Trump successfully negotiates the release of American prisoner in Egypt

[ximmy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/freed-egyptian-american-prisoner-returns-home-following-trump-intervention/2017/04/20/d569fe1e-2608-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?utm_term=.2cac1d0a5adb

An Egyptian American charity worker who was imprisoned in Cairo for three years and became the global face (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-obama-administration-ignores-an-american-imprisoned-in-egypt/2016/07/10/900f43a4-4474-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.e2b2207335d9) of Egypt’s brutal crackdown on civil society returned home to the United States late Thursday after the Trump administration quietly negotiated her release.
https://cdn1.pri.org/sites/default/files/story/images/Egypt-Aya-Hijazi%204-17-2017.jpg

President Trump and his aides worked for several weeks with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to secure the freedom of Aya Hijazi, 30, a U.S. citizen, as well as her husband, Mohamed Hassanein, who is Egyptian, and four other humanitarian workers. Trump dispatched a U.S. government aircraft to Cairo to bring Hijazi and her family to Washington.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/0CEA/production/_95660330_3563345e-3dd0-405b-8ac4-0ebf50a75826.jpg

Hijazi, who grew up in Falls Church, Va., and graduated from George Mason University, was working in Cairo with the Belady Foundation, which she and her husband established as a haven and rehabilitation center for street children in Cairo.


The couple and their co-workers had been incarcerated since May 1, 2014, on child abuse and trafficking charges that were widely dismissed by human rights workers and U.S. officials as false. Virtually no evidence was ever presented against them, and for nearly three years they were held as hearings were inexplicably postponed and trial dates canceled. Human rights groups alleged that they were abused in detention.
http://raymondibrahim.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/obama-bows-saudi-king.jpg

The Obama administration unsuccessfully pressed Sissi’s government for their release. It was not until Trump moved to reset U.S. relations with Egypt (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/with-visit-by-egypts-sissi-trump-administration-signals-sharp-policy-shift/2017/04/02/8311b19d-912d-4d35-8766-38514191b397_story.html?utm_term=.4dafa528391d) by embracing Sissi at the White House on April 3 — he publicly hailed the autocrat’s leadership as “fantastic” and offered the U.S. government’s “strong backing” — that Egypt’s posture changed. Last Sunday, a court in Cairo dropped all charges against Hijazi and the others.

[Horn]

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the Egyptian people's special gift to the State of Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Analysis-How-Egypts-Sisi-can-save-Israel-from-the-threat-of-BDS-419287

[crimethink]

Aya Hijazi was supplying pizza to happy patrons across the Middle East, but especially those in "Israel."


Ms. Hijazi, who has dual American and Egyptian citizenship, was arrested in May 2014 with her husband, Mohamed Hassanein, and others at the Beladi Foundation, a nonprofit she founded to care [sic] for street children in Cairo.

Government prosecutors accused the couple of human trafficking and sexually abusing children in their care, potential charges that carried sentences ranging from five years’ hard labor to life in prison.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Egypt

Some of Egypt's estimated two hundred thousand to one million street children – both boys and girls – are exploited in prostitution and forced begging. Local gangs are, at times, involved in this exploitation. Egyptian children are recruited for domestic and agricultural labor; some of these children face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude, such as restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse. In addition, wealthy men from the Gulf reportedly travel to Egypt to purchase "temporary" or "summer marriages" with Egyptian females, including girls who are under the age of 18; these arrangements are often facilitated by the females' parents and marriage brokers and are a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child sex tourism occurs in Cairo, Alexandria, and Luxor. Egypt is a transit country for women trafficked from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and other Eastern European countries to Israel for commercial sexual exploitation; organized crime groups are involved in these movements.

[singular_me]

even without reading CT's post, I already could smell a rat...

[ximmy]

Aya Hijazi: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know Published 7:34 pm EDT, April 21, 2017 Updated 8:05 pm EDT, April 21, 2017

1. Hijazi & Her Husband Were Arrested In 2014, But the Charges Were Said to be ‘Fabricated’
Egyptian-US citizen Aya Hijazi acquitted after nearly 3 years in detention for her NGO helping street children https://t.co/C92bcansqV pic.twitter.com/qcwcvk0v66 (https://t.co/qcwcvk0v66)
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 16, 2017 (https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/853697136051052545)



Hijazi, her husband (Mohamed Hassanein) and six others were arrested in May 2014 after being accused of child abuse inside of the offices of the Belady Foundation for Street Children (http://nazra.org/en/2017/03/advocates-egypt%E2%80%99s-street-children-face-unjust-imprisonment), an organization founded by Hijazi and her husband that operates in Egypt.
After a police raid on May 1, 2014, Egyptian authorities arrested eight people on charges (http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/american-childrens-advocate-lingers-egyptian-jail-trump-prepares-meet-sisi-455446690) of engaging in human trafficking, kidnapping, sexual exploitation using children in anti-government protests and operating an unlicensed organization.
During the raid, which occurred without a legal warrant, police confiscated laptops and detained Hijazi, Hassanein and other employees under the child abuse charges.


