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NEWSLETTER
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Morsi of Egypt After One Year: Neither a Muslim nor a Brother By Alia A. Halim Arafa
When the peoples of several Arab nations rose up two years ago in what has become known as the Arab Spring, Alia Arafa wrote an article about her experience as one of the protestors in Cairo that appeared in the May 2011 issue of this newsletter. Here she explores the tumultuous events that led to the convulsions of that country now.
The world was stunned when millions of Egyptians went to the streets on June 30, not only in Cairo’s Tahrir Square but in all Egypt’s villages, towns and cities in exemplary peaceful demonstrations to oust President Mohamed Morsi just one year after his election. The international community seemed not to understand why these millions were so impatient.
Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, won the presidential election with a very slim victory over his opponent Ahmed Shafik. Out of almost 51 million registered voters, the turnout was only 23,672,236, just 46.5 percent of registered voters. Abstentions were 27,324,510, or 53.5 percent of the registered voters. This was because millions of people refused to elect either Morsi, who represented the Islamic stream, or Shafik, who was prime minister under the deposed Hosni Mubarak and represented the old regime. But it was a telling sign that only 13 million Egyptians out of the eligible 51 million voters voted for Morsi. In spite of that, the people respected the election’s results and hoped that Morsi’s rule would bring peace, stability and a better life to the average Egyptian and, in particular, more respect for human rights, which are the values of the Islamic religion. But just a few months after he assumed office on June 30, 2012, President Morsi took major decisions that manifested misuse and abuse of power, such as the removal of the prosecutor general and appointment of a new prosecutor in a clear violation of the constitution. In addition, he issued a presidential decree that gave him unprecedented powers and placed him above the law.
Such actions were the start of major and widespread anger. However, when ordinary people and political activists started protesting, major human rights violations were committed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, many of whom had been appointed to key positions in his government in a process that became known over the year of his ruling as “Ekhwanization”, or “Brotherhoodization”, of the state.
Protesters, political activists and human rights activists who were symbols of the revolution that toppled his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, were considered, under Morsi’s rule, thugs or agents of the West. Many were imprisoned and some have died as a result of torture. In one of the more flagrant examples, Mohamed EL Gindy, an activist and an administrator of an opposition group on Facebook, was kidnapped and later found dead. The first forensic report concluded that Gindy died in a car accident. But a revised forensic report by a committee of the Ministry of Health proved he died of torture. According to the Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, 34 cases of death and 88 cases of torture were recorded during the first 100 days of Morsi’s rule. This was clearly not what people aspired for after the January revolution.
In addition, Morsi and his group led a major attack on the media and freedom of expression in general, charging writers, opposition leaders and public figures who criticized the regime with insulting the president, among other things.
Furthermore, especially women activists have been targeted as part of the Muslim Brothers’ plan to discourage them from participating in any protests, due to the major role they played in the success of the first revolution. Under the rule of Morsi this past year, women had been harassed on several occasions in Tahrir Square by organized pro-Morsi groups in a manner that is very alien to Egyptian culture. During the 18 days of the first Egyptian revolution no such incidents were reported.
This plot against the judiciary, the media, activists and women made people very furious. What made people even more angry was that many events and actions confirmed that the “Guidance Office” of the Muslim Brothers was ruling Egypt, not President Morsi. Nearly all the advisers of the president surprisingly resigned, one by one, after the presidential decree was issued that consolidated Morsi’s power. They all confirmed that they had not been aware that such a decree was pending and were not even consulted. It became very apparent to all of them that they were just a façade for Morsi to show that he had advisers from the liberal parties. People started questioning, who, then, had the president been consulting?
Also, the fact that people got to know about presidential and governmental decisions through the use of popular media such as Facebook and Twitter by leading members of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party just days before such decisions were announced to the public raised many unsettling questions.
Frustration and anger grew further after Brotherhood supporters and militants beat and tortured protestors last February in front of Etehadia Presidential Palace. Videos and pictures were circulated and the Muslim Brotherhood didn’t even deny it, insisting that the protesters were thugs and outlaws. However, all the world witnessed through videos and on TV that ordinary Egyptians were actually the tortured and beaten. These images and incidents not only shocked the people but aggravated their anger and determination to get rid of what had apparently become very clear: this is not the rule that they aspired for after the January 2011 revolution.
The widespread perception and the incidents of Islamization of Egypt (as though Egypt was not an Islamic country before they came to power) that took place during the year of Morsi’s presidency further convinced the people that he and his followers were trying to instigate a new version of Islam that is far from the moderate Islam they believe in. In the eyes of the Muslim Brothers, