Egypt's Weird Day Gets Weirder, National Enquirer Style

Okay, this is my third post on Egypt today, and well past my normal close-of-business time, but things are getting weird. Ayman Nour, who has been the subject of earlier posts, played a part in the earlier protests, meager as they were. But now there are reports that Nour and his celebrity wife, Gamila Isma‘il, are divorcing after 20 years of marriage. On the day of the big protest movement? It gets stranger: Nour denies the story. His wife's cell phone is turned off and she can't be reached for comment. Al-Masry al-Youm is supposed to be breaking the story tomorrow morning, but there's nothing on their website yet. Perhaps their web folks went home on the "day of anger" and decided not to post their big story till morning?

Now some Egyptian bloggers are expressing shock and a few are expressing suspicion that there's a publicity stunt afoot here. My own suspicions tend in the latter direction. If two of the stars of the opposition: the Al-Ghad Party leader and his wife, a former TV reporter, are getting divorced after 20 years, why does it come out on the day of the big protest fizzle? Why does he deny it? Why can't she be reached?

This blog is not going to do National Enquirer or Gawker type gossip (at least unless I get desperate for readership), but the timing of this is not just odd, it's downright suspicious. Ayman Nour was on the national stage today, getting more publicity than he has gotten since just after his release from prison. Gamila Isma‘il supported him through his time in prison and was his chief advocate and an ally in trying to keep the party loyal to him. So their divorce is going to leak on the "day of anger"? Forgive me if I react to this story with the same attitude I tend to reserve for the latest financial deal offered me by the widows of retired Nigerian political figures.

It could be untrue, or true but unrelated to the 6 April demonstrations, or even a sign of disagreement over the future stategy of protest. Watch this space. This is either a publicity stunt worthy of a Hollywood starlet's publicist or a regrettable event with an odd synchronicity, a reminder of the relationship between tragedy and farce.