[The following was sent to Circulars by Ammiel Alcalay.]
Below is a letter from a friend of mine, Elliott Colla, a professor of Arabic at Brown University; the letter is about the outcome of a case involving a friend of his, Gamal Eid, an Egyptian human rights lawyer who was picked up in the recent demonstrations in Cairo and tortured. While it is crucial for us to keep up the pressure on our selected and even elected officials here, the demonstrations taking place around the Arab world in the next few weeks are of enormous importance. I am working with a group of ex-pats in Cairo who can be our eyes and ears, and I also have contact with various other people in other countries, not to mention Human Rights Watch. It is very important for people there to know that we will do whatever we can to speak out about their situation, particularly when a country like Egypt, a recipient of much US aid, is in question. I will keep you posted as other cases emerge. Below is Elliott's letter:
Thank you all for faxing in letters and for asking more about Gamal Eid
-- there's no doubt that our efforts have been helpful, not only for
Gamal's case, but also for those of the others also held with him. I'm
sending along three bits of news for you.
The first is an upbeat 4-line email I got from Gamal last night (1,
below), and the second is an email from Gamal's wife, Clarisa Bencomo
(2, below), explaining the terms of Gamal's release -- which remains
temporary, until a hearing that will take place on Saturday. Clarisa's
letter explains Gamal's request that the case is far from over -- and
that the state prosecutor may press for more serious charges. A third
piece, which I've attached, is an update on the case from Amnesty
International, forwarded to me by another friend of Gamal's, Avner Gidron.
In my rush to contact friends, I did not stress enough that Gamal was
one of hundreds -- from old men and women to college students to
teenagers, from activists to middle-class passersby -- who were picked
up by the Egyptian state security police. Protests broke out in Egypt
last week following the start of the US war on Iraq, as they have in
most every capital city throughout the world. In so-called "moderate
Arab regimes" (such as Egypt and in Jordan) state repression of these
protests has been especially fierce and brutal, mainly because of the
fragility of regimes in those countries, whihc are both corrupt and
allied tacitly with the US war plan. Protesters in Cairo were attacked
with water canons and clubs by state police. Of the hundreds arrested,
about seventy (including Gamal's group) were held longer. This group
includes a number of children (being held in adult criminal prisons,
where they are often preyed upon). Detainees have complained of being
beaten with sticks, which has resulted in injured eyes, internal
injuries and broken limbs. Women detainees complained of being
threatened with rape.
These practices -- torture, housing children with adult convicts, and
rape of female detainees -- are a regular part of life in Egyptian
prisons, and well documented by groups like Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch. In recent years, since it was mainly Islamists who
were suffering under these conditions, few in the West or in Egypt,
besides human rights activists (like Gamal), paid much attention to
their suffering. But the people protesting the war in Egypt, and the
people detained with Gamal -- professionals, workers, members of
Parliament, secularists, Islamists, nationalists, liberals,
internationalists -- represent a huge range of backgrounds and political
leanings in Egyptian society. That the state is willing to mistreat (and
torture) all sorts of people from so many different classes and
political backgrounds does not bode well for Egyptian society. It also
points to how precarious Mubarak's rule really is. Moreover, since the
Mubarak regime, ruling by martial law for decades, forbids even peaceful
demonstrations, there's good reason to fear a vicious pattern occurring
over the next months: more popular protests, which are violently
repressed, more arbitrary detentions and more instances of torture and
ill-treatment.
People unfamiliar with Egypt should bear in mind that Egypt is America's
showcase "moderate ally" in the Arab and Muslim world. Americans
knowledge of modern Egyptian politics is largely limited to Anwar Sadat,
revered in the US as the man who dared to make peace with Israel. He is
not remembered that way in Egypt, and his successor, Hosni Mubarak, has
even less popularity. In the 80s, Egypt was an important test case for
exporting American free market ideology -- privatization of industry,
making the labor force "efficient and competitive," and freeing up
restrictions on international capital under IMF management: the result
has been an economic and social disaster, as people found growth
stalled, resources controlled by foreign interests and economic safety
nets gone. In recent years, Egypt has been regularly represented in the
US press as a country that is liberalizing politically, even as the
state continued to forge elections, harass, imprison and assassinate
political opponents. For most Egyptians, this does not feel like the
kind of liberalism they dream of, and which used to exist in the
country. Finally, Egypt is also the recipient of huge amounts of US aid
(second only to Israel), most of which goes to support the bloated
Egyptian military. Egyptian officers, including State Security officers
who torture political prisoners, are routinely trained in the US. For
most Egyptians, these dots are not difficult to connect. Because of the
extent of US involvement in propping up the unpopular, corrupt and
brutal Mubarak regime, the US appears as a crucial player in these sad
legacies.
These connections are important to keep in mind these days. As we oppose
the current war in Iraq, we must not forget that the US has been in the
business of regime change, regime maintenance, and regime rehabilitation
for many years in the Arab world. The example of Egypt is unique -- but
it is also not so distinct from that of other "US allies" in the region:
Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and so on. Unfortunately
for the hawks running this war, people in the region continue to
remember their history -- and continue to remember what values the US
has traditionally fostered among its allies -- which is why few, if any,
are now running out to welcome US troops as liberators.
All of this is to say, that our opposition to the policies driving this
current war is far broader than the war effort itself, simply because
this war, though radical and extreme, is not "outside" the history of US
intervention and influence in the Middle East.
