latest FCO update

[aykalam]

Saturday 11 February marks the first anniversary of former President Mubarak's departure. There have been calls to mark the occasion with a Day of Civil Disobedience and large demonstrations are likely, especially in and around the area of Tahrir Square, Cairo. There remains a possibility of demonstrations taking place elsewhere in Cairo, as well as other cities in Egypt, including Alexandria.



Egypt travel advice

[aykalam]

We advise against all but essential travel to Sinai north of the Suez-Taba road. This advice does not apply to the towns of Suez or Taba. This advice is due to the significant increase in the risk of criminal activity in the North Sinai area.

Egypt travel advice

[hhaddad]

Dear All,

We have reports of a possible demonstration taking place infront of the Embassy this morning. We advise our customers to contact the Embassy switch board on 02 2791 6000 before coming in.

Regards
Liliane Naggar
Consular Assistant
British Embassy, Cairo

[canuck2010]

We needed to renew a passport on Sunday but there were around 1000 Salafists protesting outside the Canadian Embassy. The embassy had already been closed and everyone had left. The guards said to come back in a few days, apparently the Salafists are taking turns protesting at different embassies, though I have no idea what they are protesting about exactly. ...I guess the police have better things to do than protect the embassies!

[aykalam]

Originally Posted by hhaddad

Dear All,

We have reports of a possible demonstration taking place infront of the Embassy this morning. We advise our customers to contact the Embassy switch board on 02 2791 6000 before coming in.

Regards
Liliane Naggar
Consular Assistant
British Embassy, Cairo

This is happening right now, apparently something to do with an Egyptian scientist assasinated whilst in hospital in Wales. I shall post more details if I find them.

[MaidenScotland]

Originally Posted by aykalam

This is happening right now, apparently something to do with an Egyptian scientist assasinated whilst in hospital in Wales. I shall post more details if I find them.

The discovery of a doctor's body in a locked bathroom at the hospital where he worked has turned into a possible murder inquiry.

The body of anaesthetist Dr Karim Aly, 31, was found at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, South Wales, on August 23 along with a syringe and a blood-smeared latex glove.

Police who investigated at the time did not believe it to be foul play as there was no signs of a struggle.
The body of anaesthetist Dr Karim Aly, 31, was found at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, South Wales, on August 23 along with a syringe and a blood-smeared latex glove.

The body of anaesthetist Dr Karim Aly, 31, was found at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, South Wales, on August 23 along with a syringe and a blood-smeared latex glove.

However in his native Egypt there have been claims in the media, as well as on a government website, that he was murdered.

Local coroner Peter Maddox subsequently ordered an autopsy but it has been condemned by Dr Aly's family who said 'dissecting' his body would violate his and their beliefs and 'strike at the heart of their religious identity'.



The controversy came to light during a legal challenge to prevent the autopsy at the High Court in London last week.

The judge Mr Justice Silber ruled that an invasive autopsy was the only way of finding out if there was 'third party involvement' in the Egyptian's death.

His sister Dr Sarah Aly initially supported the claim he has been murdered but later withdrew the accusation saying she was grief-stricken when she made it 'in the heat of the moment'.

She argued that 'cutting' the body would cause the family enormous distress and less intrusive toxicology tests, along with MRI scanning of his corpse, would be enough to dispel any suspicion that the doctor had been strangled.

Dr Sarah Aly said her family now believed there was nothing suspicious about the death and they should be allowed to have the body repatriated intact to Egypt.

Her barrister, Chris Williams, said an autopsy would breach the 'fundamental tenets' of the family's faith and amount to a violation of human rights to respect for family life and freedom of religion.

Can Yeginsu, for the coroner, said suspicions raised by the Egyptian media, and initially by Dr Sarah Aly herself, meant a thorough investigation had to be carried out.

Neither toxicology testing nor MRI scanning would rule out foul play, Mr Yeginsu told the judge.

He said other patients at the Welsh hospital might object to being scanned by a machine that had been used on a dead body.

