Revolutie in Egypte #207: Waar Sisi president wil worden

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As Egyptians Grasp for Stability, Sisi Fortifies His Presidency

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More than any change in his standing abroad, however, what the event demonstrated was the strength of the cult of personality that Mr. Sisi’s allies are building around him at home as he consolidates his power — a persona far more exalted and protected than even that of Hosni Mubarak, his long-serving predecessor. What viewers back in Egypt could not see was that during the General Assembly, almost all of the diplomats present watched in amused silence as Mr. Sisi’s small entourage did the clapping in response to his chant. But the Egyptian media’s applause was sustained and unanimous, dramatizing a monopolization of power under Mr. Sisi that many analysts say has not occurred in this country since the rule of Mohamed Ali Pasha, the early 19th-century founder of the modern Egyptian state. In the first hundred days since he formally assumed the title of president, Mr. Sisi has already tread where previous leaders hardly dared: He effectively sided with Israel against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas; he stonewalled high-level Western pressure to release veteran international journalists sentenced to prison on politicized charges; and he rolled back fuel subsidies that were long considered all but untouchable.

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he small, non-Islamist parties that initially backed his takeover say Mr. Sisi has turned a deaf ear to their complaints about the long wait for elections. He has not addressed complaints about the new government’s tight restrictions on freedom of assembly, or complaints about the plans for a voting system that experts say will virtually guarantee a rubber-stamp Parliament of local power brokers loyal to Mr. Sisi.

“This is a government that does not want to listen to political parties,” said Khaled Dawoud, a spokesman for the Constitution Party. “We can clearly see that there is a step back in Egypt for political freedom, a narrowing of the space for political debate.”

As an initial backer of Mr. Sisi’s takeover, “I feel sad and bitter,” Mr. Dawoud said. “We see a totally opposite direction than what we hoped for.” He added: “We did not want a military general.”

The nationalist frenzy of adulation for Mr. Sisi has ebbed. Cairo shop windows no longer display Sisi cupcakes or Sisi lingerie, and state newspapers no longer publish tributes to his “flawless appearance” and “herculean strength” as they did a year ago. The most credible public poll of Egyptian opinion, conducted in May by the Pew Research Center, found that 54 percent of the public viewed Mr. Sisi positively and 45 percent negatively — an approval rating roughly similar to that of his predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, in a poll by Pew about a year earlier.

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The obliteration of civil society in Egypt

If the NGO law is passed and enforced, human rights groups will have to request permission from the government to collect and document the human rights violations committed by the government. Egypt’s second evaluation is scheduled for October 2014.

Civil society in Egypt has been struggling for a long time with the laws governing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and, over the last few years, this struggle has become iconic in a conflict with the government.

The struggle to freely express and associate has become one of the major battles of the revolution, as political expression and activity have woven themselves into every aspect of Egyptian society.

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Harming national interest is a recurring theme since the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood from power. Thousands of citizens have been arrested and detained including members of political opposition groups, activists, journalists, and the unfortunate individual who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Even Egypt’s most famous puppet, Abla Fahita, was accused of inciting terrorist activity.

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Students in university campuses across Egypt held protests on Monday condemning the arrest and suspension of fellow students, and the presence of security forces – including the private security company Falcon – in and around campuses.

Students Against Coup (SAC) said Monday evening that at Fayoum University students will be holding a protest on Tuesday, demonstrating their outrage as a result of “kidnapping students from the university gates and spreading police agents on campus” and “continuation of humiliating the students’ dignity”.

At Alexandria University on Monday, students stormed and destroyed electronic gates using Molotov cocktails, and clashed with Falcon personnel, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).

AFTE added that three students were arrested for promoting “the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and holding protests”.

At Helwan University, AFTE reported that campus security clashed with students using sticks and rocks. SAC reported that police deployed agents in the metro stations leading to the universities.

At Mansoura University, tens of students from SAC protested, calling for the fall of the current regime.

The SAC branch in Banha condemned the arrest of two students from the city’s university, promising more resistance.

The board of Kafr Al-Sheikh University banned political participation on campus, said AFTE.

SAC also stated that a number of protests took place in Menufiya University, before they were dispersed.

At Al-Azhar University on Monday, riot police were ordered by Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim to secure the campus from the inside. In the university’s branch in Daqahleya, three students were arrested after security entered the campus.

At Cairo University, police forces surrounded the gates leading to the faculty of engineering due to anticipated protests. Meanwhile, police will secure the Cairo University gates from the outside in cooperation with the private security company Falcon.

The decisions to deploy the security forces sparked condemnation by the 6 April movement, Al-Azhar University Student Union, and Democracy Index.

The index stated that the authorities are continuing to use oppressive policies which have so far proved ineffective in quelling the student protests. “Security confrontations, legislative restrictions, and media distortion campaigns, and political exclusion” remain to be important tools by which the Egyptian state deals the students, said the group.

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Students in university campuses across Egypt continued to hold protests on Tuesday condemning the arrest and suspension of fellow students, and the presence of security forces – including the private security company Falcon – in and around campuses, clashing with police.

In Alexandria University students and riot police violently clashed, resulting in the firing of tear gas and bird shots, reported state media.

