Scenes from Egypt

When protesters entered the security headquarters in Cairo, in the ministers private quarters, by the telephone, were pinned a number of business cards: presumably the key levers for controlling the police state. There were the usual suspects, union fixers, political arrangers…. oh and the CEO of Vodafone Egypt.

Last Friday, protesters who gathered in Tahrir Square handed out copies of a memo, apparently obtained from the Security Service buildings in Alexandria, that purported to prove that State Security were behind the bombing of the Coptic church at New Year, which killed 23 people.

Whilst people in the square were digesting or dismissing this information, inside the nearby museum State Security were torturing those picked up earlier in the week. After hours chained to the wall enduring regular electric shocks, the women were subjected to a virginity test; those failing had prostitution added to their charge sheet.

Also liberated from the State Security building was a copy of the HR records, including photos. When an activist, 3arabawy, tried to upload the pictures onto Flickr, they were removed on the grounds that they breached copyright. Later when questioned by NPR’s Andy Carvin Yahoo said they were removed because Flickr is not a site for activists.

But State Security is no more. It has been replaced by National Security.

Obviously those photos would have been handy to check if only the name has changed, But don’t worry the more career minded operatives of the police state are on Linked In.