Sunday, October 30, 2011

Alaa Seif takes a stand

Blogger , Software developer and activist Alaa Abdel Fatah Seif aka @Alaa of “Manalaa.net” is being imprisoned for 15 days pending investigation by the orders of the military prosecution , a new that angered made activists angry this morning.
Saber and Abdel Fatah at C28
By Sherif Abdel Kouddous
Alaa Seif was already summoned to the military prosecution in order to be interrogated about his involvement in Maspero clashes last week but could not make it because he was in the States attending Occupy Wall Street event in some state. It was postponed to Sunday October 30th and here we are.
Alaa Seif refused to be interrogated by the military prosecution for two reasons :
  • He wants to stand in front of civilian court , a civilian prosecution, he believes in no military trials for civilians.
  • The military police is involved in the Maspero clashes , thus the military prosecution can’t investigate something it is already involved in the clashes.
After that refusal , the military prosecution ordered his arrest and detention for 15 days pending investigation. Alaa was not summoned alone as activist Bahaa Saber was summoned with him and he already did the same thing like Alaa “refusing to be interrogated in front of military prosecution” yet unlike our blogger friend he was released. I do not know why Saber was released and Alaa was not but may be it has to do with the charges. Saber was only facing the inciting violence while Alaa is facing other charges !!
It turns out that Alaa is being accused of not inciting violence in the clashes but also he is being accused of stealing a military rifle according to a complaint filed at the military prosecution by none other than journalist Hanan Hawsak. Hawsak claimed that she saw Alaa Abdel Fatah on October 6th bridge along with a group of youth attacking a CSF vehicle and stealing its arms.Here is an example of Hawsak used to write in Al Wafd newspaper from July 2011 attacking April 6th Youth Movement.
Now aside from his stand against military here are the tweets of Alaa from the bloody Sunday. Here is the first tweet where he said that he was going to Maspero , we can get the exact time to prove his innocence.
He did not mention that he headed to October 6th bridge but according to several eye witnesses he was at Abdel Moneim Riyad area after 8 PM “after the deadly clashes” where protesters hurled rocks at the security forces. He later headed to the Coptic hospital where he stayed for 2 days witnessing the autopsy agony. He documented his experience about these 48 hours in his piece "It is always better with the martyrs ”.
FYI Alaa planned to reject the military interrogation from the beginning according to his friend and activist Wael Khalil.

اتكلمت مع علاء بالامس وكان مقرر ان يرفض التحقيق مع النيابة العسكريومتوقع انهم يحبسوه وانا لم اظنهم بهذا العته والغباوة #FreeAlaa #FreeBahaaSun Oct 30 13:21:39 via TweetDeck
Manal Hassan,Alaa’s wife is already pregnant in her 9th month, she is expected to give birth so soon. I hope Alaa will be out soon insh Allah to see the birth of his son Khaled insh Allah.  “They decided to name after Khaled Said May Allah bless his soul” 
Alaa and Manal returned back to Egypt after the revolution with hopes to stay forever. The couple already relocated to South Africa in 2008.
Alaa made many initiatives since returning back like the amazing “#tweetnadwa” and “Let’s write down our constitution”. Of course he is one of the earliest bloggers in Egypt starting from 2004. Alaa was arrested and detained during the Mubarak’s era in 2006 for 45 days during the reformists judges uprising. We had this campaign then “#freealaa” in solidarity with him. This hashtag already made to global trends in the morning.
People have already launched a FB page in solidarity with Alaa , the old banners we used to put in our websites in 2006 are back again.
Let Alaa return to Manal "2006 banner"
Free Alaa banner "2006"
Some tweeps have started changing their avatars to his famous avatar on twitter as well as a twibbon too.
We need more media help and support to win the street not for Alaa only but for the whole cause that is the civilians should not stand in front of military trials. This is another battle which I hope that we win.
I will not lose my optimism , on the contrary insh Allah Alaa will be back soon and will attend his baby’s birth.

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