“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully protect the Republic’s system, respect the constitution and its laws, take full care of the public’s interests and to protect the country and its independence”. These were the lies the Egyptian president Al-Sisi promised in front of the Egyptian parliament on June the second this month. Al-Sisi starts his second term after he won the elections with 97.8% of the voters voting for him in elections that were described as the “joke elections” by the Egyptians and the foreign press!
The president who stated on the 31st January that he was “not a politician” promised the Egyptians a better future even though he promised them the same thing four years ago. However, it seems like the president is losing his trustworthiness and credibility among the people and especially the youth. That doesn’t come surprisingly at all as the crackdown on activists and the civil society in Egypt continues. Many NGOs like HRW, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty international already expressed their concerns regarding the atrocities the government use against its opponents.
The military dictator is proving a day after the other that he is definitely not a politician as he keeps “killing” the politics in his country. Al-Sisi’s administration is using the police brutality to silence the opposition. Official reports say that over 60,000 citizens are being forcefully arrested after the military coup in June 2013. Anyone who dares to speak up against the regime and criticize its reforms will end up either dead or tortured! Enforced disappearance has become reality in the society.
Unfortunately, even public figures couldn’t escape from these scapegoating methods. For instance, while Al-Sisi was campaigning for his second term during the elections, many well- known politicians ran for office such as a former Prime Minister, a former Military General, a military officer, and a lawyer and social activist. All of them ended up either serving 6 years in jail, arrested or forced to withdraw.
Now despite the regime’s failure in economic, social, and foreign matters, Sisi who is controlled and supported by the military- is bringing back the same mechanism that Mubarak’s regime used before the people overthrew him in the 25th of January revolution in 2011. Moreover, these inhuman actions only led to one dead end…the overthrow of the regime and a state of ciaos inside the country. Such methods only remind me of the confession of the former CIA agent, Robert Baer when he stated, “if you want someone to disappear -never to see them again- you send them to Egypt”!
Surprisingly and since the military coup in 2013, most of the western countries have been supporting this regime. Regardless of the repressions in Egypt, Trump described Al-Sisi as “somebody that’s been very close to me” and “a fantastic guy”. Even the EU did nothing but release some ineffective concerns about the human rights record in Egypt leaving the real job to NGOs to criticize the government’s illegal and Inhuman barbarism.
It became very clear to everyone that the autocratic president based his legitimacy on crashing the opposition and human rights. This leaves thousands of families losing their beloved one only because they had enough courage to speak up for democracy. Only because they had dreams for a better future for their kids. These pure innocent souls suffered a lot for believing in freedom and democracy. What the president probably didn’t understand until now is a saying made popular by the Arab spring: “a revolution is an idea….and ideas can never die”.
Maybe Al-Sisi has done a really a great job at silencing activists and politicians. Maybe he stopped the peaceful transfer of power and suppressed the political activity inside Egypt. He even achieved his dream of bringing back military dictatorship in the country. But it seems like it’s matter of time until justice is served as he is losing both faith and popularity among his people.
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