Egypt

On-Egypt’s-parliamentary-elections

I'm published in Al-Ahram Weekly. 

With the 2015 parliamentary elections completed, its members chosen and anxious to get to work, it is worth our while to compare and contrast not only preceding parliamentary elections to the 2015 elections but also preceding parliaments to what parliament 2015 may be. Were parliamentary elections 2015 conducted any differently from previous elections? And will this parliament be any better than previous ones? Bottom line: Should Egyptians be hopeful that political change is in the making?

In 2005, though the not-unusual low turnout of 25 per cent resulted in the National Democratic Party (NDP) landing a sweeping majority of 417 seats of 454 seats, the major significance was in the Muslim Brotherhood presence. Though legally banned, the Muslim Brotherhood won 71 seats over and above the 17 they had gained in 2000 and became the major opposition party. Amidst partisan NDP dominance, the Muslim Brotherhood’s success signalled a fundamental change in political and social norms. It also exposed the roots of dissatisfaction associated with the ruling NDP, and more importantly, it predicted the crucial changes yet to come. Only five women and four Copts joined the 2005 parliament, but they were appointed not elected.

The 2010/2011 parliamentary elections were the last during Mubarak’s reign and may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. With a turnout of 27.47 per cent and, yet again, a sweeping 86 per cent NDP majority winning 424 seats, the elections were bound to be considered flawed and rigged, and they were. Egyptian and international observers confirmed as much.

This while the Muslim Brotherhood retained only one seat, losing 87 of the 88 seats they had won during the 2000 and 2005 elections. Affiliation to the ruling party, the NDP, was the trump card, and the look and feel of the parliament was no doubt about it NDP, with the absence of any significant opposition. Even the 65 women who joined parliament were mostly NDP affiliated.

As for the parliament itself, it was a rubber stamp. Automatically passing all government legislative decisions, it lacked autonomy and remained at the mercy of the ruling party.

We come now to 2011, the first post-Mubarak parliamentary election, where turnout was 62.04 per cent, a stark difference from turnouts during previous parliamentary elections. The reason for this heartening change was the 25 January Revolution. Egyptians, believing Egypt verged on a new dawn, were encouraged to participate.

But the makeup of the 2011 parliament was Islamist, pure and simple. The Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, won over 47 per cent of the seats, the Salafist Nour Party almost 25 per cent. Seculars and leftists won only 16 per cent. Women won 11 seats, altogether comprising only two per cent.

Though liberal and secular Egyptians were shocked, the world wasn’t. In fact, the world seemed overly accepting of this new course. Ex-president Jimmy Carter dismissed the idea that the US should be concerned about the Islamist victory. “I don’t have any problem with that, and the US government doesn’t have any problem with that either. We want the will of the Egyptian people to be expressed,” he said.

We come to the 2015 parliamentary elections. As a preamble, note that parliamentary elections 2015 saw a tangible decline in rigging and fraud, if compared with previous parliamentary elections. Vote buying, however, remained part and parcel of the way candidates accumulated votes. Goods such as meat and sugar remained the most common way of bartering for votes, but straight money was exchanged, too.

The turnout, almost 30 per cent, did not match that of the 2011 parliamentary elections. Overseas, voting by mail was scrapped a historical first in 2012 and conducted in person only, which prevented those living far from Egyptian embassies and consulates from participating in the election process.

Some attribute the low turnout, if compared to 2011 turnout, to Egyptians becoming apathetic. The truth is in the last five years, and in particular after 25 January 2011, Egyptians went to the polls too many times: to elect presidents, vote in parliaments, endorse constitutions and accept or reject referendums, in addition to second rounds in most of these elections. Fatigue may have rendered some too exhausted to participate.

The second reason lies in Egyptians believing Egypt is already in good hands. “Why bother to go out of my way when President Al-Sisi, whom I had voted for already, can deal with it,” was what some said, totally unaware of the ramifications of once again becoming depoliticised.

And in all fairness, the new electoral system confused many. The difference between party-based, closed lists, and independent candidates perplexed some; the fear of unwittingly choosing an Islamist candidate worried others. The 6.8 per cent invalid ballots confirm this theory.

Half the time Egyptians didn’t receive enough information on this or that candidate. However, candidates themselves weren’t to blame since the period allotted to campaigning wasn’t long enough. This contributed to many notorious candidates with no parliamentary experience winning.

