Now Egypt's Military Target Secular Opposition say Human Rights Watch

HRW says Egypt broadens opposition crackdown
Rights group accuses authorities of using new anti-protest law to arrest leaders of secular opposition movements.
Last updated: 21 Dec 2013 06:50

Human Rights Watch has denounced the arrest of a prominent Egyptian activist during a raid by security forces on a domestic human rights organisation, which it described as a continuation of a crackdown on dissent.

Police broke into the offices of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights late Thursday and arrested six of its members who were blindfolded and detained in an undisclosed place for nine hours. Five of them were later released.

Mohamed Adel, a founding member of the April 6 movement that contributed to the 2011 revolt against Hosni Mubarak, remains in custody.

Police have in the past three weeks also gone after three other prominent activists of the Egyptian protest movement; Alaa Abdelfattah, Ahmed Maher and Ahmad Douma.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said the pursuit of the activists is a deliberate effort to target "voices who demand justice and security agency reform".

"It should come as no surprise that with the persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood well underway, the Ministry of Interior is now targeting leaders of the secular protest movement," Whitson said in a statement released on Saturday.

"The Egyptian government has sent a strong signal with its attack on a human rights group, and these arrests and prosecutions, that it is not in the mood for dissent of any kind," Whitson said.

Anti-protest law

With Adel's arrest, the number of prominent political activists arrested by Egypt's security forces in the past three years has risen to a total of five.

Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 youth movement and a 2011 nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, is among those put in jail since the government passed a law outlawing the calling for protests without first attaining approvals from the Ministry of Interior.

Along with Adel, Maher and activist Ahmed Douma are on trial on charges relating to a protest on November 30, with a verdict scheduled for December 22.

Prosecutors also recently referred Alaa Abdelfattah, one of the most vocal critics of the police and the military, to trial on charges of organising a demonstration without notification.

Human Rights Watch accused the police of using "the deeply repressive" law to arrest scores of political activists on grounds that they failed to seek advance permission for their demonstrations.

"The government claims that, instead of criminal penalties, the new law sets fines - of 10,000 - 30,000 Egyptian Pounds (US$ $1,500 - 4,300) under article 21 - for failing to get advance permission," the HRW statement said, adding: "Yet the new law incorporates the existing restrictive assembly laws, including Law 14 of 1923, which carries with it a prison sentence for participation in an unauthorised demonstration."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/12/hrw-says-egypt-broadens-opposition-crackdown-2013122152320550859.html


As forecast, so it continues. They will make sure they are all in prison when they finally get round to the elections, which they said would take 'two or three months', now we are six months down the line. In another six months they will hold them, when all opposition has been silenced, Sisi will get in and the Army's firm grip on Egypt will not be taken off again.

Just wondered whether Les would like to comment on this following the points raised in the other thread.

Egypt jails Ahmed Maher and other secular activists

Political activists Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma (L) and Mohamed Adel (R) of the 6 April movement look on from behind bars in Abdeen court in Cairo, December 22, 2013.

The jailing of the three pro-democracy campaigners will deepen concern among Egyptians over a crackdown on dissent

Three prominent Egyptian activists from the 2011 uprising that led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak have been sentenced to three years in jail.

Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel were found guilty of organising a recent unauthorised protest.

They were arrested after protesting in November over a new controversial law that restricts demonstrations.

The move will deepen concern in Egypt about a growing crackdown on dissent, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo.

Controversial

The three well-known activists have long called for greater democracy in Egypt.

Egypt's military-backed authorities could hardly have chosen more high-profile democracy campaigners for prosecution. Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohammed Adel were at the forefront of the 2011 revolution.

Mr Maher, founder of the 6 April Youth Movement, was a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2011. Mr Douma, who has been jailed several times, is regularly seen leading chants at demonstrations.

The jailing of three leading secular activists will deepen concerns - in Egypt and the West - about a growing crackdown here. Islamists were the initial focus; several thousand have been detained.

But it is clear the net has spread to include liberals. Dozens of have been rounded up for breaching the controversial protest law under which the three were convicted. Human Rights Watch described their trial as "classic authoritarianism" and said it was part of a pattern of prosecutions.

Mr Maher and Mr Adel were founding members of the 6 April Youth Movement, which led protests to remove long-time President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The three were among a group of demonstrators outside the upper house of parliament in late November protesting over the new law, which states that public gatherings of more than 10 people must be authorised.

The military-installed government has defended the law, saying it is not intended to limit the right to demonstrate but rather to "protect the rights of protesters".

But its opponents say the law has in effect replaced a recently expired state of emergency, and is stricter than the measures in place during the rule of Hosni Mubarak.

The men are the first to be jailed under the new law. The court in Cairo found them guilty of holding a demonstration without authorisation and attacking police officers.

State-run television said the men had been sentenced to three years' hard labour. They have also been ordered to pay a $7,000 (£4,000) fine each.

As the verdict was read out, the courtroom erupted with chants of "Down, down with military rule! We are in a state, not in a military camp", Reuters news agency reports.

Until recently, the main targets for arrests by the authorities had been Islamists, many of whom continue to protest over the ousting by the military of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of Mohammed Morsi in the summer after weeks of mass protests.

But recently dozens of liberal activists have been rounded up, our correspondent says.

The government maintains it is on the path to democracy, but that is not how it looks to many Egyptians, she adds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25484064

Say no more.

After reading that I really could be tempted to do Vol VII of life under the Egyptian military.

They conned the people out of their revolution.

Yep, and people still think Morsi was taken out because he was Islamist. He was taken out because the army wanted the power back.

Morsi was Islamist...radical Islamist. Let's wait and see. When are the elections scheduled fore...next year?

By saying he was radical Islamist just shows your prejudice, every expert in the field said he was very moderate.   The elections were supposed to be after three months, we are now at six and they are talking about another six.   They won't be until they have managed to imprison just about anyone apposing the military, be they Morsi supporters, secular or just don't like them, as has been shown with the last round of trials.   As soon as they know they have no more opponents with a voice, then they will have elections, Sisi will win, and they will be even worse off than with Murabak, as the Army will be completely in charge with no opposition allowed a voice.   Exactly as Irn and I said.

My prejudice? It's not about me, Sassy. I"m and easy target, but an inconsequential one. Let's wait and see.

Is it just me, or are the majority of Middle Eastern politics predicated on the idea that "Hey, it's better than World War III"?

Interesting concept, Ben...but no, I have to say it is a more complicated situation than that.  The Middle East is a combination of two elements: a long-standing antagonism and a new element in warfare.  The Muslim and Christian nations have been having at it for over two millennium, ever since before the Crusades, so that much is not new.  However, asymmetrical warfare has overtaken conventional warfare, making the advanced technology of the western nations relatively useless.

That's why you see constant, non-nuclear confrontations on the Middle-Eastern front.  However, when Iran gains the nuclear capability, that will all change.  Hence, you now understand the stakes in the Iran/Israeli stand-off. And, of course, the significance of the Iranian nuclear enrichment program.

Which has nothing to do with the situation in Egypt, which was a military coup because the Army have ruled in Egypt for a very long time, had to give way in 2011 because of the uprising (Murbarak was their man), didn't like what the election brought and their slight loss of power, and seized the power back again, now making sure that their grip is tighter than ever. Iran is not involved in any way.