The Week in Quotes: September 18-25

Egypt Today rounds up this week’s news and milestones

 

By Ahmed Mansour and Kaylan Geiger

  Week in Quotes Explosion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs An explosion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 21 killed two people and injured at least five. At the time of press, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior had identified one of the police officers killed as Colonel Khaled Mahmoud Hassan Ali Saafan. Initial reports claimed that the explosion was the result of a car bomb; however, later reports revealed that the bomb was thrown at the security guards at the building’s 26th of July Street entrance. Militant group Ajnad Misr claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement posted on their official twitter account. The group claimed the ministry acts as a tool for “foreign enemies” to develop their plots.   “When will the government understand that they have to take all the necessary precautions to avoid such explosions? They need to increase the amount of police forces or armed forces in the streets. Egypt has become a target for all terrorists around the world and the amount of police forces in the streets is not enough. Me and my colleagues have sent hundreds of memos to our superiors to increase the amount of police officers in our sites, but those memos were never taken seriously.” — Lieutenant Refaat Mohamed of the Egyptian Police forces to Egypt Today.   “Al-Azhar needs to intervene and educate those terrorists that those acts have nothing to do with Islam. They also need to understand that the regime they are trying so hard to defend wasn’t qualified enough to handle a great country such as Egypt.” — Sheikh Ahmed Nazeem, administrator at Al-Azhar University, to Egypt Today. Boat ‘Deliberately’ Sunk, Kills 500 Migrants A boat carrying at least 500 refugees and migrants sank off the coast of Malta on September 15,  the latest tragedy as refugees flee the Middle East and Africa for Europe. According to some survivors’ accounts, the boat, which departed from Egypt’s north coast on September 9, was deliberately sunk. According to two survivors, the boat was rammed by human traffickers who were transporting the group, causing the boat to sink. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a Geneva-based group that works with the displaced, say they are unable to independently verify the accounts of the survivors.   According to the IOM, the incident brings the total tally of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean this year to 2,900, compared to 700 deaths last year. Smuggling boats to Europe from Africa and the Middle East have reportedly increased dramatically as violent conflicts, particularly in Syria and Gaza, in the region continue.   “This is inhuman. There are no words that can actually express how I personally feel regarding the matter. We live in a country that doesn’t respect human lives, nor does it respect the unity of the Arab world. Those actions shouldn’t go unpunished, and if the government failed to take action; we, the people, will take it for them.” — Hassan Mahgoob, political activist and member of Strong Egypt Party, to Egypt Today.   “When a foreign boat enters Egyptian waters without being authorized to do so, the sea coast police has the total right to sink the boat. The normal procedure is that, through radio, the police try to get in touch with the boat. If they fail to respond the police have the utmost right to shoot at the boat or take any action they think is fit. What happened here is surely a tragedy, but by law, this is an illegal boat that had to be dealt with in a way or another.” — General Sayed Fattomi of the Egyptian Armed Forces to Egypt Today.   “Illegal immigration is a crisis that needs to be dealt with. People only seek to emigrate from their country of origin when their situation becomes intolerable. The governments need to address the people, know what they are complaining about and fix their problems, before they start judging and sinking them.” —     Khalid Marzook, a human rights lawyer, to Egypt Today. Government Reportedly Increasing Online Surveillance Egypt is reportedly working with the sister company of a U.S.-based security firm as it ramps up online surveillance and monitoring of social media platforms, including Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The increased surveillance was first reported on BuzzFeed News website, which credited the information to unnamed Egyptian government officials. The BuzzFeed article claims that the company, called See Egypt, won the contract to conduct the surveillance after beating out two other security firms, the British Gamma System and the Israeli Narus System.   See Egypt CEO Ali Miniesy, speaking on record, said that his company had bid on the surveillance project, but would not confirm if it had won the contract. He did confirm that they had provided the government its Deep Packet Inspection technology which will allow security officials to use geolocation and tracking in surveillance. Reports of increased internet surveillance first surfaced in June, after a leaked document made its way to the press, revealing that the government was on the hunt for a new surveillance tool to monitor social media and the Internet. In a statement on its website, Ministry of Interior denied the claims in the BuzzFeed article and criticized local media for spreading the story.   “Our job as a company is to give them the system. I train the government how to run it and we give them the program,” —Ali Miniesy, the CEO of See Egypt, to BuzzFeed News.   “This type of news aims to shake the people’s confidence in the interior ministry.” — Statement on the Ministry of Interior’s website. “Internet surveillance is very important in this critical time, and the fact that the government is planning to increase it means that they are finding it successful. Most of the terrorist attacks that are targeting Egypt these days are coordinated through email and the process of recruiting always goes through social media. This had to be done and I salute the government for taking such a decision.” — Mohamed Mokhtar Saaed, professor of mass media education at Cairo University, to Egypt Today.   “The January 25 Revolution started through social media, and the Hosni Mubarak regime didn’t get to figure this out until it was too late. What the current regime is doing is that they are trying to stop a revolution before it starts by knowing what people are talking about.” — Khalid Morsi, member of the Constitution Party, to Egypt Today.   “I personally did expect this. When the government first said that they will start observing people’s internet activities, they promised to keep it as minimal as possible, but now that they decided to increase the surveillance, by law, this could be considered as an offence and the minister, or whomever came up with the decision, can be persecuted.” — Amr Hassan, a human rights lawyer, to Egypt Today. #NotInMyName Campaign Confronts DAISH A new, international social media campaign with the Twitter hashtag #NotInMyName was launched in late September to confront the negative image of Islam propagated by  DAISH (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The hashtag, launched by the London-based Active Change Foundation (ACF), gives Muslims across the world a platform to stand up against DAISH’s call for a “Caliphate for all Muslims” and condemn the militant group’s violent acts. ACF wants to show that not all Muslims support DAISH’s version of Islam. “We refute all terrorism across the world today #notinmyname #ISIS #NeverForget#rememberthem.” — Active Change Foundation on Twitter.   “I am against unrestrained use of force against civilians, which is effectively what we are being asked to bless in advance #NotInMyName #Egypt.” — Shaden Khallaf on Twitter.   “Islam does NOT promote nor condone terrorism. #NotInMyName.” — Shehu Bayero on Twitter   “Those who kill in the name of Islam have nothing to do with it, Allah and his prophet. #NotInMyName.” — Uzma Khan on Twitter.   “I am sorry world for the cruel evil acts done by those false Muslims in the name of #Islam #NotInMyName #istandwithpeace.” — Yasmin Choudhury on Twitter.   “#NotInMyName ISIS, the organization that does not value life and property of humans, is NOT Islamic.” — Mustaali Marvi on Twitter.   Milestones Designed, the new Pink Floyd album cover by 18-year-old Egyptian digital artist Ahmed Emad Eldin. Eldin’s artwork illustrates the band’s first album in more than 20 years, titled The Endless River. Won, the International Space Station Research Competition by two Egyptian researchers at Technische Universität München. Akram Abdellatif and Hanaa Gaber’s project Egypt Against Hepatitis C Virus was one of eight winners and the only winning project chosen from outside the United States. As the competition prize, the International Space Station crew will perform experiments for their project at the space station for free. This is the first ISS experiment to involve Egyptian scientists.   Won, the Abierto Mexicano de Raquetas PSA International 70 tournament by Mohamed ElShorbagy, his third Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour title in less than a month. Ranked number 3 in the world, ElShorbagy won the title after defeating his brother Marwan in the finals. This was the third time the brothers have gone up against each other on tour, with Mohamed being the undefeated one among the two.   Nominated, Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for the European Parliament’s 2014 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Abdel Fattah was a major figure in the January 25 Revolution and has been arrested several times for his activism. He is currently appealing a 15-year prison sentence for violating the Protest Law. Died, Egyptian comedian Youssef Eid on September 22 at age 66. The renowned theater and film actor was best known for supporting roles alongside big name stars such as Ahemd Zaki, Adel Imam and many others.   Died, renowned Egyptian actor Khaled Saleh at the age of 50. Saleh passed away on September 25 after complications from open-heart surgery at the Magdy Yacoub Facility in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan. His most memorable film roles include a corrupt government official in The Yacoubian Building and a corrupt police officer in Heya Fawda.