Originally posted by breakingnews.sy on August 20, 2012
The Israeli military has stationed an Iron Dome missile-defense battery west of Eilat.
The move came days after two Grad rockets were reportedly fired from the Sinai Peninsula at the Red Sea resort city.
The remains of a Grad rocket were found north of Eilat on Friday evening.
The deployment of the battery was part of a national plan to test the Iron Dome system.
CAIRO: Samira Ibrahim, one of the 13 Egyptian women who was forced to take a “virginity test” in the military prison in Hikestep after attending a protest in Cairo in March, has to wait till December 27 to hear her verdict. 
“The prolongation of her case can be seen as another step by the military to bear down attempts of women to speak up and fight against the military’s misuse of power, especially with regard to human right violations,” Neveene Edeid, working at the New Woman Foundation (NWF), stated.
“A postponement of such an urgent case bears evidence that it is not taken seriously enough. It is a bad sign of trying to manipulate her case,” she continued.
“However, on the other hand,” Edeid added, “having time till December gives us the possibility to build up more pressure as at the moment everybody is so enthusiastic about the ongoing election process.
“We need human right groups, the youth and women activists for her case but at the moment their thoughts circle around the election.”
Ibrahim, who was electrocuted and forced to take a “virginity test” after attending a protest in Cairo in March in Tahrir Square, was the only out of 17 women who filed an official complaint with the military prosecution to pursue criminal action against her alleged abusers, and registered a case with the State Council Administrative Court to appeal the use of ‘virginity tests’ in all military facilities.
Her verdict, which was supposed to take place on Tuesday, November 30, was expected to be either a “monumental day for women’s rights in the Middle East, or if history repeats itself, […] a shameful day for women’s rights.”
With the postponement of her case to December 27, the latter might come true. “I know the odds are against me” but “I have to speak up about this and fight for justice,” Ibrahim said.
Human Rights Watch interviewed Ibrahim and another victim, Salwa al-Hosseini, and reviewed the testimony of two others obtained by doctors at the Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture.
All four concurred in their statements that on the morning of March 10, two officers went into the prison cell holding the 17 women and asked them who among them was married and who was not.
“Then they told the seven of us that they were going to examine us to see if we were really virgins. They took us out one by one. When it was my turn they took me to a bed in a passageway in front of the cell.”
“There were lots of soldiers around and they could see me. I asked if the soldiers could move away and the officer escorting me tasered me. The woman prison guard in plain clothes stood at my head and then a man in military uniform examined me with his hand for several minutes. It was painful. He took his time. It was clear he was doing it on purpose to humiliate me.”
“I was beaten, electrocuted, and forced to strip naked in front of male officers,” Ibrahim told Human Rights Watch.
The official complaint before the Administrative Court states that Ibrahim “was exposed to the ugliest forms of humiliation, torture and a violation of the sanctity of her body.”
In a court hearing on October 25, the State Council lawyer denied this allegation and called for the dismissal of the case based on lack of evidence.
At the moment, five human rights organizations are supporting her case, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the New Woman Foundation, Nazra for Feminist Studies, and the No to Military Trials Group.
A verdict for Ibrahim could be a remarkable victory not only for Ibrahim, but also for all Egyptian women subjected to sexual assault as most of rape and sexual assault cases in Egypt go unreported.
This is not at least evident by the fact that while Ibrahim’s battle has received adequate attention in international press, local Egyptian media has given the 25-year-old little to no coverage.
“It breaks my heart that international outrage over my case is stronger than that of my fellow Egyptians,” Ibrahim says.
Violations against women are therefore hugely underreported in Egypt – one recent report from 2003 found that as many as 98 percent of rape and sexual assault cases are not reported to authorities.
Source: https://bikyamasr.com/49852/egypt-%E2%80%98virginity-test%E2%80%99-victim-waits-for-her-verdict/
CAIRO: The arrival of 7 and half tons of tear gas to Egypt’s Suez port created conflict after the responsible officials at the port refused to sign and accept it for fear it would be used to crackdown on Egyptian protesters.
The shipment has been moved by the ministry of interior to its Cairo storage facility, amidst strict and secretive security measures. Local reports say the staff, initially under investigation, have been spared investigation after having a discussion over the matter with their superiors. 
Local news sites published documents regarding the shipment shows that the cargo that arrived in 479 barrels from the United States was scheduled to be delivered to the ministry of interior.
The reports also mentioned in the documents that a second shipment of 14 tons of tear gas was expected, making the total 21 tons, in one week.
The importing of tear gas comes after thousands of tear gas canisters were fired at Egyptian protesters last week as clashes raged in downtown Cairo, just off from the iconic Tahrir Square, where thousands of protesters had gathered.