The arrest was part of a clampdown by the government on civil society. Prosecutors in the country didn’t provide much evidence to support the claims, though, and many human rights workers and officials from the U.S. said they were blatantly false. In fact, the state’s very own forensic report concluded (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/15/egypt-children-clinic-aya-hijazi-release) that there was no evidence to suggest that any of the children in their care was sexually abused.
The eight people were arrested after an Egyptian man said his runaway son, Gomaa, was held at the foundation without his consent (http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/03/24/opinion/u/the-curious-case-against-aya-hegazy-and-the-belady-foundation/), but the boy was later found at a different place.
About one month before the police raid (http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/03/24/opinion/u/the-curious-case-against-aya-hegazy-and-the-belady-foundation/), Gomaa and two other children were guests with Hijazi on an Egyptian TV show called “Sitt al-Husn.” The children on the show told stories about how Hijazi’s organization changed their lives for the better.

But when Gomaa was interviewed by authorities as part of the child abuse investigation, he switched courses and claimed that he and others juveniles were paid by the foundation to disobey the police and military, adding that he was forced to take part in many sexual abuses. Watch the Gomaa’s interview in the video below.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebtkLCPuio


Other interviews of juvenile subjects in the case gave contradicting statements to police about the alleged abuse, and one of them even wrote a letter to Hijazi (https://medium.com/@FrontLineDefenders/free-egyptian-child-rights-defender-aya-hijazi-on-un-childrens-day-f4fe08123f52) while she was in jail apologizing for causing any stress.
The defendants in the case were held in a Cairo prison (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/freed-egyptian-american-prisoner-returns-home-following-trump-intervention/2017/04/20/d569fe1e-2608-11e7-bb9d-8cd6118e1409_story.html?utm_term=.3ff1157d8ce5) and were reportedly abused while they were being held.

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/c99u-n8wsaegz-m.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=768

3. The Trial For the Charges Had Been Delayed 7 Times For No Conclusive Reason
Prosecutors in the case certainly dragged their feet when pursuing the charges against the defendants. Hijazi, her husband and the other co-defendants were held beyond the two-year limit “for pretrial and provisional detention under Egyptian law,” Human Rights Watch wrote (https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/24/egypt-aya-hijazis-trial-travesty).


A court in Cairo postponed its verdict March 23, giving no reason for doing so. Prior to that, hearings in the case had been delayed seven times for various reasons (https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-washington-post/20170403/281917362925145), leaving the defendants in jail to wait.
Joe Stork (https://www.hrw.org/about/people/joe-stork), the deputy Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said that Hijazi and the other defendants had been treated unfairly, including not being able to meet with their attorneys.

The case of Aya Hijazi and her co-defendants has been nothing less than a travesty of justice. Defendants have been unable to meet privately with lawyers, hearings have been repeatedly adjourned for long periods, while the court has routinely rejected, without explanation, numerous requests for release on bail, resulting in what appears to amount to arbitrary detention.
Human Rights Watch argued that the court proceedings violated their right to prepare a defense and fully understand the case that was to be tried against them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdLkoi4mTys

3. The Charges Were Dismissed After Trump Met With Egypt’s President
The lengthy process of a starting a trial on the child abuse claims led to many U.S. officials pressing for the release of the wdefendants.
President Barack Obama (http://heavy.com/tag/barack-obama)‘s administration had previously tried to push Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (https://www.forbes.com/profile/abdel-el-sisi/) to release the eight defendants, but to no avail.
Many members of congress pushed for their release as well, especially Democratic Rep. Don Beyer (https://beyer.house.gov/) (Virginia). When she was a candidate for president, Hillary Clinton (http://heavy.com/tag/hillary-clinton) pushed for their release in a meeting with el-Sisi, but again he didn’t seem to budge.


