Donkey eating poster of Egyptian dictator Sisi
:-)
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comedy. Show all posts
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Monday, October 31, 2016
In Memory of Dario Fo - Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist - adapted from the play by Dario Fo
RIP Dario Fo (March 24, 1926 – October 13, 2016)
RIP Dario Fo (March 24, 1926 – October 13, 2016)
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Free the jailed members of satirical YouTube group
Video Performers Who Mocked Government Risk Terrorism Charges
June 23, 2016
Egyptian
authorities should drop their investigation into six young men who
posted satirical videos commenting on Egypt’s politics on YouTube and
release four of them, who have been detained since May 10, 2016. The
investigation appears to be based purely on their satirical videos and
violates the right to free speech.
“Egypt under Sisi is losing its legendary sense of humor when it locks up young men for making satirical videos,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “This kind of blanket repression leaves young people with few outlets to express themselves or joke about their daily hardships.”
Security forces arrested Ezz al-Din Khaled, 19, the group’s youngest member, on May 8. A judge released him on bail of 10,000 L.E (US$1,125) on May 10, after prosecutors charged him with inciting protests and using online platforms to insult state institutions. Security forces arrested Mohamed Dessouky, Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Gabr, and Mohamed Yehia on May 10 and are holding them in Cairo’s Heliopolis Police Station on suspicion of the same charges. Prosecutors most recently renewed their 15-day detention order pending investigations on June 18.
Under international law, a judge, not a prosecutor, should promptly review any arrest. However, Egyptian law allows extended periods of pretrial detention without judges’ orders. The sixth member of the group, Mostafa Zein, is under investigation but has not been arrested.
The week before the arrests, Street Children released a satirical music video in which they mocked President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and called on him to leave office.
Their lawyer, Mahmoud Othman, of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, an Egyptian human rights group, told Human Rights Watch that East Cairo district prosecutors have interrogated the four detained men about additional accusations. They include establishing a group that calls for resisting the authorities, disseminating false news to undermine public order, and inciting to overthrow the “ruling regime.”
These accusations, under penal code articles 171 and 174, carry possible 5-year prison sentences. The lawyer said that prosecutors also threatened to use terrorism charges, including articles 86 and 86 bis, which might lead to much longer sentences.
Prosecution reports reviewed by Human Rights Watch showed that prosecutors are relying heavily on a two-page National Security Agency report on Street Children, written by Major Ahmed Abd al-Rahman on May 6. The report, reviewed by Human Rights Watch, cites “trusted confidential sources” who identified the group as “instigators” who “distort the words of some national songs and replace them with verbal abuse against the state.”
As is often the case in National Security reports, Major Abd al-Rahman did not describe the sources, and prosecutors have not questioned the officer further, said Othman, the lawyer. Based on the memo, the Supreme State Security Prosecution granted National Security officers a warrant to raid and inspect the men’s houses and arrest them.
The prosecution reports also showed that prosecutors questioned the four men about “indirectly” inciting “terrorist crimes” and indirectly disseminating terrorist thoughts by participating in videos that contained terrorist ideas.
The six members of the group, most in their 20s, met at a theater workshop and decided to move their performances to the street to make them more accessible to people who cannot afford the theater, one of their project coordinators told Human Rights Watch. In January, they began posting their selfie-style videos, in which they sing about topics including the Muslim Brotherhood, religious preachers, the value of the Egyptian pound and the decision to cede two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, and have attracted more than 1.1 million views on their YouTube Channel.
The group is also facing possible accusations of contempt of religion, which prosecutors have used more often in recent months and which led to 5-year prison sentences in absentia for four children in February because of their involvement in a short YouTube video mocking the extremist group Islamic State.
Reports in local newspapers stated that the Alexandria Minor Offenses Prosecution began separate investigations of Street Children based on a report, filed by lawyer Tarek Mahmoud, that accused the group of insulting Islam in their videos. Othman, the group’s lawyer, said that no one has been interrogated on this accusation yet.