Students Against Coup (SAC) spokesperson Youssef Saleheen claimed police used live ammunition, and tried to raid buildings inside the Alexandria University campus. The SAC reported injuries, with one student being struck in the head.

The Revolutionary Socialists Movement said on Tuesday that two students were arrested in dawn raids by state security personnel on charges of inciting protests.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said on the privately-owned TV channel Al Mehwar on Monday that the police forces present on campuses are only concerned with law enforcement and that tear gas only will be used in cases of violence.

Some students were detained at Assiut Univertsity by campus security as confrontations broke out between the two. The SAC movement called upon fellow students to mobilise to protest the detentions, threatening further escalation.

At Fayoum University students demonstrated against the “kidnapping [of] students from the university gates and spreading police agents on campus” and “continuation of humiliating the students’ dignity”.

Protests also continued in different universities across the country including Mansoura, Kafr Al-Sheikh and Ain Shams as part of the students’ planned escalation.

The decisions to deploy the security forces sparked condemnation by the 6 April movement, Al-Azhar University Student Union, and Democracy Index.

The Azhari Marsad for Freedoms and Rights said that arguments presented by the security apparatus for their presence inside the university is only “to oppress students and quell their freedoms”.

“The presence of police forces inside the Al-Azhar University last year resulted in the death of 9 and the arrest of 545”, said Azhari Marsad. “The decision strips students of the right to have a safe environment to learn”.

Democracy Index stated that the authorities are continuing to use oppressive policies which have so far proved ineffective in quelling the student protests. “Security confrontations, legislative restrictions, and media distortion campaigns, and political exclusion” remain tools by which the Egyptian state deals with the students, said the group.

In Alexandria University on Monday, students stormed and destroyed electronic gates using Molotov cocktails, and clashed with Falcon personnel, according to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).

AFTE added that three students were arrested for promoting “the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and holding protests”.

At Helwan University, AFTE reported that campus security clashed with students using sticks and rocks. SAC reported that police deployed agents in the metro stations leading to the universities.

At Mansoura University, tens of students from SAC protested, calling for the fall of the current regime.

The SAC branch in Banha condemned the arrest of two students from the city’s university, promising more resistance.

The board of Kafr Al-Sheikh University banned political participation on campus, said AFTE.

SAC also stated that a number of protests took place in Menufiya University, before they were dispersed.

At Al-Azhar University on Monday, riot police were ordered by Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim to secure the campus from the inside. In the university’s branch in Daqahleya, three students were arrested after security entered the campus.

At Cairo University, police forces surrounded the gates leading to the faculty of engineering due to anticipated protests. Meanwhile, police will secure the Cairo University gates from the outside in cooperation with the private security company Falcon.

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Army major general Khaled Abdel-Sallam Al-Sadr will begin his new job as secretary general of Egypt's House of Representatives – lower house of parliament – this week, becoming the first man from military ranks to hold this post.

On 15 October, Egypt's transitional justice minister and the head of House of Representatives Affairs, Ibrahim Al-Heneidy surprised house staff and parliamentary reporters when he selected Al-Sadr to be the new secretary-general of the House.

Al-Sadr replaced Farag Al-Dorri who reached retirement age on 30 September. Al-Dorri had been the secretary-general of Egypt's former consultative upper house (the Shura Council) since 1989.

When the Shura Council was dissolved by a new constitution passed in a public referendum last January and the name of Egypt's lower house parliament changed from the People's Assembly to the House of Representatives, Al-Dorri was re-named as secretary-general of the House.

The House's staff of employees hoped that Al-Dorri, 84, would be left in his position for another year largely due to his long judicial and legislative experience and high managerial skills, or that at least a senior judge with deep-rooted legislative experience would replace him. Instead, employees were surprised by Al-Heneidy taking the unprecedented step of appointing a senior army officer as the secretary-general of the House.

"Al-Heneidy should have waited until parliamentary elections were held and for votes on naming a new secretary-general," said one house employee who asked not to be named.

According to the executive regulations of the House of Representatives, issued in 1979, the speaker and his two deputies are entrusted with naming the House's Secretary-general, but only under approval of two thirds of deputies.

"When a new parliament is formed in the first half of next year, the new speaker and his deputies will have the right to keep Al-Sadr in his position or name a new one," said a legal expert with the House.

Regulations state that the secretary-general position is fully responsible for running the daily business of parliament, ranging from preparing the daily schedule of parliamentary debates, supervising the performance of 18 parliamentary committees, to managing the daily affairs of parliamentary staff and personnel.

"In other words," said the legal expert, "the secretary-general acts as the executive director of the parliament and in a way that puts him in daily and close contact with all state authorities, ranging from the presidency, to the cabinet to the ministries of interior and defence."

Informed house sources said Al-Sadr has good judicial background, with experience working with military courts and intelligence. The army has been in charge of guarding the Egyptian parliament building since 28 January 2011 when police forces crumbled in the face of protests against the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Al-Sadr is expected to meet with house staff amid hopes that a secretary-general with military background will bring discipline. Parliamentary staff say they suffered when the Muslim Brotherhood took parliament for six months (January-June 2012). One employee said they "seized their majority in parliament to take over the secretariat-general, turning it into something like a Brotherhood office.”

