Just in Time for Christmas: Qalubia Governor Shuts Down NGO

Ah, Egypt, where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus fled seeking shelter. But the Christmas spirit has apparently not returned, at least not to the Qalubia governor. In fact, the man appears to be a bit of a scrooge this Christmas Eve, as he just attempted to shut down a local NGO for reporting on poor civic conditions. HRInfo reports on today's raid on the Ahalina Center for Egyptian Family Support and Development:

On 24 December 2006, employees from Shubra Al-Khima Municipality accompanied by policemen stormed into Ahalina headquarter and attempted to close and seal it with red wax, upon Qalubia governor's resolution. The governor claimed that Ahalina is "inciting riots"; examples include submitting more than 11 complaints signed by the citizens of slum and deprived areas to the governor's office. In addition, Ahalina issued a press release in response to governor's false statements that the governorate has no slum or lacking-utilities areas.

Ahalina Center was founded early in 2006 with the purpose to provide tangible health, environmental, legal, educational, and other services for children, women, and men in Shubra Al-Khima city which lacks many of the basic utilities. Ahalina work is mainly based on volunteers, donors, and self efforts. However, it seems that such activities of Ahalina disturbed Qalubia governor and security forces to the extent that they decided to close it. That is particularly after the center succeeded to unmask the false statements of the governor.

May the Ghost of Christmas Future visit the governor to enable him to see the grim future that awaits Qalubia if he does not change his ways...