Mubarak Will Be Tried in Cairo Next Week, Official Says

The trial of former President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons and seven associates will be held in Cairo, Deputy Justice Minister Mohammed Munie told the state news agency MENA on Thursday.

The announcement came after the health minister declared Mr. Mubarak, 83, above, well enough to be brought to the capital from a hospital in the Sinai, where he is under arrest.

The trial, scheduled to begin Wednesday, will take place in a convention center with hundreds of seats for an audience.

Citizens attack Mansoura hospital after relative dies

A public hospital in Daqahlia Governorate, north of Cairo, was attacked on Sunday by citizens whose relative died while receiving treatment.

Khaled Eissa, 43, was admitted into the new public hospital in Mansoura on Saturday after falling from the fifth story of a building.

Hospital staff carried out scans and analyses on Eissa until 1 am on Sunday, but he died while receiving first aid.

When Eissa’s family heard the news, they accused the hospital of negligence and slowness. They attacked two nurses and a number of doctors with bladed weapons, but no injuries were reported.

Windows and doors were damaged before military and police forces apprehended the assailants inside a hospital room.

The hospital’s director, Mahmoud Abdel Azim, denied claims of negligence. He said Eissa was in a bad condition when he arrived at the hospital, and the medics did their best to save his life.

Hospitals all over Egypt have been vulnerable to attacks by thugs exploiting the country’s security vacuum that has continued since the January uprising.

Egypt sees Cabinet reshuffle, again

The musical chairs of the transitional government in Egypt again changed on Sunday as Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announced personnel moves in an effort to appease ongoing protests in the country.

Before they are officially approved, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) must approve the changes, which is expected to be done on Monday.

The new ministers will be sworn in in front of the council’s chief, Hussein Tantawi, later on Monday.

Leading the list of new ministers was Mohamed Kamel Amr as Egypt’s new foreign minister, replacing Mohamed el-Orabi, who was at his post less than one month.

Previously, Amr had been Egyptian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a senior official in the World Bank.

Hazem el-Beblawi, a 75-year-old prominent economist, will take over as finance minister and deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Beblawi has been an advisor to the Arab Monetary Fund based in Abu Dhabi since 2001.

Ali el-Selmi, a senior member of the Wafd Party, was on Saturday appointed deputy prime minister for democratic transition.

The new ministers of transport, antiquities, civil aviation, communications and IT, higher education, trade and industry, local development, agriculture and military production were also appointed.

The reshuffle is part of the latest actions aiming to meet the demands of protesters.

But the ministers of interior, justice, culture and information have so far not been included in the reshuffle.

Also on Monday, firebrand Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass resigned from his position amid much controversy.

BM

American, Egyptian arrested for attacking Cairo statue

An American citizen and an Egyptian counterpart were arrested on Sunday after they allegedly attempted to cause damage to a famous statue in downtown Cairo. The official MENA news agency reported the two had tried to destroy the Abdel Moneim Riad statue.

According to military sources, the military prosecutor is currently investigating the two after average citizens grabbed them and drove them to Qasr el-Nil police station.

The two maen, allegedly aided by two others who are being sought by police, were seen climbing the statue on a ladder.

They were apprehended by passersby as they allegedly attempted to damage the iconic statue of the Egyptian general who was killed by Israeli gunfire in 1969.

The American Embassy in Cairo did not comment on the arrest as they have a policy of not commenting on the individual cases of American citizens in foreign countries.

Egypt’s generals may maintain large role in governance

The generals running Egypt ahead of fresh elections have begun to signal that they hope to maintain a key role as guarantors of secular rule after handing over power to a new head of state.

In a recent interview and in public statements, the generals have left no doubt that they see Islamist parties as a threat. Although they have promised to surrender power once a new president is elected, the generals have suggested that the current Supreme Council of the Armed Forces operate in the future as a check on Egyptian governments not deemed sufficiently secular.

One member of the council, Maj. Gen. Mamdouh Shahin, recently recommended that under a new Egyptian constitution, the military be granted special status to keep it from being subordinate to the president, according to the independent Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm. Such an approach could put Egypt on a path toward resembling Turkey, whose democracy has been unsettled by tensions between a powerful, secular-minded military and politicians who reflect Islamist popular sentiment.

