{"id":11790,"date":"2014-03-23T07:40:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T11:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=11790"},"modified":"2014-03-23T07:40:35","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T11:40:35","slug":"in-support-of-omar-hazek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/in-support-of-omar-hazek\/","title":{"rendered":"In Support of Omar Hazek"},"content":{"rendered":"

via Arab Literature (in English):<\/p>\n

BY\u00a0MLYNXQUALEY<\/a>\u00a0on<\/em>\u00a0

\"10013213_10151947529632882_869643792_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n
\n

PEN International, which has investigated Hazek\u2019s case,also came out last week with an action appeal on Hazek\u2019s behalf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the organization said:<\/p>\n

PEN International protests the two-year prison sentence handed down to Egyptian poet Omar Hazek, who has been held in custody since his arrest in early December 2013 for taking part in a protest. Omar Hazek was held in Hadra prison in Alexandria until 21 February 2014 when he was moved to Burj Al-Arab prison also in Alexandria, where he remains held. PEN International believes that the poet Omar Hazek is imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly, and therefore calls for his immediate and unconditional release.<\/p>\n

Hazek has won several poetry awards and has also, as a former employee of the Biblioteca Alexandrina and as a private citizen, stood against corruption. He was on \u201cPrince of Poets\u201d show, reciting his poem \u201cI Close My Eyes<\/a>,\u201d and there won the title of \u201cPoet of Romance<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazek also\u00a0took first prize at the \u201cLove, Justice, and Peace in the World\u201d<\/a>\u00a0festival and won the\u00a0Abdullah Bashrahil Award for Youth Creativity<\/a>\u00a0in 2005.<\/p>\n

Supporter Zahraa Abd Al Aziz translated one of Hazek\u2019s poems, \u201cAs If I Love You\u201d:<\/p>\n

As If I Love You<\/strong><\/p>\n

I so much love talking
\nFor silently in it I remain,
\nLeaving my heart to speak\u2026
\nI listen from afar to my language, bleeding on the sidewalk
\nOver it step the passengers on the road,
\nCautious\u2026lest this sentence of mine leave them in a coma
\nOr choke them with smoke.<\/p>\n

I listen from afar, and my night drools down on me\u2026
\nAs if I love you
\nBut back then when I was a child, I stood to sing
\nTrusting that my heart was as translucent as the sadness of a butterfly
\nBut my voice faltered, like \u201cbrakes\u201d when they bite the road
\nGirls long laughed at me,
\nI walked, the letters of my words barking behind me
\nPardon me my friend\u2026 my silence is dance and song.<\/p>\n

As if I love you
\nBut I am arid like the cussword among thieves
\nAlone, alone like an abandoned canopy,
\nWhen from beneath it two lovers walk away.<\/p>\n

Pardon me my friend; do not pick the rose,
\nAnd buy me a new pair of shoes when the holiday feast comes along
\nPerhaps then, I would fall in love with my footsteps slowly, slowly,
\nPerhaps I shall walk and hear the gentle singing of the earth beneath me
\nI walk and bask in joy. . . I have colored feet.<\/p>\n

I so much love talking
\nAnd I forgive the words that sneakily escape my mouth whenever I\u2019ve thought that I love you<\/p>\n

I thought: What would I do had you been one of my harem
\nI wonder, would I have washed your dress if it was wet by our child?
\nWould I have held your palm if it were attacked by wrinkles?
\nHere is the \u201cEast\u201d running within me like a despicable coward mouse,
\nAnd I thought, will I feel your heart miserably escape far away from me
\nBecause your flowers were touched by blood this morning
\nHow will I have mercy on this hurt insulted beauty?<\/p>\n

I so love talking,
\nI love you,
\nBut it is the East that like an oil spot spreads on the sea in my dream
\nAnd the gulls fall from me, fluttering in the sand
\nI want your arm to sleep on
\nAnd get out of myself for a while, leaving, for some shelter of safety.<\/p>\n

August 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos from a meeting of authors to support Omar Hazek<\/a><\/p>\n

A letter from prison\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Italian petition<\/a><\/p>\n

Free OMAR HAZEK \u2013 Libert\u00e0 per Omar Hazek. European page.<\/a><\/p>\n

German PEN<\/a>\u00a0action request<\/p>\n

Note that although these appeals sometimes seem frustrating (especially as\u00a0Mohammed Fahmy has lost partial use of his arm while tens of thousands protest his imprisonment<\/a>), they can have an effect. As novelist\u00a0Ahdaf Soueif reports about her nephew Alaa Abdel Fattah<\/a>\u00a0(via Mona Seif), \u201cnoise\u201d at least got Alaa out of solitary, although it\u2019s a heartbreakingly small victory. (UPDATE:\u00a0<\/strong>Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman have been released on bail.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

PEN suggests sending appeals to:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interim president Adly Mansour
\nSupreme Constitutional Court
\nKournish El-Nile El-Maddi
\nCairo
\nArab Republic of Egypt
\nFax: +202-795-8048
\nEmail: info@sccourt.gov.eg<\/p>\n

Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Egypt
\nColonel General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi
\n23 July Street.,
\nAlKobba Bridge,
\nCairo
\nArab Republic of Egypt
\nFax: + 20-22916227
\nE-mail mmc@afmic.gov.eg<\/p>\n

If possible please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for\u00a0Egypt<\/a>\u00a0in your country. You could also translate his poetry, write about him on social media, read his book \u2014 well, I\u2019m sure you have better ideas.<\/p>\n

\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

via Arab Literature (in English): BY\u00a0MLYNXQUALEY\u00a0on\u00a0MARCH 23, 2014 PEN International, which has investigated Hazek\u2019s case,also came out last week with an action appeal on Hazek\u2019s behalf. In a statement, the organization said: PEN International...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,29,940,830,91],"tags":[1517],"class_list":["post-11790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arab-culture","category-censorship","category-egypt","category-poet","category-poetry","tag-omar-hazek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11793,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11790\/revisions\/11793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}