Yesterday I went to the "association for human rights legal aid "(AHRLA), there were more than 20 blogger and some lawyers to coordinate a campaign against torture.

The meeting was divided into two parts I didn’t have the chance to attend the first part which was according to 3arabawy some tips and advices from veteran lawyers (Dr Ahmed Saif &Mr. Tarek Khater )to the participant bloggers about the press law, loopholes the government uses in prosecuting dissidents, how police officers hide the torture marks, how to legally and journalistically document a torture case.

The second part "which I attended" was a closed discussion about how to activate bloggers efforts against torture, & how to benefit from past bloggers experiences in working against torture.

Some suggestions were brought up during the meeting "I copied them from GEMYHOoOD &3arabawy you know how my memory sucks"

1- Making a list of all the lawyers and journalists "who are related to human rights" and giving it to all the bloggers, in case of witnessing or suffering from any abuse, bloggers will contact them to report the abuse

2- Scheduling a workshop to teach the bloggers, how to protect their privacy from governmental hackers.

3- A simple web page under the supervision of professional lawyers will be set to explain to fellow citizens how to deal with the police.

4- Volunteers are needed to update and redevelop the Torture in Egypt site.

5- Scheduling a workshop to teach interested bloggers; how to make banners and video clips and other art work to help the campaign.

6- A "Torture in Egypt Wikipedia" was suggested, including the names, photos and cases of the police officers involved in torture.

7- Human rights activists were advised to take video testimonies with written ones from the torture victims to prove the abuse.

8- A campaign to call for the right of the detainee to make a phone call when taken to custody was suggested.

9- More publicity is needed for the blogsphere among the citizens.

10- Offline campaigns are very important, bloggers should participate in street politics, an easy to read booklet about human rights should be distributed among fellow citizens.

11- An active involvement in the coming 5th Cairo Conference’s anti-torture forum was suggested.

12- Certain celebrations were marked for more action "Egyptian police day 25/2" &" the international day against torture 26/6".

13- Evaluation of previous "Anti torture" campaigns, With the Hadayeq el-Qobba State Security torturer as a case study.

14- An email group will be set to include those who attended the meeting and the other bloggers who like to help but couldn't come.

15- Finally we were all advised to report this meeting in our blogs.


The meeting was cool and I was glad to see every single person there. It's great when you have the chance to see people who share with you the same ideas about making Egypt a better place!


Up Dated:

If you are interested in the campaign and you want to help
Feel free to come at the AHRLA residence "Jakobian Building" on next Saturday at 5 pm.