The existing political scenario of Egypt shows how the government has established absolute authority over every affair in the state, curbing any independent work. The government has successfully centralized the power imposing new constitutional reforms that limit any political opposition and increased the role of the military in domestic affairs. The armed forces are used to terrorize the citizens into subjugation, strict control over media, censorship of news, arresting activists, journalists, lawyers over falsified cases, passing new laws making working of NGOs impossible and legalizing massive state violence in the nation by securitization the ‘terrorist’ narrative characterizes the authoritarian rule in Egypt.
The recent power grab by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is authoritarian in nature yet on paper is a semi-presidential system as he previously served as a general in the army and led a military coup in 2012 against President Mohammad Morsi. He has recently made constitutional amendments that have extended his term until 2030. In order to maintain power and control, he has tightened his grip over branches of power in several ways: creating an office of vice president, changed the political structure of the parliament by creating an Upper House (Senate) in which one-third of members will be directly appointed by the president, overseeing of judicial selections and increased the role of the military in state affairs.
Along with the constitutional changes, the military role has expanded in the political and domestic sphere. Recently, a military force has started terrorizing the citizens in North Sinai as the government conflicts with the extremist groups of ISIS in Sinai province. The armed forces have conducted several human rights violations such as demolishing houses, arresting, torturing, and executing the residents. In response, the ISIS militants also committed gross abuses including kidnapping, torturing, and killings of residents and armed forces. It is observed that the crackdown is focused and directed towards the citizens of the state to spread terror from both sides.
Human rights watch declared the actions of the Egyptian army in Sinai province as unlawful air and ground attacks that targeted innocent civilians. Human rights watch reported at least 20 judicial killings of residents by the government. Moreover, the armed forces have forcibly abducted children and tried them in military courts. The Egyptians have yet to release any reports on the causalities and death of the citizens in the province. HRW has declared that armed forces have arrested 12,000 citizens and have detained them in concentration camps where they are interrogated. Around 100,000 civilians were forced to leave their homes as well.
To legalize the brutal crackdown in Sinai Province, the government declared a nationwide state of emergency which gives the armed forces unchecked power. They disregard the law and conduct enforced disappearance, systematic torture, and so on. Since the actions of armed forces are unchecked, they exercise their power unjustly and have thrown children in jail and awarded them with the death penalty through military courts. A 4-year-old was awarded the death penalty as he was accused of being a part of riots in 2014. Later, an army spokesman acknowledged some child detentions and justified them as a part of the counterterrorism operations conducted by the army.
These crackdowns have been conducted under the ‘disinformation campaign’ propagated by President Sisi. Regarding the spike in the death penalties in Egypt, European leaders’ criticized the Egyptian at the Arab-EU summit in Sharm el-Sheikh to which he replied that executing detainees is part of “our humanity”, which is different from “your [European] humanity”. As a part of his disinformation campaign, Sisi is trying to propagate human rights value as something ‘Western’ and ‘foreign’ to Egypt. Even though many Egyptian lawyers, such as Nasser Amin were advocating against the death penalties.
To further control the human rights situation in the country, he has passed a new law that has imposed restrictions on the workings of NGOs that have made it nearly impossible for these organizations to work in the country. These Draconian restrictions suppress the independently working groups and forbid the conduction of any opinion polls and the publication of results without the government approval and also ban any political work that might undermine national security. Consequently, NGOs are left crippled and 2,000 charity groups shunt down by the government and the rest pulling out. The most famous case of 2011, the ‘foreign funding case’ was filed against 31 Egyptian human rights activists. Even though the court acquitted them, the government didn’t remove the travel ban or unfreeze their assets.
Likewise, the security forces of the state are guilty of conducting enforced disappearances of human rights activists and subjecting them to extreme torture and degradation practices. According to a report published by Amnesty International, activists Alaa Abdal Fattah and Israa Abdal Fattah were wrongly accused and abducted during the biggest crackdown on journalists, lawyers, and activists. Abdal Fattah was transferred to Tora extreme security prison and was stripped and beaten by the guards regularly and was locked in a room with hardly any air circulation. He was abused verbally as well and was forbidden to access fresh drinking water or food for days.
Similarly, President Al-Sisi has restricted any anti-government protests and has ordered the security forces to arrest and detain more than 4,400 people to suppress any voice. Prominent figures such as political science professor Hazem Hosni, a journalist and politician Khaled Dawood, and human rights lawyer Mohamed al-Baker was arrested in this massive crackdown. Furthermore, 160 activists were picked up for criticizing the current government. The homes of these activists were searched as they were accused of funding ‘terrorist groups’. A notable case ‘Hope Coalition’ made the headlines as it involved activists such as Ziad al-Elaimy and Hossam Mo’nis who were forming a political party to contest in the 2020 elections. They were illegally detained, banned from traveling abroad and all their assets were sealed.
The government has suppressed freedom of expression along with freedom of speech. In 2018, Anti-Cyber And Information Technology Crimes Law was passed to control and monitor media and the internet. Under the law, insulting or criticizing the government is forbidden. Any news channel or website that did not follow the laws would be subjected to penalties without judicial oversight and has strictly punished bloggers, journalists, and even social media users for criticizing the government. They were charged with spreading ‘false news’ and Egypt was termed as the top 3 worst jailers of journalists. Moreover, the government has censored newspaper, websites, and TV shows as well and blocked 600 newspapers.
Egypt does not support women’s rights and has avoided passing legislation on increasing cases of domestic violence in the country. UN Women reported that almost one-third of all Egyptian women face physical or sexual violence at the hands of intimate partners. Moreover, many women are killed in name of honor false allegations of being in a relationship with men outside marriage. The criminal practice of female genital mutilation is still practiced in Egypt, and 87% of women and girls have undergone FGM in Egypt. A survey conducted showed that 98% of foreign women and 83% of native women have been sexually harassed, and two-thirds of men admit that they have harassed women..
This demonstrates that Egypt only exists as a semi-presidential system on paper and is authoritarian in nature. The current government has exercised strict control and monopoly over legislation, judicial proceedings, and state enforcement agencies. The President tackled international criticism by creating a disinformation campaign that human rights are western and foreign ideas, not Egyptian values.