An interview with another general, a top adviser to the Supreme Council, offered a further glimpse into thinking within that body, which wields enormous clout but has operated mostly behind the scenes since assuming power in February after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The general, who does public outreach and advises the council on strategic planning, would speak only on the condition of anonymity. “We want a model like Turkey, but we won’t force it,” he said. “Egypt as a country needs this to protect our democracy from the Islamists. We know this group doesn’t think democratically.”

Suspicions persist

The notion that the military could emerge as a guarantor of a secular state runs counter to a theory among secularists and leftists that the Supreme Council is allied with the organized and well-financed Muslim Brotherhood, which is expected to make a strong showing in parliamentary elections scheduled for the fall. Some leftists and human rights activists have been suspicious of the military leadership and worried that the military wields too much control over the future of the state.

“This type of involvement is a double-edged sword, as it injects the military into the realm of governance and potentially interferes with the prerogatives of civilian governance, even if it ensures the viability of a civil state,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, an Egypt expert at the Century Foundation. He added that the military leadership is probably divided over what type of future role it wants to play in Egyptian politics.

The head of the military council is Mubarak’s longtime defense minister, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. The military was the dominant force in Egypt under Mubarak and his two predecessors, and although the army played an instrumental role in pushing Mubarak from office, experts say the military chiefs seem to still be grappling with how to exercise their political clout. Military leaders have said they have no plans to hold on to power and would like to hand over authority as quickly as possible.

Lawyer says Egypt’s Mubarak in coma, TV denies

Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak, hospitalised since April and due to stand trial in August, is in a coma, his lawyer said on Sunday, although the state news agency MENA cited a hospital official as denying the report.

“Mubarak suffered a sudden loss of blood pressure but quickly returned to normal again after the necessary medicines were given to him. His medical condition is stable,” MENA quoted the official as saying.

Another medical source told Reuters that Mubarak, 83, occasionally slipped into a coma but his condition was stable. Mubarak’s condition has been subject to frequent speculation in the Egyptian media, gaining momentum before his Aug. 3 trial.

Protesters have been camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square since July 8 and have protested in other Egyptian cities. Their demands have included calls for the military council now ruling Egypt to speed up Mubarak’s trial.

The former president, who is hospitalised in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, faces charges of abuse of power and killing protesters. More than 840 died in the 18 days of demonstrations that led to his ouster on Feb. 11.

“I was informed about the sudden deterioration in Mubarak’s health and I am now on my way to Sharm el-Sheikh. All that I know so far is that the president is in a full coma,” Mubarak’s lawyer Farid el-Deeb told Reuters. He did not give more details.

Deeb said in June Mubarak was suffering from cancer, although a government minister later appeared to play down that report.

Some Egyptians have questioned Mubarak’s illness, seeing it as a ploy for the army to avoid putting on trial the decorated former air force commander who ruled Egypt for 30 years.

“The news that comes every now and then about him being in bad condition is designed to gain people’s sympathy, especially now with the public demanding he comes to a jail in Cairo and face trial in Cairo, not in his hospital,” political analyst and activist Hassan Nafaa said.

Mubarak had generally enjoyed good health in office. He underwent gallbladder surgery in Germany in March 2010 but he had appeared to make a full recovery. When in office, officials routinely dismissed talk of ill health including cancer reports.

Middle East becomes cheaper for expatriates

If you can put up with the occasional government crackdown, interruptions in Internet and cellphone service and a bodyguard following you around, then the Middle East has become a better place to work in the past year for expatriates, at least from a cost-of-living point of view.

Of 18 Middle East and North African (MENA) cities surveyed in March for cost of living relative to a benchmark of New York, all but two showed substantial declines from a year ago, according to a survey by the global human resources consulting firm Mercer. Among the biggest drops, Cairo fell 41 places to rank 128th among 214 cities covered in the global survey. Tehran dropped 27 places to No.130 and Dubai 26 places to 81.

A lot happened in the region between March 2010 and March 2011, but the decline in living costs for expatiates generally had more prosaic reasons than toppled leaders, mass protests and civil war. The biggest factor was that many of the region’s currencies are linked to the US dollar, sending costs down for expatriates living on dollar incomes, said Nathalie Constantin-Metral, a senior researcher at Mercer.

“As the dollar depreciated against other currencies, it pushed down relative costs,” she told The Media Line. “Other cities around the world have gone up in the ratings, while Middle East cities have gone down. If you look at the cost of living in local currencies, costs have remained quite stable.”

