Suicide car bombing at Egypt police headquarters kills 15

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
24.12.2013

Cairo (dpa) - A suicide bombing at a regional police headquarters in northern Egypt killed 15 people and injured more than 130 Tuesday, in an escalation of violence since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. 

The government blamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood for the attack and said it was working to implement a court ban of the group. Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi vowed to respond with "force and decisiveness" to what he said was "the ugliest kind of terrorism".

The Interior Ministry said preliminary investigations showed the bomber drove a car laden with explosives through a checkpoint at the building in Mansoura, the capital of Dakahlyia province.

The bombing killed 12 policemen and injured Dakahlyia police chief General Sami al-Meihi.

The Health Ministry said the death toll climbed to 15 when a policeman died of his injuries and another had been found under the rubble by the evening.

Parts of the multistorey police headquarters collapsed, injuring passersby while windows in nearby buildings were shattered and several cars gutted in the explosion.

The presidency announced three days of mourning on Tuesday.

The government holds the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies responsible for the wave of unrest in the wake of Morsi's toppling by the army on July 3, after protesters called for him to step down. 

In September, a court banned the group's activities and ordered the confiscation of its assets. Official and pro-government media have labelled the group as "terrorists."

Morsi, the country's first democratically elected leader, is facing a string of charges including that of conspiring with foreign militant groups.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said the Muslim Brotherhood had carried out Tuesday's attack in retaliation for the violent dispersal by security forces of two Islamist protest camps in August.

"We are facing an enemy that has no religion or homeland, an enemy that does not care for people's lives and only seeks to destroy and destabilize the security of the state," Ibrahim said at the scene of the bombing.

The government's crackdown on Islamists has seen hundreds killed and thousands arrested.

The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the bombing and accused the government of aiming to create "further violence, chaos and instability."

"The Muslim Brotherhood considers this act as a direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people and demands an inquiry, ... so that the perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice," the group said.

In the wake of the bombing, thousands of people gathered in Mansoura, some 120 kilometres north of Cairo, to protest against the Brotherhood.

"The people want the execution of the Brotherhood," they chanted. Some protesters carried national flags and pictures of Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, seen as the architect of Morsi's overthrow.

Morsi, who is being held at a prison in Alexandria, faces three trials on charges of sponsoring terrorism, conspiring with foreign organizations, inciting violence against protesters and escaping from prison during the 2011 uprising against his predecessor, Hosny Mubarak.

Hundreds of Islamists also face charges of inciting violence.

Protesters later performed funeral prayers for the victims. Shortly after, a mob attacked supporters of Morsi in the city who raised their hands with the four-finger sign that symbolizes people killed in the security crackdown.

They also set fire to a car belonging to a pro-Morsi resident, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported.

A supermarket believed to be owned by a brotherhood supporter was looted.

Security forces thwarted an attempt by "thugs who tried to storm the Mansoura central prison."

No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday's bombing, the worst attack so far outside the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal area.

It came a day after a militant based in the Sinai Peninsula warned of strikes against the military. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis warned soldiers to leave the military or face death.

The group has claimed responsibility for the attempted assassination in September of the interior minister as well as several car bombings and attacks on security headquarters.

Egyptian women learn martial arts to ward off harassment

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa

09.12.2013 

published here and here

Cairo (dpa) - Mai Khaled carefully watches her coach demonstrating self-defence techniques like hitting someone in the face or the knee.

Because rising sexual violence often goes unpunished in Egypt and its victims are blamed and stigmatized, women like Khaled are learning how to defend themselves at martial art classes run by advocacy groups.

Tahrir Bodyguard, which means Liberation Bodyguard and also refers to the main square in Cairo where mass protests are often held, is one such group teaching women basic self-defence.

"I don't know if I will ever apply any of this in a situation when I am being attacked, but it is important to know the weak points of the body and keep them in my mind," says Khaled, a 50-year-old writer.

She and a dozen women are taught how to interpret a harasser's body language, read the situation and project confidence.

About 186 cases of sexual violence against women were reported between June 28 and July 7 during street protests against then-president Mohammed Morsi, according to Nazra, a feminist non-governmental organization.

Eighty of these assaults occurred July 3 when people were celebrating Morsi’s overthrow by the army.

Five advocacy groups are running a 16-day campaign launched November 25 to raise awareness of the problem in a conservative society whose problems have been compounded by deteriorating security since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosny Mubarak.

The campaign is meant to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 and Human Rights Day on December 10.

Organizers have planned open discussions, film screenings and performances in several provinces.

“Unfortunately, there is an acceptance in society of sexual violence crimes," said Ebaa Eltamami of HarassMap, a volunteer-based advocacy group against sexual violence. "So we are focusing on changing the concepts that led to this.”

In 2010, several rights groups proposed changing the law to make sexual harassment a punishable crime.

“The law does not name sexual harassment,” Amal al-Mohandes of Nazra said. "It mentions adultery, indecent assault and rape. There is no mention of the different types of rape, including rape using objects or multiple-perpetrator rape."