When el-Sisi visited the White House in early April, Trump didn’t publicly mention pressuring him for their release, but a senior White House official told Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/16/egyptian-court-clears-american-woman-child-abuse-charges-after-human-rights-criticism.html) ahead of the meeting that Hijazi’s case would be one of the topics.
Watch Trump meeting with el-Sisi in the Oval Office, with the Egyptian president sitting on the same chair that Hijazi would be welcomed to a few weeks later, in the video below.


Hijazi and the other seven defendants in the case were acquitted on the charges (http://time.com/4741942/belady-aya-hijazi-egypt-child-abuse-acquitted/) on the charges April 16 and free to return home after being released from prison.
Beyer said in a statement (https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=553) after the case was dismissed that he was disappointed it took three unnecessary years to do so, but was encouraged that they finally got their freedom back.

This wonderful news was a long time coming. I feel a deep sense of joy and relief for Aya, her husband, their colleagues at Belady who were imprisoned, Aya’s mother Naglaa, and her sister Alaa and brother Basel. I offer my humble thanks and congratulations today to them and to her many friends who worked so hard to raise the profile of this case and pressure the Egyptian government to gain her freedom.

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/gettyimages-671168660.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780

[cheka.]

think i posted a story about these people already - ngo employees involved in child trafficking (charged with)

[crimethink]

The arrest was part of a clampdown by the government on civil society. Prosecutors in the country didn’t provide much evidence to support the claims, though, and many human rights workers and officials from the U.S. said they were blatantly false.

"Blatantly false," just like the known facts against Comet Ping Pong Pizza. :rolleyes:

Dozens of NGOs do work in Egypt, and haven't been "clamped down on." Why this one? Why the specific charges of trafficking and sexual abuse?

I'd say we need someone to thoroughly investigate this, but they might end up in a cage and then dead like Edgar Steele, after he dared to investigate similar "humanitarian" networks in Ukraine.

[crimethink]

This alleged "heroine" has very sparse biographical data, including no page at Wikipedia. Odd.

I'm finding "interesting" material from the Arabic press, though.

People can call these boys liars (while lionizing the fake "humanitarian"), but here are victims speaking about their experiences (in Arabic):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebtkLCPuio


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTvvH_8uuE8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NekE3zRWtP4

What motivation would these boys have to turn on their alleged "rescuers"?


https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2014/08/137246/egypt-miss-morocco-accused-in-a-child-pornography-and-human-trafficking-case/

https://iia1.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/egypt_-miss-morocco-accused-in-a-child-pornography-and-human-trafficking-case-_-morocco-world-news.pdf

Rabat – A Moroccan beauty queen is believed to be involved in one of the biggest child pornography and human trafficking schemes in Egypt according to Egyptian media outlets.

The unidentified Moroccan beauty queen has reportedly been accused of funding a fake association that exploits homeless children in the production of child pornography, as well as using them as human shields in several political demonstrations and conflicts with the police.

According to Egypt’s Yaoum7, the fake association that goes by the name “Biladi” or my country was co-founded by an American woman and her husband. The American couple are said to have stripped over 20 children and videotaped them naked in a minor [i.e., child -ct] pornographic production.

On Sunday, the Egyptian police detained the associations’ main financier for investigation. “She admitted to having received funds from a Moroccan beauty queen,” Yaoum7 reported.

The Associations’ financier said that she had received moral and financial support from the Moroccan beauty queen, without revealing her name or the details.

The Association’s co-founders, Aya Hijazi, 27, and her husband Mohamed Hassanine, 26, admitted to detaining over 20 homeless children in their Cairo-based house.

The US couple stated during the investigations that they had forced the children to have sex with each other in order to record them in a pornographic film production.

[vacuum]

Good nose crimethink. Seems like she might be in a pedo ring.

[crimethink]

Good nose crimethink. Seems like she might be in a pedo ring.

Nothing "makes sense" about her and her "foundation." This is a real whopper...trying to push her to Mother Teresa sainthood:

Couple Spend Their Wedding Money on Street Children, End up in an Egyptian Prison

https://egyptianstreets.com/2016/02/12/couple-spend-their-wedding-money-on-street-children-end-up-in-an-egyptian-prison/

There is an ocean of noise about her "victimhood," which, along with the fact most real sources are in Arabic, make it very difficult to ferret out the Truth.

Creating two-person "foundations" is a routine scam technique. As well as a shield to obfuscate one's real purpose.

