EGYPT: Court bans pornographic websites

The Egyptian administrative court has ordered the government to block obscene websites, calling them threats to national security.

“Public liberties and rights are not absolute [and] they must be restricted by the need to protect the family which constitutes the cornerstone of society and which is based on religion, morals and nationalism” read the verdict.

“On the Internet, there are websites that diffuse poison and foment vice among different segments of the Egyptian society, which poses a threat to all religious beliefs and public morals and values,” added the court which ordered both the Information and Communication ministries to take necessary measures to enforce the verdict.

While the government is chasing opposition bloggers and Facebook activists, most pornographic websites remain untouched. In April, a civil servant was sentenced to seven years in prison and his wife to three years for setting up a swingers' club on the Internet. The criminal case was reportedly the first of its kind in this Muslim nation of 83 million people. 

Earlier, Nizar Ghorab, a lawyer known for defending radical Islamists, filed a suit against the government accusing it of laxity in dealing with the threat posed by pornographic websites. Ghorab hailed the verdict “as a victory over vice and corruption”.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

EGYPT: State-owned media hail Obama's upcoming visit

The Egyptian press on Sunday celebrated President Barack Obama’s decision to deliver his address to the Muslim world from Egypt, hailing the move as an American acknowledgment of this nation's regional clout.

“The selection of Cairo stresses the fact that . . . Egypt is the heart of both the Arab and Muslim worlds and is the voice of reason and wisdom that helped the region overcome crises," wrote Osama Saraya, editor in chief of the semi-official Ahram daily. "Egypt is still with its Arabism and Islamic thought the most influential force. Its flag is still the most capable of bringing all Arabs and Muslims together.”

"This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "The president has high hopes for a stronger relationship." Obama is expected to deliver his address on June 4. Some Muslim clerics have reportedly called upon the president to speak at al-Azhar, the oldest and most prestigious Sunni institution in the Muslim world.

In recent years, Egypt's political stature has been challenged by rising regional powers, including Iran and Turkey. For many Arab commentators, Egyptian diplomacy has waned significantly in the Middle East due to its strong alliance with Western powers at the expense of Arab interests.

“Obama’s anticipated address proves that Washington wants to open a new page with Arabs and Muslims and starts with the biggest country that holds the keys of the Palestinian question and has bridges with all factions as well as Israel,” wrote Mohamed Ali Ibrahim in the government-owned al-Gomhoreyya newspaper.

Egyptian-American relations were periodically strained under the Bush administration, which pressured Cairo to stop jailing dissidents and expand political freedoms. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak responded to such advances by canceling his routine annual visits to Washington. Yet the rise of the new administration has encouraged him to engage the White House. Mubarak is set to visit the U.S. after a five-year-long boycott this month.

Supporters of Mubarak’s regime contended that the selection of Cairo reflects an American determination to solve the Palestinian question. “This comes in the context of the clear concern of the new American administration with the question of instating peace in the Middle East and its announced determination to put an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which stands as the main cause behind all problems in the region and the deterioration of Arab and Muslim faith in the US as an impartial mediator…” wrote Mohamed Barakat in al-Akhbar daily.  

—Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: Obama in the front and a Cairo mosque in the background (Credit: ABC photo illustration)

 

UAE: Torture video threatens to sour relations with Washington

A videotape allegedly showing an Afghan grain dealer being savagely tortured by a member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family is apparently casting a gloom over relations between the United States and its oil-rich ally.

The release of the 45-minute tape last week by the U.S. network ABC was met with condemnation by international human rights groups, especially after authorities in the Persian Gulf nation tried to suppress the incident. CNN, quoting senior U.S. officials, reported Wednesday that the tape was slowing down the ratification of a civil nuclear deal between Washington and Abu Dhabi.

According to CNN, the U.S. administration has judged that “sensitivities over the story can hurt” the closing of the deal. 

Excerpts from the tape, which reportedly involves Sheik Issa bin Zayed al-Nuhayyan, a brother of the UAE crown prince, showed a man being beaten with whips and a plank of wood with nails, assaulted with an electric cattle prod, having sand shoved into his mouth and salt poured on his wounds and finally being run over by a car.