Following the arrest of the four group members, journalists, professors, and other public figures began an online petition calling for the four men’s unconditional release and “free rein to freedom of opinion, imagination, and satire.”
Al-Sisi’s government severely restricts expression. Authorities have arrested and prosecuted dozens of journalists and confiscated journalistic material, according to a 2015 report by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. In late January, security officials briefly arrested a cartoonist, Islam Gawish, for his satirical comics that criticized the presidency and government policies.
Asked about the government’s troubled relationship with youth activists, al-Sisi admitted during a televised interview on June 3 that state institutions, including the presidency, had failed to create mechanisms to effectively communicate with youth.
The investigations against the Street Children violate international human rights laws. The resolution on the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2002 prohibits arbitrary interference by governments in freedom of expression.
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Egypt is a party, guarantees freedom of expression and opinion. Limitations are permissible only when they are stated clearly by law and are necessary to protect the rights or reputation of others or national security, public order, public health, or morals.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the covenant, stressed that “the mere fact that forms of expression are considered to be insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify the imposition of penalties” and that “all public figures, including those exercising the highest political authority such as heads of state and government, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.”
“Egypt’s youth have been a driving force for change since the 2011
uprising,” Houry said. “Upholding human rights and free speech is the
best way for al-Sisi to begin to repair the government’s relationship
with them.”
Monday, February 29, 2016
Friday, October 31, 2014
Sisi hypocritically speaks of free speech as satirist is investigated on criminal charges
Committee to Protect Journalists
As al-Sisi promises freedom of speech, TV host Youssef is put under investigation
October 1, 2014
Sherif Mansour
The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was given a great platform for his country last week, with a speech at the United Nation's General Assembly in which he said that his "new Egypt" would "guarantee freedom of speech," and his first ever meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.
However, when pressed by Obama, the U.S. media, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over concerns about the absence of due process for detainees and the sentencing of journalists, al-Sisi argued that he wanted to respect the independence of the Egyptian judiciary.
His contradictory responses were further illustrated by reports today that Bassem Youssef, a 2013 awardee of the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Awards, is under investigation and has been banned from travel. The experiences of the satirical journalist are the latest example of the Egyptian government's use of legal action, arbitrary detention, media vilification and other forms of censorship that have placed the country on CPJ's most recent Risk List.
As president, al-Sisi has executive power. Since grabbing legislative control in June, and in the absence of Parliament, the former army chief has appointed allies as judicial officials. But when it comes to releasing journalists and allowing critics such as Youssef to express their views, al-Sisi claims suddenly that his hands are tied.
Youssef has been accused of insulting al-Sisi and his media allies during an altercation with members of the press who were accompanying the president on his visit to New York last week, according to news reports. Youssef, who hosted a popular satirical news program, told me in a message that he has become the victim of a media witch hunt in the past two days.
The investigation against him is based on a tweet posted by Khaled Abou Bakr, a lawyer and co-host of the TV show "Al-Qahera Alyoum," which runs on the pro-government privately owned Orbit channel. Bakr's tweet claimed Youssef had insulted and mocked al-Sisi in public.
It is not the first time Youssef has come under pressure from the Egyptian government and its supporters. In his satirical show "Al Bernameg" (The Program), which at one point had more than 40 million viewers, Youssef critiqued government failures to improve the economy, public services, and safety, and its efforts to suppress opinion. In 2012, the Morsi-led government pursued criminal charges against Youssef for the very same accusation of "insulting the president."
An arrest warrant for Youssef was issued in March 2013, and he had to report to the prosecutor general for a six-hour investigation. However, to his credit, Morsi withdrew the complaint in April 2013, "out of respect for freedom of expression and freedom of the press." It remains to be seen if we can expect the same outcome from al-Sisi.
The prospects are pretty grim. When Youssef first criticized those investigating the then Egyptian Defense Minister al-Sisi, after Morsi was ousted in July 2013, his show was taken off the air multiple times. He eventually had to announce its end in June after pressure and harassment in the lead up to al-Sisi taking office in August-- something he didn't have to do under Morsi. Lacking a platform, Youssef and many other independent voices, have been forced into silence.
Since Morsi was ousted by the military in July, dozens of reporters have been detained. According to CPJ research 11 journalists were still behind bars in mid-September.
However, the ball is still in al-Sisi's court. If he and his government are in any way serious about the "new Egypt" that al-Sisi boasted of in front of the U.N. last week, they could immediately withdraw charges against Youssef; they could release journalists who are being held without charge for extended periods of time, such as freelance photographer Mahmoud Abou Zeid; they could expedite the appeal of the Al-Jazeera journalists who have been waiting for a hearing since June; and they could give amnesty to indicted journalists including Abdel Rahman Shaheen, a correspondent for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice News Gate website.
But most importantly, the Egyptian government could amend the penal code to ensure journalists are not prosecuted for doing their job in the first place, and to prevent members of the press being detained arbitrarily. This will be the ultimate test, and one that Morsi and al-Sisi have failed in so far.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Egypt's top satirist forced to end his TV show
Associated Press
June 2, 2014
Hamza Hendawi
CAIRO (AP) — In a new sign of shrinking freedoms, Egypt's most popular
satirist Bassem Youssef announced Monday that his landmark weekly TV
show, which lambasted presidents and politicians, has been cancelled
because of pressure on the station airing it and a climate in the
country that no longer accepts satire.
But Youssef, Egypt's answer to Jon Stewart, gave a parting shot to the next president — former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
"Egypt
is witnessing its most glorious days of freedom — and I'll cut off the
tongue of anyone who says different," Youssef joked at a news conference
in the Cairo theater where his show, "ElBernameg" was filmed.
Since
el-Sissi's military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last
summer, Egypt has seen a surge in nationalism in the media that
tolerates little criticism of the army or of the now retired field
marshal. El-Sissi won a landslide victory in presidential elections held
last week.
Youssef has come
under heavy denunciations from military supporters for his often biting
satires of that jingoistic fervor and the media celebrities who fuel it
in newspapers and nightly political TV talk shows.
In
the 11 months since Morsi's ouster, Egypt's military-backed government
has detained thousands of members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and
killed hundreds.
The campaign has also arrested secular and
pro-democracy activists who led the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat
Hosni Mubarak and are now critical of the military.
During his election campaign,
el-Sissi said he will safeguard human rights, but his vague assurances
were overshadowed by his insistence that some freedoms must take a back
seat to stability. He backed new laws that severely restrict political
gatherings and protests.
In
another ominous step, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, in charge of
police, said Monday that police are buying equipment to monitor traffic
on social media and the Internet.
The
equipment will combat crime and prevent "rumor-mongering and distortion
of facts," slander, organizing of illegal protests and "anything that
may be contrary to established values and customs," he said. He said it
would not infringe on freedom of expression, saying it would instead
bolster "social cohesion."
Youssef
told reporters that Saudi-owned MBC-Misr TV, which has been carrying
his show, had come under pressure to halt it, though he would not say
from whom.
He brushed aside a
question on whether he believed el-Sissi was behind the network's
decision. But he gave a sly jab to the ex-military chief when asked for
details on the reasons.
"I want to give it to you, but I
cannot," he said with a grin, bringing a roar of laughter from his
staff on stage with him and journalists. The phrase was used by el-Sissi
in a recent interview and was widely mocked on social media because in
Egyptian Arabic it has a sexual connotation.
He
also declined to comment when asked if the pressure came from the Saudi
government, which has been among the main backers of el-Sissi.
"I'm
not a revolutionary and I'm not a warrior. I was expressing my views
once a week. The present climate in Egypt is not suitable for a
political satire program," Youssef told reporters. "I'm tired of
struggling and fearing and worrying about my safety and that of my
family."
"Stopping the
program sends a much stronger message than if it continued," he said,
adding that MBC-Misr "tried as much as they could but the pressure was
immense."