The gas used has angered activists, who say the effects of exposure has yet to wear off, with a number of protesters telling Bikyamasr.com that they have coughing fits, chest pains, blurred vision and their arms often shake. According to the Journal of Royal Medicine, the use of CS Gas – the most common choice of Egypt’s police last week – can have lasting symptoms for over one year.
Egypt’s al-Shorouk newspaper reported that upon the arrival of the shipment, massive disagreements broke out between employees, where five employees refused to sign for the shipment, one after the other.
The five, being dubbed by activists as the “brave five”, were to be refereed to a investigative committee as to why they refused to perform their duties, which has since called off.
The news about the shipment’s arrival stirred the Twittersphere, after it was consumed all day with the country’s first post-revolution elections, and activists mocked the reinforcement of weapons that is being used against them.
Many commented, saying that “gas bombs are definably more important than importing wheat to make bread”.
Source: https://bikyamasr.com/49799/egypt-import-tear-gas-from-us
CAIRO: The tear gas being employed by the Egyptian military and police in the past 48 hours, beyond being expired for at least five years, according to canisters obtained by Bikyamasr.com, cause severe pulmonary damage, as well as causing damage to the heart and liver. It is also reported to increase the risk of miscarriages, according to international studies of the substance, known as CR gas.
A lethal does can be inhaled within minutes if in a poorly ventilated area. 
According to the United States Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, CR emits “very toxic fumes” when heated to decomposition, and at specified concentrations CR gas is an immediate danger to life and health. The report also stated that those exposed to CR gas should “seek medical attention immediately.”
In large doses, human tissues have also revealed that cyanide levels in the body are discovered. It can also “melt” one’s skin if sweat on the body comes into contact with the substance.
Egyptian demonstrators have been exposed at high levels over the past two days, with many calling the use of the gas a “crime against humanity” as it has resulted in severe injuries due to its indiscriminate usage by both police and military forces.
Under the Paris Convention on Chemical Warfare of 1993, CR Gas was officially listed as a restricted substance and eventually was banned, but it has not stopped governments across the world from deploying the gas on civilians. The United States, Sri Lanka, Israel and others including Egypt, have continued to use the gas on its people.
At a field hospital along Mohamed Mahmoud street on Sunday evening, the military slammed the area with the substance, causing scores of Egyptians to run in panic as clouds of tear gas billowed forth. A few individuals succumbed to the extraordinary amount of gas, coughing and vomiting.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” said one doctor to Bikyamasr.com. “This is causing people to pass out, vomit and cough blood. It isn’t safe.”
The company producing the gas being used in Egypt, Combined Tactical Systems of Jamestown, Pennsylvania in the United States, refused to respond to Bikyamasr.com requests for information pertaining to expired canisters and its effects on people.
But on the ground in Tahrir and the surrounding streets, it is clear that the tear gas is having massive effects on demonstrators.
“It is wrong, horrific and scary to think the military has purchased so many they just shoot them like they have an endless supply from the US,” said one demonstrator, using a tissue to wipe his blood-shot eyes.
Source: https://bikyamasr.com/49065/tear-gas-used-in-egypt-banned-causes-liver-heart-damage-miscarriages/
At least one person has been killed and 676 people injured in clashes in Cairo after riot police stormed Tahrir Square to clear a protest camp, officials said.
Officers fired rubber bullets, tear gas and beat demonstrators with batons in the Egyptian capital.
Hundreds of protesters fought back, hurling stones and setting an armoured police vehicle ablaze.
The violence spilled into surrounding side streets in downtown Cairo. At least 18 people were reportedly arrested.
The camp had been set up to commemorate hundreds of demonstrators killed in the 18-day uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.
The square had been a focal point for the anti-regime protests earlier in the year and activists were trying to restart a long-term sit-in, said witnesses.
“The people want to topple the regime,” shouted enraged crowds, reviving the chant from the early days of the uprising.
Crowds also screamed: “Riot police are thugs and thieves” and “Down with the Marshal,” referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt’s military ruler.
The black-clad police were a hated symbol of Mubarak’s regime and the latest violence happened just nine days before Egypt’s first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections.
On Friday, tens of thousands of Islamists and young activists had massed in the square to protest against Egypt’s ruling military council, which took control of the country after Mubarak was deposed.
Public anger is rising at the slow pace of reforms and apparent attempts by Egypt’s ruling generals to retain power over a future civilian government.
Sources:
https://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16113758
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/hundreds-hurt-deadly-clashes-cairo-214834083.html
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