As for the parliament itself, the 2014 Constitution give it powers parliaments never enjoyed before. This parliament has the right to form the government if it disapproves of the president’s choice in government. It is also the first parliament allowed to withdraw confidence from the president.

The constitution also dispensed with the 50 per cent quota for workers and farmers, a restriction befitting bygone days, to be replaced by quotas for women, Copts, youths, farmers and/or workers, the physically challenged, and expatriates, reflecting today’s day and age more accurately.

An aspect of the new parliament that may work against it, or for it, is the dominating presence of the For the Love of Egypt list. It won all 120 seats allocated to the list system and promised full-fledged allegiance to President Al-Sisi. The party is also calling on independent members to join it to formulate an even stronger bloc. This is causing quite a kerfuffle that may backfire in the long run.

Doubters claim this pro-Sisi allegiance will create a mirror image of the NDP’s absolute commitment to Mubarak. A parliament that stands behind the president and will not cause waves for the sake of causing waves is a positive in today’s dilapidated state of affairs. Still, a rubber stamp parliament that endorses the president’s every beck and call is not what Egypt needs. In all events, Egyptians will have to wait and see how critical and collaborative this parliament will be.

Despite the overwhelming success of the For the Love of Egypt list, other blocs have formed, including the Free Egyptians Party, which won 65 seats. Pluralism may characterise this parliament after all.

In this post-Islamist parliamentary era, the Salafist Al-Nour Party won four seats, while marginalised groups, such as Copts and women, did extremely well, affirming the change occurring in Egypt. Copts won 16 seats in phase one alone. As many as 73 women won seats. Add the 14 women appointed by the president and women then seize almost 13 per cent of parliamentary seats, a record by any standard.

Amna Nosseir, a female member of parliament who happens to be the oldest parliamentarian elected, heads the parliament until a speaker is elected, another first in itself. If this isn’t a good omen, I don’t know what is.

The writer is a political analyst.

via weekly.ahram.org.eg

Egypt parliament desperately seeks speaker as first session looms

Middle East Eye

Egypt's parliamentary speaker is expected to hold a vote on 400 laws passed since 2013 within 15 days

Member of Egypt's parliament meet for a session in the country's parliamentary hall (AFP)

Egypt's parliament has been left scrambling to find a speaker after the head of Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court and ex-interim president Adly Mansour turned down a request by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to join the body.

Mansour said on Tuesday that he would prefer to maintain his position at the top of Egypt’s highest ‎court, according to al-Ahram newspaper.

His refusal leaves the newly elected parliament in a bind ahead of its inaugural session on 10 January, when several high-profile MPs are known to have supported the idea of electing him as speaker.

Representative of Cairo's Hadayek el-Qubba district, Sayed Farag, said a large number of MPs had urged Sisi on ‎Monday to appoint Mansour to the coming ‎parliament so that he could be elected as the speaker of parliament, according to al-Ahram.

The president directly appoints five percent of MPs in the parliament. Sisi is expected to ‎announce his list of appointees in a few days, ‎or before parliament holds its procedural sitting in two ‎weeks.‎

‎‎"In this message, we informed Sisi that a lot of MPs ‎believe that Mansour has the constitutional and ‎legislative experience necessary to be the speaker of ‎Egypt's new parliament and that there is wide support ‎for this request among MPs," said Farag.‎

Sources quoted in al-Ahram said that Sisi had held two meetings with ‎Mansour on Saturday and Monday to discuss his appointment, and his possible elected as speaker.

"In these ‎two meetings, Sisi exerted pressure on ‎Mansour to accept appointment in parliament, in ‎addition to seeking his opinion about what other names ‎should be appointed," a source told al-Ahram newspaper

Mansour served for 11 months as interim president after the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, was removed in a coup in July 2013.

Mansour has since come to be known as a "man of the law" and was the first Egyptian head of state to leave office peacefully when he handed power to Sisi in June 2014.

Sameh Seif al-Yazal, a the head of the Egyptian State Coalition in parliament and a close Sisi ally told al-Ahram that there was no clear alternative as speaker.

