Torture in the Sinai

I spent a good chunk of the last week or two working on a piece on human trafficking in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Bedouin have been holding sub-Saharan Africans hostage there for a number of years, not to mention trafficking weapons, ammunition, and other goods, but the subject has been receiving more media attention of late.

The hostages, primarily Eritrean, have told activists and refugee-aid workers that their kidnappers subject them to electrocution, burning with molten plastic, beatings, and rape.  Ransoms can reach $50,000.

Check out my story here.

Elections 2012: The view from Cairo

Watching the election results roll in required an extra level of commitment in Cairo, where the States' weekend switchover to standard time meant we were now an extra hour -- seven total -- ahead of the East Coast. The first polls closed at 1 a.m. Egypt time, and the networks called the presidential vote for Obama at around 6:15 a.m.

I didn't last that long. I attended an elections party at the apartment of the deputy press attaché at the U.S. embassy here, along with lots of Egyptian journalists, activists, and bloggers, as well as some American diplomats and reporters. CNN, Al Jazeera English, and Nate Silver's analysis alternatively flashed on screens and a projection around the place, and I scarfed down a cupcake with a red-white-and-blue elephant on it -- for the sole reason that it looked like Jumbo and I "like elephants," as I explained to an Egyptian woman sitting nearby as I grabbed it.

A journalist from Al-Watan, a daily newspaper here, also interviewed me -- in English, alas -- in a Google Hangouts session that may or may not be seen by anyone. The questions were along the lines of, "How do you see the election going?" "What are the differences between Romney and Obama?" and "Why do the candidates talk about why they love Israel so much?"

Lots of Egyptians seem to like Obama, and not only because they don't know who his opponent was (one cabbie put a Ruskie spin on Mitt's name, calling him "Romchav"). They generally support Obama but have been disappointed by the lack of change in American foreign policy in the Middle East since he took office, particularly after a soaring speech the president delivered at Cairo University in 2009 that promised a "new beginning" with the Muslim world.

I conducted some man-on-the-street interviews for The National this afternoon. Here's what one guy said:

Mohamed Samir, 30, a financial systems consultant in Cairo, said he - like many Egyptians - was relieved that Mr Obama had been re-elected over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. "Obama is closer to Egyptians and the Arabs," he said. "Romney, I think, is farther from us." 

"Maybe in the future, there will be more dialogue and there will be change going forward," Mr Samir said.

Officers Ahmed and the case of the missing wallet

Osman the taxi driver restored my faith in humanity this weekend. (Not that it was necessarily in need of restoring or anything, but still.)

I hailed his cab on a bridge Friday after playing squash, and all seemed well until I got out five minutes later at the square near my house and immediately realized my wallet wasn't in my pocket. I turned around but he had pulled away; I briefly considered taking up another taxi driver's offer to chase him down, but I had no idea where he went -- or what his name or license-plate number were.

But then, from Ashraf the traffic cop who said he'd call if someone brought my wallet back, to a man on the street who offered to give me change, Egyptian after Egyptian I met that afternoon went out of their way to help me.

I filed the report at the nearby police station, a dirty, converted old villa. I saw zero computers the entire time, and my police report consisted of Officer Ahmed handwriting a statement on a blank piece of paper. Some guys arrested for stealing sat in a metal cage across the room from me.

At one point, we had to wait a few minutes for Officer Ahmed #2 to return with a key to a safe behind the desk. I peered over to see what valuable treasure was housed inside, and lo and behold, the policeman carefully raised a rubber stamp -- and ink! -- for all to see.

I think this stamp was actually the most valuable thing in the station, since its mark turned some handwritten scribbles into a full-fledged police report.

In the end, the decency of a good Samaritan prevailed. I woke up Saturday morning to a call from a man named Osman asking when he could bring my wallet to me. An hour later, the cab driver from the day before showed up at my building, wallet in hand -- complete with credit cards, money, and my business card, which is how Osman reached me. It had fallen between the seat and the door. Stupid gym shorts.

I've heard from friends that wallets and phones often make it back to those who lose them in the taxis of Egypt, I think more so than they might at home in the U.S.

In conclusion, ilhamdulillah.

This post was updated Oct. 15, 2012, at 10:13 p.m.

Jumpo the elebhant

Jumbo's storied tale made its way to the streets of Cairo this week.

Driving alongside the Nile the other night, I passed a truck with "Jumpo" written on its backside. Classic Arabic-speaker mistake. There's no P sound in Arabic, so when saying or writing foreign words people often use B instead. This means Egybtians often find themselves leaving their cars in barking lots. And so on.

Here, the Arabic speaker who wrote "Jumpo" had overcompensated, and hilarity ensued. At least for me. I snapped some quick, blurry photos on my phone, and my taxi driver asked what was up.

