The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)

The Democratic Path in Egypt 2016

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)

Introduction

Throughout 2016, the advocates of democracy and freedoms were always targets for repression. The practices of the authorities during the year showed a real desire to silence the voices of the powers calling for democracy, sometimes under the pretext of fighting terrorism and the need to unite against it, without even providing a coherent plan that intends to drain the swamp that breeds the sources of terrorism, and sometimes through launching media campaigns of incitement and defamation against democracy advocates, including human rights defenders.

The targeting of human rights defenders (HRDs) is rising day by day, whether by travel bans or being summoned for criminal investigations, asset freeze or defamation campaigns, all the way to arresting several of them and putting them behind bars for prolonged pre-trial detention periods over flimsy charges, and finally the urgent desire of the authorities to issue a new law to completely nationalize the entire civil work in Egypt.

The journalists and media professionals have remained a permanent target for the authorities with every move or event in the Egyptian street, in 2016 things did not stop at imposing restrictions on them individually while they carry out their job, instead the whole institution was targeted, as if it was not enough to break into their syndicate and arrest two journalists, the authorities, in total disregard to their obligations, continue to prosecute three syndicate leaders including the head, because of their defense of the syndicate.

Even judges were not immune from targeting, dozens were forced into retirement for their positions, some faced further harassment, the head of Egypt’s Central Auditing Authority CAA was no exception, he made a mistake in the eyes of the authorities when he made statements about the extent of corruption and how rampant it was, although this should have been his role as head of the top auditing body in the country, he was removed from his position, in violation of the constitution, then he was tried and convicted.

Despite all these efforts, the security grip has not succeeded, as operations targeting the state, its institutions and society are still being carried out, and strongly, yet the authorities did not question their approach and did not listen to the calls of reason; that security solutions on their own have never succeeded and will never succeed, so the state continues to take more freedom restricting measures.

Protests are still taking place, despite the heavy price that protesters have to pay, whether detention, harassment, prosecution, imprisonment (sometimes for many years), death sentences or exceptional military trials which are still high.

A significant rise in the number of social and labor protests has been noticed for the first time since the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood.

All of the above are just some indicators that the democratic path in Egypt is closed, until further notice.

This third annual report issued by "Lawyers for Democracy" initiative to monitor the democratic path in Egypt provides the details and the figures as documented by the initiative.

Lawyers for Democracy Initiative:

“Lawyers for Democracy” is an initiative launched by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) in 2014. The initiative consists of a network of lawyers in some of Egypt’s cities to monitor the events, cases and incidents in Egypt, such as protests, conferences, strikes, official and non-official practices that affect the democratic path in Egypt. The lawyers monitor and document these incidents, and also provide legal support, then the initiative releases reports to show the situation of Egypt, its political parties, media and judges with regards to the rule of law and respect of freedom of expression and the democratic path.

Chapter I

Protest Events

Chapter I Protest Events

The ongoing rise in commodity prices, the collapse of the value of the local currency "The Egyptian Pound", and the deterioration of economic conditions in the country, along with the ongoing measures aimed at curbing freedoms and cornering human rights defenders, made the protest events witness a noticeable rise in number during 2016 compared to 2015. Also the rise social and labor protests and strikes compared to the past years.

Whereas the number of protest events organized by the various powers, which were documented by the Lawyers for Democracy team during 2015 was around 766 protests, in 2016 1318 different protests were organized and the details are as follows:

The following table shows the number of protest events and the security attacks against them throughout 2016

The ongoing implementation of the Anti-Protest law, the measures taken by the security bodies to ban peaceful gatherings completely, the use of force to disperse peaceful protests, and the arrests of those who take part in them, all peaceful gatherings became targets for the security bodies, which led the various powers, especially the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) & their supporter, the National Alliance Supporting Legitimacy (NASL), to organize flash mobs in non vital places to avoid being targeted by the security forces.