"After reviewing the list ‎of figures who announced they would run for the post , MPs agreed that they all lack support ‎and that a high-calibre figure like ‎Mansour is highly needed for this position," said ‎Yazal.‎

Other contenders

Justice Minister Ahmed el-Zind and former ‎foreign minister Amr Moussa are now being touted as possible frontrunners. However, commentators say they do not enjoy much ‎support among MPs.

Two high-profile journalists, TV host Tawfik Okasha and columnist Mostafa Bakri, who belongs to the pro-Sisi For the Love of Egypt coalition which won the largest number of seats, are also said to be in the running, as are Osama el-Abd a former ‎president of Al-Azhar University and Ali Abdelaal, a ‎constitutional law professor.  

Read on here. 

via www.middleeasteye.net

Egypt Jails 2 Policemen For Life For Torture Killing

Cairo, Egypt:  An Egyptian court sentenced two policemen to life in jail for torturing to death a man in custody, in the third such verdict this month, a judicial source said.

A court in the Nile delta city of Tanta sentenced Lieutenant Ahmed al-Kafrawi and Sergeant Hani Salah in absentia to life behind bars for killing Ismail Abdelhamid in October last year.

The two fugitives were also handed a year in jail for violence against another detainee, the source said.

Under Egyptian law, they will be given a new trial if they are arrested or turn themselves in.

Rights groups regularly accuse the regular police and members of the secret police of abusing and torturing detainees.

Saturday's judgement was the third this month for a death in custody, after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned that police officers found guilty of "committing mistakes" would be punished.

On December 12, an Egyptian court sentenced two secret policemen to five years in prison for beating to death an imprisoned lawyer in a Cairo police station in February.

The verdict came two days after another court sentenced an officer to five years for beating to death a suspect in a drug case in the Nile delta town of Rashid.

The prosecutor general has also ordered 13 policemen to stand trial next month for beating to death a man in custody in the southern city of Luxor in November.

Police abuses under former president Hosni Mubarak were a key factor for the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.

One of the triggers of the revolt was the case of a young man, Khaled Saeed, tortured to death by police after his arrest in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Mubarak was succeeded in 2012 by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, who lasted a year in power before his ouster by the army following massive rallies demanding his resignation.

Morsi's overthrow unleashed a deadly crackdown on his supporters in which thousands have been detained, and accusations of ill treatment in prisons are common.

The interior ministry has said it does not condone torture but says there have been "individual" cases of abuses.

via www.ndtv.com

Expert: Israel monitoring Egypt’s space efforts

Jerusalem Post

THE EGYPTSAT 2 communication satellite is designed to provide high-resolution imagery for the Egyptian military and other agencies.. (photo credit:Wikimedia Commons)

Israel must be attentive to Egypt’s efforts to close a deal with a Franco-Italian aerospace company to purchase two satellites, an expert told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

The satellites will improve Egypt’s intelligence- gathering capabilities, said Dr. Shaul Shay, director of research at the Institute for Policy and Strategy at IDC Herzliya.

Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Saeed el-Assar arrived in Paris last week to work on the deal for an observation and military satellite at a cost of around €1 billion, the French La Tribune newspaper reported last week.

It is possible the deal could be signed as early as the end of this month or early 2016.

Shay pointed out two main reasons why Egypt seeks a space program.

First, there is the prestige factor, and with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi “wanting to make his country a regional power.”

Besides Iran and Israel, there is no other serious space player in the region, and Egypt would like to join the club, added Shay.

Asked why Israel’s neighbor is purchasing its satellites from the Europeans instead of Russia, he responded that Egypt learned not to trust one state but to diversify the countries it depends on.

In addition, its previous satellite was Russian and did not perform well, he said.

Second, Shay continued, is that the Egyptians are worried about the effects of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam project, which could diminish its water supply, and want to monitor its progress.

Negotiations over the dam are stuck, but the Ethiopians continue working on it, he said.

In an article published in IsraelDefense on Wednesday, Shay wrote that Egypt has two communication satellites, EgyptSat 1 and EgyptSat 2.

Egypt tries to emphasize the civilian aspects of its existing satellites, but its EgyptSat 2 satellite was “designed to provide high-resolution imagery for the Egyptian military and other government agencies in the country,” he wrote.

“The Egyptians hope to eventually construct another satellite, EgyptSat 3, on their own, and launch it by 2017 with financial assistance from China. The satellite is supposed to be comprised of 60% Egyptian-made components.”

