Daily scenes from a threatened person’s life!
cene 1:
INT, DAY
Usually, my mind starts working very fast upon waking up, before I even open my eyes. This morning began with a funny idea. I keep in mind a long list of places I intend to visit all over the country; a photo of a rocky valley in Sinai, a friend of mine has published on his Facebook, sunrise from a camp beach in Aswan’s Nile, that I once saw on another friend’s timeline who live in the same governorate. Unpopular museum, I have read a report on, which has been neglected but yet, still fascinating. All these photos came to my mind beautifully and comfortably. I decided to document them somewhere, in order not to get lost within the daily life mazes. I thought of a non-traditional way to deal with this; I will draw a large map of the country on a whiteboard and hang it on the wall. Then, I will use the self-adhesive papers to highlight the landmarks I want to visit on the map. Maybe I can also print some pictures of these places and stick them to my new map to be more funny. Wait a minute! I won’t draw this map. It would be terrible if I did it myself. I’d rather ask my friend x. His skills in drawing fine details are impressive. The idea was now completed in my mind before I took the cover off my body.
Little moments pass and slowly, my concentration rises up. I see the world clearly around me. What’s missing to carry out my beautiful idea? Yes yes. I have to buy the whiteboard, and call my friend to ask him to draw me the map. Suddenly, another picture from another world came to my mind. Pictures of security men in civilian clothes breaking into my room and turning it upside down, a picture of what they took with them after their attack, human rights books, every digital piece in the room, and the map! Yes, the map, how could I miss this? A map marked with prominent tourist places. It would be a treasure as an exhibit in a case against a person, who is charged with terrorism before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. Many of my colleagues of human rights activists have been there before. Most of them were accused of belonging to/participating in a terrorist group, among other charges. My map will be a gold score for the officer who will write the transcripts. Hence, no need for any maps. I am going to keep the places I wanna visit in my mind.
Scene 2:
INT, NIGHT
Slowly my mind gets more drowsy after a long working day. I just ended a conversation with a friend and made sure that there are no new messages in my inbox. Once again, I won against some silly thoughts about the past، or the future, and succeeded in kicking a picture of someone out of my mind, not to occupy any virtual space in my life. Sleep then; my little gift for my effort throughout the day. Wait a minute! I feel a little cold. I don’t think one blanket is enough for the coldness of these days. This will cost me a little trip to my closet on the other side of my room to grab an additional cover. Indeed, I started to move, until some idea dominated me completely. While interviewing one of the human rights defenders, to document his suffering in prison, his wife told me that the warden only allowed “one blanket” and returned the other one. Frequently, prisoners complain about the cold, which obviously means that they do not have enough blankets. If so, let’s get used to it. I have to adapt to just one blanket. Everything is learnable. God has created humans to adapt and survive. Therefore, tonight I will settle for one “blanket”. Hence, if the far or near night comes, when only one “blanket” will be available, let this blanket be enough to provide warmth and safety.
Scene 3
EXT, DAY
My friend passionately tells me about her new project in organizing trips, where the majority of which head to the beautiful natural places in South Sinai. Interestingly, she invites me to participate in one of those trips, and promises a great program at a good price as well. “There are a lot of pretty girls on this trip,” she jokingly says.
A year and a half ago, I visited the city of Dahab, where I saw a beauty, which my eyes, that got used to the ugliness of Cairo for three years of living in such a cursed city, have never seen before. However, my friend and I knew that this tempting offer did not suit me.
All visitors to South Sinai know how they are “routinely” stopped -at least- in 10 security checkpoints. Therefore, their journey takes twice as long as they normally reach Dahab or beyond. On my previous visit, during the “routine” stop in the checkpoint of Sharm El-Sheikh, a member of the National Security Agency boarded the bus and checked the IDs of the passengers “routinely”, and kept some of them for examination. Well, I know what’s coming next. I have documented two similar stories, while working on a research project on discrimination against human rights defenders in Egypt. Now, I have three stories, and I am going to be the hero of one of them! Exactly as I expected, the security officer came back with all the ID cards except mine, and asked me to drop off the bus, follow him, and told the driver to move.
I was “freely kept” in an open area inside the checkpoint for hours. I managed to make some phone calls as a precaution for the worst case scenario. As time goes by, I join some other people. However, their stories soon end with the discovery that they have similar names as wanted people. For me, I was wanted by name. There is no space for a mistake here.
I imagine a person sitting in a luxurious office and thinking; what brings me to the scope of his work? Is it just an innocent visit or do I have other purposes? The state imposes a new dark guise on what is going on in Sinai. And of course a human rights defender, researcher or journalist who is not tamed behind this curtain is not welcome. The next step for me is either to be transferred to one of the investigation points or to be “released”. Well, it took a full eight hours at that checkpoint until some “general” decided that I am not dangerous to national security meanwhile. Hence, I was allowed to pass to catch up with my friends who were worried sick, and greeted me with tears.
What happened was just a “routine” for me, It is repeated every time I travel abroad. Now I have included the South Sinai region for the “countries” that I have to worry about before traveling to it!
Scene 4:
INT, DAY
I’m done writing this text. I need to review it with one or more of my friends. Maybe for their opinion, or just to share what I’m thinking. This is one of the job description terms of a “friend” profession. However, reading this text may trigger a violent emotional response for someone who has gone through similar incidents. I don’t want to spoil one of my friends’ day. They have enough on their plate.
After some simple calculations, all my close friends are “threatened” like me. Even those who fled the country, haven’t come out healthy and well from their battles here. A “Threatened” person and his “threatened” friends need a non-threatened volunteer to read this text and give an opinion!
