By Staff of Reprieve and The Hill – This is the state of human rights in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who meet President Trump at the White House on April 3, 2017. Weeks after overthrowing Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013, Sisi’s security forces stormed pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, killing at least 817 people in one day, the worst peacetime massacre of Egypt’s modern history. Since then, the right to protest has all but vanished in Egypt. Police routinely suppress anti-government demonstrations with violence. The authorities have imprisoned tens of thousands of political opponents of Sisi’s government, often in appalling conditions, with lack of access to medical care that in some cases has led to death. Police and National Security agents routinely use torture and enforced disappearances against criminal suspects and political opponents alike with near impunity. In North Sinai, the military commits egregious abuses including extrajudicial executions and unjustified home demolitions in its fight with the local franchise of the extremist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
By Neil Ketchley and Thoraya El-Rayyes for MERIP – On March 6, 2017, hundreds of local residents took to the streets of towns and cities in Upper Egypt and the Nile Delta after the Ministry of Supply cut their daily ration of subsidized baladi bread. By the following day, thousands were protesting in 17 districts across the country. In Alexandria, protestors blockaded a main road at the entrance of a major port for over four hours, while residents in the working class Giza suburb of Imbaba blocked the airport road. Elsewhere, women in the Nile Delta city of Dissuq staged a noisy sit-in on the tracks of the local train station, where they chanted, “One, two, where is the bread?” and called for the overthrow of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s government.
By Sayed Elhadidi for Al Monitor – After the Egyptian officials clamped down on satirical programs in Egypt, notably “Al-Bernameg,” which had been hosted by media presenter Bassem Youssef, Egyptian satirists have resorted to social media as a supposedly safe haven where they can pursue their favorite hobby — taunting heads of state, especially President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Egyptian satirists’ idea was to create pages on various social media platforms that carry the name of the political character whom they make fun of.
By Staff of Egypt Solidarity – Leading Egyptian trade unionists have launched an open letter calling on the global labour movement to mobilise solidarity for the Alexandria Shipyard workers, as the military court postponed the verdict in their trial for a second time until 18 September. The workers will face another month in horrific detention conditions without knowing whether they will face a jail term for organising to improve their pay and conditions at work.
By Abdullah Al-Arian for MEE – Had it been allowed to continue, last Thursday would have seen Mohamed Morsi’s four-year term as president of a post-authoritarian Egypt draw to a close. Instead, last week marked the third anniversary of Morsi’s forced removal by a military coup that has reimposed a perpetual dictatorship upon 90 million citizens. The calamity of Egypt continues to unfold daily, with mounting human rights abuses, stifling of dissent, widespread corruption, economic crisis, and the consolidation of power in the hands of a new authoritarian ruler, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
![Rising prices and low wages have workers vowing more strikes and protests [AFP]](https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2016/06/479-e1465843084568-150x88.jpg)
By Staff of The New Arab – Labour activist Kamal al-Fayoumi has lost none of his swagger since being fired from the sprawling Egyptian textile plant where he worked for three decades and was known as an agitator. Striding through a gritty industrial town in the Nile Delta, he proudly points to workers’ clubs, cooperative grocery stores, cinemas, a pool and a hospital – all of which have seen better days – and brushes off threats from management and the police.
By Ayah Aman for AL-Monitor – CAIRO — On May 1, just two days before World Press Freedom day, Egyptian police raided the Press Syndicate in Cairo and randomly detained a number of journalists as they were working. This measure against media workers represents a dangerous escalation in the security services’ campaign targeting journalists in a country that the Committee to Protect Journalists describes as “among the world’s worst jailers of journalists.”
By Staff of Daily News Egypt – Families of imprisoned journalists began an open ended sit-in at the Press Syndicate headquarters on Sunday, according to an announcement on the Facebook page representing the coalition of families. At least 42 journalists are currently in detention, according to the latest Press Syndicate figures, whereas the coalition estimates the number to be around 90 journalists. The families chose Sunday in particular as the start date for the sit-in as it will coincide with a syndicate ceremony celebrating its 75th anniversary.
By Peter Cork for In Defense of Marxism – It is no coincidence that Regeni disappeared on the evening of January 25th, the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. An official of the Egyptian government initially made the disgraceful suggestion that he died in a road traffic accident. A witness later told Italian police that they had seen him being stopped by plain-clothes security officers not far from his Cairo home. Now the Egyptian police claim that they have recovered Regeni’s rucksack from the apartment of a member of the gang who murdered him after stealing his money and belongings.
By Staff of The New Arab – Mohammed Yousry Ali, an engineering student, was kidnapped by police while he was heading to see friends, reported Egypt’s Human Rights Monitor, a group set up to act as a watchdog for violations of rights. Ali’s family have made numerous complaints with the Attorney General and other relevant authorities, but have seemingly been ignored, and Egyptian authorities have refused to declare his whereabouts. The family said that since his abduction, they have faced “psychological hell” as they wait for news about their son.
By Eleanor Goldfield for Occupy – This week we passed the five-year anniversary of Tahrir Square but do we even know – or care – what’s happening there now, and do we see the parallels with what’s going on right here? Occupy.com speaks with an Egyptian activist who sets the record straight on the past and the present. Next up, it’s the week to stand strong on the frontlines against corporate takeover. And finally, this low life scum is not something you can see, taste or have probably even heard of – but it’s poisoning more than half our country and here’s what you can do about it. But first, allow me to not be polite, but poetic.
By Abdullah Elfakharany for Middle East Eye – I was naïve – at least in the first days after I was arrested. I thought that the world would rise up to defend me, my colleagues and the freedom of the press, which was nurtured in Egypt after the 25 January Revolution in 2011. I thought all those press and human rights organisations, as well as opinion leaders who preach day and night about freedom of opinion and expression as essential values and principles, would do their best to stand in the face of flagrant violations against journalists in Egypt.
By Omar Robert Hamilton for The Guardian – I didn’t take my camera out with me the night Hosni Mubarak was overthrown. I stood in Tahrir Square among tens of thousands of Egyptians and told myself I would enjoy the moment, I would not divide myself from the night’s magical reality with a lens. I had filmed up until then because it was my job, because history must be recorded, because an image can change the world, because everyone had to contribute somehow to the revolution. But that night the camera stayed at home. History had happened, the world was changing before our eyes.
By Staff of Aljazeera – Anti-government protesters defied a security crackdown and took to the streets as Egypt marked the fifth anniversary on Monday of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak. Egyptians demonstrated against the military-led government in Alexandria’s Al-Qaed Ibrahim Square, which was the site of 2011 protests, as well as in Nasr City and Shubra district in the capital, Cairo. Two Egyptians were shot dead by police in an alleged “exchange of gunfire” in Cairo’s October 6 district. Security forces also used gas bombs to disperse protesters in Cairo’s eastern al-Matareya district as well as in Kafr Sheikh.
By Students Islamic Organisation of India for Bay Area Antifada, New Delhi: A protest was held on Wednesday against the visit of Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Around two hundred people from different parts of the city gathered at Jantar Mantar near the Parliament House to protest against General el-Sisi who overthrew his country’s first democratically elected government of president Mohammad Morsi through a military coup in 2013. General el-Sisi is in Delhi to attend India-Africa Forum Summit. The protesters were holding placards with various slogans like ‘Failed Egypt Economy No Help to India,’ ‘Go Back Sisi, Not Welcome at India’. The protest demonstration was jointly organized by All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Association for Protection of Civil Rights and Students Islamic Organisation of India.
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