Archive for security directorate

Interior Ministry reshuffles internal leadership

by admin
November 12th, 2012

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin approved a reshuffle involving several ministry leaders, including deputies, security directorate heads and criminal investigation departments, according to a statement Monday from Major General Hani Abdel Lateef.

Lateef, who is head of the ministry’s general administration of information and relations, said the reshuffle is meant to improve security forces’ performance and efficiency in meeting citizens’ demands.

In the statement, Abdel Lateef said the reshuffle also included the establishment of new administrations and sectors, such as a human rights sector and a social administration.

The reshuffle saw Major General Khaled Ghoraba appointed as the minister’s deputy for the social security sector. Ghoraba was previously the Alexandria security chief.

Activists claim Ghoraba was in charge of suppressing protests in Mahalla al-Kobra in 2008 and other protests prior to the 2011 revolution. He was also Alexandria’s police chief when Khaled Saeed was killed.

Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Update: North Sinai security director fired after attack on policemen

by admin
November 4th, 2012

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin dismissed the head of the security directorate in North Sinai, Major General Ahmed Bakr,* on Sunday and replaced him with his deputy Ahmed Bashady, one day after three policemen were shot dead by unknown armed men in Arish.

Gamal Eddin visited the site of the shootings on Sunday, and Spokesperson for the Armed Forces Ahmed Mohamed Ali said Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Sinai on a surprise visit the same day to check security there firsthand and discuss recent developments with the governor.

Both the defense and interior ministers also held a meeting Sunday in North Sinai to discuss the security situation.

Three policemen were killed and a fourth injured in an armed attack on a police car in Arish on Saturday. Security sources said unknown armed men attacked the car and shot fire at the passengers inside before fleeing. The reason for the attack was not clear.

Policeman had protested that they were not properly equipped, blocking the road between Arish and Rafah, Reuters reported.

Unknown armed men also attacked a police station in Nakhl City on Friday to free an imprisoned relative.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

*Correction: An earlier version of this article listed Bakr's position as governor of North Sinai.

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Unrest in North Sinai: roads blockaded, attempts to occupy governorate building

by admin
November 3rd, 2012

Policemen held a protest on Saturday evening in front of North Sinai's Arish Security Directorate, saying that they have been left without protection to face militants' attacks. A group escalated the protest by blocking the Arish-Rafah road as well as a web of other critical roads in the peninsula. 

Three policemen were killed earlier on Saturday and three others were wounded in an attack by gunmen on a police patrol in Arish. Earlier in August, 16 policemen were shot dead by armed assailants in a checkpoint near Rafah. 

Protesters further threatened to closing all other roads leading to the city of Arish if their demands are not met. They say they are demanding the rights of their deceased colleagues and their right to self-defense. 

The official page of the Armed Forces' spokesperson said that the head of the security directorate has been negotiating with protesters to go back to their work. The page also said that those blocking roads are mostly Bedouins protesting the sentencing of their relatives to jail terms in absentia.

Also in Arish, a group of revolutionary youth staged a gathering by the premises of the North Sinai governorate, late on Saturday. "The revolutionaries of Sinai are controlling the building of the governorate. They plan to choose a governor from among their ranks, until a new governor is elected," wrote activist Mosaad Abul Fajr on his Twitter account today. 

The news was confirmed by activists contacted by Egypt Independent.  The protesters' gathering outside the building was ongoing as of 10.45 pm. 

Abu Fajr added that the people of Sinai demand the firing of the current governor and the establishment of a council made of 25 revolutionaries to manage the govenorate until a new governor is elected. 

The Sinai activist, once a prisoner of conscience during the toppled Mubarak regime, slammed President Mohamed Morsy for mismanaging the peninsula. "Sinai has taken matters in its own hands," he told a television channel. 

Abdel Fattah Harhour, the current governor, was appointed by Morsy and is a former general. The vice-governor, Adel Qatamesh, is a Muslim Brotherhood member

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Salafis in Minya demand protection of Muslim convert

by admin
October 30th, 2012

Dozens of Salafis gathered Tuesday evening outside the Malawy Police Station in Minya Governorate to demand the protection of a Coptic teenager who converted to Islam few days ago as well as a number of Muslim families who were allegedly threatened.

Minya Security Directorate head Mamdouh Meqalled received a telephone call from Major General Essam Mehrez in south Minya reporting the incident. Mehrez said he met with a number of protesters and encouraged them to remain calm.