Although the list of top-10 top-cost cities was relatively stable, the expense of keeping someone housed, clothed, fed and entertained jumped in dollar terms in Australia, where the local currency gained 14% on the dollar in the year ending in March. Asian cities also grew more expensive because of the limited housing supply meeting expat standards. Latin American cities became costlier for expats due to a strong local currency in Brazil and high inflation elsewhere.

Mercer’s survey measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items, including housing – the single biggest factor – transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

The only two MENA cities to show a relative rise in costs were the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, which rose nine places to 135th, and Beirut, which advanced five to no. 75.

“Generally speaking, the cities in the Middle East are quite low in the ranking relative to New York,” Constantin-Metral said. ”In Riyadh, however, rental accommodation costs have increased quite a lot. There is rising demand and limited supply. In Beirut, prices for accommodation have also increased quite strongly and to a lesser extent so have prices of food.”

In fact, by global standards the Middle East is a relatively cheap place to live if you are collecting a dollar salary. By far the most expensive city in the region is Tel Aviv, but it ranks only 24th. After that, Abu Dhabi comes in at 67 and Beirut at 75. The big expatriate center, Dubai, ranks 81 in the Mercer survey. Four cities rank among the world’s cheapest, including Manama in Bahrain, Kuwait City, Doha in Qatar and Rabat, Morocco’s capital.

However, Constantin-Metral pointed out, the costs do not include security, which has likely become a bigger factor for expatriates living and working in the region this year.

The cost of living in Dubai for expats fell because of declining rents and a tepid economy still struggling to recover from the real estate and financial crisis that hit in 2008. Many tenants have been moving from larger units to smaller ones due to reduced household income and a “more cautious approach” towards household expenditures, Mercer said.

Jones Lang Lasalle said in a report that after sharp falls in 2009 and 2010, villa rents in Dubai grew 4% in the second quarter in certain “established areas.” But, it said, apartment rents continued to decline, by 1% in the three months and by 3% from a year earlier.

Cairo’s big 41-place drop in costs was largely due to the deprecation of the Egyptian pound that followed the mass protests and strikes that led to President Husni Mubarak’s ouster last February and the resulting sharp slowdown of the economy. The pound was down more than 8% at the end of March 2011, compared with March 2010.

But if it had relatively little impact on costs themselves, the Arab Spring did have some impact on collecting data for the survey.

The main factor attributable to the Arab Spring was in collecting data. Bahrain’s capital Manama was gripped by protests followed by a Saudi-led crackdown over the course of March, while in Libya civil war divided the country between government and rebel territories and paralyzed the economy. As a result, the data for Manama and Tripoli reflect September 2010 prices, except for accommodation, which is from March 2011, Constantin-Metral said.

Interestingly, even as relative costs are stable or in decline, Mercer says that the Middle East’s expat executives are in-line for pay raises this year. A survey of multinational companies in June said that across the region, which excludes North Africa but includes countries as far east as Pakistan, executives are set to increase compensation an average of 5.7%. Among the biggest increases will go to countries that have suffered violence, including Pakistan (13.5%) and Bahrain (6%), according to the Mercer estimates.

Egypt’s revolution is stuck in a rut

You could say our revolution has stalled. Or you could say a revolution is not an event, but a process – and that our process needed a push. As I write the revolution is once again gathering pace in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Arbaeen Square in Suez and Qaed Ibrahim in Alexandria, and streets and squares across Egypt. A march has been called for 6pm, and various escalatory activities are under consideration.

With hindsight, we left the streets too early. We were victorious, and yet we left with nothing. When we managed to push out Hosni Mubarak and the army took over, we should have stayed and demanded that power be vested in a government of the revolution. But we had no defined “leadership” that could speak on our behalf to the military, and we had no government in waiting ready to take power. But that was also the beauty of our revolution; our leaderless, authentic, grassroots, peaceable revolution.

We have ended up with Scaf – the supreme council of the armed forces – as acting president. Not a problem, except that they’ve stripped our caretaker cabinet of power. The interests of the revolution coincided with the interests of the highest levels of the army in one area: removing the possibility of Mubarak’s son Gamal coming to power. The revolution achieved that. Gamal Mubarak is in Tora prison, awaiting trial for profiteering, along with his brother and some members of his once extremely powerful parliamentary “strategy committee”.

