Tearing my eyes away from the Liveblogs wasn't easy, but perhaps like you, I've been worrying in the back of my mind about Egypt. After all that angst, are the youth hanging in there? Is the military living up to its promises? What's going on with the Muslim Brotherhood? Have all the dissidents been released?
So there is a lot of information out there, much of it fast-breaking, and I ended up having to leave out news about the economy and much of the Libyan/Egyptian connection, but I do have some interesting updates.
Just a few human interest tidbits before I get onto the main subject areas:
Not everyone is accounted for, still.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information estimated last week that 40 to 50 men were missing. But a list the group provided included almost a dozen who had since been released by authorities and returned to their families. Executive Director Gamal Eid said many other families probably haven't contacted his organization to report a missing relative. The prime minister said Sunday that those being held would be released soon, but didn't address those whose whereabouts are unknown, Eid said.
Seventeen or more inmates have been killed and a number wounded at a prison in the Monufiya Governorate. Live bullets and tear gas have been used on the prisoners and they are without adequate food, water or electricity and without medical care or supplies. Prison authorities claim the inmates were attempting a mass break-out, but the prisoners deny this.
In addition, inmates at the al-Qatta al-Gadeed Prison have given the names of 43 prisoners to Amnesty International who they say have been killed inside the jail. "The bodies of some inmates from the prison were among 115 corpses from at least four prisons brought to Zenhom morgue in the Egyptian capital, most of which had bullet wounds in the head, neck and chest, said a forensic physician," according to Amnesty International.
Elsewhere, several thousand Christians demonstrated in the southern city of Assiut after a Coptic priest was found dead in his home, the victim of stab wounds.
Today, (Feb 23) SoS Hillary Clinton will respond to questions by Egyptian Youth, utilizing a web page created for the event by Masrawy.com The organization collected questions in Tahrir Square and has invited users to submit written and video questions to their website. So far, almost 6,500 questions have been filed.
In semi-breaking news, about 50 former police officers set fire to parts of the Ministry of the Interior building and torched cars around it after soldiers tried to get them to move their days long protest away from the building. The low-ranking police are demonstrating to get their old jobs back.
Read More