In March 2011, amendments to the penal code imposed a jail sentence of up to 15 years for “sexual assault” and from six months to two years for verbal abuse. However, rights activists and lawyers argued that such amendments have done little to curb the problem.

Authorities announced plans for new legislation after a spike in attacks in 2012 and 2013 but have yet to follow through, Amnesty International said.

“This is a social epidemic," al-Mohandes said. "The continuation of such crimes will close the public domain in the face of women, and this is a disaster. No one will be able to bear its consequences.”

Dalia Abdel-Hameed, a researcher at the non-profit Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said sexual violence in Egypt has grown rapidly since 2005 when pro-government thugs sexually assaulted female journalists protesting against the government.

“The state and the people faced this development with denial, which somehow gave attackers immunity, and their crimes went unpunished,” Abdel-Hameed said.

She said that as women’s presence in the public domain has increased since the 2011 uprising, physical violence against women has reached “unprecedented levels.”

“Society's normalization of sexual violence has made it acceptable as a daily reality, not just during protests, but we also see it during concerts or any crowded event, even on public transport,” she said.

A 2013 survey by UN Women showed that more than 80 per cent of women in Egypt do not feel safe in the streets or on public transportation.

“If we do not face the immunity that society gives to rapists and attackers or the culture of blaming the victim, then it will be hard to change anything,” Abdel-Hameed said.

Many campaigns were launched in recent years to counter sexual assaults. Many tell men “to protect your mother, sister, wife, daughter and yourself.”

However, Abdel-Hameed was not keen on using the same concept in the latest campaign.

“We do not want anyone to consider us their sisters; we just want them to leave us alone," she said.

Top Brotherhood leader appears in court

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
09.12.2013

Cairo (dpa) - The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood appeared on Monday for the first day of his court case, in which he faces charges of inciting violence against opposition protesters amid the July ouster of former president Mohammed Morsi.

It was Mohamed Badie's first appearance since he was arrested on August 20. After statements, the trial was adjourned until February 16, when the court is due to announce witnesses.

Badie and 14 other Islamists are charged with inciting clashes in July in Giza, near Cairo, in which at least five people were killed and 100 injured.

Thirteen of them were present at the court, in the police institute inside the Tora prison complex in southern Cairo. One defendant was being tried in absentia.

"My group and I are the victims and not the accused," Badie said during the session, according to the state-run al-Ahram newspaper.

Nationwide violence erupted after the army toppled Morsi on July 3 following days of widespread protests in which millions took to the streets demanding his ouster.

The military-backed authorities have rounded up hundreds of Islamists over the past five months.

Badie faces incitement charges in several other cases. He was arrested one week after security forces violently dispersed two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo, in which hundreds were killed.

He is expected to appear in court on Wednesday on separate charges of inciting the killing of demonstrators outside the group's headquarters in Cairo.

Senior Brotherhood member Mohamed al-Beltagui described the trial as "void." The judge asked him not to raise his hands in the four-finger sign that has come to symbolize the security crackdown on Islamist protesters in August.

Al-Beltagui argued that the cases are political and one-sided. Al-Beltagui's daughter and Badie's son were killed in the security crackdown in August and he said the current rulers would not allow trials for their killers.

"I will prove to you that the trial is invalid. You cannot charge those who killed my daughter and Badie's son," al-Beltagui said addressing the judge.

Morsi is also standing trial, on charges of inciting the killing of protesters outside the presidential palace in December 2012. His trial began last month.

Elsewhere, in the city of Banha, some 50 kilometres north of Cairo, a court sentenced three members of the Brotherhood to life in prison for attacking people and security during a pro-Morsi protest in the city.

Separately, prosecutors ordered 25 protesters, including leading activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, to stand trial for defying a law regulating protests that went into effect last month.

They also face charges of rioting, disturbing the peace, disrupting public security and resisting authorities.

Abdel-Fattah played a key role before and during the 2011 uprising that forced former ruler Hosny Mubarak out of power.

The new law requires organizers to give a three-day notice to police before any protest. Authorities then have the power to ban any demonstrations they deem as a threat to public peace.

Critics say the measure is aimed at stifling those who oppose the military-backed government, which has vowed to enforce the law, saying it is necessary to stop violent protests and restore security.

Meanwhile, clashes erupted for the second day between pro-Morsi students and security forces around al-Azhar University, in eastern Cairo. The university is linked to Egypt's main centre of Islamic learning.

Footage from the private ONTV satellite channel showed black smoke and tear gas in the area of the university.

The report said security forces surrounded the university to disperse the students.

Al-Azhar university, which has seen repeated violence since the school year began in September, is believed to be a stronghold of Islamist movements, including Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

The Interior Ministry said that about 200 students, who belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, blocked the road in front of the university and attacked police forces with stones and petrol bombs.

Police forces managed to disperse them using tear gas, pushing them back inside the campus.

A group of rioters were arrested, the ministry said, without specifying a number.