The army promised to protect the people and implement the aims of the revolution. But really, with Gamal Mubarak out of the picture, the interests of the military top brass were with the continuation of the old regime, with perhaps some minor sprucing up. So first they tried hard to hold on to the cabinet that Hosni Mubarak had left in place, headed by General Ahmed Shafiq. When the people rejected that, the military accepted our candidate for caretaker prime minister Professor Essam Sharaf, but stripped him even of the power to change his office staff.

And so on every front the revolution has met obstacles. Our great aims cannot be achieved overnight – but our demands for “bread” and “social justice” can be helped along by some measures. Yet an attempt to impose tax on profits made by speculating on the stock exchange has been blocked. An attempt to halve the subsidy granted to fuels used in cement factories (which sell their goods at a profit of 65%) was blocked. Meanwhile, we are told that there’s no money to provide a minimum wage, and that no one can find out what the maximum – government employee – wage is in order to cap it. Our declared aim of “human dignity” requires the dismantling and restructuring of the ministry of the interior and the entire security apparatus that has humiliated the citizenry for so long. It hasn’t happened, and the ministry now refuses even to carry out normal policing duties. The hated state security service, which was meant to have been dissolved after protesters stormed its offices and seized files, has re-emerged as the “national security service”. And the unconstitutional central security forces have been redeployed on the streets. The 500,000-strong baltagiya – paramilitary forces, long in the pay of the interior ministry, who achieved their finest hour on 2 February in camel-mounted attacks on protesters – are still out there, wreaking havoc. The security situation discourages tourism, and so also holds up our economic recovery.

And we also have a raft of problems and issues created by the way the police – and now the military – have dealt with the revolution: we have some thousand shaheeds (martyrs) killed since 25 January; another 800 young people have been blinded by shots to the eyes; 1,400 have received disabling injuries; and a further thousand are missing – probably killed. Nobody – not one police officer, paramilitary thug or sniper – has been found guilty of these crimes. And yet the army, rushing in to arrest protesters or suspected trouble-makers, is quick to put them – young civilians – on military trial and sentence them. There are now more than 10,000 young people given sentences of one to five years by military courts.

The new wave of protests that is re-energising the revolution has as its impetus the demand for justice: trials for the Mubaraks and their retinue, and for the killers of our children. And a rejection of military trials for civilians. But at its heart is the desperate need to push our revolution out of the rut it’s in. Scaf has just announced that it will continue to run Egypt and warned anyone against attempting to vault to power. General Mohsen el-Fangari – who was acclaimed in February when he accorded our young martyrs a military salute – had shoes raised to him on Tuesday when he frowned and waved a finger in our faces.

We have now invited Scaf to share power with a civilian government: not, this time, a caretaker government, but a revolutionary government that will start the process of implementing the great social aims of the revolution, and that will oversee our progress to free and fair elections in the autumn. Our spirits are still high. We still believe the revolution will prevail. We are in a better place now than we have been for the last 40 years. The country, for all its troubles, is more at ease with itself.

Thousands of families have paid a terrible price for bringing us even this far. To begin to make sense of this sacrifice, we have to go further; we have to make sure this revolution works.

By Ahdaf Soueif

Parliamentary elections postponed to October or November

The Egyptian Parliament elections scheduled for September have been postponed till next October or November, state news agency reported on Wednesday.

It has been decided to hold the People’s Assembly and Shura Council elections either in October or November this year, MENA quoted an official source as saying.

“The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is committed to the Constitutional Declaration announced in March, which requires the Parliament elections be held six months after the declaration, ” the official source said.

“So it means to start the election campaign before the end of September,” the source said.

The electoral procedure and campaign will take 30 to 60 days, which means the elections will be held in October or November, he added.

Major General Ismail Etman, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forced, announced on March 28 at a press conference that Egypt will hold the parliamentary elections in September.

Egypt army arrests Italian photographer

Egyptian soldiers detained an Italian national on Wednesday for taking pictures of a military building in Cairo, the state’s news agency MENA said.

“[The Italian national] was transferred to specialised units for investigation,” the agency said, but did not give details.

Under Egyptian law, it is forbidden for any one to take pictures of some state buildings, including military facilities or buildings belonging to the army and police.

Officials in the Italian embassy in Cairo were not immediately available for comment.

Earlier this week, four US nationals and an Egyptian translator were detained after taking pictures in the Suez Canal area .

An Egyptian military source said the four were still in custody of the military intelligence.

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