Under the autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak, Sami Mahran, a former judge, had been the longest-serving parliamentary secretary-general, retaining his post from 1985 to 2012. Mahran resigned from his post in October, 2012, after he was referred to trial on charges of illegally profiteering from his job.

In April 2013, Mahran was sentenced to three years in jail and was ordered to repay LE17 million in illegal profits he had secured from his long-time position. Mahran fled Egypt just one month before the Giza Criminal Court found him guilty of abuse of power and illegal profiteering.

Despite parliament being under Muslim Brotherhood control in the first half of 2012, Mahran continued to serve as secretary-general. Brotherhood speaker Saad Al-Katatni left him in his post although Mahran was branded as one of the loyalists to Hosni Mubarak's defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has declared three days of national mourning after at least 31 members of the security forces were killed in two separate attacks in North Sinai on Friday.

Twenty-eight soldiers were killed – according to the lastest figures reported by local satellite channel CBC – and another 30 injured when a car bomb exploded at the Karm Alkwadis security checkpoint in Sheikh Zuweid.

Just hours later three security personal died when militants opened fire at a checkpoint in nearby Al-Arish.

The attack in Sheikh Zuweid is the deadliest the region has seen in more than two years of heightened unrest.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, an Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist militant group, has previously claimed responsibility for similar attacks in Sinai and in Egypt's mainland.

The injured were transferred to the military and general hospitals in Al-Arish, the biggest city in North Sinai.

Medical teams were sent to Al-Arish military hospital, said Health Minister Adel El-Adawi. Al-Arish general hospital called on local residents to donate blood.

El-Sisi convened the National Defence Council on Friday evening to discuss the latest developments in Sinai, a presidential spokesperson said.

The council is made up of cabinet ministers, commanders of the armed forces, and is chaired by the president.

State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said the United States condemns the attack and “continues to support the Egyptian government’s efforts to counter the threat of terrorism in Egypt as part of our commitment to the strategic partnership between our two countries.”

Over 40 security personnel have been killed in attacks in the Sinai Peninsula this week, including the two attacks on Friday.

A militant insurgency by jihadist groups in the peninsula has become more active since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Hundreds of police and soldiers, as well as militants, have been killed.

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With the Muslim Brotherhood banned and secular opposition parties‎ divided, key members of the former ‎regime of Hosni Mubarak are expecting to perform well in Egypt's coming parliamentary elections. ‎

Beginning on Monday, the Egyptian Front, an electoral ‎coalition led by a number of the former Mubarak-era officials and members of ‎Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP), will hold the first of a series of public rallies in ‎preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections.‎

According to Mostafa Bakri, editor of the independent weekly ‎Al-Osboa and the coalition's media spokesperson, the Egyptian ‎Front's first public rally will be held in Qena in Upper Egypt on Monday.

"It will ‎be followed by weekly public rallies in the cities of Cairo, ‎Alexandria, Tanta and Assuit and so on," said Bakri, adding that ‎‎"these are not part of the election campaigns, but rather public ‎conferences aimed at mobilising citizens to the polls and ‎alerting their attention to the dangers of the return of the Muslim ‎Brotherhood to parliament and political life."‎

Mahmoud Nafadi, a parliamentary reporter and the ‎spokesperson for coalition member Modern Egypt Party said that "the Qena public rally will be held under the ‎slogan ‘the people, the army and the police are one hand ‎against terrorism.’”

"Under this slogan, which was adopted after ‎the terrorist attack in Sinai on Friday, we will do our best to ‎raise the awareness of the dangers of bringing Muslim ‎Brotherhood or any its allies back to parliament."‎

The front's leaders indicate that even though registration for the ‎polls has not been officially opened yet and the date for the elections has not been set, the ‎coalition has decided to prepare early for the elections.

"It is ‎no secret that the list of the front's candidates in most of Egypt’s ‎‎27 governorates has already been finalised so that they can ‎lead a competitive campaign from the beginning," said Bakri.‎

The last two months witnessed Egypt's secular political parties ‎scrambling to form electoral alliances in a bid to win a majority ‎of seats in the upcoming parliament. ‎

According to Article 146 of the new constitution, the political ‎party or coalition that wins a majority of seats in parliament will ‎be asked by the president to form a new government. ‎

Emboldened by court rulings that ruled out imposing political ‎disenfranchisement on them, the remnants of the former ‎Mubarak regime and the defunct NDP rushed to form the ‎Egyptian Front electoral coalition.

It is mainly composed of the ‎National Movement, founded by Mubarak's last prime minister ‎and 2012 presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, the Misr Baladi ‎Party, founded by former interior minister Ahmed Gamaleddin, ‎and the Congress Party, founded by Mubarak's former ‎foreign minister Amr Moussa.‎

The coalition also includes the Modern Egypt Party, the Geel ‎‎Party, the Democratic Al-Ghad Party, ‎the leftist Tagammu party. Three major labour ‎organisations are also members: the General Egyptian Federation of Trade ‎Unions, the Federation of Professional Syndicates, and ‎the General Syndicate of Farmers.‎

Bakri disclosed that two leftist parties – the Arab Nasserist ‎Party and the Qawmi Party – have also joined the ‎coalition.‎

The front selected Amin Radi, deputy chairman of the Congress ‎Party, as its secretary-general. Radi is a former airforce ‎pilot who was close to Mubarak, and was also a leading NDP official who was ‎selected to head the 2005-2010 parliament's committee of ‎transport. ‎

The front has also appointed Ali El-Moselhi, a former minister of ‎social solidarity and a former member of NDP's secretariat-‎general, as its general coordinator.‎

El-Moselhi told Al-Ahram newspaper that he expects that the ‎front will gain a large number of seats in the coming parliament ‎‎"and we hope we will gain the majority."

