#June30 : Newspapers Headlines

Here is a quick round of newspapers' headlines and frontpages in Egypt as well Pan Arab newspapers about #June30 protests.

Al Ahram Newspaper : Egypt is in the fist of fear 

Oh God keep Egypt Safe "Ahram 3rd Page"

Oh God keep Egypt safe

Tahrir : Leave

Al Akhbar : Egypt over a volcanic crater

The newspaper editorial : We are in the side of the people 

Ahmed Ragab and Mustafa Hussien's Cartoon

Mustafa Hussein supports the protests now after two years of attacking them

Al Mal : Egypt revolts against the brotherhood

Youm 7 : 22,000,000 Tamarud petition

AL Masry Al Youm : Squares tell Morsi : One year is Enough

Freedom and Justice newspaper : The people want !! More protesters in Raba'a al Adawaya

Pan Arab Al Hayat : Egypt holds its breath

Pan Arab Al Sharq Al Awsat : Warming up in Egypt on 30 June eve

Al Watan : Judgement Day

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#June30 : Apocalypse Now "Live Updated"

And the big day is here.
Since early morning Cairo has become a ghost town , a real ghost town. Empty streets and empty traffic are unsusal in the big crowded city on Sunday's morning. It is like the calmness before the storm indeed. In fact it is the clamness before the storm.
It is expected that the action won't really start except afternoon when the rallies and protests start at 4 PM. Already all people know that in a mid summer day , the protests and rallies will attract more people at night. Nevertheless there are increasing number of protesters in Tahrir square and some governorates have started early like Alexandria, Mahalla, Mounfia and Port Said. 
Companies have either closed their doors or downsized the employees on Sunday especially the ladies. Ladies employees are told to go home. Few restaurants in Cairo are providing delivery services.
The Cairo Alexandria railway has been cut by angry protesters yet the railways services are working in the rest of the country. The Metro stations and lines are working fine too. 
Here is a live storify update to make our lives easier.
It is after the break as usual.

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#June30 : Hours before the Apocalypse

And it is just a matter of few hours and one of the longest days in Egypt in 2013 will start : June 30th. The awaited June 30 mass protests are forcing everybody to hold their breathe especially after yesterday’s unaccepted protests.

Today there are lots of developments like for instance the meeting of Morsi with the minister of defense and the head of intelligence , Obama’s statement about Egypt , Tamarod’s announcement, ElBaradei’s statement and Hamdeen’s statement.

There is nothing about that meeting of Morsi with El Sisi of defense or Shehata of GIS.

US president Obama expressed his concern for what is happening to Egypt. I know my country now is a headache for Washington !! The American president called both the Egyptian regime aka the Muslim brotherhood and the opposition to hold talks instead of clashes and violence today in his press conference in South Africa.

Update : President’s adviser and MB figure Ayman Ali says that Obama is free to say whatever he wants and the Egyptian Presidency is not obliged to listen to what he wants.

The US department of State issued a travel warning for Egypt.I believe it is normal thing especially after the murder of the US citizen Andrew Pochter in Alexandria’s clashes yesterday. The US marines have already been put on alert in  Southern Europe so what happened in Benghazi won’t happen again in Cairo

You must know that there are calls by Ultra Radical Pro-Nationalists/Military/Nasserists for protesters not only to protest but to storm the US embassy. Those calls results of the anti-American sentiments growing among the Non-Islamists because they believe that the Obama administration is biased to the MB. US ambassador Anne Paterson is so much hated and many Egyptians consider her the American version of Lord Cromer.

I believe the MB would love to protesters storm the US embassy this happen so their political opponents as well the Egyptian army lose all the cards with Washington.

The office of assistant to President of Egypt on foreign relations aka Essam El Haddad , the president’s aide for foreign relations issued a statement for foreign media.The statement is not good in these times. Praising the Raba’a Al Aadawaya protests and attacking the opposing protests. The opponent protesters will not come near Raba’a by the way.

Mohamed ElBradei , the leader of the Constitution Party and the leading figure of the NSF addressed the public in a video clip.

Mohamed ElBaradei addresses the public

Dr. ElBaradei has called the Egyptian people to join the protests of 30 June protests. He also called President Morsi to hold early presidential elections in order to continue on the democratic path.

Hamdeen Sabbahi who can be Egypt’s next President also addressed the public in a video clip.

Hamdeen Sabbahi addresses the Public

Hamdeen Sabbahi is saying that the June30 protests are a continuation to the 25 January revolution calling the people to stick to peacefulness and condemning the violence and the attack on members and properties of various political groups including the Muslim brotherhood. Sabbahi is speaking in a huge confidence that victory will be the ally of those against the MB.

Today Tamarod announced that it managed to collect 22 million signatures to withdraw the confidence from President Mohamed Morsi through the Supreme constitutional court. There is a debate about how correct or valid these numbers are. Already the political group announced that they have excluded the invalid signatures including the duplicates

There is another whole legal debate about whether the court will consider the petitions legal enough. This is something for the first time to happen in the history without legal basis.

“Tamarod” Campaign also called the Egyptians abroad to protest in front of the Egyptian embassies tomorrow worldwide. Already I know that there are Egyptians who will protest in front of the White House tomorrow.

Of course just from minutes ago the Muslim brotherhood has declared the general mobilization among its members. The last time the MB announced this mobilization , we had the massacre of presidential palace of December 5 where Egyptian civilians tortured and killed other Egyptian civilians.

The main gathering of the MB youth will be in Raba’a Al Adawaya and other places in Cairo unfortunately the FJP did not reveal on its official page. The Islamist parties alliance led by the Muslim brotherhood also issued a statement tonight.

Updated : Morsi held a meeting with the Islamist parties in Egypt from his allies. He urged them to restrain their members and to the end of that talk.

BY the way Salafist Al Nour Party and Al Watan Party its rival are not going to participate in the rallies or the protests.

On the other “Tamarod” Campaign announced that there will be protests in 26 governorates. It will be huge thing. It could be the biggest since 28 January , in fact it could be bigger than 28 January 2011 in some governorates. There will be 14 marches from all over Cairo heading to the Presidential Palace and 4 marches to Tahrir square.