And thus the legend of Jumbo the elephant, Tufts University's celebrated mascot, came pouring out, from P.T. Barnum and his traveling circus to the fateful day in 1975 when a fire at Barnum Hall burned up Jumbo's stuffed carcass. This also involved explaining the whole concept of college mascots, which don't exist here.

"It's nice that in America you have such folktales," said the driver, agreeing that this folktale was a bit weird.

In other news, I've been working hard getting myself set up here in Cairo for Egypt Round Two. I had some mixed emotions coming back; I regretted leaving my family and friends in America, and I was a bit overwhelmed by, for the first time in my life, having no formal schedule for the indefinite future. Also, it's hot here, and I wasn't able to fully move into my room until this past weekend.

But I found a comfortable library with fast Internet in which to ply my trade, joined a country club (actually), and have found some work. I'm even going to finish unpacking today!

Here's some of what I've been up to since I've returned:

• The Daily Beast: "Tension rises, but Israel and Egypt stick to economic pact"
• The Egypt Independent: "Anxious times - Stress and stigma take toll on mental health"
• The Egypt Independent: "White-taxi drivers demand financial help, decry government program"

Great timing

I'm on the ground in Cairo after nearly three months away, and it's been an interesting return. Protests roiled capitals across the Arab world this week in response to an anti-Islam video purportedly made in America, including a riot that breached the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Tuesday.

Since arriving last night (Friday), I haven't been out and about too much since I've been so jetlagged, but my impression is that the demonstrations in Cairo are quite similar to other clashes during the last year and a half. A protest starts out for one reason or another, the police underestimate its size and/or intentionally let the embers simmer for a while (is that a real expression? I dunno -- I'm jetlagged...), then when the demonstration gets out of hand, tons of random youths descend on the scene to fight the police because that's what they like doing.

So it sounds like the initial pretense for protests -- the anti-Islam video -- quickly devolved into an excuse for a core of a couple hundred uneducated youths who have a some score to settle with the police to battle the cops. Egyptians generally call these people "baltigiya," or "thugs," and many people here believe they're paid by someone to mix in with the real protesters and sow chaos. Who's paying these people? Depends who you ask; I've heard Mubarak's associates, the Muslim Brotherhood, foreign governments. So many conspiracy theories, so little logic.

I just read what appears to be a pretty good summary of what's going on here now. Check it out at The Egypt Independent, an English-language paper here. Sounds like most protesters haven't even seen the video.

Personally, I feel safe since I'm in the confines of my friend's apartment and since I haven't ventured over to Tahrir Square or the U.S. embassy nearby. I've also read reports that things have calmed down. Even though I'm relatively close to everything -- maybe a 25 minute walk -- you would have no idea anything's happening since life goes on in this city of 20 million people. I don't think the violence this week spread more than a few square blocks.

This afternoon I ran an errand to pick up a phone. My taxi driver got my hopes up when he said that the demonstrators are bad people, Egyptians love Americans and Europeans, and it's really only the governments that are the problem. Then he said a Jewish lobby controls Obama's mind and wants to keep Egypt down. He also complemented my Arabic, so I have mixed feelings about the ride.

Down the street from my friend's apartment, a couple dozen protesters ringed the interior of a traffic circle this evening, holding up signs deploring the violence and urging dialogue. "Islam is a religion of respect" was the general gist of their posters, printed in Arabic and English. Dialogue, not anger.

Update (Sept. 16, 2012): Two final thoughts. It seems there is a wide gap in Americans' and Egyptians' concepts of the interaction between freedom of expression and freedom of religion. For many Americans, the right to free speech is sacrosanct, even if that speech defames religion. Many Egyptians, meanwhile, are all for free speech, as long as that speech doesn't defame Islam or the Prophet.

Also, many here don't understand that the American government is not involved with the video in question. As the above story from The Egypt Independent puts it, when discussing one particular demonstrator, "[L]ike most protesters at the scene, Ibrahim believes 'The Innocence of Muslims' is a Hollywood production that, like any local or international film released in Egypt, and presumably elsewhere, passes through several rounds of censorship and receives official state approval from its own government before seeing the light of day."

Oh, the insanity!

Alas, my first year in Cairo has come to a close, as I leave tonight for a long-scheduled trip back to the U.S. to spend time with family and friends. I wish I weren't peacing out at such an insane time in Egyptian politics, although then again, most of the past few months would probably qualify as "an insane time in Egyptian politics."

Only this time feels more insane: As Egypt expert Marc Lynch wrote yesterday, "In the next few days, a Parliament might or might not seat itself, the new President might or might not be empowered, a new Constitutional Assembly might or might not be formed. And tomorrow, another of Egypt's endlessly inventive judges may declare the Muslim Brotherhood itself illegal." [The court ended up postponing the trial on the Brotherhood's legality until September.]

Lynch explains that this whole mess mirrors the albeit more fun and less destructive mess otherwise known as Calvinball, the game with constantly changing rules from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. I highly recommend checking out Lynch's insightful analysis, if only for the reprinted comics.

