming the state and weakening national feelings,” “membership in a secret organization designed to destabilize the political and economic structure of the state,” and with “inciting ethnic and racial tension.” Al-Abdallah was sentenced in October 2008 to 30 months in prison. The authorities included the eight months he served before the trial.

via Syria detains journalist beyond sentence – Committee to Protect Journalists.

From the First Amendment Project:

Journalist search warrant quashed! another First Amendment Project victoryPosted by David Greene at 4:55pmIn a huge and hard-fought victory for freedom of the press, an Alameda County Superior Court judge on Friday quashed a search warrant that had been used by the University of California Police Department to review photographs taken by a photojournalist covering the December 11, 2009 protests at the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s house. Judge Yolanda Northridge also ordered that UC return all copies of the photographs and submit a declaration to the court indicating with which other law enforcement agencies, if any, UC had shared the photographs.

As we reported in a previous newsletter, the photojournalist, David Morse, a long-time member of the Indybay collective, was arrested December 11, 2009 while covering the protest at the Chancellor’s house, despite repeatedly identifying himself as a journalist to the UCPD. Prior to his release on bail the next day, the UCPD obtained a search warrant to look at the photographs Morse had taken. In obtaining the search warrant, the UCPD did not inform the judge of Morse’s claims that he was a journalist. The charges against Morse, which included rioting and vandalism, were dropped soon thereafter.

via Causes on Facebook | Bulletin: Journalist search warrant quashed! an….

From Al Jazeera English:

Israel says an agreement has been reached with the United Nations to deliver thousands of tonnes of aid from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that was attacked by Israeli naval commandos, to the blockaded Strip. – Read article

From Egyptian Chronicles:

For Khalid , For His Family and For Egypt “Graphic”

I was hesitated to publish photos in this post but after lots of thinking I believe it is not a violation for Khalid’s privacy and rights which have been already violated in most disgusting way , ever , it is an irony because may be these photos may restore his rights and dignity.

You may wonder who Khalid , well Khalid Mahmoud Said Sobhi is or rather was 28 years old young man from Alexandria , he has become the latest victim of police brutality in Egypt after being killed by two police agents in a net café in front of everybody.

Late Khalid

All what Sobhi has done was simply rejecting the treatment of the police agents to the customers in the café , apparently they were inspecting people there and do not ask me if they have a search warrant or what they were searching. Sobhi refused to listen for the two agents orders and that was enough to make them angry to the level slapping , kicking Sobhi then they hit his head in to a marble table in the café . Naturally you can imagine the scene and blood coming from the head of the young man,the café owners plead them to stop but all what they had done was to take Khalid who was technically dying outside to complete their monster ball. Then they took him in his last ride in the patrol car then returned back to throw his dead body in the street !! I do not know if they even knew his name or not but I know that there is huge responsibility upon all the eye witnesses who saw that crime going on and kept watching it, who saw that crime and did not do their duty and report it to anyone.

Ayman Nour reported this case saying that the incident reached to the Ghad party in Alexandria and that the Police is searching for those who filmed the incident on their mobile phones from the internet café customers at Sidi Gabr area.

Now here are the photos of Khalid in the morgue showing the indisputable evidence of violence and torture. I have to warn the readers that they are extremely graphic. Again I posted these photos after a lot of thinking and I am sorry if I hurt anyone by posting them but I am trying along with my Egyptian co-bloggers to stop this abuse of power and this fear , this is for Egypt , this if for Khalid whom could be me or could be my younger cousin.

Tonight most Egypt men are watching World Cup opening ceremony except one whom for sure had plans for the world cup like any other young man whose name was Khalid and for him I publish his photos in the morgue.

via Egyptian Chronicles: For Khalid , For His Family and For Egypt “Graphic”.

From Moftasa.net:

I think by now you might have heard of Khaled Said. The Alexandrian 28 years old who died minutes after two secret policemen approached him in an internet café sparking outrage after a photo following the autopsy was published on the internet. Two blurry photographs of a bloody disfigured head.

What happened exactly is still under investigation by the prosecution. Witnesses say he was beaten by the two secret policemen. They say they did this so violently, that they smashed his head into a marble shelf in the internet café or into an iron door outside the café or marble stairs in an entrance of the nearby building or all of the aforementioned. They add that he cried for help and said he was dying.

The police, including the ministry of interior, claim that upon seeing the two secret policemen he swallowed a small wrap of hash which made him choke and die. They say they didn't hit him. And the two policemen say he fell from the ambulance stretcher, which caused the few superficial post-mortem injuries.

The reason they approached him was first circulated that it was part of a routine ID checking and he refused to show them his ID. Another reason, we were told, that he had a video exposing the police distributing hashish among themselves. I heard the family denied that this was true today in a press conference.

The minister of interior was quick to inform us that Khaled was a suspect/convict/drug addict. A nasty guy who people shouldn't give too much attention about anyway. Kalb we mat.

Instead, people were incredibly angry. Facebook was full to the brim with all forms of digital campaigning and solidarity.

A small group of brave protesters decided to swiftly protest at night in front of the Sidi Gaber police station, where the secret policemen work and allegedly police officers helped in covering up the crime. They were quickly rounded up and charged with a list of charges from threatening public order to an attempt to break into a government building.

One of the protesters Hassan Mostafa was given a 6 month sentence for this protest. I think he is probably out now on bail and will appeal.

More protests sprang up everywhere. One following a Friday prayer in Alexandria. Then another two at the same time, one in Cairo a hundred meter from the ministry of interior and a one in Alex near Khaled's house.

Protests calling for the minister of interior to fuck off. Again.

The one in Cairo was met with cordons, ID checks, violence, arrests and kettling. The largest group of protesters were surrounded by central security forces who were then pushed every few minutes by officers from the back to crush a group of 80-100 protesters. This went on for four hours till everyone was dead tired.

More protests are being organised, with different participants and in new ways. One happened concurrently in Cairo and Alexandria were protesters wore black stood in front of the Nile and the Mediterranean and read the Quran or prayed. Odd but different and a form of displaying discontent and solidarity.

Meanwhile, the forensic report that came out few days after the incident (which says the cause of death was from asphyxiation) created enough objections that the public prosecutor had to order the body to be exhumed and examined again. The objections to the report were mainly because it agreed almost entirely with what the ministry of interior insists upon.

Technically the report is very weak. It lists the 'classic' non-specific signs of asphyxia which is no longer sufficient to diagnose death primarily from asphyxia. It also lists injuries to the face and head without investigating the brain properly.

Unfortunately, the body after 4 or 5 days in this heat have probably disintegrated considerably for much to be seen. Also the second autopsy was done on the spot, in the cemetery. Which is probably not a best-practice.

Currently, everyone is waiting for the second report. Which will be out on Tuesday. According to the Al-Ahram, if the second autopsy showed signs of ante-mortem injuries — even if they weren't the cause of death– the case will go to court. If not, the inquiry will end.

A big case like this one needs to go to court. We are not waiting for quick answers. A proper trial that is as far from government influence as possible is a must.

With torture being a source of power for the ruling regime and thus systematic and exemption from punishment is guaranteed to every member of the police force, our own lives are at risk. It isn't new and this won't be the last case. Khaled Said's death made many people realise this.

via Khaled Said | moftasa.net.