Even the staircase of the Journalists Syndicate, which was the place where the civil and democratic powers used to organize their protests, was heavily targeted by the authorities, who cordoned off the surrounding area by lots of security forces, in order to stop protests from becoming marches. There are some observes who believe that the criminal trial of the 3 syndicate leaders, including the head of the syndicate, is mainly to confiscate the staircase and to put pressure on them to stop the protests organized on it.

The following graph shows the number of protest events and the security attacks against them during 2016

The graph shows the difference in the number of protests in each month, where April came on top since it coincided with the so-called "Land Protests" which was due to the president's signing of the maritime borders demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, by virtue of which he conceded the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.

Followed by November, which saw mass protests against the deteriorating economic conditions and the significant rise in prices. Then March, which saw protests by the inmates of al-Aqrab prison because of ill-treatment, which were supported by protests on the streets in solidarity with them, along with the demonstrations organized by the cab drivers in protest against "Uber" and "Careem" cab companies. Then August, which saw marking the anniversary of the dispersal of Rabaa sit-in.

A comparison between protests in 2014, 2015 & 2016:

2014, the year in which Sisi officially became president, was the year with the highest number of protests among the three above mentioned years, where 1515 protest events where organized. Then the use of the Anti-Protest law and the expansion in targeting protesters under it had an impact on the number of protests in 2015, which dropped to 766. Whereas in 2016, protests began to rise again due to the deterioration of the social and economic situation, the rise in prices, and giving up the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, where we have 1318 protest events throughout the year.

The following illustration compares the number of protest events over the 3 years

Pro-regime & opposition protests

During 2016, 9 pro-regime demonstrations where organized, none of them faced any attacks or interventions by the security bodies, while 1308 demonstrations took place to protest the political and economic conditions.

The percentage of pro-regime protests form less than 1% of the total number of protests during the year, as opposed to more than 99% of protests against the political and economic situation, which is illustrated in the following graph:

Security Attacks against protests:

From the 1318 protests that took place in 2016, there were 9 pro-regime protest events, which did not meet any interference or harassment by the security bodies, and from the 1309 protests against the political and economic situation, 396 protests faced security attacks while 913 protests went by without being attacked.

The following tableshows the attacks against protest events

The following graph shows the percentage of security attacks against protest events

Protest events according to the powers organizing them:

Both the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and their supporter, The National Alliance Supporting Legitimacy (NASL) continue to be on top of the powers organizing protests, since their overthrew in mid 2013, followed by social protests, then by the civil and democratic protests, which have increased dramatically due to the attack against the Journalists Syndicate and the waiver of the islands of Tiran & Sanafir under the maritime borders demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

It was observed that the number of pro-regime protest events in 2016 was exactly equal to the number back in 2015: 9 events.

The following table shows the number of protests according to their organizers:

The chart below illustrates the percentage of protests according to their organizers

The most highlighted common demands of the various powers:

Although there are many reservations from some of the civic and democratic powers with regards to taking part in protests along side the Muslim Brotherhood, there were common demands among all powers who share an interest in public affairs in Egypt, most notably:

-Protesting the maritime border demarcation agreement signed by the president with Saudi Arabia, and the waiver of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

-Protesting the bad social and economic conditions.

-Protesting the shutting down of the public sphere and encroachments on freedoms.

First: MB & NASL protests:

The political conflict between the Muslim Brotherhood and the current regime in Egypt is still on top of the political scene. On one hand, the MB & NASL see that the MB have the right to return to power in Egypt, and the return of former President Mohamed Morsi to power is one of their fundamental demands. The fact that thousands of the NASL supporters are in prison did not prevent them from organizing the largest number of protest events in comparison to the other powers, as they organized 971 protests during the year. The MB avoided gathering in one place, they relied on organizing small demonstrations in different places in each call to protest, which caused an increase in the number of protest events.

The following table shows the number of protests per month by the MB & NASL

It is clear from the table that April was the highest month in terms of number of protest events by the MB & NASL, this is because it coincided with the signing of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, followed by August, which saw marking the anniversary of the dispersal of Rabaa sit-in, followed by November, which saw mass protests against the deterioration of the economic situation in Egypt.