I'll keep an eye out for more.

[crimethink]

Before this was on Trump's self-serving agenda, it was Hillary Clinton's crusade:


Hillary Clinton Asks Egypt’s President Sisi to Release Aya Hijazi

https://egyptianstreets.com/2016/09/20/hilary-clinton-asks-egypts-president-sisi-to-release-aya-hegazy/


Ms. Clinton, to her credit, raised Ms. Hijazi’s case with Mr. Sissi and called for her release, according to the campaign’s statement. Mr. Trump had nothing to say about her.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-stark-difference-between-trumps-and-clintons-meeting-with-a-dictator/2016/09/22/509f0676-8026-11e6-b002-307601806392_story.html?utm_term=.5a72115f2a7a

[crimethink]

More intereresting stuff just keeps popping up. Until ximmy posted this thread, none of this was on my radar, and the data I'm collecting is since.

Hijazi graduated from George Mason University: https://scar.gmu.edu/people/aya-hijazi

Her law professor was Neomi Rao.

This same one:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/world/america/080417/indian-american-neomi-rao-nominated-as-trumps-regulatory-czar.html

Donald Trump has nominated a prominent Indian-American law expert his regulatory czar to oversee the US President's plan to eliminate 75 per cent of federal regulations.

Neomi Rao, who is currently a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, has been nominated to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a statutory part of the Office of Management and Budget within the Executive Office of the President.

OIRA reviews regulations from federal agencies and has the power to reject rules that do not fall in line with the President's goals.



Those of you who follow Pizzagate may recognize the surname Rao. You should:

Arun G. Rao is an "associate" of Comet Ping Pong Pizza's James Alefantis, and shares the great love of pizza:

http://pizzagate.wiki/Arun_Rao

He really likes photos of pizza:


9004


He gained notoriety in 2011 as a (then) unnamed Assistant United States Attorney whose love for viewing pizza on-duty was overlooked by Eric Holder's Department of "Justice." Archived Forbes article:

https://archive.is/TsbFf

“The OIG conducted an investigation concerning allegations that an AUSA was using his government computer to view inappropriate material on his government computer. The investigation determined that the AUSA routinely viewed adult content during official duty hours, and that there was at least one image of child pornography recovered on the AUSA’s government computer. The AUSA acknowledged that he had spent a significant amount of time each day viewing pornography. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined prosecution. Disciplinary action against the AUSA is pending.”

Neither Trump nor Sessions have fired this pathetic son of a bitch:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arungrao

https://archive.fo/gJgTF

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/maryland-us-attorney-s-office-announces-supervisory-appointments

"Chief, Southern Division, United States Attorney's Office, District of Maryland"

[crimethink]

The Jewsmedia has much spew about the current leader of Egypt, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

El-Sisi is who Trump coerced into releasing the accused, protecting her from justice.

"They" really don't like el-Sisi, for a very good reason. No, it's not because he's a "dictator" (a "dictator" is whomever does not do the bidding of the Babylon System). It's because he's not their dictator.

This was the chosen puppet for Egypt, whom el-Sisi displaced: Mohamed ElBaradei, a tool of guess who?

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2013/07/10/the-george-soros-connection-to-the-new-egyptian-government/

(the referred to "new" Egyptian government is the one el-Sisi overthrew after they overthrew Mubarak, not the current "new" government)


In addition to human trafficking and sexual abuse, another official charge against Hijazi is that she and her "foundation" employed these street boys for street protests and engaging the police. Typical troublemaking activities of the Soros subversion network.


http://thecairopost.youm7.com/news/109250/news/american-woman-accused-of-exploiting-children-in-protests

Aya Hegazy, a dual Egyptian-American citizen, was arrested with three others on charges of pushing street children to participate in protests, as well as operating an NGO without a license.

The four defendants were remanded to custody for four days pending investigations, which is scheduled to be renewed Tuesday, Hegazy’s lawer Alaa Farouk told The Cairo Post Monday.

The case began after a man was searching for his missing son, Khaled Abdel Aziz, the head of the juvenile crimes department at the Cairo Security Directorate, told Tahrir TV.

“By asking street children in the neighborhood, the man was informed that his son has been living in an apartment in Abdeen, downtown Cairo, at the headquarters of Beladi, an NGO,” Abdel Aziz told the channel.

Al-Dostour news website reported that the 34-year-old man and his wife went to the apartment to claim their son but were allegedly assaulted by the members of the NGO.

