A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Those Prison Escapes in Egypt

Back in January, as word spread that there had been a mass prison break in Egypt, there was much speculation that the regime was releasing prisoners in order to spread chaos and lead to a backlash against the demonstrators. Al-Masry al-Youm has done an investigative report that suggests that what in fact happened in the case of Al-Marg Prison was that bedouins from Sinai, who smuggle arms into Gaza and have good relations with Hamas, led the prison break to free Hamas and Hizbullah prisoners. It includes interviews with people who were in the escape, and is now on their English website. An interesting read and a sign of growing press inquisitiveness in Egypt.

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