Socially Egyptians are worried even if they do not show it. It is not a big secret that they are stockpiling food and water. Of course it is matter of days and we are going to have Ramadan so it is like double bill. You must know that not all the people are going to protest but rather are scared.

Some companies and shops are giving their employees vacation tomorrow , some of these companies and shops are actually urging their employees to go and to protest. For instance we got the famous Mohamed El Sagheer’s beauty salon and Design Emporium Egypt.

I do not know what will happen but one thing for sure if violence starts and does not stop then in couple of days we will have a new SCAF. Again we got different factions protesting against Morsi with different agendas and goals as well means to reach for their goals. If we are speaking logically the size of the protests can force the MB to present the concessions they refuse to present n order to save themselves. This is of course logic.

One thing for sure no one on earth or heaven even the Egyptian deep state would have imagine that Morsi’s first anniversary will turn to be like that.

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One year in Office : Torture in time of Morsi “Graphic+18”

Dear friend Mohamed Abdel Fatah directed a short documentary in Arabic about torture in time of President Morsi. Abdel Fatah featured 3 torture cases including 2 cases of torture till death.

Morsi has ignored all the initiatives proposed by human rights activists to reform the ministry of interior and police force in order to stop these practices. Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood who plead to stop torture do not see it a problem as long as their opponents are the ones who are tortured.
Of course the blame is not only on Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood because also you got the ministry of interior and the police force. The police force does not want to change its techniques.

BY the way tomorrow will be the big day of 30 June protests. Some protesters are going to hit the street because they want these practices to stop while others "I fear to say the majority" just do not care. In fact it seems to me that criticizing the police and its practices is a taboo. The protesters who chant against the ministry of interior are no longer welcomed in Tahrir square and are being kicked out after being label as "MB agents"
It is worth to mention too that the Muslim brotherhood and its supporters got nothing day and night except to praise the police.
Legally the ministry of interior is accused of killing protesters too in time of President Morsi.
He will not go down alone. 

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#28June : A rehearsal For #30June

And people went to protest today. Egyptians vs. Egyptians , civilians Vs. Civilians or Non Islamists Vs. Islamists to be accurate.

Hundreds of thousands protests against Muslim brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi in rehearsal today across the country for the big day on the 30th. Also hundreds of thousands were there in Cairo protesting in solidarity with Muslim brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi.

The scene of Islamists was repetitive but the scene of angry citizens including first time protesters and NDPians in the protests along with the revolutionaries was rare.

Of course it was not that peaceful because clashes happened and we got over 500 injured. Ministry of health says that 3 have been killed including a US citizen who was stabbed in Alexandria unfortunately.  The death toll of the Muslim brotherhood is 5 up till now while 2 for the protesters as well 1 US citizen.

Today several MB headquarters and branches have been torched and vandalized by angry protesters in Alexandria and Mansoura.

Here is a quick Storify report from photos and videos about the day. I am still updating it after the break.

 

Now leaks I knew earlier this week that things will be bloody in North Delta and the old NDPian leading figures will make it bloody in all possible ways so the army would intervene. I think I said it before. If you speak about peacefulness than you are either weak coward who lives in lala land or secret MB agent Online.

I do not underestimate the anger of the people nor the fact that everybody is denying that we are fully armed society now.

Tahrir square is full again but …

I can not be so happy that Tahrir square is full now , it has been full before by revolutionaries alone without MB or Mubarak loyalists or military loyalists. I can not be so happy because I see too much hate and anger blinding everybody.

Today I found a tweep comparing the Muslim brotherhood as the Jews in Germany before WWII reaching to the conclusion that a holocaust would be great for the Muslim brotherhood.

I can not be so happy when I see that bearded men are being attacked in the streets and there are threats to butcher the Muslim brotherhood and their families like sheep.

I can not be so happy that Tahrir square is full when I see faces from those who called the martyrs of Tahrir and Mohamed Mahmoud street every possible name and accusing revolution of being a foreign plot bragging on how they are protesting in the square. Yes the square is for everybody but emotionally speaking I remember what everybody said in the past two years , it is curse. For God those people are still attacking the January 25 Revolution calling it a defeat , a setback and a foreign conspiracy.

Politically and realistically speaking I believe that we can not win the battle when we have different goals. This is the dilemma , the revolutionaries want their revolution back on track once again for democracy and freedom while the Mubarak loyalists want the military back and to end democracy.They got higher voice in the media now despite they need the revolutionary cover in front of the world.

Of course if anyone dares to speak about this matter online in Arabic he or she will be accused of being a secret MB cell spreading lies who is trying to split the unity of the great people’s revolution. I have had my share already for being called all sort of insults for saying this.

Anyhow to be realistic you do not need to be an expert to know that sooner or later the army will do something considering how the armed forces troops are deployed throughout the country. Whether it is going to be a full scale coup or soft coup I do not know.

Nevertheless I have to admit that greed and stupidity of the Muslim brotherhood will be studied and that the deep state in Egypt knew how to use that greed in order to return back to the scene just like knowing the weakness points of the 25 January revolutionaries. Unfortunately the revolutionaries and the people do not want to understand or learn from their mistakes like others.

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#30June : The mother of Martyr speaks

Mohamed El Gindy’s mother Mrs. Samia spoke in the 30 June Front conference yesterday.You should watch and hear her speech.

Her speech was emotional. She is calling the youth as well parents to accompany their kids to Tahrir square. Mohamed El Gindy was tortured till death last January 2013. El Gindy ,a member of the popular current and revolutionary young man who endorsed Morsi in the presidential elections.

I want to hint out that during her speech she asked Syrians to stay away from Egypt’s internal affairs in order to continue staying in Egypt.

There are rumors now circulating that Syrians will do the Hamas so-called Job in supporting the Muslim brotherhood thanks to Morsi’s fake support to Syria. I am so worried that this may create problems for Syrians in Egypt.

Here is a video for the press conference itself.

By the way minister of investment , the MB member Yahia Hamed has issued a decision to fire Yahia Hussein, the manager of the leadership institute that hosted this event and other opposition groups’ meetings and conference in the halls of the institute. The institute allows its halls to be rented and as it is owned by the State Hussein opened its doors to everybody whether Islamists or not Islamists, whether the Muslim brotherhood or their opponents.

