That's Wrong
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Four on a Motorcycle and No Helmet: A Bare Head Is the Dearest Thing a Family Can Lose on the Road
In the second week of school the same scene repeats: a father driving, one child in front, another behind, the mother clutching the bags, and not a single helmet among them. Press reports citing CAPMAS show deaths jumping from 190 to 897 between 2020 and 2024, while a Cochrane review finds a helmet alone cuts the risk of death by 42%. The law has punished the bare head since 1999, fine raised in 2008. So why do we not comply?
September 23, 2026 · 8 min read
"A Hook-Up on the Cable" Is No Clever Trick: Electricity Theft Is a Crime the Whole Neighbourhood Pays For
A bare wire dangling from a lamp post to a balcony, an air conditioner on a meter that never moves, and a fuse blowing for the third time, plunging a bill-paying neighbour into darkness. Article 71 of the Electricity Law calls this unlawful appropriation of current, punished by prison and a fine, while a tougher amendment awaits the House of Representatives. What does a whole street lose from one hook-up? And what is the right alternative?
September 14, 2026 · 7 min read
A Camera Over the Wounded: Filming and Sharing Accident Victims Is Not “Documentation” but a Violation Punishable by Law
Raised phones ring the injured man before paramedics do, and the video reaches family group chats before the news reaches his relatives. Kedda Ghalat (“that’s wrong” in Egyptian Arabic) names the behaviour, explains why it obstructs rescue and strips dignity, what the Constitution, Law 175 of 2018 and the Telecommunications and Intellectual Property Laws say, why Article 309 bis does not apply on a public road, and what to do instead.
September 7, 2026 · 8 min read
The Accessible Bay Is No Luxury: Taking an Accessible Parking Space Is Theft of the Right to Move
"Just one minute and I'm gone" — with a single sentence, a whole person's freedom is stolen. The accessible bay and the ramp are not privileges; they are a lifeline of movement protected by law and by accessibility codes. This article calls the behaviour by its name, shows you how to stand firm but courteous when someone takes the space, and explains why one minute of your time can cost somebody else an entire day.
September 1, 2026 · 7 min read
The Horn Is Not a Vent for Your Temper: One Hand on the Horn Assaults a Whole Street's Nerves
A hand slams down on the horn and the noise bursts through your window without asking permission. Why is random honking not "letting off steam" but an act of acoustic aggression against an entire street? On the line between a warning that averts danger and a din that makes people ill — and on the medicine, the law and the common decency that all stand on the side of your ear.
August 25, 2026 · 7 min read
Smoking Indoors: Your Freedom Ends at Someone Else's Lungs
Episode two of 'Kda Ghalat' dismantles the 'I'm free' defence: WHO counts over 1.6 million non-smokers killed by second-hand smoke every year, and a 45-year-old Egyptian law bans indoor smoking. So why is the café still full of smoke?
August 22, 2026 · 6 min read
That's Wrong: A Banana Peel Costs an Innocent Life
A short story with a heavy ending: a hand flicks a banana peel out of a car window, and a schoolboy running to his exam never arrives. In this episode of 'That's Wrong' we tell the story, ask what faith and the law have to say, and look at how to change a habit we call 'minor' — and which kills.
August 18, 2026 · 4 min read
Female Genital Mutilation: A Crime Under Law, Rejected by Religion and Medicine — Not a Custom Worth Keeping
FGM is still practised in silence under the name of custom and false piety — even though Egyptian law criminalises it with severe penalties, Al-Azhar and Dar al-Iftaa have declared it has no basis in religion, and medicine is unanimous that it is pure harm with not a single benefit. This article does not accuse families; it calls on them to protect their daughters — protection that begins with a parent's clear "no."
August 18, 2026 · 7 min read
"This Is My Turf": The Strong-Arm Sayes, When Extortion Wears the Uniform of a Service
He stands in a street he owns no stone of, hands out parking spots as if they were his estate, sets the price by mood — and whoever objects risks a sharp key along the car door or a humiliating word in front of his family. The unlicensed sayes who imposes himself through intimidation is not a service provider; he is a collector of tribute. That's just wrong: the street is public property, and the law has regulated the trade — leaving no excuse for thuggery in its clothing.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min read
The Sidewalk Belongs to the Citizen: Kiosks That Push Pedestrians into Traffic
A mother pushing a stroller between moving cars; an old man feeling his way past microbuses — because the sidewalk built for them has been swallowed by a kiosk, drink fridges and displayed goods. A kiosk on the sidewalk — even a licensed one — confiscates a passage built for people and shoves them into the roadway. That's just wrong: a sidewalk is not real estate for rent; it is every citizen's corridor of safety.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min read
A Café Under Your Bedroom: When Basement Floors Become All-Night Shisha Dens
Smoke seeping through ventilation shafts into the flats above, laughter and clatter until dawn, and a child with a morning exam who cannot sleep. Converting basements and ground floors of residential buildings into all-night shisha cafés is a daily assault on residents' health and rest. That's just wrong — the home comes before any business.
August 18, 2026 · 6 min read
A Bomb on Wheels: Speeding in Dilapidated Cars Is Contempt for Human Life
Half-working brakes, bald tires, dead lights — and a driver flying down the road as if the car had just rolled off the factory line. A speeding, dilapidated car is not transportation; it is a moving hazard threatening every family on the road. That's just wrong: your freedom behind the wheel ends at other people's right to reach home alive.
August 18, 2026 · 6 min read
Your Dog Is Free at Home: Aggressive Dogs on Public Beaches Violate Everyone Else's Rights
A scene repeated every summer on our beaches: a large, unmuzzled dog charging between children while its owner shrugs, "He doesn't bite." In our "That's Just Wrong" section we say it plainly: the freedom to own an animal ends where other people's safety and peace of mind begin. A public beach belongs to every citizen — it is not a training ground for somebody's dog.
August 18, 2026 · 6 min read
Darting Through Traffic: A Gamble Paid for by Walker and Driver Alike
Metres away from the footbridge or the marked crossing, the pedestrian plunges into the river of asphalt, weaving between cars, palm raised at oncoming traffic as if a hand were a brake. A daily scene so familiar we have forgotten what it really is: a gamble with the walker's life — and with the nerves of a driver who may swerve and hit the innocent. This is wrong — on both sides, and on the state too.
August 18, 2026 · 4 min read
The Nile Is Not a Dump: To Poison the Artery Is to Stab the Whole Body
The river Egypt was built on since the dawn of history is treated by some as an open drain: bags hurled from bridges, waste emptied into the water, garbage left on the banks. Whoever throws something into the Nile is not spoiling a "view" — he is polluting the drinking water of millions of Egyptians downstream. And the law explicitly criminalises it. This is wrong.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min read
"I'm Free": The Freedom That Ends at Your Neighbour's Lungs
In the lift, the office, the enclosed cafe, the microbus: he lights his cigarette in the middle of everyone, and if anyone objects, the ready answer comes — "I'm free." But passive smoking is not an opinion to be respected; it is documented harm, inhaled by a child, an allergy sufferer, a pregnant woman who never chose it. And Egyptian law has banned it for years. This is wrong.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min read
A Lit Cigarette Butt: One Small Ember Is Enough for a Disaster
One flick of a finger: the cigarette is tossed from a window or dropped on the pavement while still burning, and its owner walks away. But an ember does not know it is "small." On dry grass, beside a garbage pile, near a fuel leak — one spark is enough to start a disaster. Seconds of carelessness can devour whole families' livelihoods. This is wrong.
August 18, 2026 · 4 min read
Litter Flung from a Car Window: Seconds of Laziness That Can Cost a Life
A window rolls down, a hand reaches out, a bag drops onto the asphalt and the car drives on. It happens every day on our streets — from modest cars and luxury cars alike. Before it is an offence, it is a message of contempt to everyone on the road, and a trap a passer-by can slip on and pay for with his life. This is wrong.
August 18, 2026 · 5 min read
"This Is Wrong": A Desk That Calls Misbehaviour by Its Name
On this desk we will not flatter and we will not stay silent. The behaviours that have hardened into bad habits and customs will be named out loud: this is wrong. Before they are legal offences, they are moral crimes against fellow citizens — insult, provocation and harm. This is the desk's founding statement, and our promise to its readers.
August 18, 2026 · 6 min read