Why egyptian unrest

Tahrir Square in central Cairo became the focal point of the revolution. Years of one-man rule under Mubarak were brought to an end in just 18 days. Daring to hope. Protesters camped out in February , even resting on the tracks of tanks.

But it was not to last. Short-lived solidarity. A violent crackdown ended demonstrations in support of Egypt's deposed President Morsi in Dashed dreams. Image source, AFP. Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has severely restricted protests since he came to power in This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Related Topics. Published 25 January. Published 26 February The following weeks were marked by further protests against the political and social conditions people had faced during the year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

The longer the protests lasted, the more brutally security forces cracked down on them. But the regime was unable to stop the masses from protesting throughout the country, and eventually, on February 11, Mubarak resigned.

Egyptians were hoping for — and expecting — a new era without a repressive state apparatus, with more freedom and a political system that followed the rule of law. Despite the violence used to disperse the crowds, Egyptians continued protesting until President Mubarak was ousted. In , a military coup ousted the country's first civilian president, Mohamed Morsi.

Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has held the presidency with a firm grip since The counterrevolution has pushed the country into a state that is even more oppressive than before the revolution. The uprising has taken a terrible turn and has led to a tremendous regression. The situation of human and civil rights in the country is dramatically poor, according to human rights organization Amnesty International AI , which recently noted miserable conditions in Egyptian prisons , torture and unfair trials.

AI also spoke of a "horrifying execution spree" in the country that took place in October and November In its latest World Report, Human Rights Watch deplored that "under the guise of fighting terrorism, Egyptian authorities showed utter disregard for the rule of law. Last December, the European Parliament issued a resolution "on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Egypt" and called on its member states "to conduct a deep and comprehensive" review of relations with Egypt.

The position of the United Nations is similar. The Egyptian government, however, denies such accusations. It said there werere "no political prisoners" and stressed that the government "attaches great importance to the freedom of opinion and expression".

Yet documentations by several human rights organizations yield a different picture. Activist Hossam el-Hamalawy says the uprising has left deep scars in the minds of the current regime's top brass. Since then, the ruling political class has lived in a state of paranoia, fearing a repetition of the events in January However, Magdi Shendi, journalist and editor-in-chief of Al Mashhad newspaper, which describes itself as independent, feels that the harsh course taken by the government can be attributed to several acts of violence and terror after the uprising.

In his opinion, many Egyptians have welcomed the state's efforts to restore law and order, even with force, because the country had suffered so much under terrorism and its consequences. But this readiness does not extend to criminals and terrorists," he said. However, it is the regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that defines who is a terrorist and who isn't.

Since he took office, critics and activists have often been imprisoned, accused of supporting terrorism. The page played an organizing role in the January protests. Please give now to support our work. Human Rights Watch. Donate Now. Take Action. Join Us. Give Now. Click to expand Image. The army prohibited access to journalists and other observers and banned independent reporting. The army continued to demolish homes and forcibly displace thousands of residents, often without offering compensation or alternative housing.

The Covid outbreak, which began in Egypt in February, worsened already abysmal detention conditions. Authorities imposed a comprehensive information blackout on detention sites and ended visits, including by lawyers, from March 10 to late August, without offering alternatives such as video or phone calls.

Since late August, families could pre-book visits by phone but were limited to one relative once per month, for 20 minutes. According to credible human rights and media reports, dozens of prisoners in political cases died in detention in apparently due to inadequate medical care. In December , Mariam Salem , 32, died in al-Qanater prison after authorities withheld live-saving medical treatment, including for a liver condition. He had been on hunger strike from early January to protest his year sentence following an unfair mass trial of over defendants.

In May, Shadi Habash , a year-old filmmaker imprisoned for directing a music video mocking al-Sisi, died in Tora Tahqiq Prison after he received no meaningful treatment for alcohol intoxication.

In the first week of September, five detainees died in different prisons, including Amr Abu Khalil and Ahmed Abdelnabi Mahmoud , after they spent many months in detention without trial. Authorities denied both access to adequate medical care. According to the Committee for Justice, a Geneva-based human rights group, the number of detainees who died in custody between June and December could be as high as Human Rights Watch documented several suspected Covid outbreaks in Egyptian prisons and police stations between March and July.

At least 14 prisoners during that time likely died of Covid complications. Only nine had been transferred to hospitals, in some cases just hours before they died. Between March and late July, the government said it released about 19, prisoners. Those releases excluded people detained or prosecuted for political dissent and were insufficient to ease overcrowding. Judges and prosecutors kept thousands of people in pretrial detention, often solely for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and free expression, and many beyond the two-year limit Egyptian law provides.

Between mid-March and mid-August, security and judicial authorities used the Covid pandemic as a pretext to effectively preclude even a pretense of detention renewal hearings, in violation of Egyptian law, as well as regional African and international human rights treaties.

Authorities have held hundreds, and most likely thousands, without even a pretense of judicial review. Prior to this, judges and prosecutors frequently deprived lawyers and detainees of a meaningful chance to present defense or review any purported evidence.