A countdown clock on the front-page of the Egyptian newspaper AlMasry AlYoum ticks off the number of days left until the military is scheduled to hand over power to civilians at the end of this month. A recent addition to the daily count: a question mark.

Voting in Egypt's presidential runoff took place Saturday and Sunday, and as of now, both candidates have claimed victory, with official results to come (in theory) on Thursday. For more on one of those candidates, military man Ahmed Shafiq, check out my story last week for The National.

Finally, I authored a short essay for the Tufts Alumni website a month or two ago about the state of Egypt's "January 25th Revolution." I wrote about how Egyptians increasingly viewed last year's uprising as a mistake, or at least felt uneasy about its continuously unfolding outcome. Those sentiments have only seemed to spread in recent weeks.

Update (June 19, 2012 at 11:45 p.m. Cairo time): And then Mubarak died.


Update (June 20, 2012): Just kidding. The state news agency's report was wrong.

An Islamist, a spy chief, and Jay Leno walk into a bar...

Imagine an election with 13 candidates, where the front-runner changes every week and no one knows who is going to pull ahead the next day. Picture a presidential vote in a place with no history of free and fair elections, a judicial system dominated by officials appointed by an authoritarian dictator, a council of generals running the country's affairs, no reliable opinion polls, and a constitutional crisis.

Ahlan wa sahlan fi Masr. Welcome to Egypt! Sixteen months after protesters in Tahrir deposed President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians took to the polls on Wednesday and Thursday to elect their first president in a vote observers said was largely free of forgery and vote-rigging. It was the third time people here had voted since Mubarak stepped down – first for a constitutional referendum last spring, and then in parliamentary elections in the fall – and it seems to have gone relatively smoothly considering the fact that the biggest question in elections past was, in terms of final percentages, how high in the 90s the dictator would receive.

This time marked the first time in modern Egyptian history when the victor remained unknown before the polls opened. It was a topsy-turvy race that lasted only a couple months amid a transition period that has included massive protests against military rule and a debate over the constitution as Egyptians contemplate the relationship between religion and state.

The leading candidates for a while appeared to be Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and Arab League secretary, and Hazem Abu Ismail, a bearded, baby-faced, ultraconservative Islamist preacher whose supporters – known as Hazemoon – were absolutely obsessed with him. Moussa ended up coming in fifth place, while election officials disqualified Abu Ismail since his deceased mother had taken American citizenship a few years back; legally, an Egyptian president can’t have a parent with foreign citizenship.

Two additional candidates dominated discussion for a bit, but were subsequently disqualified for questionable reasons: Omar Suleiman, Mubarak’s head of intelligence who the former president appointed vice president during the uprising, and Khairat el-Shater, the Muslim Brotherhood’s former deputy leader.

The Brotherhood’s backup candidate, Mohamed Morsi, polled in the single digits in the weeks preceding the vote, but polls here are notoriously poor, and he ended up taking first place. It’s pretty surprising since Morsi seemed somewhat lackluster in person – I attended a rally of his – although the Brotherhood did run a pretty robust get-out-the-vote operation; for example, I heard that a bunch of Brotherhood vans and tok toks in my friend’s Nile Delta village ferried voters to and from the polls.

The dark horse was definitely Hamdeen Sabahi, a proponent of the pan-Arabism of former President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and the Arab version of Jay Leno. He’s been an opposition figure for decades but came out of nowhere at the last minute in this election. Up until the final few days before the poll, I had hardly heard his name, but he ended up coming in a close third.

One reason the results remained unclear up until the end was the relatively large percentage of undecided voters. I heard that in some cases illiterate Egyptians arrived at the polling place with absolutely no idea what to do or whom to vote for, and other people were still trying to make up their mind in line outside elementary schools-turned-polls. With no history of free elections and poor voter education, many Egyptians struggled to pick their man out of the 13 choices.

In the end, Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander who was Mubarak’s last prime minister, came in first and second, respectively. They’ll proceed to a runoff on June 16 and 17, since no one candidate won a majority of votes. The two candidates are quite polarizing, and the over 50 percent of people who didn't vote for them last week essentially have to choose between a Mubarak-esque figure and an Islamist. This, as you might expect, puts many liberals in a bind.

This weekend, candidates who didn't make the next round contested the vote, although the presidential electoral commission rejected their appeals today. This evening, thousands are reportedly marching through Alexandria and Cairo to express their anger over the way things have turned out.

I contributed to The National’s coverage of the election with three articles: one on the candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a self-styled liberal Islamist who came in fourth; another on women and the vote; and a final one from the coastal city of Alexandria on the first day of polling.

It’ll be an interesting couple of weeks. And oh yeah, they’re announcing the verdict in Mubarak’s nearly year-long trial this Saturday.