So, yes, at the time also there were the events in Tunisia. People were starting to follow it closely. This coupled with the New Year´s attack on the All Saints Church in Alexandria. [Islamic Militants bombed the Coptic Orthodox church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter, known as the All Saints Church, in Alexandria on January 1, 2011, killing 21 people.] Just amazing. The protests, the sense of solidarity, the insistence and determination to act, to grab that right to protest and express, you know, we´re living under emergency law for about 50 years nearly now, or even more, 60 maybe. And strong police state in the name of security.
Justification is to fight to terrorism. And there were threats prior to New Year´s that there will be attacks on Egyptian churches. And there was no protection? And this body of intelligence that is spying on each one of us and controlling every life, every little inch of our lives, was not there? Did not know? You know, it was a moment of anger.
Yeah, I remember New Year´s. I was actually celebrating it with friends of mine. Some of them were Al-Jazeera correspondent– one of them was. And he suddenly received this phone call and he ran. And he´s like, “I have to go to Alexandria.” Like, “What happened?” He´s like “The church was– All Saints Church has been bombed.” I ran home. And the images, the scene, it was sad. It was miserable.
It was a moment of celebration that was turned into misery, simply because el-Adly did not do his f– job. I was going to curse. El-Adly, the minister of interior. Habib el-Adly. But it was just miserable. There were images of body parts in front of the church. And there was a vigil from inside the church during the bomb and the fear and– it was a moment of– yeah, it´s not only the sadness and the remorse about the loss of lives. Really, it was about, we don´t understand why we are ruled by this regime. It justifies its being, its existence, on security. You know? And one of the biggest churches in Egypt, you know, has been attacked.
Anyway it incited some movement. Christians, also, are starting to get angry. Christians have always been inactive, you know, not politically active. The church has always, you know, controlled them, you know, to stay, pray, go to the church but not to be politically engaged or, you know, or engaged in general as a protection for them. So, it was also at that time the Christians were starting to rebel.
Sally Sami has been a human rights defender for nearly a decade. She was one of the main coordinators of the Front to Defend Egypt’s Protesters (FDEP) during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Sami continues to defend human rights, but has become involved in politics and currently is a leading member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and has been elected its Secretary General for Civil Society Affairs.
Twitter: @salamander
With a history dating back to the 10th millennium B.C., Egypt has long played a central role in the Middle East. Egypt is the largest Arab nation and has an influential voice in Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. Egypt has a diverse economy, but has struggled to create sustained economic growth and opportunities for its population of 84 million people.
The country has little experience with representative democracy. From 1956 to 1970, President Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt with a strong hand, nationalizing the Suez Canal and taking the country into conflict with the new state of Israel. Upon his death, Anwar al-Sadat became president. Together with other Arab nations, Sadat launched the October War against Israel in 1973. In 1979, Sadat signed a groundbreaking peace treaty with Israel.
From Sadat’s assassination in 1981 until the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Egypt was governed by President Hosni Mubarak. For all of Mubarak’s time in office, and for much of the time since his resignation, Egypt has been under “Emergency Law,” which allows the government to suspend constitutional rights, including limiting political activity and restricting free speech. Emergency Law also allows the government to use summary arrests against political opponents.
For four successive terms, Mubarak was reelected in referenda without an opponent. In 2005, under domestic and international pressure, Mubarak proposed a constitutional amendment to allow Egypt’s first multicandidate presidential elections. Because the amendment would have imposed severe restrictions on the eligibility of opposition candidates, opposition groups boycotted the vote. Mubarak claimed to have won the September 2005 presidential election with an official 88 percent of the vote, amid widespread allegations of fraud and vote rigging. The main opposition leader, Ayman Nour, was subsequently prosecuted by the government for forging signatures on petitions and was sentenced to five years in prison, provoking protests from the United States and other democratic countries.
Following the example of the Tunisian Revolution, large protests swept Egypt in early 2011. The military, led by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), withdrew its support of Mubarak. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi then assumed power in Egypt. SCAF dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution.
In November 2011, Egypt held parliamentary elections that were reportedly fair and democratic. In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was elected President, in part because liberal and secular forces failed to coalesce around a single candidate. Morsi’s popularity declined as he declared his orders immune from challenge, removed judicial review processes, and was accused of taking steps towards the implementation of Islamist policies. Conflict arose between those supporting Islamist policies and those seeking a more liberal and secular government. Protests occurred throughout his presidency until Morsi was ousted by the military in July 2013. Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested and their camps and offices raided. Until new elections are held, a SCAF-installed provisional government led by acting President Adly Mansour is in control.
In its most recent report, the independent watchdog group Freedom House classifies Egypt as “partly free.” On its scale where 1 is the most free and 7is the least free, Egypt earned scores of 5 in both the civil liberties and political rights categories.
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