Crossfire War – Middle East Theatre – Egypt: Torah – Qanatir Prison; Egyptian Authorities Arrest Alaa Abdel Fatah Independent Political Blogger and Several Others
Night Watch: CAIRO – The secular democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fatah, along with several others, have been arrested by Egyptian authorities while demonstrating for an independent Judiciary and for the release of others who were arrested two weeks previously. He and the men were sent to the oppressive Torah prison and the girls to Qanatir prison. Egypt’s prison are noted for their abusive treatment. Officially they are to be held for 15 days “pending investigation” which means they could be held indefinitely. This is just another, in a long line of blatant examples, of the repressive rule of President Hosni Mubarak’s administration-dynasty. In the recent election a lot of Egyptians were even denied the right to vote.
Last December Alaa Abdel Fatah was awarded the international Best of the Blogs award from Reporters Without Borders. He is one of the many moderate voices caught between two extremes not unusual in the Islamic world; between an oppressive-militaristic government and a fanatical, self-righteous Islamic opposition, which has given up on democratic processes.
These arrests reveal the two primary fears within Mubarak’s government. Fear of their own population, which Mubarak no longer represents, and fear of Islamic fundamentalists, especially their support from other Islamic governments who hate Mubarak for not supporting Islamic unity in oppositon to the West – India – Russia – Israel. With Mubarak’s growing isolation from the Islamic world’s leadership, coupled with his draconian political rule, is the reason why the next war against Israel will have more effect on Egypt than on Israel.
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