Abdel Fatah al Sisi celebrates ten years in power. A decade that has plunged Egypt into a deep multidimensional crisis: economic, political and freedom. On July 3, 2013, Al Sisi completed a military coup that ousted the Islamist party of the Muslim Brotherhood from the Government and the first president in the history of Egypt democratically elected at the polls, Mohamed Mursi. Al Sisi suspended the Constitution and was established with full powers a year later, ratified through a plebiscite.
Egypt has been in a permanent crisis ever since. The persecution of the Islamists extended to all the democratic opposition and the remnants of the so-called Arab Spring, the popular revolt that overthrew the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Any form of dissent was retaliated against, from journalists to lawyers, turning the country into one of the world’s largest prisons for civil liberties and human rights activists.
“Thousands of actual or perceived human rights defenders, journalists, protesters and other government critics and dissidents continue to be arbitrarily detained for exercising their human rights,” said Elizabeth Rghebi, Middle East and North Africa Director of Advocacy at International Amnesty. “Over the past 10 years, the Egyptian authorities have continued to crush all forms of peaceful dissent and stifle civic space,” she continues.
The magnitude of the arrests has been on such a scale that there are no updated official figures and it is difficult to know the real number of detainees, many of whom are awaiting trial. In February, the Human Rights Watch organization, together with nine other NGOs, demanded more transparency from the Egyptian authorities regarding the imprisoned population and drew attention to their situation behind bars. “Under the rule of President Al Sisi, the prison population has increased dramatically, as authorities have detained tens of thousands of actual or suspected dissidents since late 2013. The crackdown has led to dangerous overcrowding in detention centers and has further worsened their conditions, already inhumane,” it said in a statement.
“The coup and then Al Sisi asking the people to give him a mandate to get rid of terrorism […] was the breath of life that this coercive apparatus needed to come back and be front and center of life Egyptian”, explains to the digital ‘Middle East Eye’ the researcher of the Initiative for Freedom Amr el Afifi.
“And we see that 10 years later the economy is controlled by the military and by different security apparatuses, political life is controlled by the military and by different security apparatuses,” he adds.
The economic debacle has been in free fall since Al Sisi’s rise to power. Inflation today exceeds 30%, with the local currency, the Egyptian pound, having lost half its value against the dollar in the past year. The price of food like meat has climbed 90%. The country is dramatically in debt, a situation that the pandemic worsened, putting the finishing touch on the tourism sector, and that the war in Ukraine has aggravated even more, if possible, due to the European country’s strong dependence on wheat.
Far from acknowledging the terrible crossroads, Al Sisi has celebrated his 10 years on the throne by ignoring the problems: “I have faith that this generation, which transformed Egypt with its effort and patience, from chaos and anxiety to stability and security, is able to complete its experience, which enjoys rapid progress, extending to every inch of the country with infrastructure, roads, transportation, and commerce.”
Quietly, the people oppose him. Hundreds of Egyptians embark every day on an uncertain journey towards emigration to Europe through the illegal routes of the Mediterranean, driven by poverty and lack of freedoms. The recent shipwreck off the Greek coast on June 13 of a fishing boat with up to 750 migrants on board has brought to light this tragedy that is also being felt in the most populous Arab country. Only 82 bodies have been recovered to date; the rest of the passengers are missing. According to the NGOs on board, 200 Egyptians would go. Their relatives are still looking for them.
In 2022, one in five migrants arriving in Italy came from Egypt, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum. Official data from Italy show that a third of the minors who arrive on its shores are Egyptians. Faces behind some figures that confirm the catastrophic mandate of Al Sisi beyond the bombastic words.
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