Along with Egyptian blogger. translator and news producer Aliya Alwi, and American masters student Derek Ludovici, I am facing charges of incitement to the destruction of public and private property, centering on the claim that, through Aliya, Derek and promised to pay children if they threw rocks at a police station in Mahalla El-Kubra, a textile town in the Nile Delta, about a two hour drive north from Cairo.
On Feb 11, we had traveled to the town to meet with distinguished union activist Kamal Elfayoumi, but as soon as we got out of the car to meet him we were mobbed. We were then taken to a police station, where we rather than our harassers were placed in custody. We were held for 56 hours (you can read a more detailed account here) and by the time of our release we were under a travel ban and facing formal charges. We also discovered that we had been the focus of a concerted press campaign, labeling us as foreign agents. Since then my apartment has been raided and the press campaign has continued. The fact that I, a journalist working in the Middle East on and off for the last five years, owned books about Hezbollah was even cited as evidence of my supposed nefarious purpose.
The Australian government is yet to take any public action. Given the political nature of the charges against me, it is important that they do so. Please help pressure them by signing and circulating this petition.
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An Aussie needs our help! Why isn’t it being offered?
It’s time the Australian Government began supporting Australian citizens who are gaoled by foreign governments for exposing their crimnal activities. Labor should not repeat the shameful record of the Howard Government
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