British Egyptians are flying the flag for El-Sisi

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An expatriate voter holds the Egyptian flag. (AN photo)
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Expatriate voters hold the Egyptian flag. (AN photo)
Updated 17 March 2018
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British Egyptians are flying the flag for El-Sisi

LONDON: Sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi outside the Egyptian Embassy in London Friday morning as expatriates turned out to cast their vote in the country’s forthcoming election.
Supporters chanted their backing and tied the national flag to railings outside the embassy in Mayfair as overseas voting got underway at 9 a.m.
“Everyone here supports El-Sisi,” said political activist Sohaib Amr. “But regardless who wins, if you want democracy, it’s important to vote.”
El-Sisi has encouraged Egyptians to go to the polls in the hope of securing a large turnout in the March 26-28 election, which he is widely expected to win. In 2014, the former army chief secured almost 97 percent of the vote, but less than half of the electorate turned out, despite polling hours being extended to a third day. 
Around 10 million Egyptians live abroad, accounting for a significant percentage of the country’s electorate. Of a population estimated at 96 million by the World Bank, 60 million are eligible to vote.
By midday on Friday, more than 200 voters had passed through the door of the Egyptian Embassy in London, where voting will continue throughout the weekend.
“We anticipate a big turnout,” said Mervat Kahlil, leader of an Egyptian electoral group that laid on buses to ferry voters to the polling booths. “We want to encourage the democratic process. You can choose whoever you like but it’s important to vote,” she told Arab News.

Mohammed Kilany, an Egyptian hotelier, made the five-hour drive from South Wales and took two days’ off work to come to London and place his vote. He said it was “important to show support.” “All of the media are now against El-Sisi, but actually all of Egypt wants this to happen… they want peace and stability and they see this in El-Sisi.”
Supporters say El-Sisi is the man to restore order to the country, still reeling from the upheaval of the 2011 Arab Spring. Last month, the army launched a major assault in Sinai, a stronghold for Daesh militants since their defeat in Syria and Iraq.
“The most important thing is to make the country safe and secure, and he’s achieving that. He’s done a lot for Egypt over the last four years,” said Ahmed Hady, an Egyptian who has lived in the UK for 44 years. “Any other government would have taken two or three times as long to achieve what he has done.”
Munira Namsha and her husband Dr. Sala Samra both voiced support for the incumbent. “I hope that President El-Sisi will win; I’m sure he will. Most of Egypt is 100 percent behind him, he is the one to bring the country out of this mad economic situation and fight terrorists,” she said.
The race has been whittled down to two runners, with Musa Mustafa Musa, chairman of the liberal El-Ghad party, El-Sisi’s only rival.
Musa who entered the race at the last-minute in January, was previously a vocal advocate for his electoral opponent. Last year he launched a campaign called “Supporters of President El-Sisi’s nomination for a second term.” 
El-Sisi supporters outside the embassy dismissed opposition accusations that Musa is a token candidate put forward by the government in an attempt to legitimizie the election, and said the president will win because he has the support of “all Egyptians.”
“I’m sure that El-Sisi will win, he’s the only one we can trust. I don’t think the opposition matters at all,” Dr. Samra said.
Several potential candidates were arrested or dropped out earlier in the contest, prompting opposition figures to call for a boycott of the polls. In January, president El-Sisi issued a warning, telling critics: “Whoever wants to mess with Egypt and ruin it, has to do away with me first.”
Referencing the mass protests that unseated former president Hosni Mubarak during the 2011 Arab Spring, he said: “Be warned. What happened seven or eight years ago, will not happen again in Egypt… What didn’t work then, will not work now.”
The UN has raised concerns over the “climate of intimidation” in the run-up to the election, citing arrests, torture of detainees and media silencing. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein said in a report that said “potential candidates have allegedly been pressured to withdraw.”


One year on, daily ‘stop genocide’ protests target Israel’s embassy in Korea

A collage of photos show daily one-person rallies held by People in Solidarity with Palestinians in front of Israeli embassy.
Updated 5 sec ago
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One year on, daily ‘stop genocide’ protests target Israel’s embassy in Korea

  • South Korea observes significant growth in the Palestine solidarity movement— Embassy protests held by members of over 200 Korean civil society organizations

SEOUL: Across from the Israeli embassy in Seoul, Lee Hyun-ah was holding a big red banner, as she stood in a lone daily protest calling for an end to Israel’s onslaught, massacres, and occupation of Palestine.
The banner, with writing in Korean, Arabic, and bold English letters reading “Stop Genocide Against Palestinians,” has appeared in front of the embassy every workday since November last year, when UN experts and international rights groups began warning that Israel’s mass killings in the Gaza Strip were unfolding into a genocidal campaign.
The one-person protests have been organized by Urgent Action by Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine — also known as People in Solidarity with Palestinians — a coalition of 226 South Korean civil society organizations whose members have been volunteering to rally on specific days.
Lee, a 20-year-old student in Seoul, was taking part for the first time.
“I finally found the courage and decided to participate,” she told Arab News, recalling how she began to learn about the decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine only last year.
“I was appalled. There are fundamental virtues, ethics, and values in this world. I cannot believe one group can just attack, invade, and commit genocide. I felt compelled to act.”
Lee’s protest on Monday was the 267th lone demonstration held by Urgent Action in front of the Seoul embassy.
The coalition was established in October 2023, soon after Israel launched its war on Gaza, in which its military has since killed over 44,000 people and injured more than 100,000. The real death toll is believed to be much higher, with estimates by medical journal The Lancet indicating that, as of July, it could be more than 186,000.
The Korean civil society coalition, which includes BDS Korea — a group affiliated with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — has also been organizing mass protests, film screenings, and boycott campaigns tailored specifically for South Korea.
Their efforts to raise awareness are bearing fruit, as the number of people joining is rapidly increasing. From just a handful of activists, the movement has grown significantly, with over 2,000 people participating in its Palestine solidarity rally last month.
“Our group was very small. It was about five to seven people working together. There were limitations on what we could do because it was so small,” BDS Korea leader Deng Ya-ping told Arab News.
“Before October 2023, there were very few organizations in South Korea that were acting in solidarity with Palestine ... But after forming People in Solidarity with Palestinians, more civic groups joined, and individuals unrelated to any organization have started participating as well.”
The group is advocating for a change in the South Korean government’s stance on Israel’s occupation and demanding that it stop Korean companies from selling weapons to the Israeli military.
“In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must halt its military occupation and that all nations have a responsibility to make Israel comply. So, the Korean government is also responsible ... the most obvious way to do that is to ban arms trade. That is the biggest request we have toward the Korean government,” Deng said.
“Other than that, Korea is a part of the UN Security Council. Korea voted in favor of the resolution that the US vetoed, which called for an end to the genocide and a ceasefire. Therefore, Korea should act accordingly, pressuring Israel to stop.”
The sentiment that the South Korean government is not doing enough is common among those joining Seoul protests — as is their resolve to persist, even when the embassy staff try to stop them.
While the embassy denies the claims, one of the protesters, Lee S., who has been involved in the Palestine solidarity movement since 2016, recalled its attempts to harass them.
“Sometimes embassy workers would come out during our protests to complain or try to provoke physical confrontations. But we never got into the fights. And they would systematically tear down our posters,” Lee said.
“But the South Korean civil society will continue to speak out loudly until the genocide in Gaza ends. We will not stay silent.”


Presidential aide says Ukraine ready to host second peace summit soon

Updated 19 min 41 sec ago
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Presidential aide says Ukraine ready to host second peace summit soon

  • Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June
  • “Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed,” Yermak said

KYIV: Ukraine is ready to host a second global summit aimed at ending Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Thursday, local media outlets reported.
Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June, bringing together over 90 countries to draft a resolution based on Ukraine’s proposed conditions to end the war.
However, Russia was not invited to that summit and dismissed its deliberations as meaningless without Moscow’s participation. It has also said it would not take part in any follow-up summit organized by Ukraine.
“Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed, which will become the basis for the Second Peace Summit, and Ukraine is ready to hold it in the near future,” Yermak told a conference, according to Ukrainian media.
China also stayed away from the June summit, while other major non-Western powers including India, Saudi Arabia and Mexico withheld their signatures from the summit communique, underlining the diplomatic challenge Kyiv faces in marshalling broader global support for its cause beyond its Western allies.
Yermak’s comments came as Russian forces continue to make steady territorial gains in eastern Ukraine while also pounding energy infrastructure in Ukrainian cities and towns.
Kyiv and its European allies are also waiting to see how US President-elect Donald Trump will handle the Ukraine issue. He has criticized the scale of US financial and military support for Ukraine and has said he could end the war in a day, without saying how.


