Ten years ago, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi’s seizure of power threw a new leaden blade at freedom in Egypt.

From our correspondent in Cairo,

In the chaos of Cairo’s traffic, taxis don’t bother with the usual precautions. ” We have no freedom in Egypt. We are tired of Sissy! The sentence would have been unthinkable in recent years as Rais rules with an iron fist over the Arab world’s most populous country.

Strictly speaking, complaints about a decline in quality of life would have been possible. Egypt is experiencing inflation 33% in less than a year, while a third of the 105 million people live below the poverty line. But the question of independence was not a priority until the Egyptians fed themselves.

” Security at the cost of freedom »

“ When Sisi came to power in 2013, there were many attacksRecalls Mohamed Lotfi, director of the human rights NGO Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), one of the last in Egypt. Many have chosen security at the cost of freedom. »

Then Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi presents himself to Egyptians as a savior against the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, epitomized by Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected president in Egyptian history. At the time, “ Nevertheless, they changed and amended the constitution, inserting articles allowing the establishment of an Islamic state and a religious state. All of this greatly embarrassed the majority of Egyptians who took to the streets to wrest power from the Muslim Brotherhood.s”, analyzes Amr Alshobaki, an expert on political Islam.

Mohammed Morsi, elected a year earlier, was ousted and imprisoned on July 3, 2013. For more than a month, in the middle of Ramadan, under the oppressive July heat in Cairo, his supporters gathered to demand the return of the fallen rice. . A futile effort. From August 14 to 16, the junta opened fire on demonstrators gathered in Rabia-el-Adawya Square. The result: At least 638 people were killed by the Egyptian authorities’ own admission. The NGO Human Rights Watch called him “ The largest massacre in modern Egyptian history “.

Soon after, a state of emergency was declared again and the Muslim Brotherhood was deemed a “terrorist organization”. Mass testing is on the rise. For human rights defenders, whose breath “ Arab Spring » Still anchored, the return to the reality of military rule is painful. Henceforth, those who criticize Sisi’s power or the military do so at their own peril. “ The country has been functioning for ten years without any form of local government system. Hosam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), explains. The government uses imprisonment as its primary administrative tool. This is not just an issue of political prisoners, but of the entire population held hostage. Anyone can be arrested. Once in jail there is no legal action and you never know when you will be released. »

A third time in sight

Ruled by fear. According to human rights NGOs, 60,000 political prisoners live in Egyptian prisons today, a number that is systematically denied by the authorities. Mohamed Morsi will die in prison in 2019.

A year before the presidential election, raïs Sissi intends to run for a third term and has decided to launch a major national dialogue. ” In fact, it is a mosaic of monologues, not a dialogueDance Mohamed Lotfi. To participate, we sought commitments from the government, particularly regarding the release of political prisoners. Between April 2022 and April 2023, there were actually 1,600 releases. But 3,600 people were arrested at the same time. It’s still 2000! That is why we refused to participate in this masquerade contest. »

Although the platform is somewhat independent in Egypt, the 2024 presidential election will be scrutinized by Egypt’s partners, especially due to the economic crisis affecting the country. The United States and the European Union are leading the way, eager to maintain a semblance of stability in a country at the crossroads of a region rocked by political crises.

Without any credible opposition, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi has a path ahead of him to stay in power. However, “ Sisi does not accept the criticism and thinks he is sent by God to save the countryHossam Bahgat insists. And since the president has decided to destroy government institutions and manage everything by himself, he is solely responsible for the situation in Egypt. »

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