Either political reform, rule of law, and accountability, or there will be an explosion
Cairo: 23 September 2019
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said today that the appalling campaign of repression and arrests launched by the Egyptian authorities about a week ago, which has increased in intensity since last Friday evening, and has not stopped until now, in total disregard for the law and the provisions of the Constitution, foretells that there will be a huge explosion in Egypt as a result of the use of repression and police measures rather than political reform and accountability to address the squandering of public money and the violations of citizens’ rights.
The crackdown launched by the Egyptian authorities to try and quell the anger in the hearts of young people did not distinguish among factions or political forces left or right, and has indiscriminately included citizens and young apolitical individuals who took to the streets to express their rejection of the policies of impoverishment and the waste of public money. The campaign was not limited to arresting citizens who exercised their right to peaceful demonstration, but went on to include the abduction of lawyers such as leftist lawyer Mahienour al-Masri, who was kidnapped in front of the prosecution office, the Vice President of the al-Karama Party Abdul Aziz Al Husseini who was kidnapped from his house three days ago, leftist leader Kamal Khalil, the Vice President of The Popular Alliance Party Abdel Nasser Ismail, video blogger Mohamed Oxygen, as well as many journalists, a list of their name is still being prepared now, who were doing their job covering the protests.
The number of detainees that ANHRI was able to get so far amounts to around 370, between arrested, abducted, and detained, this is still a small figure compared to the real numbers that have been arrested and detained. Most of the arrests were marred by a clear violation of the provisions of the law and the Constitution, starting from the denial of the right to make a phone call to families, to the detention in illegal security camps or disappearance or the detention of minors under 18 years and holding them in the same place with adults.
ANHRI said: “The 17 prisons built by the regime of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will not be enough to hold millions of angry Egyptians, and even if the new presidential palaces were to be re-purposed as prisons, it will still not be big enough to hold these huge numbers. The anger is unfathomable and there is no alternative to political and economic reform, putting an end to wasting public money and accountability. Otherwise, continuing with the violent repression could lead to an explosion the consequences of which will be irreversible.”
It is noteworthy that more than 30 lawyers from ANHRI and other independent human rights organizations, as well as some volunteer lawyers, are still, after more than 24 hours, in the headquarters of the State Security Prosecution, trying to provide legal support and aid for the victims, who have been arrested in many cities, who amount to about 370, and this figure is increasing, most of them are from Suez, Cairo, Alexandria, and Mansoura, including several minors and students. Regrettably, the Public Prosecution did not question any police officer regarding the violation of legal and constitutional rights during the arrest or detention of the victims or regarding holding them in illegal detention facilities.
ANHRI sees this as a small tip of a huge iceberg of anger and rejection among millions of Egyptians, who were shocked by the president’s confession concerning the building of new presidential palaces, despite the dire poverty and the ongoing collection of money from the people, and then justifying this and claiming that political Islam groups are behind the chaos, although, most of Egypt’s recent vicious crackdown campaigns were against civil powers including leftists, nationalists, liberals, ordinary citizens, and non-politicized youth.
It is worth mentioning that the accusations leveled against detainees and abductees in the recent period are the usual empty and unsubstantiated accusations that the prosecution used to make against prisoners of conscience, such as “Participating with a terrorist group despite having knowledge of its goals, deliberately spreading false news and information that disturb public peace, using World Wide Web with the objective of committing a crime, and organizing a demonstration without permission.”
ANHRI along with other independent human rights organizations, as well as a large number of volunteer lawyers who support the pro-democracy movement, are still providing support and aid to the victims.