The 2004 incident, which allegedly involved a policeman, was said to have taken place in the desert at the prince’s ranch in Abu Dhabi. The prince allegedly sought revenge against the Afghan dealer for cheating him of more than $5,000 in a grain deal.

Judicial officials in the UAE said Wednesday that an investigation into the tape had been launched. A statement by the Abu Dhabi Justice Department said that the government “unequivocally condemns the actions depicted on the video.”

Human Rights Watch denounced the alleged torture. The international watchdog said that the UAE would be considered as the entity torturing individuals if those responsible for the incident and those commanding them were not prosecuted.

The tape was leaked to the media by Bassam Nabulsi, a U.S. national and a former business associate of Sheik Issa. Nabulsi, who said he was also detained and tortured by police in the UAE under orders from the prince, has filed a lawsuit in Texas, citing the video as evidence of the royal’s brutality.

The Afghan man has reportedly survived the torture after spending months in a hospital recovering from serious injuries and bone fractures. According to local officials, the case was closed in 2004 after the dealer and the prince had settled the matter privately with no charges pressed on either side.

The question remains whether UAE’s rulers will conduct a serious investigation of the case so as to save the reputation of the nation depicted in brochures and ads as a haven for business and tourism.

The incident pries open a window on the abuses and the harsh conditions to which laborers, especially those from poor Asian countries, are subjected in the Arab state. 

-- Raed Rafei in Beirut 

IRAN: Jailed U.S. journalist Saberi on hunger strike

An American journalist convicted by Iran of spying for the U.S. has gone on a hunger strike to protest her eight-year prison sentence, according to her father.

Reza Saberi said his daughter, Roxana, 31, has been on a hunger strike since Tuesday in Tehran's Evin Prison. She was sentenced one week ago after a one-day trial that found her guilty of using her role as a journalist to pass information to U.S. intelligence services.

"Today is the fifth day," Reza Saberi told the Associated Press. "She will remain on hunger strike until she is freed."

The Obama administration contends Saberi is innocent and has urged that her conviction and sentence be overturned on appeal. The case has complicated U.S. moves toward reconciliation with the Islamic Republic, which is in the midst of an election campaign seen as a key battle between moderate and hard-liners linked to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But in recent days, Ahmadinejad has indicated that he does not want the Saberi ordeal to detract from negotiations with Washington, most notably over Iran’s nuclear programs. Ahmadinejad and the country’s chief judge have stressed that Saberi should receive a swift and fair appeal -- a sign that the harsh sentence was the wrong message to send after Obama’s efforts to improve diplomacy between the two nations.

Some analysts have suggested that the Saberi case was orchestrated by hard-liners who are opposed to closer ties with the U.S. Others have said that Ahmadinejad – a populist conservative – saw the detention of the journalist as a way to test the resolve of the new Obama White House.

Saberi told her father she was detained in January for buying alcohol, which is forbidden in Iran. She was later charged with espionage. Human rights groups have condemned the verdict, and journalist organizations said the case epitomizes Iran’s poor record on civil rights.

A dual U.S. and Iranian citizen, Saberi had reported for the BBC and National Public Radio and was working on a book about Iran’s culture and politics.  

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Roxana Saberi. Credit: Agence France-Presse

EGYPT: Cautiously celebrating Obama's new Muslim advisor

Egyptians cautiously rejoiced at the recent appointment of a veiled Egyptian American Muslim woman as an advisor to President  Obama. Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed earlier this month to Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

“Dalia Mogahed is the best example of a successful Muslim woman. She proves that the Muslim should be successful in all fields at least in [her] area of specialization,” wrote a commenter on the website of Al Masry al Youm independent daily.

Another writer to the newspaper's site, Saled Abdel Hamdi, said: “Congratulations! I wish that you convey the truth in full to an understanding man and not to a one-track minded who wants to shape the world the way he wants or the way they want.”

IRAN: A father waits for a daughter convicted of espionage

Reza Saberi is not accustomed to espionage and the intricacies of international politics. But the case of his daughter, Roxana, an Iranian American journalist convicted of spying for the U.S., has brought him from his home in North Dakota to an apartment on the outskirts of Tehran.

Roxana has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Washington and international human-rights groups have called for her release, saying the accusations against her were fabricated and that her one-day trial last week was a sham. Reza Saberi shuttles from the lawyer’s office to Evin Prison, where Roxana awaits her appeal while Washington and Tehran are contemplating their next moves.

