Thousands gather in Tahrir Square to protest military rule

23 Apr 12 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa

Tens of thousands of protesters returned to Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a massive demonstration Friday demanding that the ruling military generals immediately hand over power to a civilian government. The protesters also called for former regime members to be barred from running in next month’s presidential elections.

Revolutionary forces had earlier called for a day of rage which they dubbed “Self Determination Friday”. They accuse the military generals running the country in the transitional phase of “hijacking the revolution” and hope to steer the country back on the right path of democratic reforms.

“The military council has only plunged the country into deep political chaos and has not carried out any of the aspired goals of our revolution,” lamented Hazem Mahmoud, an activist who works for Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Trade.

He and other protesters in Tahrir Square on Friday expressed skepticism that the military regime had real intention to bring about the desired change, alleging that the military authority’s aim instead was “to maintain its tight grip on power and to ensure the appointment of yet another military candidate as the next president of Egypt”.

“Down with military rule!” and “The people are the red line” chanted the pro-democracy activists, insisting that they would foil SCAF’s attempts to re-instate a “feloul” (as former regime remnants are referred to) in the top job.

Liberals had stayed away from an earlier protest organised by Islamists on 13 April. The latter are angry at the election commission’s decision to disqualify two Islamist candidates — who were both seen as frontrunners in the presidential race. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat El Shater and the Salafi presidential candidate Hazem Abou Ismail have been barred from running in the upcoming election along with eight other presidential hopefuls. El Shater was disqualified as a candidate because of earlier convictions of money laundering and for funding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood during former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. He was released following Mubarak’s fall after spending four years behind bars. Salafi candidate Abou Ismail was meanwhile disqualified from the presidential race after the country’s election commission confirmed that the popular contender’s mother held American citizenship. According to the rules of the presidential vote, those who have criminal record or hold dual citizenship (themselves or their close relatives) cannot run for the presidency.

Mubarak’s Former Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman — highly unpopular with both the Islamists and the liberal revolutionary forces — was also barred from the presidential race in what was largely seen as an attempt to appease a disgruntled public.

“The move is a ploy by the military council to trick us into believing that they weren’t deliberately targetting the Islamist candidates alone. The Egyptian public did not accept Suleiman as Vice President in the weeks that followed the January mass uprising, why should they want him as their President now?” asked Sabbah el Sakkary, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Freedom Party who had joined this Friday’s protest.

But despite agreeing on the target goal to remove old regime remnants from the upcoming presidential election, liberals had refused to close ranks with the Islamists and join them in last week’s protest because of widespread sentiment among revolutionary youths that the Islamists had “betrayed the revolution , placing their own political ambitions before the country’s interests.”

“The Islamists have largely stayed out of anti-military protests since the revolution and have tried to appease the military council all along in the hope that they would get a sizeable slice of the pie ( meaning a share in political power),” said Ahmed Mostafa, an activist who had come from Alexandria to join this Friday’s protest. He demanded an apology from the Islamists for “their insincerity” — a demand voiced by other secularists in the Square.

Other secularists believe that the Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest political group, had initially struck a power-sharing deal with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces ( SCAF ) and had thus, forsaken the revolution.

Islamists dominating the new parliament however feel powerless to effect change. They believe the SCAF is marginalizing them and has been monopolizing power.

“When parliament requested that the military-backed cabinet headed by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri (a former Prime Minister under Mubarak) be dissolved, SCAF rejected the demand. This prompted the Brotherhood in turn, to renege on an earlier promise not to field a presidential candidate,” said El Sakkary of the Freedom and Justice Party.

Meanwhile, the Islamist-dominated assembly whose members were handpicked by parliament to draft the constitution last month was annulled by the military after fuelling anger among the liberal forces who saw it as an attempt by the Brotherhood to unilaterally determine the country’s future.

Members of both the Muslim Brotherhood and the hardline Salafists turned up in large numbers at Friday’s protests —  a move that could pile pressure on the military to cede some of its own powers. Bearded supporters of Abou Ismail were seen flaunting posters of the ultra-conservative contender and called for his reinstatement. They were eyed with skepticism by liberals who accused them of “using the protest to campaign for their candidate”.

Fourteen months after the toppling of Mubarak, Egypt is divided into two main camps: secular and Islamist with further fragmentation within each camp. The common goals shared by both camps is that the military return to the barracks and that former regime loyalists be barred from coming to power. Yet, the shared goals have not succeeded in unifying the two forces and it looks unlikely that their ranks will be closed anytime soon.

Although presidential elections are scheduled for 23-24 May and SCAF has pledged to hand over power at the end of June, many Egyptians are skeptical — fearing the election may be postponed. Statements made by the ruling generals last week that Egypt’s new constitution should be written before a president is seated have fuelled worries that the military is serious about handing over power.

“Writing the constitution that will stay with us for a long time is a task that is impossible to complete within the limited timeframe. That is one more reason for us to be back in Tahrir,” said Mohamed Fathy, a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company.

Journalist n Shahira Amin resigned her post as deputy head of state-run Nile TV on February. Read why she resigned from the  “propaganda machine” here.

Military court hears evidence in Egyptian “virginity tests” case

27 Feb 12 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa

Samira Ibrahim

A Cairo military court on Sunday heard witness testimony in a case against a soldier who allegedly performed “virginity tests” on seven female protesters on 10 March 2011.