April 6 Youth Movement member Mohamed Farouk said dozens gathered outside the police station after a number of Copts reportedly threatened three Muslim families who helped with the conversion.

Private newspaper Youm7 said on 24 October that a Coptic man reported his 14-year old daughter missing. He said that his daughter left for school as usual in the morning but he received an anonymous phone call two hours after her departure saying she was not in school.

He told Youm7 that prior to her disappearance, he had received another phone call telling him to "take care" of his children.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
 

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Fire destroys 400 shops, injures four in Marsa Matrouh

by admin
October 28th, 2012

A fire broke out on Sunday morning in Marsa Matrouh's Libya Market northwest of Cairo.

The Security Directorate and Matrouh's armed forces are still fighting the fire, which has so far destroyed 400 shops in the governorate's pivotal commercial center.

Four have been injured so far and sent to the hospital, according to the Egyptian official news agency.

The Civil Defense Authority's initial report claimed that the fire was sparked by a short in an electric wire, while witnesses alleged that a shop owner was burning some paper waste, and those flames then spread.

This is the second fire of this scale to hit the governorate. In February, a devestating fire broke out in Siwa, devestating 50 acres of arable land.

Edited translation from MENA

 

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Alexandria security says cannot secure Sunday football match

by admin
September 6th, 2012

The Alexandria Security Directorate said it would be unable to secure football matches at Borg al-Arab Stadium, after the interior and sports ministers made the decision to hold the first match of the Egyptian Super Cup there on Sunday, according to a report in the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper.

No final decision on the match had been made as of Thursday night.

Khaled Gharaba, head of the security directorate, has demanded that Egyptian Super Cup games — all of which are scheduled to be played at the Alexandria stadium — be called off, fearing a repeat of recent sports-related violence. The Ultras Ahlawy, a group Ahly Club supporters, stormed the headquarters of the Egyptian Football Association in Cairo Wednesday. They were protesting the league’s decision to resume play before the perpetrators of a deadly stadium riot in Port Said this February are judged in court.

Football association matches have been delayed since the Port Said Stadium violence, which left 74 dead and hundreds injured. Security bodies still worry that the threat of fans storming stadiums will make games difficult to secure.

Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin and Sports Minister Al-Emary Farouq held an emergency meeting with club representatives Thursday to discuss the directorate’s stance on securing the games.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Fiji peacekeepers in Sinai released

by admin
May 8th, 2012

Bedouins in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula briefly held 10 Fijian members of a multinational peacekeeping force on Monday and demanded Egypt free fellow tribesmen from prison, Egyptian security sources said.

The peacekeepers — from the Multinational Force and Observers — were briefly detained in Egypt's Sinai, where the security situation has deteriorated since a popular uprising ousted the country's president more than a year ago, throwing the security apparatus into disarray.

"Bedouins told the MFO members who were driving by that the main road was closed. They led them to an unknown area and refused to let them leave," said one security source in North Sinai's Security Directorate. Other security sources confirmed that account.

It was unclear precisely how long the peacekeepers had been held, however, and why the tribesmen had released them.

The MFO could not be immediately reached for comment, while state TV and the state news agency MENA denied that the incident had taken place.

MENA cited its own security source as saying that the troops had in fact got lost but had later found their way home without any problems.

In March, armed Bedouin surrounded a camp belonging to the MFO mission for eight days before lifting the siege. That incident was also a bid to pressure Egyptian authorities into releasing tribesmen from jail.

The MFO mission was set up as part of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel which returned the Sinai to Egyptian control. The force includes military staff from 12 countries including the United States, Colombia, France and Uruguay, the MFO website said.

Earlier on Monday, MENA said that Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr had met with MFO Director-General David Satterfield to discuss the role of the organization in overseeing implementation of the peace treaty.

"The foreign minister assured Egypt's support for the multinational peacekeeping force and its provision of a secure environment for it, [and of] Egypt's appreciation for the big role that the force's members are performing," MENA cited a ministry spokesperson as saying earlier in the day.

Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

14 arrested following clashes with police in Assiut

by admin
April 3rd, 2012

Police authorities in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Assiut have arrested 14 protesters, following clashes outside the local security directorate that police said left one officer and five security agents injured.

The protesters were demanding the removal of Assiut’s chief of police investigators, Mohamed Essamy, accusing him of abusing his powers for personal benefit.

Assiut security chief Mohamed Ibrahim, however, said those arrested were registered criminals, adding that they had pelted the security directorate’s building with stones.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)