Arab spring

February 6, 2011

Reports have suggested that the Hosni Mubarak regime's operatives paid thousands of Egyptian pounds to thugs to buy their loyalty and have them attack protesters.

A video posted on Press TV's UReport section, shows one Egyptian recounting how the interior ministry paid thousands of Egyptian pounds to several prisoners and thugs in return for their pledge of allegiance.

Steven Edwards – February 2, 2011

With international eyes locked on Egypt, Iran has dramatically stepped up the number of executions of dissidents and others — hanging 67 so far this year.

The "rubber-stamp" killings — as the Iranian opposition has called them — amount to more than a third of the 179 reported executions in the Islamic Republic in 2010. If the executions continue at the current rate, Iran will comfortably consolidate its position as being second only to China for putting people to death.

Nicholas D. Kristof – February 2, 2011

Pro-government thugs at Tahrir Square used clubs, machetes, swords and straight razors on Wednesday to try to crush Egypt’s democracy movement, but, for me, the most memorable moment of a sickening day was one of inspiration: watching two women stand up to a mob.

I was on Tahrir Square, watching armed young men pour in to scream in support of President Hosni Mubarak and to battle the pro-democracy protesters. Everybody, me included, tried to give them a wide berth, and the bodies of the injured being carried away added to the tension. Then along came two middle-age sisters, Amal and Minna, walking toward the square to join the pro-democracy movement. They had their heads covered in the conservative Muslim style, and they looked timid and frail as thugs surrounded them, jostled them, shouted at them.

Omar Suleiman Offered To Chop Off Man's Arm For CIA, Says Author

Matthew Cole and Sarah O. Wali – February 1, 2011

The intelligence chief tapped by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as his vice president and potential successor aided the U.S. with its rendition program, intelligence experts told ABC News, and oversaw the torture of an Al Qaeda suspect whose information helped justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In the midst of Egypt's protests, Omar Suleiman went on television Monday to say that President Mubarak had ordered him to launch reforms and begin talking to opposition parties. But for the U.S., the CIA, Israel, and Egypt's Islamist opposition, 74-year-old Suleiman, who has been the head of Egyptian intelligence since 1993, represents a continuation of the policies of the old regime.