Yahia Hussein stood against Mubarak and his son when he revealed the scandals of Umar Effendi’s privatization. This man paid a lot when he stood against the privatization of Umar Effendi , now he is paying a price for not being a member in the Muslim brotherhood. 

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#30June got A Front And A Roadmap

 Tamarod ,the rebellious mother movement of the upcoming 30 June protests launched today the 30 June Front. That front is an attempt to have a political cover for the protests despite the founders of that front made it clear in a press conference that they do not represent all revolutionaries or political powers.

Now the 30 June Front presented a roadmap for Egypt after Mohamed Morsi as Tamarod believes that it is going to oust him on 30 June through petitions. The 6 months transitional period roadmap is as follows after getting rid from MB and Morsi :

• To appoint an independent Prime minister that represents 25 Revolution.
• To assign this prime minister with all the executive powers of the president and he will head a technocrat government whose main mission is to fix economy and adopt social justice policies.
• To assign the head of supreme constitutional court with the President’s protocol missions.
• To dissolve the Shura council and to suspend the current constitution.
• To form a new constituent assembly in order to draft a new constitution.
• To have presidential elections by the end of the 6 months followed by parliamentary elections monitored by judges and surpervised internationally. 
• The National defense council is responsible for national security.

It is worth to mention that the boys and girls of Tamarod have met with Heikal, the old fox twice in the past two weeks. Politically speaking this roadmap is perfect or rather was perfect for Egypt on 12 February 2011 if people were honest in having true democracy. There is one missing detail is how to reach this roadmap already.

Now there are too many players with other roadmaps and agendas.

The 30 June Front is founded by a number of revolutionary and political activists like Israa Abdel Fatah, Amr Salah, Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Ahmed Harara , Khaled El Belshy and other others.

The press conference was attended by many of the famous faces from activists like Ahmed Harara, Karima El Khafny, Hossam Eissa , Khaled Dawood , Hossam Mounis, Mazhar Shahin and Nour El Huda Zaki.

Here are couple of photos I took from the press conference.

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Sexual Torture in #Egypt Continues in time of #Morsi "Graphic +18"

Today the world celebrate the International Day in support of victims of torture . I do not think that people should only speak up against torture today but they have to shout against torture everyday.
On Sunday Al Nadeem Center , Egyptian Initiative for Personal rights and Mosireen Collective published a statement about sexual torture in Egypt and how Morsi's regime is using it after Mubarak.  The statement considered the sexual assaults and harassment in Tahrir square more of an attempt to scare women protesters like what happened in 2005 during Mubarak's rule.
The statement says that the sexual torture is being used not to get confessions in Egypt but to humiliate victims.
The two human rights organizations cooperated with the Media collective Mosireen and produced this video below. The video got English subtitles and it is heart breaking. It includes the testimonies of some sexual torture victims in Egypt from the time of Mubarak to SCAF to Morsi, the first democratically elected President.The video includes well known victims of sexual torture like Emad El Kebeer and Samira Ibrahim as well less known victims. It is heart breaking and includes graphic details "+18"
As a Muslim I do not know what Mohamed Morsi will say in front of God in the judgement day when he will be asked about those tortured under his rule and why he did not help them or stop torture.
If you are going to protest on Sunday against Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood then do not forget you should protest against torture in Egypt and you want to stop it forever.

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#30June Apocalypse Egypt : Media Updates And #Egyarmy is Back to Streets

It is not long 30 June palooza , it is 30 June apocalypse now in Egypt with the on going hysteria about not only upcoming June 30th but about tomorrow and what Morsi will say or announce in his awaited speech.
Tonight popular TV host Mahmoud Saad was ordered by Al Nahar TV channel owner to stop his daily night talk show till the end of the month because Egypt is heading towards to strife !!!
Saad resigned tonight on air in another TV channel during a confrontation with Alaa El Kakhaky.

Ironically Saad was banned from National TV during the early days of 25 January revolution when Mubarak was still in power.Saad appeared on air after 11 February 2011. Many people consider it a sign.
It is worth to mention that Saad was supporting Morsi in the elections and yet was the first to be reported by presidency itself “in historical thing” to the prosecutor general for insulting the President when he criticized Morsi last year. Of course the presidency later withdrew its complaint.
State owned newspaper's editor in chief Mohamed Hassan El Banna "who was appointed by Islamist dominated Shura Council" has resigned after a strong Op-ed in the newspaper criticizing Morsi adding that the MB was intervening in the editorial policies of the famous newspaper.   
There are rumors spreading like fire through former and current police officers as well journalists like Mostafa Bakry "Pro-Military" claim that tomorrow the prosecutor general will issue an arrest warrant against a number of activists,journalists and political figures. 
Now in another important development the army forces have been assigned to protect the media city in October city. 

 The commander of the central zone went to the city that hosts Egypt's private owned TV channels and radio stations today along hundreds of soldiers. The National TV and radio building is still under the Republican guards' control. The Republican guards officially follow Presidency. This is the first step for the army when it comes to street control.
I donot know how to see this move. In old coup schools the winner is the one who controls the media aka TV and radio broadcast. The media city now is the new heart of media of Egypt instead of Maspero. Egyptians follow the private channels more than official TV channels. 
Some are saying that Minister of defense El Sisi is taking his precaution if Morsi announces something shocking and surprising tomorrow aka if Morsi fires him. 
The Morale department in the armed forces published in its Facebook Page that short documentary about the armed forces and its achievements. It also sent it to TV channels “Both National TV and private channels” and in no time the short documentary was aired in almost all TV channels even Sports TV channels.

Now I could not ignore also  how the leaning to Mubarak regime channel Al Kahera Wal Nas has been broadcasting all day long the speech of General El Sisi as if he is the official ruler of Egypt.
I also noticed that the Islamists , at least some Islamists working in the media like Khaled Abdullah and Rashid Abdel Latif began to turn against Morsi and kiss the army’s ass.
Khaled Abdullah who kissed SCAF's ass all the way is now telling Morsi if he can not control the country than he has to hand it over to SCAF !!