Egypt and Russia have increased cooperation since Sisi ousted former president Mohamed Morsi in a coup back in 2013.

Earlier this month, An Egyptian delegation traveled to Moscow to discuss the building of the country’s first nuclear power plant with the help of Russian backing, Egyptian media reported.

The high-level delegation was to discuss the plant, which is projected to be operational in 12 years, The Cairo Post reported.

However, further reports on the nuclear project are being kept under wraps, as the government decided to censor any future news reports about its Dabaa nuclear power plant project, Egyptian media reported this week.

 

 

via www.jpost.com

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Yanni's Egypt Concert to Broadcast on US TV

USA.GreekReporter.com, by Toni Aravadinos

Greek composer Yanni, one of the greatest New Age composers in the world, made his Egypt debut in October thus fulfilling a lifelong dream of his to perform by the Great Pyramids in Cairo.

His two-day concert (October 30-31) made headlines, not only because of his well-known name but also because he and his orchestra put on an extravagant show.

In March 2016, Yanni’s fans will be able to watch the concert, titled “Yanni: The Dream Concert — Live from the Great Pyramids of Egypt,” on the US public broadcaster PBS.

The concert-video that will be broadcasted is a recording of Yanni’s first appearance in Cairo, including his landing at Cairo airport, his visits at historical sites in the city and of course the concert itself.

At the time of Yanni’s visit in Egypt, Egyptians took to social media complaining about Yanni’s overly-priced tickets. One of the purposes behind his concert (and turning it into a short film) was to promote tourism in Egypt.

Yanni described his Cairo concert as “a message of peace and love from Egypt to the world.”

On January 29th, Yanni will be releasing a new album, “Sensuous Chill,” which will include a track with a bhangra (a type of popular music combining Punjabi folk traditions with Western pop music) touch, this is an energetic dance music.

The artist will promote his new release in a scheduled tour across North America, starting February 2 in Sarasota, Florida.

via usa.greekreporter.com

And here I go again. flummoxed by western media's attitude towards Egypt

I thought I had reached a stage where western media’s bias doesn’t affect me that much, but try as I may, I still get incensed when I read an article that goes against what Egyptians want or hold dear.

Maggie Fick’s article in the Financial Times is such a piece. “Dark days for Egypt’s amateur vice squad” draws its conclusions from speaking to one single Egyptian—a bawab, or doorman. Fick builds a dismal portrait of a country in disarray from the views of this single person. I wonder if she can draw a similar conclusive portrait of the US or any European country from the words of a single doorman.

The subheading reads, “Egyptians used to laugh and smile, but not any more.” I beg to differ; Egyptians laugh and smile more now than they used to while ex-President Morsi was in power. And, because it is in their nature, they will continue to laugh, smile, and enjoy what life gives them because it is innate in them, despite what Fick believes.

“Until the bleakness of life in President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s Egypt became clear” is blatantly and factually inaccurate. Fick, during the last 18 months after Al Sisi became president, poor Egyptians, like your bawab, have gained much. Let’s point a few if not all improvements.

The bread crisis is over, a sadistic reality from Mubarak’s era. No one queues for bread anymore, for it is in abundance. I walked by one bread bakery yesterday and didn’t realize it was one since no one stood in line.

A sight from days gone by

Those on low income, below 1200 EGP a month, receive five loaves of subsidized bread a day at less than a cent each. If they don’t use up their ration of bread, they can replace it with other goods such as chicken, sugar, soap, etc. It’s all in a point system that encourages people not to throw out food or misuse it, as in feed it to their chicken, and to understand how precious all food items are.

The subsidized ration system was extended to include over 22 items not included before. Also a new addition today has outlets that sell subsidized goods offering a “meal” or “wagba,” in Arabic, for four persons for 30 EGP—$4. It includes a protein, half a kilogram of beef meat or a whole chicken; a carb, a kilogram of rice or a 400 gm packet of pasta; a salad, tomato, cucumber, and onions; fruit, oranges, tangerines, or bananas. This is a bargain that no one can compete against, and it is making those in need extremely content.

In addition, army vehicles roam the poorer areas to sell food items, for extremely low prices. They sell meat for 50 EGP when it is sold elsewhere for double this price. This doesn’t only help those in need, but it also forces grocery stores and butchers to compete with such prices instead of hiking prices up.