Mr Yeginsu added that if the equipment were used on Dr Aly 'it would be very much a first, not only in Wales but probably in the United Kingdom'.

The coroner had also received firm advice that MRI scanning could not detect 'subtle pathology, such as pressure to the neck' and 'wouldn't be sufficient to rule out third party involvement'.

Local experience of using MRI equipment to scan dead bodies was 'non-existent' and such techniques would not uncover 'subtle injuries that are found in some kinds of homicide'.

Mr Justice Silber said the police investigation was prompted by Dr Sarah Aly's initial 'very serious allegations to the effect that the deceased had been murdered' and the stories circulating in the Egyptian press.

Mr Justice Silber also said that although toxicology tests on Dr Aly's blood and urine might be effective in detecting the presence of any drugs, they would not reveal whether they were 'administered by a third party' or whether force was used.

With Dr Aly's body deteriorating, it was concluded that an invasive autopsy was the only viable means of investigation.

The coroner told the High Court that he had 'real regret' that an autopsy would entail 'further upset' to Dr Aly's family.

Mr Justice Silber also expressed his 'great sympathy' for the loss of a young man at the start of his medical career.

Read more: Murder hunt launched after body of doctor is found locked in hospital bathroom | Mail Online

[aykalam]

"with a syringe and a blood-smeared latex glove"...and in a locked bathroom

[expatagogo]

How many autopsies did they do on Khalid Said?

[aykalam]

Apparently today is the anniversary of 1946 student and workers uprising against British occupation

[hhaddad]

University students from across the country on Tuesday are commemorating the 66th anniversary of Egypt's 1946 student and workers uprising by staging a number of protest marches and other activities. Students from over 15 Egyptian universities and 14 student movements, along with a number of high school students, are using the occasion to demand justice for protesters and activists slain in the wake of last year's revolution and the swift handover of power from the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to a civil authority. Doaa Basiouny, a student at Ain Shams Univerisity, added that core student demands were also being raised, including calls for free education and better academic facilities.
Among the student movements taking part in the scheduled event are the Students for Justice and Freedom, Revolutionary Socialist Students and the April 6 Students.
Students in several governorates – including Alexandria, Mansoura and Minya – have also invited members of the "Liars" campaign, which is devoted to exposing the SCAF's "lies" since its assumption of power one year ago, to attend the event.
In the capital, around 1000 Cairo University students set out from the university's main gate from which they would march to Egypt's parliament building, passing across Cairo's iconic Abbas Bridge.
The 9 February student-led general strike of 1946 led to one of Egypt's most infamous tragedies, when students organised a protest march to voice opposition to the government's non-cronfrontational position on the ongoing British occupation of the country.
As marchers passed onto the Abbas flyover, one of several bridges that connect Giza to Cairo, police opened the bridge on the orders of then prime minister Mahmoud Fahmy El-Nokrashi. As a result,dozens of protesters drowned after falling into the Nile, while many survivors were rounded up and arrested.
The incident triggered a student-led general strike that began on 21 February 1946, which was followed shortly afterward by clashes between Egyptian students and British occupation troops. In Cairo's Tahrir Square, destined to become the epicentre of revolution 66 years later, British troops shot down several students participating in demonstrations.
Students retaliated by torching a British military camp as the wave of protests quickly spread across the country. After the dust had settled, an estimated 48 students lay dead.
University students in neighbouring Arab countries, meanwhile, including Sudan and Syria, also staged strikes to express solidarity with their Egyptian counterparts.
El-Nokrashi was assassinated in December of 1948 by the Muslim Brotherhood's Abdel Megid Hassan, who managed to gain access to the prime minister by impersonating a police officer.
Last year, students did not commemorate the anniversary of the strike, as it came in the immediate wake of Egypt's January 25 Revolution and the subsequent 11 February ouster of longstanding president Hosni Mubarak.


http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCont...-antiBrit.aspx