"I can’t justify this military operation any more. I’m unwilling to be part of a military that’s doing this.”
Three members of the IDF's reserves tell me and
@Quique_K
why they refuse to serve again in Gaza.
Tears immediately in my eyes as the presenter tells her "take a moment to breathe," following an airstrike so close. Thinking of all the journalists across Gaza who are trying to do their job under increasingly dangerous, perilous, circumstances.
Al Jazeera's
@YoumnaElSayed17
live on air from Gaza as an Israeli missile hits what appears to be a high-rise residential/office tower. Her reporting has been outstanding today.
Currently fuming over how this is going to impact real time reporting. During the earthquakes in Turkey earlier this year people used Twitter to try and locate people trapped under rubble. To say nothing of protests. This decision is the death knell (if he keeps it up).
Last week, Egyptian officials revoked my press card and then began demanding that I leave the country. All because of a single story about COVID-19, where I cited research from scientists at the University of Toronto.
The sentencing of Amal Fathy to two years in prison in Egypt for making a video detailing her own sexual harassment is a message "to every victim of harassment that if she speaks out, she will be jailed." My piece for the Guardian.
British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been on hunger strike for 66 days. His family say that time is running out, as British diplomats, particularly Liz Truss, have allowed the Egyptian authorities to delay his freedom. My piece for
@guardian
Solidarity with BBC colleagues in Cairo who are striking today. They are on strike to demand equal pay in line with inflation, because they are being paid in rapidly depreciating EGP, not foreign currency like their colleagues.
Once again: Press freedom is about fair pay too.
British officials in Sudan presented families with terrible choices based on their citizenship or passport status: Split up and allow their children to fly to safety, or stay together in a war zone.
My piece for
@guardian
A woman who appeared in a controversial BBC report accusing Egyptian authorities of forcibly disappearing and torturing her daughter has been arrested, while her lawyer has also disappeared according to the Egyptian Commission for Right and Freedoms
This is not smart PR. Would love to know who printed out the photos from videos of Egyptian MP Amr Darwish being ejected from
@sana2
's press conference for harassing her, and "spontaneously," gave it to some teenagers. This is what the COP27 presidency is spending its time on?
مظاهرة عفوية أمام البوابة الرئيسية لمقر المؤتمر وتصادف ارتداء المتظاهرين نفس اليونيفورم تضامنا مع النائب المطرود عمرو درويش عضو مجلس النواب عن تنسيقية شباب الأحزاب
"We’re not just news that you can switch off with the television when you’re done for the day,"
@byPlestia
told me, describing her journey from using Instagram to show the world daily life in Gaza to a war reporter sharing intimate moments of loss.
"There is no safe place to go to in Gaza right now.”
Civilians across Gaza are trying in vain to find shelter as Israeli bombardments strike residential areas, amid a relentless campaign of airstrikes and a siege.
My piece for
@guardian
Egypt's public prosecutor say 24-year-old filmmaker Shady Habash died in prison after drinking hand sanitiser. Rights groups tell an entirely different story, one of medical neglect. My piece for
@guardian
Until last week, I had lived in Egypt for almost six years. I love Egypt, and I believe that reporting there remains extremely important despite the many obstacles. All power to the many excellent Egyptian and foreign journalists who continue to try.
Evidence of a five-year campaign of extrajudicial killings in Egypt uncovered by
@hrw
. Security forces said the targets were terrorists killed "in a shootout"- but in every case they examined, those killed were already in custody. My coverage for
@guardian
UK government lawyers said there was “no evidence that equipment licensed by the UK was used during the protests,” after concerns about police brutality towards BLM protestors, especially outside the White House in June. Our reporting proves this wrong.
“It is dangerous for us, even the medical staff, to look out the window. We are so afraid of the shooting.”
Staff at Gaza's largest hospital told me they, and 600 patients, are sheltering in corridors fearing being shot if they stand next to a window.