Abdel Latif , the owner of Hafiz channel is praising how the army is securing the freedom of media at the media city !!

‏''القوات المسلحة'': سنؤمن '' الإنتاج الإعلامي''احترامًا لحرية التعبير انها ترمز لحرية الإعلام والإتحادية ترمز لمصر أمنوها احتراما للمصريين
— د / عاطف عبد الرشيد (@Atefabdelrashed) June 25, 2013

Big mouth and cult leader Hazem Salah Abu Ismail is doing what he is best at. After attacking the army and El Sisi madly he is claiming that he will not speak about politics anymore. I hardly believe it when he claims that he and his wife are preparing their death will and asking his followers to do the same !!
I will not comment on that stupid press conference of the man behind Omar Sulieman because it is a waste of time still I will summarize what General Hussein Kamal said or wanted to say in that black comedy presser. "All of you should be the street so the army will go down the street to oust Morsi otherwise you all should shut up and respect President Morsi" This is what he said.
He also revealed extremely important secret as an aide to Egypt's ex-spy chief knew from long time : Muslim brotherhood , Freedom and justice party and Presidency are the same !!!!
We are waiting for Morsi's speech because we believe the clash will start as soon as he finishes his speech on TV.You must know that opposition forces are preparing to watch the speech to at Tahrir square.
Well we were the first country to have a Facebook event for a revolution , may we will be the first country to have another Facebook even for protests/Civil War/Military coup at the same time.

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Mosireen Interviews Hazem Barakat And People Began to React Somehow "Graphic +18"

Mosireen went to Abu Muslam and interviewed citizen journalist Hazem Barakat who witnessed the horrifying massacre of Shiites last yesterday.It has not been translated yet to Arabic.

It is extremely important.Hazem says that the police was there two hours before the people were killed and they did not nothing. This clip including new sad scene like how the women of village were also participating in the mob attacking cheering against the Shiites.
There are more shocking and graphic clips surfacing. The villagers turned in to monsters. It is as if they were demonic creatures attacking human beings. They are even happy and do not think that they did anything wrong.
Now below a video showing Hassan Shehata before his tragic death along his relatives shortly. He did not come with women like the villagers claim. 

Now below the video showing the attack on the same home. It is extremely graphic.

That cartoon made by Andeel summarizes the whole thing.

Do You like it dear God ?

 Here is a quick storify report with reactions in Egypt.

I want to say something Al Nour Party is trying to distance itself as I hinted on Storify. There are posters against Shia all over Egypt with the party´s logo.

Together Against Shia

In Aswan by Kristen Chick

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Unjust village "Graphic+18"

I do not know what to say or what to write. Let´s start with facts. This afternoon in a small village in Giza called Abu Muslam a mob of angry locals , 3000 attacked the houses of the Shiites killing not less than 4 and injuring dozens. Not less than 5 houses owned by other Egyptians who happened to be Shiites were also torched. 

Today was the 15th night of Shabaan ,a holy night for all Muslims and one of the most famous Egyptian Shiite sheiks Hassan Shehata was visiting one of the families there. As soon as Shehata was known to be there the angry mob attacked the house he was staying at throwing Molotov cocktails and then attacking th house itself. 

The house when the mob showed up

Shehata was stabbed and killed as well dragged in the streets. 

Shehata was accused by Sunni clerics in Egypt of spreading Shiism in Egypt. They

According to the villagers who did not hide their pride with what they did in front of the media they prevented those bad Shiites from debauchery and urfi marriage orgy !!!!!!

This is the true unjust village. Unjust village is the name of a novel I once read about Jerusalem after the trial of Jesus.

This is a simple thing to summarize things but it is more than that. People attacked the Shiites stabbed them and dragged them through the narrow the streets of the village in front of the police force that came late and yet did not stop the on going public lynching. Amazingly the police did not try to disperse that mob not with a singly tear gas bomb !! It could have saved lives.

The CSF was there but did not stop anything

One of the victims who were killed in front of police

By the way the locals dragged the bodies and threw to the CSF vehicles and policemen that piled the bodies with no respect at all. Here is our great police disrespecting the dead Egyptians as usual.

AFP

According to Hazem Barakat , the young citizen journalist who witnessed the whole affair what happened tonight was actually the result of incitement that started by the Salafist Sheikhs in the village from 3 weeks ago against the Shiites families. 

I am sorry I will not be able to show all the photos or videos taken by citizen journalist Hazem Barakat who broke the story to the whole world through twitter.I chose the least graphic. I apologized in advance and I warn you that it is graphic. 

There are 40 Shiite families in the small village according to Shiite activist Bahaa Anwar who holds president Morsi the responsibility of that attack after the huge sectarian incitement rhetoric used against Shiites  the Salafist and Jihadist sheiks in the Pro-Syria conference. Morsi , the president of all Egyptians including Egyptian Shiites was attending the conference and did not reject that sectarian talk. Well I am not surprised because the same language has been always used against the Christians and Shiites in Misr 25 , the official TV channel of the Muslim Brotherhood as well the other Salafist channels like Al Nas channel.

Tonight Al Nas Channel TV host justified the attack of the Shiite citizens including Hassan Shehata claiming that the famous Shiite cleric used to insult Prophet Mohamed's wife and so on !! I do not think Prophet Mohamed "PBUH" will approve what happened by all measures.
By the way Salafist Facebooks are bragging and even are claiming responsibility , here is screen capture below. "Life has become Salafist" is happy that Hassan Shehata and bunch of his friends were killed by their brothers "I do not see Salafists in the videos" who threw their bodies to the CSF !! 

A Salafist Facebook Page announces the operation !!

This is the worst and loudest sectarian incident involving Shiite in Egypt.

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#30June Palooza : Ghonim Tells #Morsi to Resign

Wael Ghonim has published a today a video message to President Morsi telling him to resign before the 30 June.

 I believe it is a very powerful balanced message from a person that once stood with Morsi in the Presidential elections.
You can read the Arabic text of the message here.