Likewise, our opposition to the hawks in this country is more than a
purely negative position: it's also a positive affirmation of solidarity
with social justice and peace activists in the region itself. People
like Gamal or the thousands of others who ask that their countries
belong to their peoples, not just to ruling cliques propped by
Washington. People in the Middle East who are asking that those slogans
under which Bush launched the war -- democracy, economic prosperity, and
social justice -- be retaken by progressives and put into real practice.
If after reading all this, you would like to continue helping those
Egyptians still being held by the Mubarak regime, I have two
suggestions: the first is from the attached report from Amnesty
International, which contains practical advice for how to continue a fax
campaign about prison conditions in Egypt. It is also important to note
in our letters that US aid to Egypt is tied to Egypt's respect of human
rights treaties. Second, this point about US aid should also be made to
our own congressional representatives -- there is no good reason why the
US military should be training Egyptian state torturers and why US
taxpayers should foot the bill. Since US rule in Baghdad will be based
to some extent on previous experiences, like our alliance with the
Egyptian regime, now is a good time to speak out critically on this history.
My brother Phil has supplied me with the (correct) fax info for Egyptian
consulates, etc -- in case you want to continue on. I've pasted them
after Gamal's and Clarisa's emails. (3, below)
Thanks again to everyone who wrote on Gamal's behalf -- please feel free
to forward to anyone else who has been following Gamal's case.
In peace and solidarity,
Elliott
(1)
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 15:12:26 -0800 (PST)
From: gamal eid
Subject: I'm Free Now
To: 2clary m 2ben
Cc: elganob@yahoo.com
X-Brown-MailScanner: Found to be clean
X-Brown-MailScanner-SpamScore: s
Hi All,
I'm free, and i'm at home.
Thank you all.
Gamal
----------------------------------------
(2)
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 19:37:17 -0500
From: clarisa bencomo
X-Accept-Language: en
To: Clarisa Bencomo
Subject: Gamal Eid update
X-Brown-MailScanner: Found to be clean
X-Brown-MailScanner-SpamScore: s
As of about midnight Cairo time, Gamal and some of the other detainees
are out of detention (I hope to have a full list tomorrow), although
this is not an official "release," but rather something akin to a
furlough based on an undertaking from the Egyptian Bar Association it
would ensure they appear before the al Azbekiya prosecution office on
Saturday morning. In Gamal's case, even if that set of charges
eventually is suspended, he still must appear before the State Security
prosecution office on Saturday to be interrogated on a separate set of
more serious charges. It isn't clear yet if he will remain out on bail
or be returned to detention after he goes to the State Security
prosecution office. He is in good spirits and was very appreciative of
all the calls and faxes people have sent on behalf of the detainees. He
asks that people continue to pressure the govenment to drop the
prosecutions, stop the tranfer of case to state security prosecution
offices, and release all the detainees.
--
Clarisa Bencomo
Researcher
Children's Rights Division
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299, U.S.A.
Direct line: 212 216-1232
Fax: 212 736 1300
Email: bencomc@hrw.org
website: http://www.hrw.org
--------------------------------
(3)
Ambassador Nabil Fahmy
The Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct. NW
Washington DC 20008
By facsimile to (202) 244-5131, (202) 244-4319
The Egyptian Consulate General, Los Angeles
3001 Pacific Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94115
By facsimile to (415) 346-9480
The Egyptian Consulate General, New Yord
1110 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10022
By facsimile to (212) 308-7643
The Egyptian Consulate General, Chicago
500 N. Michigan Ave., Suite # 1900
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 828-9167
The Egyptian Consulate General, Houston
1990 Post Oak Blvd. Suite # 2180
Houston, TX. 77056
By facsimile to (713)961-3868
Each Stack Frame represents a function. The bottom frame is always the main function, and the frames above it are the other functions that main calls. At any given time, the stack can show you the path your code has taken to get to where it is. The top frame represents the function the code is currently executing, and the frame below it is the function that called the current function, and the frame below that represents the function that called the function that called the current function, and so on all the way down to main, which is the starting point of any C program.
Posted by: Thomasina on January 19, 2004 12:48 AMEach Stack Frame represents a function. The bottom frame is always the main function, and the frames above it are the other functions that main calls. At any given time, the stack can show you the path your code has taken to get to where it is. The top frame represents the function the code is currently executing, and the frame below it is the function that called the current function, and the frame below that represents the function that called the function that called the current function, and so on all the way down to main, which is the starting point of any C program.
Posted by: Lucy on January 19, 2004 12:48 AMThis is another function provided for dealing with the heap. After you've created some space in the Heap, it's yours until you let go of it. When your program is done using it, you have to explicitly tell the computer that you don't need it anymore or the computer will save it for your future use (or until your program quits, when it knows you won't be needing the memory anymore). The call to simply tells the computer that you had this space, but you're done and the memory can be freed for use by something else later on.
Posted by: Vincent on January 19, 2004 12:49 AMFor this program, it was a bit of overkill. It's a lot of overkill, actually. There's usually no need to store integers in the Heap, unless you're making a whole lot of them. But even in this simpler form, it gives us a little bit more flexibility than we had before, in that we can create and destroy variables as we need, without having to worry about the Stack. It also demonstrates a new variable type, the pointer, which you will use extensively throughout your programming. And it is a pattern that is ubiquitous in Cocoa, so it is a pattern you will need to understand, even though Cocoa makes it much more transparent than it is here.
Posted by: Watkin on January 19, 2004 12:49 AMThe Stack is just what it sounds like: a tower of things that starts at the bottom and builds upward as it goes. In our case, the things in the stack are called "Stack Frames" or just "frames". We start with one stack frame at the very bottom, and we build up from there.
Posted by: Petronella on January 19, 2004 12:50 AM