"When Mubarak was ‎in power, opposition parties were always asserting that if he ‎left office, the NDP would evaporate in a second," said ‎El-Moselhi, "but the NDP never evaporated after ‎Mubarak had left office simply because its deputies still have ‎deep-rooted business, familial and tribal links everywhere in ‎Egypt."

"We counted for success in parliament during the ‎Mubarak years not so much on Mubarak's ruling party as on our deep links with the Egyptian people," asserted El-‎Moselhi, recalling that in 2005's polls most of the NDP ‎candidates won as independents but joined the party in ‎parliament to swell its ranks. ‎

El-Moselhi said the front will introduce itself to the Egyptian ‎people not as former NDP figures or ex-Mubarak officials ‎but rather as a national coalition that includes a mixture of liberal ‎and leftist forces.‎

El-Moselhi believes that a lot of former NDP ‎deputies will choose to run as independents. "The major ‎reason for this is that the new election law reserves two thirds ‎of seats for independents and one third only for party-based ‎candidates," he said.‎

Agreeing with El-Moselhi, Nabil Zaki, spokesman for the Tagammu ‎Party, also insists that the Egyptian Front is not ‎a political cover for the NDP remnants. "Tagammu joined this ‎coalition because we share the belief that the Muslim Brotherhood ‎and other political Islam forces are the biggest threat to Egypt ‎and that all should be united against helping them return to ‎parliamentary and political life again," said Zaki.‎

Secular opposition parties have long complained that the ‎individual candidacy system helps candidates with money, ‎power and tribal links sweep parliament. "This ‎applies very much to NDP remnants who made a lot of wealth ‎under the Mubarak regime and who know how to ‎buy votes with money," said Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, chairman ‎of the Popular Socialist Alliance Party.

Shukr has submitted a ‎memo to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, urging him to ‎intervene to amend the election law so as to prevent former NDP ‎figures from winning seats in parliament. ‎

Another three coalitions associated with the Mubarak regime in one way or another have also been formed ‎in recent weeks. The first is led by Kamal El-Ganzouri, a former ‎Mubarak old guard prime minister. El-Ganzouri said he does ‎not want to be the speaker of the coming parliament but he ‎wants to form a broad-based electoral alliance among secular ‎forces to win seats reserved to party lists only (120 seats).

"All ‎should know that the failure of creating this national electoral ‎alliance could open the door for political Islam forces to ‎infiltrate parliament again," a source close to El-Ganzouri said ‎on 21 October.‎

El-Ganzouri made a lot of contacts with several secular forces, ‎on top of which the Egyptian Front, asking them to join his ‎electoral alliance – or the so-called El-Ganzouri alliance. ‎

Opposition parties see El-Ganzouri as mostly acting as a cover ‎for El-Sisi who, they say, wants a parliament ‎dominated by loyalists to his regime. A presidential spokesman ‎insisted last week that President El-Sisi has not asked anyone ‎to form an electoral alliance and that El-Ganzouri is acting on his ‎own.‎
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The second coalition – named the Independence Current – is ‎composed of a number of low-key political parties which were ‎created under the Mubarak regime. It is headed by Ahmed El-‎Fadali, chairman of the Democratic Peace Party and an ‎employee of the People's Assembly (now renamed the House of ‎Representatives).‎

A third coalition under the title Together Long Live Egypt has also ‎come into being. According to its general coordinator Medhat ‎El-Haddad, the coalition mainly includes retired ‎military personnel who want to see Egypt remain a civilian ‎state and not fall again into the hands of political Islam.

"If we were not able to field candidates, we will ‎mobilise the families of our members – estimated at 14 million ‎-- to vote against Islamists or any other anti-El-Sisi force," El-‎Hadad told Al-Ahram daily.‎

All of the above coalitions are united by one platform: a deep ‎abhorrence of Muslim Brotherhood and a firm support for ‎President El-Sisi.

Yehia Qadri, deputy chairman of the National Movement ‎Party, told Al-Ahram that it is important for the coming ‎parliament to work in collaboration and harmony with ‎ El-Sisi because Egypt's fragile political conditions ‎cannot stand any confrontation between the executive and ‎legislative branches of power.‎

There have been rumours that Ahmed Ezz, a billionaire steel ‎magnate who had acted as NDP's secretary for organisational ‎affairs and was the right-hand man of Mubarak's young son and ‎heir apparent Gamal, is now doing its best to gather former NDP men into a new political party. Ezz was released ‎from prison this year after paying a hefty fine of LE150 million pending trial ‎on charges of tax evasion, illegal profiteering and monopolistic ‎practices.‎

Nafadi, however, insists that Ezz has just met with his steel ‎company's employees to review work conditions while he was ‎in jail rather discuss any election matters. "The best Ezz can do ‎is to fund the election campaigns of some former NDP deputies ‎who were close to him and who might contest the polls as ‎independents," said Nafadi. ‎

Political analysts agree that the NDP-affiliated electoral ‎coalitions could perform well in the coming polls, but this is ‎not to the extent that the NDP diehards will return to ‎parliament in large numbers to sweep it. Al-Ahram political ‎analyst Gamal Abdel-Gawad agrees that ideological divisions ‎among secular opposition political forces offer a golden ‎opportunity for NDP diehards to return to parliament again.