Eleven years after anger at the death of a young man in police custody sparked a revolution in Egypt, videos from inside a Cairo police station appear to show torture. My piece for
@guardian
with thanks to
@ganobi
+
@AlyHussinMahdy
British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah is 164 days into a hunger strike & has warned his family he may die in prison in the weeks before COP27. Yet there's little suggestion this could change Britain's relationship with Egypt. My piece for
@guardian
Egypt today officially closed its investigation into the 2016 murder of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni. Prosecutors rejected Italy's findings that Egyptian security agents were responsible for his kidnap and torture. My piece for
@guardian
Unbelievable: “Graham Smith, the chief executive of Republic, had been collecting drinks and placards for demonstrators at the main site of the protest on Trafalgar Square when he was detained by police on the Strand in central London.”
Heartbreaking, frustrating, disturbing developments in Alaa's case after his family visited him in prison. At one point, the activist was so desperate to get prison officials to file a report on his condition that he smashed his head into his cell wall.
I wrote a piece for
@CJR
about being expelled from Egypt for reporting on COVID-19. Egypt is unfortunately one of many countries cracking down on reporting and information about the virus as though this will contain the spread of the disease.
Egyptian feminist campaigners were overjoyed when authorities opened an investigation into a high profile 2014 gang rape. Then the country's National Security Agency began arresting witnesses. My piece for
@guardian
, with thanks to
@ganobi
When Turkey goes to the polls, the Syrian community in Turkey is poised to lose no matter who wins. The main opposition candidate has promised to deport millions of Syrians currently in Turkey, accelerating existing gvt policy.
My piece w
@HusamHezaber
Thousands of people fleeing violence in Sudan have paid extortionate fees or even walked to reach the borders. On the Egyptian border in particular, people who have crossed describe a "deadly" journey with thousands trying to cross.
My piece for
@guardian
“The officer told me he was an Egyptian intelligence officer and that I was accused of espionage." My piece for
@guardian
on the 3120 people detained in Egypt to prevent further protests against Sisi.
Six months on from earthquakes that destroyed swaths of southeastern Turkey, residents of Hatay are dealing with the long term environmental and public health effects of the cleanup.
My piece with
@berileski
+ photos by
@bradleysecker
Campaigners are demanding that Qatari authorities provide proof of life for feminist activist Noof Al-Maadeed, who disappeared after returning to Doha from the UK. "My life is in danger," she said in October.
My piece for
@guardian
Former detainee
@soltanlife
is suing Hazem Beblawi, a former Egyptian PM now at the IMF, in US court. Court documents detail how Beblawi ordered Soltan's targeted assassination, arrest and torture along with "unsued" defendants, including Sisi himself.
Egypt's abysmal record on press freedom has been repeated so many times that it's almost a cliché. But this is what it looks like in practice. Many brave journalists, especially the team at
@MadaMasr
, continue to try and forge ahead there, amid the threat of arrest.
Rachel, with all due respect, there were roughly 500,000 Jews in Germany before WW2, including my family. This idea that German Jews were not somehow not “ethnic Germans,” is ahistorical and helps no one, especially Ukrainians.
“After Rabaa, he said, “everything changed in Egypt.”
Portraits of five people who witnessed and survived what happened in Egypt a decade ago today, by the Washington Post team including
@siobhan_ogrady
In a rare sit-down interview, the Syrian rebel leader best known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani told me and
@lorenzo_tondo
that northwestern Syria is desperate for help from the international community after the deadly earthquake.
From Idlib, with
@AlessioMamo
Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has hired the DC lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for $65,000 a month shortly after Biden's win, and former top diplomat Amr Moussa went on TV to encourage Egypt to "lobby, lobby, lobby."
The story examined Egypt's official COVID-19 infection rate, citing research that modelled a likely higher infection rate than the official figure. This disparity is true for every country in the world, especially those where testing has been limited.
The parents of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni murdered in Cairo say the Italian government has betrayed them, after Italy agreed to sell Egypt two warships worth €1.2bn, potentially part of a €9-10bn sale. My piece for
@guardian
w.
@lorenzo_tondo
Italian authorities and students have expressed alarm after Patrick George Zaky, an Egyptian researcher&masters student at the University of Bologna, was arrested on arrival at Cairo airport and later tortured. My piece for
@guardian
with
@lorenzo_tondo
The UN today postponed an anti-torture conference in Cairo following a backlash from human rights defenders, who said hosting a regional conference on this issue in Egypt was “a whitewash.” My piece for
@guardian
Accurate information about this pandemic is essential. Citizens need to be able to put trust in their governments' handling of this existential threat. By treating journalists this way, the Egyptian regime has shown that it fears clear information as much as the disease.
Egyptian authorities arrested doctors who criticised the state's response to COVID-19, while health officials at some hospitals threatened to report doctors who complained about a lack of PPE to national security-
@Reuters
Appalling news out of France, detaining journalist
@AriaLavrilleux
whose exceptional and detailed reporting showed what the French military is doing in Egypt.
Yet another salvo against one of Egypt's last remaining (if not the last remaining) independent news outlets, staffed w.brave reporters and editors: Journalists from
@MadaMasr
today stood trial, accused of offending MPs for a story on corruption.
Nine years after Egypt's 2011 uprising, the threat of prison looms over the entire population, shaping the lives of everyone from apolitical dentists to students. My piece for
@guardian
A Turkish court banned a key member of Turkey's opposition CHP from politics and sentenced her to almost five years in prison, sparking fears of a pre-election crackdown. Story with
@gokcesarac
+ comment from
@SonerCagaptay
Five leading Egyptian NGOs say they've been shut out of attending the COP27 summit later this year by the Egyptian government. All have a record of work criticising the Egyptian government's human rights record - my piece for
@guardian
"The lawyer for the family of Giulio Regeni, the Italian doctoral student murdered in Egypt in 2016, said she has a list of 20 additional suspects, which she called “20 names of men who should start being afraid”. My piece for
@guardian
with
@lorenzo_tondo
“We know they are happy for him to die, they just don’t want it to happen while the world is watching. But the world is watching.” Alaa Abd el-Fattah's family fear he is being force-fed in prison, an act of torture, to keep him alive during COP27.
Correct. This horrific claim remains unverified, which means repeating it without checking, never mind putting it on the front page is deeply irresponsible.
Another travesty of press freedom in Ethiopia, where the government expels journalists whose coverage it dislikes, or denies them accreditation. Note the awful addition of requesting a different journalist, one the authorities would prefer.
#NewsAlert
: Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) issued letter revoking, "effective immediately", the press accreditation of The Economist's
#Ethiopia
resident correspondent, journalist
@TomGardner18
, & said he's "no longer allowed to work as a journalist in Ethiopia."
Solidarity with BBC staff in Cairo, conducting a 3 day strike from tomorrow in protest at their wages not rising in line with inflation even as the value of the EGP has cratered.
Fair pay is part of press freedom, & non-Egyptian staff are traditionally paid in foreign currency.
The
#BBC
staff in
#Cairo
are staging a three-day strike, from 17 to 19 July, to protest against their low salaries, and deteriorating living conditions.
"Four years after he kicked off the Trump presidency by lying angrily about the size of the inauguration crowd, former press secretary Sean Spicer has applied to join the White House press corps."
“It feels like everything is against us": Civilians in Gaza describe a day living under heavy bombardment from the Israeli military, as well as their fears of the effects of a complete cut to electricity, water and food supplies.
My piece for
@guardian
All red brick buildings across Egypt, an estimated 10 million, must now be painted in a unified colour scheme- by presidential decree. Egypt's PM declared the bare red bricks to be "uncivilised." My piece for
@guardian
To all of the people shocked at this: He was saying it before the first round too, he’s just doubling down now. Which demonstrates why this was a faulty strategy to begin with, this racist hyperbole didn’t increase opposition votes the first time either.
“This is a cartoon super-villain of an app,” said Gennie Gebhart of
@EFF
.
Experts warn the official COP27 app can read users' emails, access their cameras and microphones, all signs of potential surveillance.
My piece for
@guardian
with colleagues:
"It takes a crisis, a disaster like this to shed light on the day-to-day realities of people who live in the margins," said
@S_Errazzouki
, on how a delayed emergency response to the earthquake in Morocco put people at risk.
My piece with
@DouniaMseffer
A note to editors: Please do not commission spicy takes on why a former dictator, whose people overthrew him due to rampant corruption, rising poverty levels, and police brutality was actually just 'misunderstood.' This reads like trolling.
The parents of murdered Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni have demanded more pressure on the Egyptian authorities to free detained student Patrick Zaky. Zaky was arrested on entry to Cairo and tortured. My piece for
@guardian
with
@lorenzo_tondo
Egyptians from impoverished neighbourhoods were bussed into central Cairo to vote in a referendum that could allow Sisi to rule until 2030. Some told me and
@Adhmyousef
that they were given 150LE bags of food for voting. Our report for
@guardian
Worth remembering who some of the guests at the coronation will be, and that this symbolises a tacit acceptance of their record. In this case, the kingdom of Bahrain is accused of jailing and torturing rights activists – currently including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and many others.
Egyptian officials are rushing to stop the auction of a statue of Tutankhamun in London next month, fearing it was looted from the Karnak temple in Luxor. The auction house says such ancient objects are untraceable "over millennia." My piece for
@guardian
“The gardens of Cairo are disappearing. One after another, I have watched them transform from lush green spaces into construction sites, buried in concrete and steel,” -
@yasminerashidi
Almost three years after the murder of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni, prosecutors in Rome have added several members of Egypt's National Security Agency to a list of preliminary suspects. My piece with
@lorenzo_tondo
for
@guardian
Egyptian activist Amal Fathy is in court this morning, detained in a pre-dawn raid in May. Her alleged crime was making a video discussing sexual harassment in Egypt and posting it to Facebook.
Egyptian doctors are increasingly at odds with their own government about a lack of protections and restrictions on vital PCR testing for themselves and patients. Quarantine units are reportedly full, as COVID-19 cases spike. My piece for
@guardian
Alaa Abd El-Fattah's family say Liz Truss has forgotten her promise to aid the activist, currently 116 days into a hunger strike.
“It feels like since the race for the Tory leadership began, Truss has completely abandoned Alaa’s case,"
@Monasosh
told me.
Ahead of today's run-off presidential vote in Turkey, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has doubled down on his promises to deport millions of refugees from Turkey, falsely inflating numbers and leaning into anti-immigrant messaging.
w.
@denizbarisn
An eyewitness described seeing Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni inside a Cairo police station before his death. Egyptian authorities maintain their security forces weren't responsible. My piece for
@guardian
with
@lorenzo_tondo
Earlier this week Serbian authorities extradited a Bahraini dissident in cooperation with Interpol, the first incident of its kind since a top Emirati security official was elected to the Interpol presidency. My piece for
@guardian
The Lancet has published research by a group of Canadian scientists, modelling the likely size of the COVID-19 outbreak in Egypt in early March. It estimates an outbreak of 6270–45070 cases, median 19,310, adding that the real size was likely closer to 6k.
I spent the past week in Riyadh and Jeddah. This is my dispatch for
@guardian
, looking at how Saudis struggled to maintain business as usual as details of Jamal Khashoggi's death reverberated around the world.
20 Palestinian journalists have been killed since 7 October, as well as 3 Israeli journalists and 1 in Lebanon.
This awful news comes after the Israeli cabinet discussed closing Al Jazeera’s bureau.
Heartbreaking. Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that the family of their Gaza correspondent Wael Dahdouh - his wife, his son, his daughter - have been killed in an Israeli strike on a house they were sheltering in.