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#Luxor Governor Resigns

Ok this a good news people the newly appointed governor of Luxor Adel Khayat has declared his resignation officially today Sunday. Khayat is a member in Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa which is held responsible for the Luxor 1997 terrorist massacre that left over 60 tourists killed.

The resignation comes after the protests of both the people of Luxor as well the tourists. It is worth to mention that the minister of tourism has presented his resignation to the prime minister last week.
Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa issued a statement from its side stating that Khayat , a leading member in the group in Assuit resigned because he wanted to avoid a blood shed resulted from the protests in Luxor. The extremist group also criticized the media and how it allegedly attacked Khayat. "Khayat was not officially accused or convicted or detained for anything during the Mubarak era" Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa said in its statement without understanding it has nothing to do with Khayat but rather with the group whose leaders do not show any regret for the blood they caused in the 1980s and 1990s.
Anyhow the people's pressure has succeeded.

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#Egypt From More than 100 years In Color

The Brooklyn Museum published on Flickr this amazing collection of photos or rather Lantern slides taken in Egypt in year 1882. Yes in 1882 and they are in color , it is just amazing.
The photos were taken in different parts of Egypt in 1882. It is just amazing to see how our country and our people , our ancestors looked like during then. This is how Egyptians lived then. There are extremely old photos from Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Assuit , Luxor , Aswan and the newly founded Suez Canal and its cities like Ismailia.
You can a whole photo gallery with more than 100 photos from that year.
I was running through the photos and try to see how places had changed. For instance the photo of Wadi Es Sebua made me wonder about the fate of the ancient temple as I did not know before that we had an ancient temple with that name. I found that it was located in Lower Nubia in Egypt and it had to be displaced because of the Aswan High Dam. 

Just imagine that those photos were taken in 1882. Just see the photos you may be looking for your grandfather without knowing.
It is worth to mention that in 1882 Egyptians and their Egyptian army as well Sudanese under the leadership of Ahmed Orbai rebelled against their ruler Khedive Tewfik. Unfortunately this rebellion , this revolution was ended with occupation when the Khedive asked the help of the British. The British wanted to protect the new Suez Canal by all measures. This was one of the oldest invasions I believe using the minorities paper.
The Orbai revolution was the first time the Egyptian army of the Egyptian modern State truly stood with the people.
I wish people to learn and read about that revolution and its lessons.

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#Mothers Against #Morsi

Yesterday before we had two opposite protests and symbolic suicide , there was a small protest yet true significant one. Mothers of martyrs seeking justice protested in front of Mohamed Morsi’s house in New Cairo.
The mothers of the martyrs whom Morsi promised to bring the rights of their children that had been killed during the early days of the 25 January revolution or through the following two years. Among the famous mothers,  the mother of Ramy El Sharkawy who was killed during the Cabinet HQ clashes in December 2011 , the widow of Sheikh Emad Effat who was killed during the same clashes as well the sister of Khaled Said Zohara.

It is worth to mention that there are new mothers joined those mothers , those new mothers are the mothers of the young protesters killed during the first year of President Morsi’s rule like the mothers of Mohamed El Gendy and Jeika.

The president headed to the Friday’s prayer without meeting them.

Morsi promised to bring justice for those martyrs and he even claimed the new prosecutor general will present new evidence to incriminate those accused of killing them. We saw nothing. The police officers accused of killing the protesters are all acquitted. The commanders of SCAF are being honored by none other than Morsi. What is worse protesters are killed during Morsi’s rule and no one is held accountable !!
Morsi promised those mother and yet he did not fulfill his promise. The Muslim brotherhood is using those martyrs to justify its political moves against democracy in a cheap way. They do not even respect the martyrs of the MB.
Some believe that this is the true revolutionary sincere protest on Friday. I totally agree.

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#30June Palooza : A True Sad story of #June21

Today thousands of religious right wing supporters protesters for hours to show off their numbers and power in front of the army and the world especially the United States as well the Egyptian people.
At the same time we got few thousands at the ministry of defense begging the army and El Sisi to save the day. Those protesters from Mubarak/Military/Shafik loyalists carrying none other the martyrs posters including the poster of Dr. Alaa Abdel Hady, the young protester and Tahrir doctor volunteer who was killed during the clashes of cabinet HQ in 2011 between protesters and army forces unfortunately !!!!!!!!!
Afternoon there was some expressive protest at Kasr Al Nil Bridge which actually represents a very dark image of what is happening now in Cairo. A group of Pro-revolutionary protesters decided to commit symbolic suicide and threw themselves in to the Nile. It is a fake suicide ,more of symbolic political move.

أحد المنتحرين رمزيا من فوق كوبري قصر النيل اليوم pic.twitter.com/13y7Ta4baJ
— justicentric (@justicentric) June 21, 2013

من فاعلية الانتحار الجماعي على كوبري قصر النيل اليوم pic.twitter.com/voK8cPJ6MA
— justicentric (@justicentric) June 21, 2013

#قصر_النيل #انتحار_رمزي pic.twitter.com/UdnacC45xy
— K H A L E D (@SirLoda) June 21, 2013

What I see now Egyptians are back to that choice between the Religious Fascism and Military Fascism. Revolutionaries have nothing to do except to kill themselves.

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#30June Palooza : The party Has just started on #June21