The following chart shows the distribution of the MB & NASL protests during 2016

The violent security confrontation against the MB & NASL protests continued during 2016 as 338 protest events of the Brotherhood were attacked.

The following table shows the number of MB & NASL protests and the security attacks against them

The following chart shows the percentage of attacks against the MB & NASL protests

The most salient demands of the MB & NASL during 2016

-Protesting what they called the military coup, demanding the return of president Morsi and overthrowing the military regime

-Protesting the bad social and economic conditions, and the rise in prices.

-Showing solidarity with the prisoners of al-Aqrab and demanding the release of the prisoners.

-Protesting the maritime border demarcation agreement, signed by the president with Saudi Arabia, which waived the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.

-Demanding avenging the victims of the dispersal of Rabaa.

-Protesting the normalization of relations with Israel.

-Marking the anniversary of the event known as "the presidential guard massacre" and demanding vengence for those who died in it.

-Protesting the decision to liberate the exchange rate of the EGP.

Second : Civil & Democratic Powers protest events:

A slight increase in the number of protest events organized by civil and democratic powers during 2016, due to the maritime border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the attack on freedoms, which amounted to storming the Journalists Syndicate and the prosecution of its leaders, where the civil powers organized 55 protest events in 2016 compared to 46 protest events back in 2015.

The following table shows the civil & democratic protest events per month

The previous table shows the significant increase in the number of social protests organized by the civil and democratic powers during April as it coincided with the signing of the maritime border demarcation agreement by the president, giving up the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, followed by May, with the storming of the Journalists Syndicate, then December, as the government sent the maritime border demarcation agreement to the parliament, ignoring the case brought by lawyers to challenge the signing of the agreement before the State Council.

The following chart shows the distribution of the Civil & Democratic protests during 2016

The attacks against the civil & democratic protests:

The signing of the maritime border demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia in a one-sided manner by the government is the major event in 2016 which triggered a strong reaction by the Civil and democratic powers, it is because of it that both journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud Sakka were targeted, and because of it the Journalists Syndicate was stormed. Afterwards the relationship between the authorities and the syndicate deteriorated, then the authorities targeted the leaders in a criminal prosecution. Because of the strong desire of the authorities to pass the agreement without going back to the rightful owners in society, the security bodies confronted every movement in the streets to reject that agreement, which led to the targeting of 28 protest events by the civil powers during April out of a total of 32 protests attacked by the security bodies.

The following table shows the attacks against the civil & democratic protests

The following chart shows the percentage of attacks against the civil & democratic protests

The most salient demands of the civil & democratic powers during 2016:

-Marking the anniversary of January 25 Revolution

-Marking the anniversary of the famous Port Said massacre, which claimed the lives of 72 football fans, and marking the anniversary of the air defense massacre, which claimed the lives of 20 football fans.

-Protesting against police brutality against citizens.

-Protesting the maritime border demarcation agreement signed by the president with Saudi Arabia, and the waiver of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

-Protesting against the security measures taken by the authorities to ban the right to peaceful protest.

-Protesting against the targeting of journalists during the coverage of protests.

-Protesting against the police attacks against lawyers.

-Protesting against storming the Journalists Syndicate and surrounding it.

-Protesting against the prosecution of the head of the Journalists Syndicate and the 2 members of the council, and their detention.

-Demanding the sacking of the minister of interior.

Third: Social & Labor protests

The deterioration in economic conditions, the huge rise in prices, which was not met by a proportional increase in salaries, have led to a significant rise in the social and labor demands. Lawyers for Democracy have documented 147 social protests during 2015, and 233 protests during 2016.

The following table shows the number of social & labor protests during 2016

The previous table shows that the end of the year has witnessed an increase in the number of social protests, in December, we have documented until the 25th, 38 protests by workers, and 37 protests in November.