Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Monem arrest timeline


You might have heard about the arrest of Egyptian blogger Abdol Monem Mahmoud, since this particular story was being reported while it was happening some conflicting/confusing information got disseminated, this is my attempt to piece together the sequence of events.
if you spot any mistakes please post corrections. I can probably find out exact time that each of these events happened, but eh too lazy, the order is the important thing
  1. fri 13 feb - dawn : state security arrests several muslim brotherhood members
  2. Monem receives a phone call from his mother informing him that special forces raided their alexandria home and he is wanted
  3. fri 13 feb - early morning: Monem decides to turn himself in in order to spare his parents any hardships
  4. in preparation for his arrest monem sends emails and SMSs informing people he is about to turn himself in and posts a couple of posts on his blog that can be used as a seed for a campaign
  5. fri 13 feb - morning: not able to reach Monem bloggers assume he already turned himself in and got arrested
  6. Monem contacts his lawyers who tell him to wait until they find out more details
  7. fri 13 feb - noon: lawyers find out there is no legal arrest warrant and advice monem not to turn himself in
  8. fri 13 feb - afternoon: news that Monem is still free and on the run reaches the blogosphere
  9. Monem hears his father's health is deteriorating and he needs to be hospitalized, monem is now confused and starts contemplating hiding for a longish period
  10. fri 13 feb - evening: Monem shoots two videos, one about his father's health that gets posted on youtube (is this the first time a wanted political prisoner on the run posts videos on youtube? I'm sure state security appreciated this touch), the other is an interview with Al Hewar TV (his current employer)
  11. sun 15 - dawn: Monem judging that since there are no legal arrest warrants he is technically allowed to travel and decides to try and leave the country on a pre-shceduled business trip
  12. Monem passes passport control and boards the plane but gets arrested before plane takes off
  13. sun 15 - afternoon: hours later Monem shows up in front of shobra prosecutor is charged with silly charges that can put him in jail for a very long time, Monem will spend 15 days in custody then appear before the prosecutor again, prosecutor will most probably send him back to jail when th 15 days are over. this can go on for 6 months (enough time to cook up a good anti-terrorism law?). his arrest is now legal (or as legal as it gets in the land of the pharaohs)
  14. mon 16: Link.net blocks ikhwanweb.info website
  15. wed 18: Monem's father hospitalized and in intensive care

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