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Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced the results of the Connecticut delegate vote casting for Kamala Harris -- 73 votes for Kamala and 1 "present" vote.
Who voted present?
Turns out it was a human rights activist and an at-large delegate from West Hartford named Essam Boraey, a Ph.D. student in the Management Department at the University of Connecticut, where his research has focused on the intersection between politics and the economy in emerging markets. For example, he has explored "how immigrants move to new societies and try to integrate into the economic ecosystem."
Boraey, an immigrant from Egypt, previously worked with the Senate Democrats Office doing Outreach and Policy Advocacy, and served as a field organizer for Bernie Sanders in 2016. He has also served as Co Chair on the West Hartford Human Rights Commission.
During Biden's speech on Monday night, Boraey joined a group of protestors, including Florida DNC member Nadia Ahmad and progressive Jewish activist Liano Sharon, a Michigan delegate, in unfurling a massive banner that said "Stop Arming Israel".
The banner was pulled away from the trio, who called themselves "Delegates Against Genocide", by DNC convention staff. Meanwhile, convention attendees from Florida held up "We Heart Joe" signs to try to cover the protest banner.
Before the convention Boreay said, "I can’t wait to team up with fellow change-makers in Chicago, working together for a brighter, more inclusive future for everyone."
After the stunt Boreay told Democracy Now, "we quickly came together with our history together on organizing and activism in the community since the war on Gaza started and we decided to do something. And we wanted to make sure that our voices are heard. We tried multiple ways, many ways of doing these things."
"And that was our last resort last night," Boreay continued. "It means a lot because... as an immigrant myself, I was once a political activist back in my home country of Egypt and I was kicked out of the country because I was pushing for justice and equality for everybody.”
Boreay previously told an interviewer from The Wesleyan Argus that he had been arrested and tried in the criminal court in Egypt for working for a human rights organization. He claims to have been advocating for free and fair elections, but an Egyptian court decided Boreay's election advocacy was illegal.
"So when I was sentenced to prison after that, I just couldn’t go back into prison. So at 26 years old, I left. I’ve been through very painful moments, but that one was extremely painful because it was a declaration of defeat," said Boreay who fled Egypt for the US.
Boreay says if he goes back to Egypt, he has a prison sentence awaiting him.
"I was convicted based on a report from the military intelligence. The head of military intelligence, who wrote this report against me, went on to be the head of the military in Egypt and led a coup against the President and became the president now. So the current president of Egypt put me in prison," said Boreay in 2020.
Boreay has been to prison in Egypt four times between 2007 and 2011, and claimed he was tortured, interrogated, and "pushed to his brink" each time for his political activism.
But now he's "living his wildest dreams" by attending the DNC.
"How does a brown immigrant with a funny accent go from the iron cage of the Egyptian criminal court to being a delegate in the most exciting democratic process on earth?" pondered Boreay on a GoFundMe page requesting help to cover his travel costs to the DNC. "It’s an honor worthy of all the tears one can shed and a responsibility I do not take lightly."
Might have some cred if he adopted American values on his arrival to our shore instead of bringing the ‘RED’.
Unbelievable…