The government is also working on implementing a comprehensive and universal social health insurance law whereby all Egyptians will receive medical coverage. This will take sometime to be finalized, but the government is aware of those in need, and it is trying its best to improve their situation.

These are a couple of simple examples of how the current government is supporting low income Egyptians. It seems Fick has no clue of such efforts; neither does her bawab. He should though; it would make him a happier person. 

“There’s no hope any more. The future is dark,” happens to be factually, again, incorrect. If anything, Egyptians are hopeful. If they weren’t hopeful, they wouldn’t have risked giving their savings to the government to build the Second Suez Canal when the government collected 64 Egyptian billions in eight working days. If they weren’t hopeful, they would’ve thought twice about taking such a chance, but they didn’t.

“The bawab observes [the residents] comings and goings, hears their fights and sees the expressions on their faces day in and day out.” Even if he does, Fick gives him more credit than he deserves. She implies that the bawab can visualize the tenants’ pain and their disappointment over Egypt’s current situation, a farfetched unbelievable assumption on her part.

That’s not only it, he could also be, according to Ms. Fick, “a self-appointed but vaguely state-sponsored vice squad.” Again, Fick
doesn’t realize that a bawab, in this day and age, can tell a security agent nothing in comparison with what a security agent can pull off social media. She is talking about Nasser’s regime, of over 60 years ago. Security agents need not vigilantly roam the street or await to apprehend suspicious visitors in this fashion anymore. Has Fick been watching Egyptian black and white movies of the 50’s and 60’s? 

“Life today ‘is far worse than it was’ before the 2011 uprising, he says, voicing a feeling most Egyptians do not dare to express on the streets, in cafés, in corner shops, at school or at work. Like him, they tread carefully,” is absolutely farcical. Never have Egyptians been as outspoken as they are today. One can say what one pleases to whomever one wants: from laypersons to presidents, from media personnel to business tycoons, from enemies to devoted followers. Freedom of speech has become an earned right that can tarnish anyone who stands in its way. In fact, I find the current level of freedom of speech bizarre and offensive.

“The prisons are full of people and everyone is afraid,” are two contradicting statements. Those in prison are those trying to harm the country. They plant bombs on street corners and across from government buildings, kill government officials, and shoot conscripts patrolling posts. They are mainly terrorists. When prisons are full of those who aim to harm, how can “everyone [be] afraid” of their protectors?

If Mr Al-Sisi’s path was the right one, the doorman says, “there would be development, the economy would be moving and there would be stability.” And the country is developing and the economy is moving. As for stability, it’ll come when terrorists stop hindering the process. It’ll come when terrorists stop bombing planes flying over Egypt or buses on Egyptian soil leaving tourists fearing their Egyptian winter havens, and leaving the Egyptian economy short billions a day.

“As I prepared to leave, he asked after my former flatmate, and I suggested we take a selfie to send her. But, as I took out my iPhone, we both had the same thought, and I put it back in my bag. Social media is monitored, he said. Right, I said. Not a smart idea.” I hate to tell Fick that even if social media is monitored, as it is monitored everywhere in the world, no retribution would befall this very simple man. Not intending to belittle from the man, how can the words of a bawab affect the country’s road to stabiity? Why would authorities fear him? Fick must be aware of social norms in Egypt. How could she have lived in Egypt and yet believes this man would fear retaliation? It’ll be the end of Egypt as we know it when the regime is afraid of the words of one single bawab.

In Egypt, as is the case elsewhere, social media is buzzing with cusses and curses and with buffoonery and clowning at the expense of honourable and dishonourable people alike, and none are questioned or interrogated. Hardly likely that this bawab would be looked upon as a dangerous element.

Ms Fick, since you have moved from Cairo, you should write about that which you know of not what you are unaware of. Still, I shouldn’t be shocked by the bias you hold against Egypt and Egyptians. It has become the norm.

Update: It seems as though Ms Fick has not left Egypt after all—the more reason for her to get it right, if she wanted to. 

America’s Creeping War in Syria

A rather interesting outlook on Syrian matters. NEO, New Eastern Outlook

A string of recent provocations against both Russia and Syria are meant to look like isolated incidents, but in fact constitute incremental “mission creep” into what may become full-scale US intervention in Syria.