UK MP asks for new law protecting faiths amid surge in Islamophobia

Updated 30 min 21 sec ago
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UK MP asks for new law protecting faiths amid surge in Islamophobia

  • Tahir Ali calls for legislation protecting ‘religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions’
  • Move comes during Islamophobia Awareness Month, with Britain seeing highest rates of anti-Muslim prejudice in 14 years

LONDON: A Labour MP has asked the British government for a new law to protect “religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions” from “desecration.”

Tahir Ali, MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, spoke during Prime Minister’s Questions in Westminster, bringing into focus issues around hate crimes against the UK’s Muslim communities as part of Islamophobia Awareness Month.

Addressing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ali said: “Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning the desecration of religious texts, including the Qur’an, despite opposition from the previous government.”

He added: “Acts of such mindless desecration only serve to fuel division and hatred within our society. Will the prime minister commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions?”

Starmer did not rule out the possibility of new legislation, saying: “I agree that desecration is awful and should be condemned across the House. We are, as I said before, committed to tackling all forms of hatred and division, including Islamophobia in all its forms.”

After the session, Ali wrote on X: “As November marks Islamophobia Awareness Month, it is vital the Government takes clear and measurable steps to prevent acts that fuel hatred in society.”

The UK has seen a rise in reported cases of anti-Muslim prejudice in recent years, exacerbated by the Gaza war. 

Since Oct. 7, 2023, the charity Tell Mama UK has recorded 4,971 incidents of anti-Muslim hate, the highest number in 14 years.


Kyiv says Russian forces shot dead five captured soldiers

Updated 34 min 20 sec ago
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Kyiv says Russian forces shot dead five captured soldiers

  • Prosecutors said the incident had taken place on November 24 near the village of Novodarivka
  • There was no immediate response to the accusations from Moscow

KYIV: Kyiv said on Thursday that Russian forces had shot dead five Ukrainian servicemen who had surrendered in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, marking the latest war crimes allegations levied against Moscow.
Both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other’s armies of committing atrocities since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Prosecutors said the incident had taken place on November 24 near the village of Novodarivka in the Pologiv district of the Zaporizhzhia region.
“Servicemen of the Russian armed forces shot dead five Ukrainian defenders out of six who had been taken prisoner,” a statement read.
There was no immediate response to the accusations from Moscow, which claimed to have annexed Zaporizhzhia along with three other partially occupied Ukrainian territories in late 2022.
Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said he had contacted the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over the allegations.
Kyiv earlier this month accused Russian forces of killing five other surrendered soldiers, this time in the eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow also claims.
The UN has documented “numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary execution of both Russian and Ukrainian POWs,” a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office told AFP last year.


UK net migration hit record of more than 900,000 in 2023

Updated 28 November 2024
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UK net migration hit record of more than 900,000 in 2023

  • Immigration is a big political issue in Britain where voters worry public services cannot cope with immigrants
  • Current Labour government says it wants to reduce immigration numbers by training workers to fill skills gaps

LONDON: Net migration to Britain hit a record of more than 900,000 in 2023, much higher than original estimates, although tougher visa rules have started to reduce the number of arrivals, official data showed.

Immigration is a big political issue in Britain, where voters worry that already stretched public services cannot cope with such large numbers arriving, but sectors such as health care say they cannot function without foreign workers.

Data from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday showed net migration of 906,000 for the year to the end of June 2023, revised up from the previous estimate of 740,000, in what the ONS described as “unprecedented levels” since 2021.

Numbers did fall 20 percent from the record high to 728,000 for the year to the end of June 2024, the ONS said, driven by declining numbers of dependents coming with those on study visas after the rules were changed.

The jump to a record level in 2023 came under the previous Conservative government’s watch. It had promised to cut immigration and introduced measures to curb students and care workers bringing in family members.

The current Labour government, elected in July, has also said it wants to reduce numbers by training workers to fill skills gaps.

The big jump to 2023 numbers was attributed to more available data, more information on Ukraine visas and improvements to how it estimates migration, the ONS said.

High levels of legal migration in 2016 was one of the driving forces behind Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

While post-Brexit changes to visas saw a sharp drop in the number of European Union migrants to Britain, new work visa rules led to a surge in immigration from India, Nigeria and Pakistan, often to fill health and social care vacancies.