The case has complicated the Obama administration’s attempts to improve relations with the Islamic government, most notably over Tehran’s nuclear program. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged prosecutors to ensure Saberi receives “justice and fairness” in her appeal, an indication that Iran may be seeking to resolve the case before it jeopardizes diplomatic efforts with Washington.

Today, Iran’s highest judge, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered the Tehran court to consider the “appeals stage in a careful, quick and fair way,” according to the official IRNA news agency.

Reza Saberi, a native of Iran, visited his 31-year-old daughter this morning. He sat down later for an interview with The Times:

What is Roxana's emotional and psychological state? You had mentioned earlier that she had talked about a hunger strike.
 
"Yes, she has been thinking about that. However, we have persuaded her so far not to do so. She is physically pretty frail and it would be hard for her to endure a hunger strike. But I do not know even today if it was on her mind or not. Maybe she is still contemplating it."

EGYPT: Arrest of alleged Hezbollah agents in Cairo stirs skepticism

Skepticism surrounded Egypt's announcement this week of the arrest of a group with alleged ties to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim organization Hezbollah. 

Authorities accused detainees of plotting terrorism operations in Egypt and spreading Shiite thought in the predominantly Sunni Muslim society. 

The announcement of the arrest comes at a time of regional polarization between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, on the one hand, and Syria and Shiite Iran on the other. 

For some analysts, it is a new stage in government propaganda aimed at undermining popular Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran, the group's patron, as threats to Egypt’s national security.

“Every now and then, they announce the arrest of a Hamas-tied, Shiite, protestant, Marxist group with links to al-Qaeda. These are just lies. Innocent people are being arrested unfairly and without any reason except the regime’s desire to show that it serves the country,” wrote Waheed Safwat on the website of the newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm.

EGYPT: Bahai minority group under attack

The homes of some members of Egypt's Bahai minority came under violent attack by Muslims this week in a rural area in southern Egypt.

The attacks erupted in the village of al-Shuraniya in the upper Egyptian province of Sohag where Muslim residents gathered outside the homes of some Bahais and chanted, “There is no god but God" and "Bahais are the enemies of God.” 

Shortly afterward, they threw rocks at the homes, breaking windows. Violence escalated when Muslim residents threw firebombs and Molotov cocktails at the house of five Bahai families, according to a statement released by human rights groups.

"The heinous and unprecedented attacks on Baha'i Egyptians are a crime against all Egyptians,“ said a statement issued on April 2 by six human rights groups. “We shall never allow the perpetrators of these crimes to benefit from the same climate of impunity that has marred the government's response to sectarian violence against Egyptians Copts over the last four decades.”

QATAR: Libya's Kadafi bashes Saudi king at Doha summit

As usual, Libyan leader raised eyebrows Monday with his incendiary but hilarious remarks at the Arab summit in Doha.

As the Emir of host Qatar welcomed Saudi King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz al Saud, Libyan President Moammar Kadafi interrupted him addressing the Saudi king, saying:

"I seize the opportunity to tell my brother Abdullah, you have been evasive and scared of confrontation for six years. I want to assure you today not to be scared. I am telling you after six years it was proved that lies stand behind you and your grave awaits you. You were created by Britain and protected by the U.S. I consider the personal issue that lasted between you and me is over and I am ready to visit you as well as receive you."

INDIAN OCEAN: Somali pirates may be widening their hunting area

Are Somali pirates roaming farther from home to avoid the U.S.-led multinational force?

A story by the American Forces Press Service suggests that the pirates are plying their trade in the Indian Ocean now that Task Force 151 is patrolling their more traditional hunting area in the Gulf of Aden.

In the last week, pirates seized two chemical tankers in the Indian Ocean: one Bahamian-flagged and  Norwegian-owned, the other Panamanian-flagged and Greek-owned.

One seizure was 380 nautical miles from Somalia, the other 490 miles, making them the farthest yet from the Gulf of Aden.

Last year, pirates seized 42 ships, but 80 "piracy events" were thwarted. The score this year: 11 seizures, 37 failures.

"This appears to be a new round of attacks," a Navy spokesman told the press service.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Somali pirates in Gulf of Aden. Credit: U.S. Navy