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Sarah Carr has written an excellent eyewitness account and brief analysis of the kidapping of Philip Rizk, a German-Egyptian AUC graduate student in the Middle East Studies program. He was abducted by state security forces (أمن الدولة) coming home from a march to Qalubiyya. I generally would have just added this link to my usual Delicious feed, but I think this article deserves special attention for its effectiveness in pointing out the sickness of the Egyptian state. At the same time, I want to be careful not to overstate the importance of the lack in the myriad Egyptian security forces of what has come to be know as “professionalism”. I remain unconvinced that a “professional” police or military force, operating under “the rule of law” is a substantial improvement over an “unprofessional” one. At least in the case of the latter, we can more easily discern the true face of power without the mask of a civilized demeanor. It is for the same reason that Arab members of Israel’s Knesset have in some sense looked optimistically at the swing to the right in the legislative body, saying “the mask will fall and the real face [of Israeli democracy] will be revealed”.
If you are one of those people with the right connections (وسطة), please feel free to bring them to bear to help secure Philip’s release.
To stay abreast of news on Philip’s case, you can follow Hossam ElHamalawy’s Delicious feed on the subject.
House of parents of Philip Rizk is being searched at the moment by Secret Police. People gather outside to protest. 6 Road 208, Maadi. 2.30 AM in the night on Monday morning.
Protest!
Comment by NN — February 9, 2009 @ 3:07 am
[…] to invoke the Emergency Law to do whatever it wants, which is what readers here will recognize in the abuction of Philip Rizk and Diaa Gad, among many others. With the changes afoot in US and Israeli administrations—along […]
Pingback by Global Voices Online » Egypt: Bloggers React to Cairo bombings — February 23, 2009 @ 1:40 am
[…] Darurat guna melakukan berbagai hal yang dikehendakinya, pembaca di negeri ini mungkin mengenal aksi penculikan Philip Rizk dan Diaa Gad, dua contoh. Dengan adanya perubahaan yang terjadi di administrasi Amerika Serikat dan […]
Pingback by Global Voices dalam bahasa Indonesia » Mesir: Reaksi Para Bloger Atas Aksi Pemboman Kairo — February 23, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
[…] legge d'emergenza per fare qualsiasi cosa voglia, come nei casi ben noti ai nostri lettori del rapimento di Philip Rizk [in] e di Diaa Gad [in], fra gli altri. Con i cambiamenti in corso nelle amminstrazioni di Stati […]
Pingback by Global Voices in Italiano » Egitto: reazioni immediate all’attentato del Cairo su blog, delicious, Twitter — February 24, 2009 @ 5:04 am