The 30 June mass protests planned by opposition powers in Egypt against President Morsi and the Muslim brotherhood actually have started today with counter protests of religious right powers in Egypt  led by the Muslim brotherhood. The mass protest got two names as its names as it turned out : “Protecting the Revolution” and “ No for violence” protest !!
Yes the MB and Co. decided to mobilize their members from all over the country , from the government to declare their support. Among the parties and groups participating from the religious right : The Muslim brotherhood and its political arm Freedom and Justice Party , Homeland Party, Al Wasat Party , Al Asala Party , Al Gama’a Al Islamiyya and its political arm Building and Development Party.
There are thousands Pro-Morsi supporters now at Raba’a Al Adawaya Mosque who as usual mobilized and came from governorates. The National TV transferred the Friday prayer and speech from there in direct support to the President and his party. The Friday speech was as usual a Pro-ruler one. It is not a big surprise but we are speaking about millions spent in hard difficult times. As usual bad Non Islamist TV channels “private channels like CBC” crew are being attacked while their attempt to cover the protest !! So much for no Violence !!
The chants are racist and offensive as usual. Here is a live updated storify report from the protests with reporters’ tweets and photos after the break.
Of course the whole protest wants to show that those bad protesters of upcoming 30 June 2013 are ugly secularists fighting Islam and Muslims.
Amazingly the MB media machine “especially the machine aimed to the West” and its allies from religious right claim that the opposition is using violence while they are the ambassadors of Peace. If this is true
Al Nour Party and its parent Salafist Calling Movement declared that they will not participate in this protest. The Salafist Calling movement is marketing itself whether inside or outside Egypt as the alternative to the Muslim brotherhood.
You must know that that Tawfik Okasha, Egypt’s Glenn Beck is organized a so-called surprise protest also today at 5 PM. The famous Mubarak/army loyalist is calling his viewers and supporters to show up at the ministry of defense as well Governorates HQs to start his Zero hour plan to get rid from the Muslim brotherhood.
The Mubarak/army/Shafik loyalists aka Felol are participating actively in the 30 June or at least this is what they say. Of course their participation is being used to discredit the protests and labeling it “Against the revolution”. This is why today’s protests are being called “Revolution Protection”
Some revolutionaries do not have a problem to have Felol with them in order to get rid the Muslim brotherhood. This view is represented publicly by none other than Mohamed El Barardei and Hamdeen Sabbahi. “We should be one hand to bring the Muslim brotherhood occupation to an end in Egypt” This is the motto of this view.
Needless to say anyone can tell that those Mubarak/army/Shafik loyalists got a complete different agendas and different goals opposite to what the revolution is calling for. It is not a big secret that those loyalists are praying that there will be huge clashes in order to force the army to intervene or even better to have a military coup on 30 June !! In other words they want to replace religious fascism with military fascism .
Anyhow if anyone dares and says those paragraphs above on Egyptian social media , he or she will be labeled as a secret MB cell. “I had my share”
The other revolutionaries , the true revolutionaries who are going to hit the street to 30 June to protest against all shapes of fascism and to achieve the true goals of 25 January revolution regardless of who is going with them.  Those revolutionaries are not optimistic though , they feel that some of them will be killed just for others who will use it in cheap way.
Nevertheless in the backstage there are talks with everybody and there could be concessions in the way this way still what I know personally two facts : What the MB has presented to so far to opposition forces is considered nothing and in the end of the day those opposition powers above them the National Salvation Front do not control the Street.
You must know that today is just the start of very long and hot week in Egypt.

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Refugees Day 2013 in #Egypt : More Challenges Than ever

The world celebrated yesterday the Refugees Day on June 20th.
I think in Egypt the refugees file is getting heavier and bigger everyday and yet the government and the mainstream media are both ignoring the refugees issues in Egypt.

Baby Nour born in September 2012 in Egypt

We got the Syrian refugees file in Egypt. The last number I have heard from very trusted sources in the UNCHR that we are getting closer to 100,000. We got clusters and communities from Syria in Cairo , Giza, Damietta and Alexandria as well in other areas like in Al Arish as I have known recently. “Small number of families”. The Syrian communities in October city and in New Cairo are like Mini-Syria now with families from all over the sad country. From different areas, different classes and different ethnics as well from different political backgrounds you will find in Egypt. We got new born babies who open their eyes in Cairo and Giza instead of Damascus and Homs.
Some Egyptians began to complain that Syrians began to take their jobs and to cause a hike in the prices of houses in Egypt. It is just sad because actually I know that Syrians are not competing Egyptians over jobs at least two incidents I heard of Syrians refused to take jobs from Egyptians so the Egyptians will not be harmed. Regarding the crazy prices of houses in Egypt , well if it were not for the greedy contractors and brokers Syrians and Egyptians would not suffer from mad prices. Syrian families are suffering from these crazy prices as well. They can not coupe with our prices easily especially in those hard times in Egypt.
By the way I think I hinted out before that the Syrian refugees are going to be harmed from President Morsi’s decision. Well many Syrian activists have raised this point. The Syrian refugees need their embassy to facilitate their documents. By the way if Morsi’s regime is so supportive to Syrians why several Syrian refugees were deported and faced death in Damascus in the past months !?
I must say that when it comes to the Syrian refugees in Egypt , I can not ignore the effort of the Syrian community in Egypt in the past two years in order to make their people comfortable in their second home nor can I ignore the Egyptian activists who are helping the Syrian families as much as they can.
Despite the challenge the UNCHR is facing as well our crazy times in Egypt , I believe things are not that bad thank goodness.
We got the African refugees whether from Sudan or Eretria or South Sudan to Ethiopia. Recently with the Nile crisis the Ethiopian refugees are paying the price unfortunately in Egypt now. The Ethiopian refugees from Oromo People are suffering from mistreatment sadly enough. This is unacceptable.
Of course no one wants to speak for real about what is happening to the African refugees in Sinai. It is another taboo. I do not understand why no one is trying to tackle it from local press. Only foreign media speaks about the agony and the horror the African refugees face in Sinai. We are speaking here about human trafficking.
Moving to the Palestinian refugees , well the Palestinian refugees who came fled Syria need help yet the amazing Morsi’s regime is not helping them despite all the so-called support to Palestinian cause.
By the way here is a short clip I filmed in Fadel Island , Egypt’s biggest gathering for Palestinian refugees in Egypt since 1948 for an old man there describing how they came on camels.

Fadel Island : We came on camels from Palestine.

This is a quick round for this important day in Egypt.

