[Foundation-l] [Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2008 will happen in Alexandria, Egypt

[Dan Rosenthal]

On Oct 9, 2007, at 6:32 PM, Mohamed Magdy wrote:

> I'm not questioning their reliability of getting you to your  
> destination
>   , I'm rather questioning the accuracy of information they have about
> Egypt. whether they visited Egypt by themselves and experienced it  
> (and
> telling you their personal findings) or googled keywords similar to
> yours and formulated an opinion to offer to their customers. What they
> are saying will remain hypothetical and generalizations. Exactly like
> the information I can give you (or any other Egyptian in Egypt). I can
> say that their information is false and vice versa.


You mean like: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9038

"CAIRO: The story of eleven-year-old Hind, who gave birth after being  
raped, shocked the nation when it broke a few weeks ago. Further  
exacerbating the situation were the words of Al Azhar University’s  
Islamic jurisprudence scholar, Souad Saleh, who issued a fatwa  
stating that the girl and her father deserved the punishment of  
“eighty flogs” for defamation."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn? 
pagename=article&node=&contentId=A8121-2002Jul26

   One particularly gruesome killing had us dumbfounded as word of  
what happened came into the Cairo newsroom where I was working at the  
time. A young woman named Nora Ahmed had eloped. Her father had not  
approved of her choice of husband. When she returned to Cairo to try  
to change her father's mind he asked to speak with her privately. He  
then cut off her head and paraded it down a Cairo street, shouting  
"Now my family has regained its honor."

In 1997 some 52 honor killings were reported in Egypt. The actual  
figures in all of the countries I've cited are probably much higher  
because most honor killings go unreported.

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3809  
(referencing the Cairo Eid rape frenzies of recent years)

"On-the-street sexual harassment, whether auditory, visual or  
sensual, is more than common. This and other such incidents map out a  
widespread and frequent attitude toward women; Layla is not the first  
woman and obviously will not be the last to have her visual sphere  
spoiled and violated in such a manner."

"What happened in the Eid holiday, though, is not typical of what we  
have seen in past decades on Cairo streets. Rather, the incident  
seems to represent a new generation reaching a whole new caliber of  
harassment."
"

(The author of that last story was a psychotherapist from the  
American University in Cairo.)
---end news clips---

Egypt in particular (though it should be noted Cairo, not Alexandria)  
has been noted for having a standing problem with harassment and rape  
of women on the street. To deny that categorically is simply wrong.