[View the story "Piggipedia: Egypt's Human Flesh Search?" on Storify ]Piggipedia: Egypt's Human Flesh Search? Three years ago, one Egyptian blogger launched a campaign to identify and expose security officials suspected of committing crimes against civilians-- but what role does it have after Mubarak's fall? Storified by The Stream · Wed, Oct 26 2011 21:59:48
Journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy started the project in October 2008.
Hoss حسامflickr.com
Hossam wrote Piggipedia's manifesto on his blog 3arabawy :
In every single event, demonstration or strike we have to snap at least one photo of the police officers, corporals, and plainclothes thugs present. We have to profile them, put their faces on the web and circulate their photos.arabawy.org
A police officer cannot show up for a demonstration, beat the hell of out of peaceful protestors, then walk home and go out in his neighborhood with his family to have fun. No!arabawy.org
These are dangerous torturers and rapists whom we do not want as neighbors or friends. They have to be exposed in front of their children, parents, neighbors and peers. Their pictures have to be everywhere, from the internet to the streets.arabawy.org
farm3.static.flickr.com
Translation: Encyclopedia of Torturers
The core component of the project is a photo pool on Flickr where users could upload photos of officers accused of crimes and identify them.
connectedincairo.files.wordpress.com
About Piggipedia موسوعة الجلادين Profiling Mubarak's Interior Ministry pigs, involved in torture and suppressing dissentflickr.com
Here's an example of the pool's content:
Photo from Pigipediaflickr.com
Caption translation: Image of an officer, accused of assaulting a female student.
Note: We have obscured faces where identifiable.
Hossam commented on this photo, uploaded by user
Noha Atef :
Photo from Pigipediaflickr.com
This man tortured two of my cousins by electric shocks after he arrested them in 2005flickr.com
Mark Allen Peterson of Connected in Cairo blogged about Piggipedia as a tool of creative resistance in Egypt.
Members of the state security apparatus who spied on, and kept files on the people of Egypt on behalf of the regime, are now themselves the subjects of a gaze.connectedincairo.com
It seems Mubaraks government had its own plan to counter this gaze.
On March 5th, Hossam and other protesters stormed the state security headquarters in Nasr City.
Storming Egypt State Securityelsaffani
In another raid on State Security offices in Damanhour, protesters found an internal memo that mentioned Piggipedia. Hossam blogged about the memo.
One of the leaked State Security documents discusses the “dangers” of the Piggipedia we had launched earlier to profile torturers…arabawy.org
farm6.static.flickr.com
The letter outlines a strategy to combat Piggipedia. It recommends that officers use fake names when addressing one another, that they only drive Security Service cars, and that all pictures and cell phones be banned inside all police and SS buildings.
In the Nasr City raid, Hossam made a startling discovery.
When we stormed State Security Police headquarters in Nasr City, which hosted one of Mubarak’s largest torture facilities, on Saturday I found two DVDs in one of the offices, both titled “أرشيف السادة ضباط الجهاز” The Agency Officers’ Archive. The DVDs included profile pictures of State Security officers, organized in folders. Each folder had the officers’ name.arabawy.org
I don’t know what was the purpose of these two DVDs, but I sincerely thank the State Security officials who gave us this present on a golden plate. I’ve uploaded the profile pictures to this flickr set and added them to the Piggipedia. I urge you all to circulate them. And if you have any more information about those officers please come forward.arabawy.org
Flickr administrators promptly removed the photo set, citing copyright infringement. This is a copy of the letter that Hossam received.
farm6.static.flickr.com
Hossam was not deterred. From his blog:
UPDATE: You can download the pictures here…arabawy.org
He posted all the photos from the found DVDs
here .
We spoke with Hossam on The Stream and asked him to tell us about his project.
Hossam el-Hamalawy talks about Piggipedia on The StreamAJstream
For it's part, the Egyptian police launched a Facebook page titled "Officers Against Corruption."
Egypt - Officers Against Corruptionflickr.com
ضباط ضد الفسادضباط ضد الفساد - لمراسلـة الأدمن Officersarehonest@gmail.com (ضبــــاط ضد الفســــاد) معلومة: أضغط علي Ctrl و + لتكبير الرؤية, Ctrl و - لتصغير الرؤية - Work Info: a:0:{} - Education Info: a:0:{} | Facebook
The Egyptian Interior Ministry has launched a similar Facebook campaign.
Egypt - Interior Ministry on Facebookflickr.com
وزارة الداخلية المصريةوزارة الداخلية المصرية - General Information: الموقع الرسمى لوزارة الداخلية هو - Description: هذه الصفحة ليست الصفحة الرسمية لوزارة الداخلية بل نحن مجموعة من الضباط نسعى الى ان نتواصل مع الشباب نسمع منهم ويسمعوا مننا نأخذ اقتراحاتهم ونستفيد منها ونحاول ان نوضح لهم العديد من الامور المبهمة | Facebook
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Translation:
We just wanted to say to the Egyptian people, don’t forget that we are you, we are your sons, your brothers, your fathers, your uncles, your neighbors and your friends.
By God we swear that we love you and care for you. We know that there is corruption, but remember that corruption is everywhere. We are back, although we never left.
We are back under the slogan “We protect you, We serve you.” Signed by the Egyptian Police Forces.
In a post-Mubarak era, the Piggipedia project is far from over. Hossam continues to blog the whereabouts of security officials during the Egyptian government's transition.
Here's one recent entry about the Security Service General keeping his post on the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, the government body that organized the internet blackout in Egypt from January 27th to Feburary 3rd.
Photo from Pigipediaflickr.com
The National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority NTRA has reshuffled its board, and guess what? Not only did SS General Rushdi el-Qamari keep his post, as the interior ministry’s representative on its board, but also Tarek Kamel, Mubarak’s infamous minister of telecommunications, has joined!arabawy.org
What kind of sick musical chairs game is going on here? How can the orchestrators of Mubarak’s crackdown on telecommunications during the uprising be rewarded posts in the new revolutionary Egypt?arabawy.org
In a blog post about Piggipedia,
The Arabist wonders what will happen to these officials in the new government.
Will there be accountability for State Security or will these generals who ran Egypt's repression on a day-to-day level simply move to new positions in a superficially restructured State Security?arabist.net
