The Misdemeanors Court of Monsha`t Nasser issued a verdict today on the Doweyqa case by the imprisonment for five years for the first defendant, a deputy governor of Cairo governorate, and three years for seven defendants who are also employees of the State.

Yesterday before, 14th of May, after a violent clash between the police force and Al-Warraq Island`s inhabitants the police force applied a random arrest of 150 inhabitants from their homes.

Yesterday, Tuesday 4th of May, the inhabitants of Zerzara (Port Said governorate), which is an informal area, surprised by a huge police force that accompanied by bulldozers. The police force evacuated and demolished 15 poor homes, built of bricks and woods, without any prior notification, compensation or alternative housing.

After seven years of litigation, the Administrative Court made its decision on the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights v. Ministry of Social Solidarity. The Court ruled in favor of the ECHR and ordered the cancelation of the Ministry`s decision, which refuses to register the Center as an association. By that decision, the Court asserted its summary decision, which it made in 2004.

HTML clipboard On Thursday midnight El-Hurriah people have been released after a decision made by Port Said General Lawyer by releasing them.
 At the meantime, Mr. Ahmed Qazamel, the Chief of Port Said Lawyers Syndicate, withdrew his complaint against El- Hurriah people. Mr. Qazamel declared that, he did not expect that the police will use force with the people to break their sit-in. We believe that Mr. Qazamel withdrew his complaint after the pressure of the Center on all parts especially the General Lawyers Syndicate in Cairo to take an action against Mr. Qazamel behavior, yet ECHR insists on his demand by opening an investigation with Mr. Qazamel by the General Lawyers Syndicate.
 

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Yesterday, Tuesday 9/5/2006, at 3.30 p.m. the police arrested El-Hurriah dwellers who were protesting against the demolishing of their homes in Port Said governorate without providing them any alternative housing.
The people came into a sit-in in front of the lawyers syndicate in Port Said from 15 days ago, and this is the second time that the people come into a sit-in within about two months.
 

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Forced eviction and housing demolition, beaten, apportion in
Zenhom area (Cairo)

After the publishing of its critique report on the presidency election candidates programs for the year 2005 in Egypt, The Egyptian Center for Housing Rights took the responsibility to monitor President Mubarak`s performance regarding the housing issue in Egypt from housing rights prospective.

Egypt’s security department has pioneered a new police tradition that considers fact-finding missions as acts of espionage and the mere presence in the department’s premises as a sufficient reason for detention and torture.

Al-Qanater Misdemeanor Court has referred the officials of the administrative impoundment department in al-Qanater city council to the public prosecution to investigate with them in the charge of falsifying impoundment orders filed against the residents of the touristic division in the city of al-Qanater. The court`s decision came after the ECHR`s representative lawyer had submitted a challenge in the forged impoundment orders, explaining that the administrative impoundment was initiated on the residents` debts as a leasing value not as ownership installments.

A number of people who were deprived from obtaining low price housing units at Sonnorus city in al-Fayoum governorate decided to stage a hunger strike starting from the next Saturday 2/4/2000. The hunger strike is in protest of the corruption that casts the projects management, as a new list of beneficiaries was announced, which expels numerous number of those who were previously announced to obtain housing units.

Mr. Moustafa Kamel, Port Siad Governor, has accepted the solution proposed by the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights (ECHR) which had been made during a seminar held in the Bar Association HQ in Port Said. The proposed solution to the Zerzara crisis is that Port Said governor is to designate a land for building alternative housing for the Zerzara evicted cottages residents in Port Siad; and to provide such housing with other needed facilities, and the ECHR is to search for international fund to cover the building expenses.

In an important development in the case of Aziz Ezzat Land case, ECHR delegation, the basements residents of Aziz Ezat Land area met with the Giza responsible officials yesterday to discuss a solution for Aziz Ezat Land case. The meeting was attended by Dr. Fat.hy Saad Giza governor, Brigade Bahaa al-Sebaay Governorate General Secretary and Abdel Khaleq Azoz chief of North Giza District.

the situation of the basements tenants(described by ECHR as graves tenants) in Aziz Ezat Land by publishing about their problem in these governmental graves in several newspapers, the chief of municipality could not do nothing but to make use of a lady (with connections) called Hend and renown as (Om Adham) to force the tenants to sign a letter to the governor claiming that everything  is all right; they are not suffering from any health or environmental problem; they are satisfied with living in those good "graves" and would not like to move to other places; they have nothing to do with what was published in the yellow newspapers, the letter ends with a pray to God support the governor in his actions, which reminds us with the famed Arab comedian`s saying in one of his plays "Viva the Government"

About 1000 citizens demonstrated today in front of Port Sa`eed governorate building to protest against depriving 1800 persons from houses allocated for them within the Facilitated Housing Project, and raising the value of the required down payment to 10,000 EGP (about 1660 USD) instead of 1800 EGP (about 300 USD).

Following up the series of corruption and terror actions practiced by Cairo governorate and Rod Al-Farag district against the tenants of the blocks No 82 and 151 at Hekr Abo Doma, Rod al-Farag district has notified the residents to evict their houses within two weeks, otherwise the district department will cut the access to water and electricity and will evict them by force without paying compensation.