Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy

ECCD Statement: Commemorating the Massacres of Peaceful Protesters to the Military Coup in Egypt

Commemorating the Massacres of Peaceful Protesters to the Military Coup in Egypt:
Rabaa and El-Nahda squares August 14 2013, Nasr City July 27 2013

August 7 2014
Ottawa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD) is holding a series of events to honour those who lost their lives while peacefully camping in two open squares to protest the military take-over of President Mohamed Morsi and his government under the orders of Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sissi, July 3rd 2013.

Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy also honours the journalists who were deliberately targeted while covering the tragic events unfolding at Rabae and El-Nahda camps and other protests.

List of events commemorating Resilience Day, August 14th 2013:
Toronto
When: Saturday August 16th, 2:00 pm -5:00 pm
Where: Dundas Square, Toronto, (Yonge and Dundas)
Contact Person: Yasmeen Youssef (647-287-5010)

Vancouver
When: Saturday August 9th, 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm, Candle Vigil
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
Contact Person: Tarek Ramadan (604-721-4555)

Calgary
When: Thursday August 14th, 6:00 pm-9:00 pm
Where: Calgary City Hall, 800 Macleod Trail Southeast
Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/440557646086910/
Contact Person: Mohamed Hassanin (403-470-3687)

Ottawa
When: Thursday, August 14, 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Where: Andrew Haydon Park, 3169 Carling Avenue, (Stage) 4:00pm - 8:00pm
Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/243588912518653/
Contact Person: Sherif ElKholy (613-295-3994)

Montreal
When: Friday August 15th, 5:30 pm
Where: Rally from Place Emilie Gamelin, Montréal, Corner Berri & Maisonneuve - Metro Berri UQAM to Old Port of Montreal at

When: Sunday August 17th, 3:00 pm
Where: Rally from Israeli Consulate to Egyptian Consulate in Montreal, at 3:00 pm

Contact Person: Ashraf Fouad (514-984-3235)

Background Information
On June 30 2013, exactly one year after Mohamed Morsi was democratically elected as president, large numbers of disenchanted people gathered in Tahrir square demanding the departure of Morsi. Three days later, General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, at the head of the armed forces forcefully deposed Morsi under the pretext of responding to the call of the people.
Supporters of the deposed president replicated by occupying two squares — Rabaa al-Adawiya in Nasr city, Cario and al-Nahda in Giza — to protest his ouster, vowing to remain until Morsi was reinstated.
On July 27, 2013 about 100 protesters gathered in Nasr City, were mowed down by special police forces under the pretext that they were attacking police headquarters. Political analyst Larbi Sadiqi writes ‘July 27, 2013 will go down in the annals of history as an infamous day not dissimilar to June 4, 1989, when the Chinese government used disproportionate force in Tiananmen Square, snuffing out a peaceful protest with violence’. And he rightly predicted that this was just the beginning as Internal and external reconciliation attempts failed to resolve the crisis peacefully.
On 14 August 2013 Egyptian security forces raided the two camps of protesters in what was described by Human Rights Watch as the most serious incident of mass unlawful killings in modern Egyptian history.
By 8:00 the smaller Al-Nahda camp — near Cairo University in Giza — was cleared of protesters, but it took about 12 hours for police to take control of the main sit-in site near the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque that has served as the epicenter of the pro-Morsi campaign. The police in riot gear used tear gas, rubber bullets, birdshot and live ammunition to disperse the protesters while being supported by bulldozers to clear barricades and covered by armored vehicles and snipers on rooftops.
According to the Egyptian Health Ministry, 638 people were killed on 14 August, of which 595 were civilians and 43 police officers, with at least 3,994 injured. The Muslim Brotherhood and National Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy (NCSL) claimed that number of deaths from the Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque sit-in alone at some 2,600.
Among the dead was Asmaa, 17 the daughter of Mohamed el-Beltagy, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptian state television aired images purporting to show weapons confiscated from the sit-in protester's camps, including automatic rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. However, various journalists and news agencies discredited these claims as multiple independent journalists had visited and inspected the camps for weapons prior to the attacks, finding none of the purported weapons caches.
During the dispersal, journalists covering the event were targeted. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, it was the deadliest day for journalists in Egypt since the organization began keeping records in 1992. Veteran Sky News camera operator Michael Deane, 61, was killed although he was wearing a helmet that clearly identified him as a journalist. Also killed was Egyptian journalist Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, 26, working for Gulf News publication XPRESS newspaper,and Egyptian reporter Ahmed Abdel Gawad, who was with the Al-Akhbar state-run newspaper and was an editorial manager for the Muslim Brotherhood television satellite channel Misr 25, as well as Rassd News Network (RNN) photojournalist Mosab El-Shami. Among the journalists most seriously injured were Al-Wataneditor Tariq Abbas, who was shot in the face, and Al-Masry Al-Youm photojournalist Alaa al-Qamhawy, who was shot in the foot. Among the detained journalists were Al-Jazeera journalist Abdullah al-Shami and Al Jazeera Media Network's Mubasher Misr photographers Emad Eddin Al-Sayed and Abdulrahman Al-Mowahhed-Bellah, and Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt) journalist Radwa Al-Selawi.
On 10 December 2013, thirteen Egyptian and international human rights organizations urged Cairo's interim authorities to probe the mass killing of protesters in the capital on 14 August. To this day, there has been no independent investigation.

References:
"Egypt: Security Forces Used Excessive Lethal Force". Human Rights Watch. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
"Global condemnation of Egypt crackdown". Al Jazeera. 15 August 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013
"Charred bodies lie in Cairo mosque, unrecognized by Egyptian state". Al-Ahram. 15 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.

More Information:
Nasr City: El Sisi's Tiananmen?
Abdel Fattah El Sisi, the chief of the Egyptian military, has made two costly miscalculations By Larbi Sadiki.
Last Modified: 28 Jul 2013 15:18
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/07/2013728115713723250.html

Who is Egypt Rabaa-Al-Adwaya
By Ramsy Baroudi
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/08/24/Who-is-Egypt-s-Rabaa-al-Adawiya-.html

The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy

About ECCD: Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD) is a politically independent, non-affiliated pan Canadian organization with chapters in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, Kingston, and St. John, which advocates for democracy and human rights in Egypt.

For more information:
www.eccd.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Samaa Elibyari: +1 (514) 288-8609
Ehab Lotayef: +1 (514) 941-9792

Commemorate August 14th of every year as Resilience Day: an initiative of the ECCD

Resilience Day
يوم الصمود

Commemorate August 14th of every year as Resilience Day

an initiative of the Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy

The 14th of August 2013, Rabaa square witnessed the worst massacre in Egyptian modern history. It also witnessed extraordinary resilience and perseverance by the protestors who stood fast in the face of the atrocities of the military and the coup thugs.

This is a call to all Egyptians to mark the 14th of August of every year as "Resilience Day" to remember the bravery and resilience of the peaceful protestors whose blood was shed for no reason other than that they stood up for justice.

Let all Egyptians, worldwide, commemorate "Resilience Day" by holding demonstrations and activities to remind the world of the horrendous crimes that were committed that day, so that its memory lives forever in the conscience of the human race.

Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD)

ECCD Statement on the Anniversary of Egypt's Bloody Coup of July 2013

ECCD Statement on the Anniversary of Egypt's Bloody Coup of July 2013

July 2 2014
Ottawa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 3rd marks the first anniversary of the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. The past year has been a nightmare, thousands died in the Rabaa and Alnadha massacres, the worst incidents of repressive violence in modern Egyptian history. Dissent has been crushed, including mass killings, jailing of journalists, rape and torture of detainees, and mass death sentencing against regime opponents. Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, the coup leader, stepped down from his post as the minister of defense and installed himself as president in an ‘election’ where he received 97 per cent of the low voter turnout.

Canadian Citizen Mohamed Fahmy received a seven year sentence for being Aljazeera Bureau Chief for three months prior to his unlawful imprisonment. The verdict and the bizarre trial that preceded it sparked international outrage, while Canada stayed silent. Fahmy chose not to appeal his verdict as it would be entertaining “ their theatrical performance aka "trial", as he recently tweeted. Khaled Al-Qazzaz, Canadian resident and husband of Canadian born wife Sarah Attia, has been jailed without a charge for a full year.

Canada was the first major western country to call what happened in Egypt on July 3rd 2013 a coup. Shortly after, and in an incredible about face, the Conservative government refused to condemn the anti-democratic coup in Egypt. Mr. Baird, Canada’s foreign minister, visited Egypt prior to the staged presidential election. "Mr. Baird endorsed an illegitimate regime of terror", said Samaa Elibyari, a member of the Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD). Incredibly Canada became one of the first Western countries to support El-Sisi’s self-installation to presidency and described it as “a key step along Egypt’s path to democracy.”, as Minister Baird commented on the sham presidential election.

“The Conservative government has betrayed its long standing commitment to supporting democracy, human rights, and freedom of the press”, said Ehab Lotayef, the Chairman of ECCD. Mr. Baird has ignored all ECCD requests for a meeting to disucuss Canada’s foreign policy in Egypt, a position that Mr. Lotayef perceives to “undermine Canadian citizens’ right to directly communicate their concerns to their elected officials.”

On the anniversary of the bloodiest coup in Egypt’s history, The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy calls upon the Conservative government and our elected officials to discontinue endorsing general El-sisi and the Military Junta’s regime of terror. ECCD calls upon the government to forcefully demand an immediate restoration of true civilian democracy, the revocation of all politically motivated jail sentences, and the immediate release of Mohamed Fahmy, Khaled Al-Qazzaz, and all the Egyptian and foreign nationals unlawfully jailed in the most horrific conditions in Egyptian prisons.

The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy

For more information:
www.eccd.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Samaa Elibyari: +1 (514) 288-8609
Ehab Lotayef: +1 (514) 941-9792

ECCD Rejects Mr. Baird's Position Regarding the Egyptian Elections

ECCD Rejects Mr. Baird's Position Regarding the Egyptian Elections

June 5 2014
Ottawa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

It is with great disappointment that we see our Canadian government turn a blind eye to the facts and call a, now fulfilled, military coup d'etat a democratic process.

The so called Egyptian Presidential Elections were nothing but a staged coronation of the leader of the military coup. Mr. Baird knows this and he even acknowledges it in his statement when he expenses Canada's commitment to support "Egypt in making a peaceful and meaningful transition to democracy, based on respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law", acknowledging that there is no meaningful democracy in Egypt.

We urge Mr. Baird and the Canadian Government to call a spade a spade and to stand beside the Egyptian people in a practical and concrete manner by confronting the coup dictatorship till it falls and till democracy returns to Egypt.

The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy

For more information:
www.eccd.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Samaa Elibyari: +1 (514) 288-8609
Ehab Lotayef: +1 (514) 941-9792

ECCD Statement on June 7th Rally Against Farcical Elections in Egypt

ECCD Statement on June 7th Rally Against Farcical Elections in Egypt

June 3 2014
Ottawa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD) will hold a rally this Saturday, June 7th to protest the recent farcical elections and Minister Baird’s recent statements in support of the field marshal who led the military coup of July 3rd 2013. Canadian Egyptians and Democracy supporters from Ottawa, Kingston, and Montreal will rally in front of the Parliament in Ottawa.

The Coup appointed government called for a presidential election on May 26th 2014. The majority of Egyptians boycotted the election in spite of unprecedented threats to fine those who failed to vote. The election took place amid brutal crackdown on virtually any form of dissent. Egypt’s judiciary has, in recent months, sentenced 700 activists to death in farcical mass trials. More than a dozen journalists, including Canadian Mohammad Fahmy, remain in jail.

“Back in 2012, Morsi won by 51% of the votes. In this 2014 farce elections, Sisi won by 97%. Can Mr. Baird guess which one was a democratic process?” asked Mr. Elkholy, one of the rally organizers.

Canada is one of the few major democracies that initially called Egypt’s political convulsion on July 3rd 2013 for what it was: A military coup that deposed Mohammed Morsi, a duly elected president. In a complete about face, Mr. Baird’s said in a recent statement that the election was “a key step along Egypt’s path to democracy.” “We look forward” to confirmation of preliminary results”, Mr. Baird added. The preliminary results indicate that the former field marshal who led last July’s military coup and, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has been elected president. Mr. Baird is apparently “encouraged” by the election of a military general who stated that “it will take Egypt 25 years to become a democracy”.

What: Rally to protest the recent farcical elections and Minister Baird’s recent statements
Who: The Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD)
When: Saturday June 7th – 4:00 to 6:00 pm
Where: The Parliament Hill - Wellington Street - Ottawa
Similar protests against the referendum are scheduled to take place in other Canadian cities.

For more information:
www.eccd.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sherif Elkjoly: +1 (613) 295-3994

More Articles...