The Background 

It was clear in 2011 that the United States sought regime change in Syria, just as it did in Libya. It was clear that it had backed heavily armed sectarian extremists to carry out this regime change. What wasn’t clear, at least apparently to US policymakers, was the resolve the Syrian government, the Syrian Arab Army, and the Syrian people themselves had to defeat this conspiracy, revealed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 2007 New Yorker piece, “The Redirection.”

In it, Hersh revealed that the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel were determined to build a proxy army of sectarian extremists aligned with or sympathetic to Al Qaeda, for the purpose of undermining and overthrowing the nations of Syria and Iran.

By 2011, with Libya already decimated by NATO-backed extremists, the US State Department was busy transferring weapons and terrorists from Benghazi and Eastern Europe to Turkey where they would be staged, armed, trained, and sent in to invade Syria.

As the Syrian government confounded the US’ proxy war, at various stages attempts were made for a more direct intervention – again, just like in Libya. However, attempts to create a “safe zone” in northern Syria or otherwise carry out strikes on the Syrian military itself were blocked by both the realities on the ground and the support of Syria’s allies – Russia, China, and Iran.

When Russia entered the conflict, the calculus changed dramatically. The prospects of direct intervention by the West against the Syrian government all but dimmed entirely, and what was exposed as a feigned US “fight” with the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS) gave way to a very real Russian-led war on the terrorist group and its affiliates across the country, in coordination with Syrian troops on the ground.

Quickly the true source of ISIS’ fighting capacity – supply lines stretching out of NATO-member Turkey’s territory, long protected by NATO itself since the conflict began – came under threat. Russian warplanes are now flying sorties directly along the border, decimating ISIS-bound convoys long before delivering their supplies, weapons, and fresh fighters. Syrian troops have likewise made significant gains near borders they once were deterred from approaching because of NATO treachery.

The endgame is soon approaching, and to prevent this, the US and its regional allies have begun a series of provocations meant to tip toe the West into deeper war in the region, and in particular, against Russia and Syria.

Read on here. 

via journal-neo.org

Curing Hepatitis C, in an Experiment the Size of Egypt

The New Times, by DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

SHABAS EL SHUHADA, Egypt — Abdel Gawad Ellabbad knows exactly how he was infected with hepatitis C.

As a schoolboy in this Nile Delta rice-farming village, his class marched to the local clinic every month for injections against schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease spread by water snails.

A nurse would boil the syringes, fill each with five doses and then jab five boys in a row with a single needle.

“I didn’t want that hot needle touching me, so I thought I’d be smart,” Mr. Ellabbad, 52, said. “I let the other guys go first.”

Six million Egyptians were infected with hepatitis C by unsterile needles during the country’s decades-long fight against schistosomiasis. The virus spread insidiously; today, at least 10 percent of Egyptians, nearly nine million people, are chronically infected, the highest rate in the world.

But a grand experiment unfolding across the country may change all that.

Once demonized for withholding lifesaving AIDS drugs from poor countries in Africa, chastened pharmaceutical companies are testing an alternative strategy: a complicated deal to sell hepatitis drugs at a fraction of their usual cost while imposing tight restrictions intended to protect lucrative markets in the West.

The strategy has raised howls of outrage from public health advocates in some quarters. If it succeeds, though, the arrangement in Egypt may serve as a blueprint not just for curing hepatitis around the world, but also for providing other cutting-edge medicines to citizens in poor countries who could never afford them.

Abdel Gawad Ellabbad, 52, riding to work in Desouq, Egypt. He contracted hepatitis C as a schoolboy and was cured of the disease this spring after taking a regimen that included the drug sofosbuvir. Credit David Degner for The New York Times

Abdel Gawad Ellabbad, 52, riding to work in Desouq, Egypt. He contracted hepatitis C as a schoolboy and was cured of the disease this spring after taking a regimen that included the drug sofosbuvir. Credit David Degner for The New York Times
The experiment here is about a year old and, while still fragile, appears to be headed for success.

Mr. Ellabbad, for one, was finally cured of hepatitis this spring. An air-conditioning repairman, he took a three-month regimen that included sofosbuvir, first of the new generation of miracle drugs. The pills would have cost more than $84,000 in the United States.