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Stop Watching US #PRISM

I would like to encourage you to sign this petition in order to tell the Congress that US National Security Agency “NSA” to stop their PRISM surveillance program. Guardian is making it easier here for those who do not want to read long reports.
Unfortunately we are not paying attention in Egypt to the international debate after Edward Snowden’s shocking leaks 
Amazingly it turned out that Egypt is the fourth country when it comes to Boundless informant’s global mining operation according to Snowden leaks that were published in Guardian.No one has asked the US embassy about this matter.
Our media is not interested to raise the matter and to discuss it as it should.
Of course I can not imagine how the NSA analysts look like after following and reading our Egyptian-Egyptian communications in the social media. Seriously I hope they join our 24/7 endless talkative nature !!
Back in Egypt during Mubarak’s rule the government used to spend millions on software from UK and other countries as well from companies like NARUS to spy on Egyptians’ social media communications. Amazingly up till now there is no official investigation regarding this matter. 
We do not know if the General Intelligence and Homeland Security are still using this to spy on political activists as in the past or not. We do not know if our communications and social media accounts are still monitored and for what.
Already the Muslim brotherhood just like the Mubarak regime believe that opponents should be monitored. According to sources already the MB got its own internal apparatus to spy on its opponents as well on army commanders and intelligence. They do not trust nobody. Several MB leading members say from time to time that they record calls and they intercept calls.
Yosri Fouda and his investigative team tried to tackle this matter but no one was or is still interested tackling this matter.

Last talk : A spy in our house

I do not want us to forget this issue anytime soon.

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Morsi Appoints New Governors And #MB stupidity

President Morsi has issued a new presidential decree to appoint new 17 governors. I think that this is the third time he has changed the governors since becoming a president. The new governors' reshuffle is as follows : 7 Muslim brotherhood members, 5 army generals , 2 independent , 1 Gad El Thawra member and 1 Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa member and I think one Salafist too.

I will not comment on how I find it strange from political perspective to find Morsi taking such decision 2 weeks prior the 30/6 protests provoking people in governorates by appointing more MB members as governors in anti-MB governorates like Monufia. For God sake The people signed rebellion petitions in the Nile Delta governorate more than in Cairo. I will not comment on how we do not know till this day on what basis those men are appointed as governors.

I will comment on one thing : How president Morsi and his advisors and aides like Pakinam El Sharkawy found it acceptable and logic to appoint Adel El Khayaat , the leading member of Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa as the governor of Luxor.

El Khayaat is said already to be the prince "Amir" of the notorious group's branch in Assuit so he is not from Luxor in the first place. Second how on earth and heavens you appoint a member if the group is involved in the massacre of Luxor when more than 60 people mostly tourists were killed in 1997 by radicals in one of the Worst terrorist incidents in Egypt. I do not know what kind of message Morsi is sending through appointing a member in an extremist group as a governor of a tourist attraction governorate. Hell Luxor is the second attraction after the pyramids when it comes to ancient Egyptian civilization !!

Another thing what I know about Luxor is considered a Sufi center in Upper Egypt. Sufism and Al Gama'a do not mix.

By the way I see some sort of Al Gama'a Al Islamiyaa Muslim Brotherhood alliance taking place. This alliance is replacing the MB Al Nour/ Salafist Calling alliance

Another thing I see more army ranks with my all due respect to the generals in the governors reshuffles and that makes me wonder about the myth of Mohamed Morsi ended the military rule and military control in Egypt. By

 

Posted with Blogsy

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Cairo University’s report on Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam

The Cairo University professors and experts in the faculties of engineering and agriculture have formed a group called “Group of Nile Basin” {GNB} and this group prepared extremely important report about the Ethiopia’s great Renaissance Dam.
The report was published in Arabic on Facebook by Dr. Nader Noor El Din , a member of the GNB and it was republished once again by famous Kolena Khaled Said Page.
Thanks to Mr. Ashraf El Shehat  , this report has been translated to English. Without his help I do not know what I could have done.  This report represents the Egyptian objections based on science not based on politics or any other thing.

Group of Nile Basin (GNB) at Cairo University to Support Egypt

Introduction

A series of external challenges have suddenly appeared on the surface forming major threats to securing the water supply to Egypt.  The sources of these threats are the new plans by the Ethiopian Government to construct four dams on the Blue Nile (Figure 1). 

However, the major threat was the sudden unilateral announcement of the Ethiopian Government to divert the course of the Blue Nile marking the actual start of construction of the Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) without consultation with the downstream countries; Egypt and Sudan.  This act in the eyes of the majority of Egyptians amounts to a flagrant assault on all the basic fundamental laws and the international norms.
Figure 1- Plan of construction four new dams in Ethiopia endangers the only water supply to Egypt.
Considering the major threat to the people of Egypt, a group of professors from the Department of Irrigation and Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University formed a group titled “The Group of the Nile Basin” (GNB).  The purpose of the group is to support the effort of Government and the decision makers facing these serious escalating water threats.  The scope of GNB shall include analytical studies of the Ethiopian Dams, prepare and implement numerical water models to study the side effects of these dams and collecting all recent scientific studies in this field.

The GNB Activities

The members of the GNB include – among others - four Professors who were involved and still directly involved in the review studies of the Ethiopian Dams and assessing their effects in cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MERI) since the year 2010.  The GNB shall be also working closely with both the National and International Committees involved in studying the consequences of the construction of GERD.
On 16th April 2013, the GNB has conducted two workshops at Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University about the technical, political and legal consequences of constructing the GERD.  The attendees included numerous University Professors and Experts in different fields of specializations.  Representatives of MERI, some Political Parties, management of Engineering Syndicate in addition to numerous media channels.  The purpose of the workshops was to spread the awareness among the people and the Government bodies about the challenges and threats facing the country.
The last few days have witnessed a series of escalating and accelerating steps adding to the tensions including the unilateral decision of Ethiopia to divert the Blue Nile, and the subsequent objections of some of the Egyptian Politicians during an aired meeting with the President.  On 13th of June 2013, the Ethiopian Parliament ratified the Nile River Cooperative Framework Agreement opposed by Egypt which ends the veto granted to both Egypt and Sudan on all projects constructed by the upstream countries of the Nile Basin.

Major Comments from the Trio Committee

An international committee – called the Trio Committee – was formed based on the proposal of the Ex. Ethiopian Prime Minister M. Zenawei about two years ago to reduce the tension.  The committee concluded its work that took around a year and half and issued its report on the review of the studies presented by the Ethiopian Government.  The trio committee consisted of 10 members; 2 from each of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, and four international experts approved by the three countries.  The committee has recently concluded its review and issued its report with the following conclusions:

1. There are no sufficient structural studies.


2. There is a lack in the hydrological investigations.


3. There are no environmental impact assessments on the two downstream countries; Egypt and Sudan.

In addition, the Ethiopian Government failed to submit advanced studies reflecting the details and reliability analysis to meet the minimum requirements of the international standards for similar size of dams.  Such lack in information and the weakness of the studies formed an obstacle in enabling the Trio Committee to assess the structural safety of the dam and the negative impacts on both Egypt and Sudan.
 