‎‎"But I still have doubts that most of these diehards can win ‎because they lost popularity after Mubarak's downfall, not to ‎mention that citizens cannot tolerate Egypt having another ‎Mubarak-style parliament in the wake of two revolutions," ‎said Abdel-Gawad.‎

Shukr also agrees that "to say that NDP diehards will sweep ‎the coming parliament is overestimated." "I know they are ‎coming from all directions as they want to impose a siege on ‎the coming parliament, but in any way I think that they, helped ‎by the electoral system, could at best win a quarter of seats – a ‎distressing fact in itself, " said Shukr.‎

The results of the 2012 elections which were swept by the Muslim ‎Brotherhood’s political party show that four or five former NDP MPs only were ‎able to find their way into parliament as independents and ‎that most of NDP's high profile candidates like El-Moselhi ‎lost the election to Islamist candidates. Shukr urges ‎opposition parties to merge into one electoral coalition ‎capable of winning majority and defeating the symbols of both ‎the Mubarak and Muslim Brotherhood regimes.

"I hope we will ‎move in this direction and the sooner the better if we want a ‎democratic future for Egypt to flourish," said Shukr.‎

Egypt's parliamentary polls are expected to be held later this ‎year or early next year after a new electoral district law is ‎finalised.‎

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A popular Egyptian talk show presenter was suspended Saturday, becoming the latest of several TV hosts denied airtime for being critical of ruling authorities.

Mahmoud Saad, who hosts "Akher El-Nahar" show four nights a week on Al-Nahar TV, went along with his crew on time but were told they would not go on air without prior notice, sources close to the crew told Ahram Online.

The private TV channel slammed "demotivating the army" without directly citing this as a reason for the suspension. Meanwhile, the host and crew of the programme refused to comment on the matter.
The channel issued a public statement the following day firmly stating that it will make "substantial changes" in its political programmes, adding that it will also take action with regard to the production of live programmes.

"The channel will prohibit the appearance of a number of guests who promote ideas that weaken the morale of the Egyptian army," the statement read.

On Friday, Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed two deadly attacks that killed at least 31 soldiers. All TV channels, including Al-Nahar, were mourning the martyrs.

Saad and many other programme anchors decided to wear black ties in solidarity and in condolence with the soldiers' families following Friday's attacks.

However, Friday's episode of "Akher Al-Nahar" show hosted psychologist Manal Omar, who was continuing a series of episodes analysing the personality of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

During her analysis, Omar recalled El-Sisi's words, as Egypt's defence minister during a celebration of the army in October 2013, about how the Egyptian people stood in solidarity with the military during the defeat of 1967.

The statement of the channel highly criticised speaking about the memory of the Naksa — the humiliating military 'setback' of June 1967 — at a time when Egypt was mourning the death of 29 soldiers killed in terrorist attacks in Sinai.

"At the time where we should be crying at the great loss of our defenders in Sinai, the guests went to recall the 1967 defeat," the statement read.

The audience of the show were surprised when they found Khaled Salah, editor-in-chief of Youm7 newspaper and an anchor on the channel, hosting Saturday's show instead of Saad.

"As long as there is an absence of a clear code of editorial principles for each channel we will be always facing these kinds of issues, whether on ONTV, Dream or any other private channel," Yasser Abdel Aziz, a media expert and member of an advisory council of experts formed last week by presidential decree and tasked with improving the media, told Ahram Online.

Abdel Aziz highlighted that Egypt is currently paving the way for comprehensive media reforms, underlining that to date "Egypt has no media system or rules."

In June, another privately owned channel suspended two broadcasters — one for making light of mob sexual assaults against women in Cairo's Tahrir Square during celebrations for President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's inauguration, and another for hanging up on Ethiopia's ambassador to Cairo during a live phone-in about Addis Ababa's Grand Renaissance Dam project.

Separately, the show of a pro-government anchor was suspended due to her statements about the Moroccan people and Morocco's leaders.

Recently, transmission was cut on Dream TV anchor Wael El-Ebrashy while on air, apparently for anti-government comments.

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Police arrested 34 students amid protests and clashes on Tuesday at different universities across Egypt, with the army storming one campus, according to Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.

A security source told Al-Ahram that "rioting tools" were confiscated and six homemade bombs were dismantled at Mansoura University in the Nile Delta. Another two sound bombs were found on the campus of Beni Suef University.

In Cairo, 80 students from Al-Azhar University allegedly blocked a main road, chanted against the government and shot off fireworks, the source said. Police dispersed the group and arrested 14 Al-Azhar students.

On campus protests, led mainly by students supporting ousted president Mohamed Morsi, have resumed with the start of the new academic year on 11 October.

Police have stormed at least five universities and arrested over 180 students since then.