He got them free from the Egyptian government, which paid about $900.

“Before, I felt like I was dying,” he said. “Now I feel like I’ve never felt before. Like I’m 35 again.”

A Worldwide Problem

Hepatitis C is a global crisis: About 150 million people are chronically infected, four times as many as have H.I.V., and about 500,000 die each year of its complications, particularly cirrhosis and liver cancer.

A campaign against schistosomiasis in the 1960s and ’70s spread hepatitis C, as a single needle would be used on several people. Credit Al-Ahram Archive Photo

A campaign against schistosomiasis in the 1960s and ’70s spread hepatitis C, as a single needle would be used on several people. Credit Al-Ahram Archive Photo
The virus is a resilient foe. Usually transmitted by contact with blood, hepatitis C may not cause symptoms for years. Some patients clear the infection on their own, but in most, it becomes chronic, slowly damaging the liver over time.

Nowhere is the virus more entrenched than in Egypt. There are an estimated 150,000 new infections each year, caused by reuse of disposable syringes, accidental needle sticks, tainted medical equipment, and even the sharing of nail clippers and toothbrushes among family members.

Each infected Egyptian passes the virus to three others on average, said Dr. Manal Hamdy El-Sayed, who directs the national hepatitis-awareness campaign. Egypt’s National Liver Institute runs 50 treatment centers and consumes a third of the national health budget.

Fear of the virus is pervasive.

Sherif Mechawy, a barber in an upper-class neighborhood of Cairo, pumps sanitizer on his hands and holds up a clear plastic package containing a comb and a disposable razor for each client.

“They have to see me open it with their naked eyes,” said Mr. Mechawy, 39. About a quarter of his customers prefer to bring their own clippers and scissors.

For full shaves, he wears latex gloves. The hepatitis virus can survive two days or more on a surface, and Mr. Mechawy knows even the groove where the razor fits in the holder is dangerous.

Sherif Mechawy, a barber, uses a disposable razor and gloves for each client as a precaution. Credit Scott Nelson for The New York Times

Even harder hit than Cairo are the villages of the Nile Delta, where half of all men older than 50 are infected.

Mohamed Khafagy, a tour guide from a rice-farming village, said every family he knew had lost someone to hepatitis C. Liver disease killed his father, two uncles and a cousin.

Mr. Khafagy, 39, is infected, too, and has developed Stage 3 fibrosis, which in a wealthier country would prompt rapid treatment.

He knows that drugs to cure his infection are trickling into the country from the West. But the nearest government clinic, in Kafr el-Sheikh, has a three-month wait for appointments.

“Will I last that long?” he wondered aloud.

A Game-Changing Drug

For a poor country, Egypt has a relatively effective health care system, including legions of liver specialists. Committed to repairing the damage done by the schistosomiasis campaign, the health ministry in 2007 developed an ambitious national hepatitis treatment plan using two old drugs: interferon and ribavirin.

The drugs are loaded with side effects and difficult to tolerate. Last year, Gilead Sciences, based in California, offered an alternative.

The company makes sofosbuvir, which since 2013 has been sold in the United States as Sovaldi for about $1,000 per one-a-day pill. A course of the drug, taken with ribavirin and often interferon, usually cures hepatitis C infection in 12 weeks.

Sofosbuvir is an enormous blockbuster; in its first year on the market, the drug earned Gilead more than $10 billion.

But for the past year, Gilead has sold the drug to the Egyptian government for about $10 a pill. The government distributes it to pharmacies across the country, where it is dispensed free to patients.

Gilead also allows 11 Indian and two Egyptian companies to make sofosbuvir under license and to sell it at any price they like, in return for a 7 percent royalty.

Gilead was under some pressure to make the drug more widely available. Egypt’s patent office rejected the company’s application, making it inevitable that generic versions would eventually be sold there, said Dr. Wahid Doss, the chairman of the National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis.

In return for selling sofosbuvir cheaply, Gilead asked that Egypt impose strict restrictions on every bottle to prevent the drug from being sold on the black market and undermining its business elsewhere.

All pills must be dispensed by government pharmacies, for example, and all patients must turn in an old bottle to get a fresh one. Those receiving new bottles must immediately unscrew the cap, break the seal and take the first pill in front of the pharmacist — making it nearly impossible to resell the bottle.