"ElBernameg" —
Arabic for "The Program" — was launched after the 2011 uprising that
ousted Mubarak, first on the Internet and later on the privately owned
Egyptian networks ONTV and CBC.
Its heyday came during Morsi's
one-year presidency. Youssef stung Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other
Islamists, as well as liberal politicians and media personalities, with
jokes, skits and musical numbers. At one point, he was questioned by
prosecutors during Morsi's presidency after complaints he insulted the
presidency.
Youssef said at
Monday's press conference that Morsi's government had wanted to shut him
down and that if it had stayed in power it was "only a matter of time"
before it did so.
His satire
made him the darling of Egyptians opposed to the Islamists. But many of
them turned against him when, after Morsi's ouster, he began poking fun
at the military, Egypt's most powerful institution.
The
trouble began soon after his first show following the ouster. CBC
refused to broadcast one episode, prompting Youssef to jump to MBC-Misr.
Transmission of several episodes with that station was jammed, but it
was never clear by whom.
The
show went on a hiatus before campaigning began for last week's
presidential election, in which el-Sissi was seen from the start as the
certain winner. Youssef said that was a decision by taken the station in
hopes of protecting the program.
Youssef's announcement Monday means it will not be returning.
At
the news conference, he posed with the show's staff of around 50
people, some of them tearful, holding a sign that read, "The End," in
Arabic and English.
He said he turned down offers by
non-Arab TV stations to air the show because he was concerned he would
be branded a "traitor" by the pro-military media in Egypt. "Egypt is the
program's home. It cannot be broadcast from abroad," he said.
He played down the show's importance as a political voice, saying it was given "more credit than it deserves."
"Maybe
the cancellation will force people to think of something more creative
and useful rather than depend on one thing or one person," he said.
Asked what message he would have for whoever was behind the pressure to stop the show, Youssef said: "Why are you scared?"
*Photo by Amr Nabil courtesy of AP
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Video: Jon Stewart with Bassem Youssef on Al-Bernameg
In Cairo, Egypt's Jon Stewart hosts 'Daily Show's' Jon Stewart
Among barbs aimed at Egypt's ruling Islamists and others, Stewart praised host Bassem Youssef for taking risks to poke fun. "If your regime is not strong enough to handle a joke," he said, "then you don't have a regime."
Youssef is a cardiologist whose online comedy clips inspired by Stewart's "Daily Show" won him wild popularity and a prime-time TV show after the 2011 revolution that ended military rule. He paid tribute to his guest as a personal inspiration as the pair traded gags over Stewart's impressions of a visit to Cairo.
Stewart in turn played down any difficulties his wit created for him in the United States, telling Youssef: "I tell you this, it doesn't get me into the kind of trouble it gets you into. I get in trouble, but nowhere near what happens to you."
With Egypt still in ferment and elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi facing off against liberals who fear he plans to smother personal freedoms, Youssef was released on bail after being questioned in March over alleged insults to Mursi and the channel he appears on was threatened with losing its license.
Criticising such moves, which have also drawn reproaches for Egypt from the U.S. government, Stewart said: "A joke has never shot tear gas at a group of people in a park. It's just talk.
"What Bassem is doing ... is showing that satire can still be relevant, that it can carve out space in a country for people to express themselves. Because that's all democracy is."
He took aim at Mursi's controversial decision this week to name a member of a hardline Islamist movement blamed for a massacre of tourists at Luxor in the 1990s as governor of that city. Having been brought into the studio hooded and presented as a "spy," he spoke a few words in Arabic before saying Egypt's president had honoured him: "I am now the mayor of Luxor."
Stewart also appeared to take a gentle dig at the opposition, who hope demonstrations planned for June 30 can force Mursi from power after just a year in office. It took Americans 100 years before a president was impeached for the first time, Stewart said: "For you guys to do it in one year, it's very impressive."
Perhaps the biggest laugh in the studio, though, was for a simple crack at Egypt's perennial traffic chaos: "I know this is an ancient civilisation," he said. "Have you thought about traffic lights?"
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