Areas of Concern to be considered by the Egyptian Government

The GNB draws the attention of the members of the Egyptian Government to the consequences of the Ethiopian Dams which constitute a series of tough social, economical and political nature that are hard to be controlled or to tolerate.  Some of these consequences are:

1. The plan for the 4 dams on the Blue Nile aims at total control of the water in the Blue Nile which is the main supplier to the Nile.  As such, this plan shall subsequently include total control of the share of Egypt’s share of the water in the Nile and the possible redundancy or at least dwarfing the role of the High Dam in securing the future supply of water to Egypt.


2. The current design capacity of GERD of 74 Billion cubic meter will have harsh negative impact on the share of the water reaching to Egypt and also on the production of electricity from the High Dam and the Aswan Dam during the filling period of the lake of GERD and during its operation.  This negative impact shall escalate during the drought period wherein the water supplies to both Egypt and Sudan shall conflict with the water needed to produce the electricity from the GERD.
   


3. Reduction in the water share of Egypt will result in abandoning huge areas of agricultural lands and scattering millions of families.  It would also result in increasing the pollution of the water streams and creating problems in the supply of water for drinking and industry.  There will also be problems in river transportation, Nile tourism and threats to the fish farms.
   


4. Collapse of GERD will result in catastrophic effects in both Sudan and Egypt.  This includes failures of dams, drowning of major towns and villages and exposing millions to the dangers of death and relocation.

Target of Negotiation: Mitigate the Damage

Basically, it should be understood that negotiation with Ethiopia has been drastically delayed.  The ideal target for the negotiation from Egypt’s point of view would be to prevent constructing the dam.  However, this is no longer a valid option considering the current circumstances.  Ethiopia has managed to place the dam as a fact and no longer a theory.  As such, the purpose of the negotiation at this stage would be aiming at mitigating the damages.  
Considering the above, the following are the suggestions:

1. Request stopping the construction at once until completing the negotiation and assess the effects through scientific means and agree on them.  We need to highlight here that there are other alternatives that can be studied to fulfill similar advantages to Ethiopia without causing major damages to the downstream countries.
   


2. The minimum requirement for the Egyptian Government should be the maximum size of the Dam not to exceed 14 billion cubic meter as per the proposal prior to the January 2011 Revolution.  This capacity would enable producing 60% of the proposed electricity from GERD and with efficiency exceeding double the efficiency of the huge GERD and with much less cost and much less negative impacts that can be lived with.  In addition, the proposed design of 14 cubic meters would fulfill most of the advantages of Sudan from GERD and as such, unifies the points of views of both Egypt and Sudan.
   


3. Ethiopia to commit officially not to use the water behind the GERD for the agricultural purposes as previously announced.
   


4. Ethiopia to commit for the advance notice for any future projects including their executing procedure in light of the Framework Agreement of the United Nations of 1977 for the common rivers.
   


5. The design of the GERD to be reviewed thoroughly by Egyptian Experts after amending the technical dimensions to ensure its structural safety.

The GNB further urges all non-specialized personnel to avoid getting into issuing irresponsible statements that justify the illusionary benefits of the GERD, issuing statements with no real value, or statements that may underestimate the serious side effects using unfounded methods.  All the positive and negative impacts are actually a result of intensive, thorough and specialized engineering investigations.  Some of these investigations have been carried out be the members of GNB and some are still being conducted.  The results at this stage agree broadly with the international studies and to some extent with the Ethiopian studies presented to the International Trio Committee, even though the latter are incomplete.
Main Focus: Downsizing
We would like to warn the Government not to limit the scope of negotiation to secondary issues and ignore the major problem; the size of the dam.  The people in Egypt should be aware that focusing the negotiation on the number of years to fill the lake of the dam or the operation policy of the dam including participating with the operation of the dam are of no prime importance.  The major threat is the result of the magnified size of the dam.  Without reducing the dimensions of the dam itself, the major negative impacts as indicated above are unavoidable.
It is not a secret that throughout the history, Egypt has never been an obstacle preventing the development in the African Nations in general and the countries of the Nile Basin in particular.  Egypt has always been supporting the projects of common benefits to the people of the Nile Basin including building Owen Dam for the benefit of both Uganda and Kenya, has shown no objection for building Tecjizy Dam and Tana Plus Tunnel in Ethiopia, and also has not objected the building of Marwe Dam or increasing the height of Roserus Dam in Sudan.  All of these projects and others help to improve the revenue of the brothers and sisters of the African Nations.  Egypt has always maintained and is willing to keep the Nile as a uniting force for the people of the nations and not a source of disperse or dispute.  Egypt is willing to maintain the Nile basin to remain an oasis for peace  and not a battlefield.

Members of the GNB

1. Mohamed N. E. Allam – Ex. Minister of Water Resources & Irrigation
   


2. Mohamed S Bazarah – Prof. of Irrigation and Drainage
   


3. Alaa Al-Zawahry – Prof. of Hydraulic and expert of dams and member of the National Committee of GERD.
   


4. Mohamed S. El-Manadily – Prof. of Hydraulics – Chairman of Department of Irrigation and Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
   


5. Nader Nour Eddin – Prof. of Water Supplies and Lands, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University
   


6. Ahmad E. Hasan – Prof. of Hydrology, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
   


7. Khaled H Hamid, Prof. of Wter Supplies, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University – Member of the Trio Committee
   


8. Ashraf M Ghanim, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
   


9. Mostafa A Gheith, Pro.f of Irrigation & Drainage, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
   


10. Mohamed H Algamal, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.
    


11. Hesham B Mohamed, Prof. of Water Supplies, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.  Member of the National Committee to study GERD.
    


12. Mohame E Abol Hagag, Prof. of Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University.

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