Those restrictions infuriated international activists pushing for greater access to medicines, who saw them as violations of patients’ rights.

Heba Wanis, a pharmacist who until recently worked at the Egyptian Initiative on Personal Rights, said she found the requirement to take a dose in front of the pharmacist “humiliating” and felt it “raised a lot of ethical issues.”

Dr. Jennifer Cohn, medical director of the drug access campaign at Doctors Without Borders, described the requirements as “a third party introduced into the doctor-patient relationship.” Giving a drug company control over who receives its products sets “an incredibly dangerous precedent,” she said.

But so far, no outrage is visible on the streets.

Fathia Abdelrahman Mohamed was required to take her first dose of Sovaldi in front of a pharmacist at the National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Institute. Such restrictions on the distribution of the drug have outraged activists, but most Egyptians have not complained. Credit David Degner for The New York Times

“I agree with this completely,” said Mr. Ellabbad, the air-conditioning repairman. “I’m a poor man. If I did not have to hand in the bottle each time, I might have sold them to buy my son a house.”

Egypt’s health officials also say that the deal is fair.

“We don’t have a problem with the rules,” said Dr. Gamal Esmat, a liver specialist at Cairo University Medical School and a co-author of the national hepatitis plan. “They are to prevent the black market from moving it to other countries.”

“If you can solve the hepatitis problem in Egypt, you are a hero,” he added. “The drug companies know that.”

Read on here.  

via www.nytimes.com

Egypt’s donkeys to get ID cards to prevent meat saleGulfNews.com

Gulf News.com by Ramadan Al Sherbini

In recent years, Egyptian police have reported busting attempts to put donkey meat at local market.

Cairo: Egyptian authorities will issue ID cards for donkeys to uncover butchers who illegally slaughter these animals and sell their meat as beef to unsuspecting customers, a veterinary official said in remarks published Friday.

The head of the Veterinary Department in Giza near Cairo, Essam Ramadan, told private newspaper Veto that slaughtering donkeys, to feed circus animals such as lions and tigers, would no longer be permitted without those IDs. “This is also aimed at preventing butcher shops from unlawfully selling donkey meat to citizens,” he said.

The system will be enforced next year, according to Ramadan.

“It is difficult for the ordinary consumer to detect donkey meat, especially when its used in processed meat products.”

In recent years, Egyptian police have reportedly busted several attempts to put donkey meat in the local market.

The suspects have apparently taken advantage of hikes in prices of meat products in this country of 90 million people, the Arab world’s most populous.

In June, Dar Al Iftah, Egypt’s main Islamic authority responsible for issuing fatwas ruled that slaughtering donkeys for human consumption is haram or impermissible in Islam.

via gulfnews.com

Bloomberg Politics Poll: Trump Muslim Ban Proposal

Bloomberg Politics

Almost two-thirds of likely 2016 Republican primary voters favor Donald Trump's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S., while more than a third say it makes them more likely to vote for him.

Those are some of the findings from a Bloomberg Politics/Purple Strategies PulsePoll, an online survey conducted Tuesday, that shows support at 37 percent among all likely general-election voters for the controversial proposal put forward by the Republican front-runner.

“We believe these numbers are made up of some people who are truly expressing religious bigotry and others who are fearful about terrorism and are willing to do anything they think might make us safer,” Doug Usher, who runs polling for Washington-based Purple Strategies, said in his analysis of the findings. "This indicates that, despite some conventional wisdom expressed in the last 48 hours, this is unlikely to hurt Trump at least in the primary campaign." 

Support for Trump's proposal remains virtually unchanged even after voters are told both sides of the argument. On one side, they were told that “leaders from across the political spectrum have condemned this policy” as one that will make the U.S. “less safe by alienating the allies we need to fight ISIS.” They were also told that Trump has said it is needed until more is known about the threat and that the nation "cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad."

When voters were provided with this additional information, support for the proposal remains essentially unchanged, with 64 percent of likely Republican primary voters saying they favor the idea. That includes 52 percent who say they strongly support the proposal.

 

After being told about the idea, 37 percent of likely Republican primary voters say it makes them more likely to support the billionaire real estate mogul, while 16 percent say less and 46 percent say it has no impact.

          Read on here. 

via www.bloomberg.com