At Cairo University, protesting students burned tires, while students at Beni Suef University allegedly smashed a police vehicle.

For the first time since the university clashes began last year, army forces stormed Mansoura University to assist police in securing the campus, as per a new law issued on Monday.

The law, issued by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, allows the military to assist the police in guarding vital public facilities, including university campuses.

On Monday, Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said that school children and university students accused of sabotaging educational facilities will be tried by military courts.

Earlier in the semester, one student died at Alexandria University from birdshot wounds sustained during clashes with police, while a bomb exploded at Cairo University last week, injuring 11.

At least 19 students were killed in clashes on campuses last year, while hundreds others were injured or arrested. The government has blamed the violence on students supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that has been banned and designated a terrorist organisation.

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Caïro geeft leger meer macht over burgers

De Egyptische president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi heeft maandag het leger meer bevoegdheden gegeven, onder meer om burgers voor militaire tribunalen te berechten.

Het leger krijgt een serie politie- en bewakingstaken erbij en ''alle misdaden tegen openbare instellingen en publieke eigendommen vallen onder de militaire justitie''.

Met al-Sisi's maatregelen van maandag beheersen de militairen het land nog meer dan onder het lange en autoritaire bewind van president Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011).

Maarschalk al-Sisi verruimt de bevoegdheden van het leger, nadat vrijdag terroristen zeker 30 militairen hadden gedood bij een aanval in de Sinaï.

_{Door: ANP}

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Leger Egypte bewaakt belangrijke gebouwen

Het Egyptische leger heeft opdracht gekregen om samen met de politie belangrijke gebouwen en installaties in Egypte te beschermen tegen terreuraanvallen.

De marsorders komen van president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi en zorgen ervoor dat de zichtbaarheid van het leger in het alledaagse leven toeneemt.

In het decreet van de president staat dat het leger de politie de komende twee jaar moet ondersteunen. In die periode worden de gebouwen en installaties aangemerkt als militaire installaties.

Personen die aanslagen op de gebouwen plegen kunnen vervolgens worden berecht door militaire tribunalen.

De afgelopen tijd is het aantal aanslagen door extremisten tegen het leger en de politie fors toegenomen. Afgelopen weekeinde kwamen bij een aanslag in het noorden van de Sinaï dertig militiaren om het leven. Het was de dodelijkste aanslag op het Egyptische leger in tientallen jaren.

Avondklok
Naar aanleiding van die aanval besloot El-Sissi een avondklok in te stellen. Bovendien gaan er geruchten dat de Egyptische regering inwoners van de Sinaï wil evacueren, om zo het leger meer bewegingsvrijheid te geven.

Extremisten hebben herhaaldelijk aanslagen gepleegd op gaspijpleidingen, hoogspanningsmasten en telefooncentrales. El-Sissi heeft gezworen de strijd met de extremisten aan te gaan, die volgens hem het voortbestaan van de staat bedreigen.

Zaterdag beschuldigde hij 'buitenlandse krachten' ervan een aandeel in de aanslagen te hebben. Hij zei toegewijd te zijn aan vrijheid en democratie, zolang dat de nationale belangen niet schaadt.

_{Door: Novum}

quote:

Egypte wil bufferzone langs grens met Gaza

De Egyptische autoriteiten hebben inwoners die langs de oostgrens met Gaza wonen opdracht gegeven om elders te gaan wonen. De huizen in het gebied worden gesloopt om plaats te maken voor een bufferzone.

Die bufferzone moet voorkomen dat er wapens en strijders van Egypte naar de Gazastrook worden gesmokkeld.

De maatregel werd bekendgemaakt vier dagen nadat extremisten een controlepost van het Egyptische leger hadden aangevallen.

Bij die aanval, in het noorden van de Sinaï, kwamen zeker 31 militairen om het leven. Egypte heeft in het gebied de noodtoestand afgekondigd.

Geulen
De bufferzone wordt vijfhonderd meter breed en strekt zich uit langs de dertien kilometer lange grens met Gaza. Om het graven van tunnels tegen te gaan worden her en der geulen met water aangelegd.

De bewoners in het gebied kregen in eerste instantie 48 uur de tijd om hun spullen in te pakken, maar na protesten is dat ultimatum voorlopig geschrapt.

Vertegenwoordigers zijn nu in gesprek met lokale bestuurders om te kijken of de deadline kan worden opgerekt.

Sinaï
Het Egyptische leger heeft een grootschalig offensief ingezet tegen extremisten in de Sinaï. Een groot aantal tunnels dat de regio met Gaza verbond is vernield.

In Egyptische media wordt gesuggereerd dat Hamas de strijders in Egypte steunt sinds vorig jaar de islamistische president Mohamed Mursi werd verdreven.

Hamas, dat aan de macht is aan de Gazastrook, ontkent in alle toonaarden bij het geweld betrokken te zijn. De beweging is niet blij met de aangescherpte grenscontroles die na de val van Morsi zijn ingevoerd.

_{Door: Novum}

quote:

CAIRO (AP) - Several hundred Egyptian journalists have rejected a recent policy declaration by newspaper editors pledging near-blind support to the state and banning criticism of the police, army and judiciary in their publications, arguing that the move was designed to create a one-voiced media.

