No one can claim that the president of Egypt, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, hides his disparaging view of human rights. “Take care when you are demanding your rights, take care, don’t lead us astray with you,” he warned potential protesters while addressing police officers in January.
“I’m not saying protesting is rejected,” he continued—before however counterposing “those 90 million who want to eat, drink, live and feel secure about their future”. Referring to the many alleged human-rights violations by security forces, al-Sisi added: “We do not approve of them, but this is an exceptional stage in Egypt’s history.”
Arrests soared
Arbitrary and politically-motivated arrests have soared since al-Sisi, then defence minister, seized power in July 2013 from Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed al-Morsi. An Interior Ministry official in July 2014 acknowledged that authorities had arrested 22,000 people over the previous year. The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, which independently monitors political arrests, said that the number was more like 41,000 arrested or facing criminal charges as of last May. There is little doubt that Muslim Brotherhood members and alleged supporters of Morsi constituted the greatest number—Brotherhood leaders said 29,000 of their number were in custody. But the arrest campaign includes numerous secularist and leftist activists as well.
