ISIL-Affiliated Extremist Group Executes 100-Year-Old Man

Story out of Egypt:

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis – ISIS-affiliated extremist group in Egypt – has released images purporting to show the execution of a 100-year-old man.

The group, who rebranded as ISIS-Sinai when they pledged allegiance to the extremist group holding swathes of Iraq and Syria, killed Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz after kidnapping him earlier.

Pictures were posted on the Twitter accounts of the group's supporters. They showed one of the men, elderly with a white beard and kneeling in an orange jumpsuit with his neck pressed against a steel stand. Masked ISIS executioners dressed in black raised long swords over his head.

Locals identified the man as the blind Sufi sheikh Suleiman Abu Heraz, who was abducted two weeks ago from his farm south of the peninsula's town of el-Arish. The second man was identified as sheikh Said Abdel-Fattah, a top Religious Endowment cleric abducted a month ago. Cont.

Story from - American Herald Tribune

Disgusting Egyptian MP Defends 'Female Genital Mutilation' By Suggesting Egyptian Men Are "Impotent"

An Egyptian MP has stirred controversy after rejecting tougher penalties for those who force women into genital mutilation (FGM), saying half of the country's men "are impotent."

Parliament last week approved longer jail terms for those carrying out FGM, following the death of a teenage girl.

MP Ilhami Agina responded by saying FGM was needed in order to reduce women's sexual appetite, to match Egypt's men.

The procedure is still widespread in Egypt despite being illegal since 2008.

He was quoted by other Egyptian media as saying the procedure was needed so women would "reduce their sexual desires" to match that of Egypt's "sexually weak" men.

"If we stop FGM, we will need strong men and we don't have men of that sort." Cont.

Story from - BBC News

Egyptian Police Using Grindr To Hunt Gay Men

Authorities in the country have reportedly been using gay dating apps to find and detain members of the LGBT community, The Jerusalem Post reported.

According to lifestyle and entertainment magazine CairoScene, a source close to the city's LGBT community claimed apps such as Grindr are “jeopardising the safety” of many of their members.

The unnamed source said authorities are using the technology to pinpoint the location of users.

They said: “There have been a number of arrests in the last few months linked to these applications.

The personal photographs uploaded by users to their dating profiles makes them easily identifiable to police, it was reported.

Homosexuality is not banned in Egypt but members of the country’s LGBT population have reported experiencing hostility.

Earlier this month Egypt’s grand mufti Shawki Allam said hurting gays and lesbians is “unacceptable.” Cont.

Story from - Evening Standard

"Appropriate Appearance" - Egypt Suspends Eight "Too Fat For TV" Female Presenters

Eight female presenters have been suspended from Egypt's state broadcaster and given one month to lose weight, in a move that has been widely condemned by critics.

The Egyptian Radio and Television Union told the eight women to go on a diet in order to reach an "appropriate appearance" for broadcast, according to the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Yawm al-Sabi. The women have been suspended with pay, but must spend the next month dropping weight before they'll be allowed back on air, the paper reports.

The suspension prompted complaints from the women affected, including Channel 2 host Kadija Khattab. She challenged viewers to review her recent appearances and tell her whether she was too "fat" for TV, according to the paper.

Egypt's Women's Centre for Guidance and Legal Awareness condemned the move as unconstitutional, and labelled it a form of violence against women. The organization called for ERTU to reverse its decision, but ERTU has said it will not budge. Cont.

Story from - CTV News

Egyptian Athlete Sent Home From Olympics After Refusing To Shake Israeli Opponent's Hand

Moron. Story out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

An Egyptian athlete who refused to shake his Israeli opponent's hand after their judo bout has been reprimanded and sent home from the Rio Olympics, officials said Monday.

The International Olympic Committee said Islam El Shehaby received a "severe reprimand'' for his behaviour following his first-round heavyweight bout loss to Or Sasson on Friday.

When Sasson extended his hand, El Shehaby backed away and shook his head, injecting Middle Eastern politics into the Rio Olympics. The referee called the 34-year-old El Shehaby back to the mat and obliged to him to bow; he gave a quick nod and was loudly booed as he exited.

Judo opponents typically bow or shake hands at the beginning and end of a match as a sign of respect. Cont.

Story from - Huffington Post/CP

Man Takes Selfie With EgyptAir Hijacker During Incident

A British man who posed smiling for a photo with a hijacker on board an EgyptAir flight has said he did it to take “a closer look” at the apparent explosives belt, adding: “I figured if his bomb was real I’d nothing to lose anyway.”

Ben Innes, 26, was one of three passengers and four crew held to the end of a hostage siege, after Seif Eldin Mustafa hijacked the EgyptAir flight bound for Cairo from Alexandria and forced it to be redirected to Cyprus.

The plane landed at Larnaca airport, where Innes was snapped standing next to Mustafa – who was still wearing what he claimed to be an explosives belt – in the cabin of the Airbus 320.

The bomb was later found to be fake. Cont.

Story from - The Gurardian
Image from - YouTube

Bryan Adams' Guitar Tagged With Graffiti In Egypt

The Air Canada incident shouldn't surprise anyone.

Despite being a world-famous rock star, Bryan Adams isn't immune to frustrating run-ins with customs officials, with the Canadian singer claiming Egyptian authorities left graffiti marker scrawls on a vintage guitar and other instruments.

Despite the situation, however, Adams thanked his Egyptian fans who reached out to him and assured them of his continued love for the country and its people. He also said the guitars can be fixed.

This latest incident follows a similar one last July, when Adams posted via Twitter that one of his guitars had been tagged with black marker by Air Canada staffers. Cont.

Story from - CBC News
Image from - bryanadams - Instagram

Egypt Reverses Sentence After Giving 3-Year-Old Life In Prison For Murder

Story out of Cairo, Egypt: 

Family members of a 3-year-old Egyptian boy who was sentenced last week to life in prison say they feel relieved after receiving assurances from officials that neither the boy nor his father will be arrested.

The boy's father, Mansour Qorany Sharara, has returned to the family home in the southern Egyptian province of Fayyoum after nearly 18 months on the run. He had been avoiding authorities who had previously detained him when they came to arrest his young son.

In a surreal verdict, a military court last week found the boy, Ahmed Mansour Qorany Sharara, and 115 other people guilty of killing three people and sabotaging public and private property during a political demonstration in January 2014.

Ahmed was 16 months old at the time of the alleged crime.

The guilty verdict, handed down February 16, provoked an uproar. Cont. (Video/Autoplay)

Story from - CNN

Tutankhamun's Mask Broken During Cleaning

It might have been safer in the ground. Go humans!

Eight museum employees will be charged with negligence after a botched reattachment of the beard on King Tutankhamun's mask, Egyptian authorities said.

There have been differing accounts of how the mask's blue-and-gold braided beard broke off since its damage came to light in 2014.

At the time, a museum conservator said the beard detached when the mask accidentally fell during cleaning. It was quickly reattached with a strong adhesive, but the glue left a gap between the face and the beard, the conservator said.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into the damage last year, saying workers did not follow protocol during restoration.

"The (museum) officials dealt recklessly with a piece of an artifact that is 3,300 years old, produced by one of the oldest civilizations in the world," the Administrative Prosecution said Saturday in a statement to state-run Ahram Online.

Prosecutors said the eight people who will be charged are six restorers and two former heads of the restoration section at the museum. Cont. (Video - Autoplay)

Story from - CNN