Posted on 09/19/2013 5:05:57 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
A French national has died in police custody in Cairo and two Canadians have begun a hunger strike to protest at their month-long detention amid a rising tide of xenophobia and nationalist fervour in Egypt.
Elsewhere, two Syrian refugees were killed by Egyptian coastguards while trying to flee the country by boat, while a Swiss national has been arrested on suspicion of espionage after being caught in possession of a toy plane.
Frenchman Eric Lang, 49, a teacher, was beaten to death by fellow inmates in a Cairo police station last Friday. A longterm Cairo resident, Lang had been held by the police since 6 September after failing to produce valid residency papers.
News of Lang's murder came as two Canadians announced a hunger strike to protest against their continued incarceration without charge in an Egyptian prison. John Greyson, a renowned Canadian documentary film-maker, and his companion Tarek Loubani, a doctor, were arrested during the unrest in Cairo on 15 August after asking at a police station for directions, according to friends.
While the precise circumstances surrounding their and Lang's arrests are unknown, their treatment follows a spike in xenophobia and nationalism in Egypt that was provoked by the overthrow of Morsi in early July.
Suspicion of foreigners is by no means unprecedented in Egypt, but it has heightened this summer as Egypt's new government and its backers across state and private media began to demonise Morsi and his allies as anti-Egyptian terrorists backed by an unlikely range of foreigners, from Hamas to Barack Obama.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Arab Spring!
The gift that keeps on taking.
“Beaten to death by fellow inmates.” I wonder what that was about?
It appears the Egypt has just “shot itself in the foot” as far as tourist income goes... or, at this stage of events, perhaps “shot itself in the other foot”, too!
“If they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time then it’s a different story. “
Anywhere in the middle east would be the wrong place. Now and the indeterminate future would be the wrong time. If you want to vacation, stay home and see your local museums.
Why would any non-moslem ever voluntarily go to a moslem country (except heavily armed as part of an invasion force)?
It’s like suicide by islam.
These animals are commanded to kill us!
Egypt was finished with the removal of Mubarak and despite the utopian fantasies about a secular Egypt, its not gonna happen in any meaningful way.
Maybe being locked up with savages had something to do with it.
Islamism, Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood are anti-nationalism as they want an international caliphate. As a reaction, Egyptian nationalism has come back with a roar against the people, who tried to destroy Egypt.
Glad we got to see Egypt when we did. I wouldn’t go back on a bet.
That would probably do it.
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