A rare and delightful chance to report a moment of pure hopefulness and joy in Cairo: the scene in a Cairo cafe as Mohamed Salah plays for Liverpool. My piece for
@guardian
Egypt's minister for higher education and scientific research says his model of the number of positive COVID-19 infections in Egypt estimates 117,000 infections, based on an infection rate five times the current official estimate.
Algerians today began a general strike, including some from the country's energy sector, a lifeline to the Bouteflika regime. Bouteflika is expected to return from medical treatment in Geneva today. My piece for
@guardian
, including comment by
@ricfabiani
Today in Egypt: A member of the parliament's defence and security committee warns that kites may present a danger to national security, as they could be fitted with secret cameras. Truly, nothing is sacred for this level of paranoia.
A top Emirati official will tomorrow officially declare his candidacy to become president of Interpol – but two former detainees in the UAE say that he is responsible for torture and abuse. My piece for
@guardian
“If you want to get a leg up in the battle over narrative, you control the public sphere," How the Middle East's autocrats are turning to influencers to control the message a decade on from the uprisings of 2011. My piece for
@guardian
with
@safimichael
He's the mayor of Turkey's largest city, a potential presidential candidate and perhaps even Erdoğan's nemesis – but today he could be banned from politics by an Istanbul court. My profile of Ekrem İmamoğlu, with comment from
@SonerCagaptay
"Ethiopia's government has used the country's flagship commercial airline to shuttle weapons to and from neighboring Eritrea during the civil war in Ethiopia's Tigray region, a CNN investigation has found."
Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni given three years in prison for covering protests in the country.
@RSF_inter
called the sentence “proof of a shift to authoritarianism,” in Algeria.
Journalist
@AriaLavrilleux
has now been held for 28 hours in custody of French intelligence. According to
@Disclose_ngo
, which published her reporting, she has been questioned about her work including French arms sales overseas + French military operations in Egypt.
🔴 Garde à vue d’
@AriaLavrilleux
: d’après nos informations, les enquêteurs de la DGSI reprochent à notre journaliste d’avoir signé 5 articles sur les ventes d’armes françaises à l’étranger, publiés par
@Disclose_ngo
depuis 2019
1/4
@missmagen23
@moorehn
Consent is a rolling process throughout an encounter, not a one-time declaration you make just by stepping through someone's front door or removing clothes.
"I don’t want to wait around for my dad to be released to us in a coffin. I can’t do that.”
One of Bahrain's best known rights activists, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, risks dying in prison. His daughter
@MARYAMALKHAWAJA
is offering to take his place.
“For the first time in my life in Russia, I’m bereft of any vision of the future": Istanbul is seeing an influx of Russian millennials, fleeing arrest, fears of conscription or simply that their post-1991 world vanished overnight. From
@PjotrSauer
and me:
Shocked by the earthquake that jolted towns and cities throughout Morocco, residents in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech describe their fears for those in remote areas closer to the epicentre.
My piece for
@guardian
, w thanks to
@_amroali
+
@LaLouveInMe
Meet the first Egyptians to be displaced due to the effects of climate change: Alexandria's poorest, forcibly relocated from their flooded homes next to a canal. Experts say hundreds of thousands are next. My piece for
@guardian
+ photos by
@simadiab
A doctor inside Gaza's Shifa hospital described 110 corpses laying in the grounds, medics unable to retrieve them, and people trying to flee coming under fire.
An official from the health ministry labelled al-Shifa as "in the circle of death."
Former prisoners and families of those held inside Cairo's sprawling Tora prison complex fear COVID-19 could easily spread among detainees after a prisoner + a guard died from the disease. This follows years of medical neglect. My piece for
@guardian
Desert dreams: Egypt is building a new capital in the desert. But the budget is unclear, as is what will happen to Cairo after the proposed move. “Forget the numbers...” a spox for the project said: “We have a dream, and we’re building our dreams" now.”
Biden promised "no more blank cheques," for Sisi, but his administration just requested the full $1.38bn in military aid to Egypt. Meanwhile dissidents say Egypt targets them on US soil + their families in Egypt for speaking out. My piece for
@guardian