The police arrived and arrested four employees of the organization, and also found approximately 20 children between the ages of 14 and 20, Youm7 reported.

Abdel Aziz told Tahrir TV the NGO had no official license.

The Beladi Foundation is located in Mohamed Mahmoud St, near Tahrir Square, and has an active website and Facebook page, which says its mission is to work with street children, and tackle harassment and other social problems. According to the website Beladi’s team is composed of eight members.

Hegazy, the organization’s founder, appeared in an interview March 24 on ONTV, with the presence of three children who told their story how they were rehabilitated in the foundation.

“We began working with street children last February. Our first encounter with them was in Ramsis,” Hegazy explained, adding that the organization was active in other fields three months before that.

“What we provide is a program for psychological rehabilitation, mainly because they suffered from drug addiction, sexual abuse, beating and violence on the streets,” Hegazy continued.

A forensic team from the prosecution authority inspected the apartment Monday, ONA News Agency stated, adding that the suspects are facing charges of forcefully detaining children against their will, and torturing them.

Hegazy said in her March interview that their biggest challenge is to keep children safe, as many are tempted to go back to the streets. She added that despite their best efforts, “the door is open” for those who wish to leave, adding that some children leave and return.

On Sunday evening, Mehwer TV channel interviewed some teenagers claiming they were living in the apartment the police raided.

The children claimed they were being instructed to participate in protests in exchange for money, approximately $7, for participating in protests, and an additional $28 USD if they throw stones. One of them said he decided to do both and was fully paid the promised amount.

In the post-Mohamed Morsi period, a number of newspapers have reported that “American mobs” were exploiting children to use them in favor of pro-Muslim Brotherhood protests. The children who spoke on TV said they had participated in a protest last April, in front of the Ithadeya Presidential Palace.

The protest was launched by activists demanding the end of the protest law and the release of detained political activist Ahmed Doma.

The issue of child exploitation in politics was first mentioned a couple of months ago, when videos showing children participating in pro-Brotherhood protests and raising the Raba’a sign, in addition to claiming their parents were killed in protests.

An incident in which children from an orphanage were photographed putting an army boot on their head during a march, a popular sign to express support for the army, drew some outrage.

Amnesty International released a report last February condemning arbitrary arrests that have been taking place following the ouster of the Brotherhood’s regime and former president Mohamed Morsi, saying “over 300 children have been thrown into prison in the intervening seven months,” and being subject to torture.

[crimethink]

Aya Hijazi: from Falls Church, Virginia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/21/who-is-aya-hijazi-the-american-freed-from-jail-in-egypt/?utm_term=.4a2d1d68800a

Arun G. Rao: lives in Falls Church, Virginia

Neomi Rao: appears to currently live in Washington itself, with origin city as yet unknwon, but her husband, Alan Lefkowitz is apparently from, well, guess (Falls Church, Virginia)

Coincidence, I'm sure...

Falls Church is two ZIP codes from the District of Columbia, and next door to Arlington, where George Mason University is.

[crimethink]

The more I read, the more bizarre it gets.

Hijazi's two-person "foundation" is named Beladi. This means "our land" or "our country" in Arabic.

Come to find out it is a double entendre. It means "slut" in Russian/Ukrainian.

[crimethink]

A Moroccan beauty queen is believed to be involved in one of the biggest child pornography and human trafficking schemes in Egypt according to Egyptian media outlets.

Rumors are circulating that this unnamed "Moroccan beauty queen" is actually the literal Queen of Morocco, the one on the right, sitting with guess who:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/10/20/22/3990185100000578-3856842--a-58_1477000333864.jpg


Hillary got Morocco's king to pay for $12m Clinton Foundation summit by offering herself as a quid-pro-quo

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3856842/Hacked-emails-Clinton-pushed-charity-meeting-Morocco.html#ixzz4ezQSkB9c

[crimethink]

Video, in Arabic, from 2014, with Hijazi, three of the boys, and a TV host:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxkX30iiSU8

Starting at 15:50, you see Hijazi admit that she took the Cairo street kids to a tiny, isolated oasis on the Gulf of Aqaba, 30 miles down the sea from Eilat, "Israel," to "help" them. You don't need to know Arabic to understand the surprise of the host at the name Nuweiba.


One of Beladi's Masonic logos:

https://archive.fo/BdKUT/c1733777daa20104e738c263645f10fbcbb36072