22-year-old Samira Ibrahim filed a lawsuit against the military doctor whom she accuses of conducting the tests on her and six other female detainees near Tahrir Square. In December, Ibrahim won an earlier case against the Supreme Council of the Armed Force (SCAF) when a Cairo Administrative Court ruled that virginity checks should not take place again in military prisons. According to human rights lawyer Hossam Bahgat the landmark ruling was the first of its kind against the military and was “the first crack in the SCAF’s impunity.”

In this second case, the defendant has denied performing the tests, insisting that he had simply asked the detainees if they were virgins rather than subjecting them to physical tests.

In Sunday’s court session, Rasha Abdel Rahman, a protester who claims to have undergone a virginity test after she was arrested on 9 March 2011, offered the court a graphic description of her ordeal. Abdel Rahman said she had been strip-searched by a female prison guard in an exposed space where the door and windows were left wide open. According to Abdel Rahman the doctor performed the test as soldiers walked past, she was threatened with beatings and electrocution if she refused to comply.

“Imagine if you, your daughter, sister or wife were subjected to such violation?” Abdel Rahman asked in a video she had earlier posted on YouTube. She says the traumatic experience continues to haunt her.

Other witnesses in the case included human rights activist Mona Seif, founder of the No to Military Trials campaign and Heba Morayef, a Human Rights Watch researcher.

They testified that Generals Mohamed El Assar and Hassan el Ruweiny had described the tests as a routine procedure in military prisons. Explaining that during official meetings El Assar and el Ruweiny described the tests as a “defensive measure” so that the women could not later claim they had been raped or sexually violated while in prison. Amnesty International also sent a written testimony citing an acknowledgement from a third general that the tests had been performed.

On 27 May 2011 in an interview with me on CNN, a senior military general admitted for the first time that virginity tests were performed on the female detainees. At the time, CNN did not disclose the general’s name. While testifying in court Sunday, I revealed my source was General Ismail Etman, who at the time was Head of the Armed Forces Morale Affairs department.

The court also heard from the defendant’s lawyers who claimed Abdel Rahman’s story did not match Ibrahim’s earlier story. The defence went on to point out that the other witnesses all worked for “foreign organisations”— suggesting that these organisations had hidden agendas, an allegation which has been frequently repeated by SCAF and government officials in recent weeks.

Ibrahim’s lawyers described the court session as a theatrical drama and a farce saying that the verdict was probably predetermined. The lawyers added that the case should have been referred to a civilian court to guarantee a fair trial.

“However, we are putting up a fight in order to reveal the truth,” Hossam Bahgat told reporters gathered outside the Nasr City military courthouse.

The court adjourned until 11 March when a verdict is expected.

Released Maikel Nabil continues to speak out against military rule

30 Jan 12 | Egypt

Ten months in a tiny prison cell with padded walls and flickering lights have done little to alter 26 year-old Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil’s views on the military government running Egypt in the transitional phase. Instead, his confinement appears to have only strengthened his resolve to continue the fight against what he describes as a “corrupt regime” that he hopes, will soon be toppled.

Maikel was released on the 24th of January after the military rulers announced they would pardon 1959 political detainees (who had faced military tribunals) ahead of the first anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. The move was seen by skeptics as an attempt to appease a public that has grown increasingly weary of heavy handed military rule. Maikel had been charged with allegedly “spreading rumours about the army and insulting the military establishment” but insists these were “trumped up charges” to punish him for publicly criticising the military in his blog posts.

Leading a protest through the streets of downtown Cairo on Saturday, Maikel chanted anti-military slogans and beckoned to fellow Egyptians on the street to join the rally. “Are you not Egyptian?” he cried. “Have your rights not been violated?” Scores of young activists — many of whom had themselves been subjected to torture and abuse at the hands of security forces — chanted after him. Their cries of “Down with military rule!” and “Yes, we dare to chant against the military” were met with nods of approval from pedestrians and commuters, some of whom signaled a thumbs up in agreement.

Earlier in a press conference at the Journalists’ Syndicate, Maikel shocked journalists with a graphic account of his jail experience. He recalled having endured verbal abuse and mockery by prison guards and interrogators, being forced to watch fellow convicts being tortured and having had chemicals sprayed up his nose and drugs infused in his meals in attempts to manipulate his thinking. Maikel was then transferred to El- Abbasiya Mental Health Hospital for checks on his sanity. Doctors had resisted pressure from authorities to declare him psychologically unstable for refusing to stand trial, he said.

Samira Ibrahim, a protester who had been detained and subjected to a forced virginity test on the 9 March for camping out in Tahrir Square joined Maikel’s march from the Journalists’ Syndicate to Tahrir Square. She challenged the military council, filing a lawsuit against military rulers for humiliating checks performed on 17 female protesters by a male doctor in the Cairo Museum grounds. She lamented that despite a ruling by a Cairo Adminstrative Court in December declaring an end to the practice, “attempts are underway to change the charge from rape to indecent assault.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets Saturday to commemorate the “Friday of Rage” — the worst day of violence in last year’s mass uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The biggest rally was held on Kasr El Nil Bridge, scene of last year’s bloody clashes between security forces and pro-democracy activists.The protesters demanded justice for the victims and their families, vowing to continue the revolution until their demands are met.

Joining the Kasr el Nil protest, Maikel warned the revolutionaries that their struggle against the military dictatorship must continue “lest the revolution be aborted and they all end up behind bars.” He and the other activists pledged they will not rest until the military returns to the barracks, handing over power to a civilian government.