In a statement posted Sunday on social media networks, the journalists said fighting terrorism was both a duty and an honor but has nothing to do with the "voluntary surrender" of the freedom of expression as outlined in the editors' Oct. 26 declaration.

"Standing up to terrorism with a shackled media and sealed lips means offering the nation to extremism as an easy prey and turning public opinion into a blind creature unaware of the direction from which it is being hit or how to deal with it," said the statement.

Khaled el-Balshi, a board member of the Journalists' Union who initiated the move, said the statement came out of a meeting Saturday in which journalists discussed the future of the local media. El-Balshi, who edits a news website, said at least 300 journalists have so far signed the statement online.

"It is an attempt to make newspapers speak with one voice," he told The Associated Press. "The move by the editors of the newspapers was like establishing a political party in support of the regime. They want to end diversity."

Last week's statement by editors pledging support to the government appeared like a throwback to the days of longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak or the charismatic but authoritarian Gamal Abdel-Nasser who ruled in the 1950s and 1960s. But it also appeared to be in synch with the mood of a nation fatigued by turmoil, bloodshed and an economic meltdown in the three years since Mubarak's ouster.

The dispute between the journalists and their editors is the latest episode in Egypt's struggle between authorities and their loyalist media who give security precedence over nearly all else and a small but vocal pro-democracy camp made up mostly of secular and leftist youth groups.

The dispute is rooted in the recent erosion of many of the freedoms Egyptians won when they rose up against Mubarak in a stunning, 18-day uprising. At the top of that list is the freedom to protest; a law adopted in November 2013 criminalizes any street demonstration without prior police permission.

This rollback of freedoms has run in parallel with crackdowns against secular pro-democracy activists as well as Islamists. In the backdrop is a country of nearly 90 million people that appears to be steadily moving to the right, with jingoism and xenophobia dominating the media as the army and police battle Islamic militants waging a campaign of violence against them in the Sinai Peninsula.

Dozens of activists, some as young as 20, have been tried, convicted and sentenced to jail for organizing or taking part in peaceful demonstrations since the law on street protests was enforced.

A much harsher and wider crackdown targets members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the now-banned Islamist group that has been labelled a terrorist organization by the state. Authorities have killed hundreds of Islamists and jailed thousands since the military ouster in July 2013 of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The media, meanwhile, is targeting civil society groups and activists who played a key role in the 2011 uprising, accusing them of being foreign agents on the payroll of sinister foreign organizations.

The declaration by the newspaper editors came in response to a call by Egypt's president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, for Egyptians to rally behind him in the face of terrorism following the killing last month by suspected Islamic militants of 30 soldiers, the deadliest attack on the army in decades.

El-Sissi, who took office in June after a landslide election victory the previous month, says the law mirrors similar regulations in the West and is meant to restore law and order. El-Sissi led the ouster of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader, amid street demonstrations by millions demanding his removal.

The Oct. 26 declaration said editors would take measures to halt what it called the "infiltration by elements supporting terrorism" in their publications. Significantly, the editors also stated their "rejection" of what they called attempts to cast doubt on state institutions, basic policy choices and criticism of the army, police or judiciary that "may reflect negatively on their performance."

Other media have taken similar stands in public, with one private TV channel saying it intended to bar certain guests from its political programs on charges of being "rumor mongers" - parlance for government critics. Several talk show hosts have meanwhile either been briefly taken off the air in the middle of their programs or prevented altogether from hosting their shows.

"You can never counter terrorism by suspending freedoms," warned Rehab el-Shazli, a freelance journalist who signed the statement.

quote:

14 killed in pro-democracy protests in Egypt on 2011 uprising anniversary

Police accused of shooting demonstrators in Cairo while trouble erupts in Alexandria as mourners bury victim of security forces

At least 13 protesters and one policeman were killed across Egypt on Sunday as disparate groups of demonstrators gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of the country’s 2011 uprising.

Policemen were accused of shooting dead several protesters in the suburbs of northern and western Cairo, in isolated areas known for their weekly Islamist demonstrations. Trouble also flared in the coastal city of Alexandria, where mourners buried a woman killed by police on the eve of the anniversary, and dissidents set fire to a tram.

“Down with military rule,” chanted many protesters, in a reference to the untrammelled influence of Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, a former army chief, and his coterie of military advisers.

The protests highlighted how an 18-month-long crackdown on dissent has yet to completely eradicate the revolutionary sentiment that toppled Sisi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, four years ago to the day.

But the demonstrations’ modest scale highlighted the reduced appetite for reform among a wider population craving stability after four years of political upheaval.

By nightfall, at least 45 had been injured, in addition to the 14 dead, a health ministry spokesman told the Guardian. Two militants were also allegedly killed while attempting to plant a bomb near pylons in the northern countryside.

Small gatherings were also dispersed in central Cairo, where protesters have rarely ventured since a counter-revolutionary crackdown began in the summer of 2013. But their numbers were far lower, and they were dispersed far quicker, than the demonstrators who swarmed Tahrir Square in 2011, at the start of an uprising that eventually ousted Mubarak.

Four years on, Tahrir Square was closed off, a symbolic and physical reminder of the grip that the security apparatus has re-exerted after a brief period of increased freedom in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising.

The makeup of the protesters also highlighted the divisions that have split Egypt in the years since a coalition of political forces united to call for Mubarak’s departure. Islamists and non-Islamists largely gathered in different locations, the result of the wedge that the short-lived and divisive presidency of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi – who ruled for a year before being ousted himself by Sisi – drove between revolutionary movements.

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Bommen gevonden op luchthaven Cairo
Op de internationale luchthaven van Caïro zijn extra veiligheidsmaatregelen genomen nadat er twee bommen zijn gevonden. De explosieven lagen bij twee verschillende terminals. Ze waren nog niet afgegaan.

De veiligheidsdiensten op het vliegveld zijn in opperste staat van paraatheid. Er worden onder meer beelden van de bewakingscamera's bekeken om te achterhalen wie de bommen heeft geplaatst.

Op een plein in het centrum van Caïro was vanochtend een explosie. Het doelwit van deze explosie is nog onduidelijk. Twee mensen raakten lichtgewond.

twitter:

BBassem7 twitterde op zaterdag 20-06-2015 om 16:42:51 Secret #SaudiCables showed a deal by GCC to pay #Egypt $10.0 billion to release former president #Mobarak from jail. http://t.co/29ugiZoAhy reageer retweet

twitter:

haaretzcom twitterde op donderdag 16-07-2015 om 15:27:27 Egypt's ISIS affiliate claims rocket attack on naval vessel http://t.co/VYhrOM479I http://t.co/kZhquyK7bT reageer retweet

Egyptian vessel ablaze after shootout with militants

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Sisi’s Regime Is a Gift to the Islamic State

How extreme repression in Egypt is producing a new generation of terrorists.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power on a classic strongman platform. He was no liberal or democrat — and didn’t claim to be — but promised stability and security at a time when most Egyptians had grown exhausted from the uncertainties of the Arab Spring.

Increasingly, U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration seems to accept this premise. In the span of the past week, the United States has delivered eight F-16s to Egypt, relaunched the U.S.-Egypt “strategic dialogue,” and said it would resume “Bright Star,” the joint military exercise suspended after the military coup of July 3, 2013.

Sisi’s raison d’être of security and stability, however, has been undermined with each passing month. By any measurable standard, Egypt is more vulnerable to violence and insurgency today than it had been before. On July 1, as many as 64 soldiers were killed in coordinated attacks by Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate, which calls itself the Province of Sinai. It was the worst death toll in decades, and came just days after the country’s chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was assassinated.

If this is what a “stability-first” approach looks like, Egypt’s future is dark indeed. Of course, it shouldn’t be surprising that the country is growing less secure: Since the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, Egypt has seen shocking levels of repression. On Aug. 14, 2013, it witnessed the worst mass killing in its modern history, with at least 800 killed in mere hours when security forces violently dispersed two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo. WikiThawra, a project of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, estimates that nearly 36,500 people were arrested or detained from the day of the coup through May 15, 2014 — one can only imagine how high that figure has grown a year later.

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The future of the Egyptian revolution

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In the last five years, headlines about Egypt have been laden with insta-emotion: awe at an uprising against one of the Middle East’s longest reigning and best-armed dictators, joy at its success, confusion in its aftermath, sadness that the young protesters were seemingly defeated in the end, that elections were overturned, and that autocrats rose once again. At times, far from being a political inspiration, events in Egypt have felt like a textbook example of why mass protest is doomed to failure; a study in how “business as usual” always wins out in the end. This narrative is profoundly misleading. The revolution, and counterrevolution, has never been just about Mubarak, or his successors, or elections. It is not merely a civil war between Islamists and secularists, nor a fight between oriental backwardness and western liberal modernity, nor an “event” that can be fixed and constrained in place or time. In reality, the revolution is about marginalised citizens muscling their way on to the political stage and practising collective sovereignty over domains that were previously closed to them. The national presidency is one such domain, but there are many others: factories, fields and urban streets, the mineral resources that lie under the desert and beneath the seabed, the houses people live in, the food they eat and the water they drink.

During the previous few decades many of these arenas had been sealed off and commodified for private gain, via a neoliberal orthodoxy that contends that all goods are best managed by the market. Despite many setbacks, Egyptian revolutionaries have fundamentally disrupted the relationship between Egypt's citizenry and the state, connecting the dots of political and economic injustice and demanding meaningful democratic agency over the things that affect their lives. They have done so at a time when rampant inequality has compelled many others around the world to do the same.

The key players in this drama are not political leaders such as Mubarak, Tantawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's short-lived president Mohamed Morsi or the army general who overthrew him, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - members of the elites and counter-elites jockeying for supremacy amid the chaos - but rather the ordinary Egyptians fighting for autonomy and attempting to dismantle the constellation of power that enables such supremacy in the first place. They look very different from the demonstrators who appeared on TV during the original anti-Mubarak uprising, women and men who for the most part live a long way from Tahrir Square. They are the farmers revolting against the privatisation of their land; the DJs creating illicit new music in backstreet garages; the ceramics plant employees kidnapping their boss and seizing control of their workplace; the Bedouins storming a government nuclear site to reclaim stolen territory; the schoolchildren who spend their lunch breaks playing games of revolution in Zawyet Dahshur. Their stories rarely make it into the international media. But within them lies the revolution's threat, and its living, giddying possibilities.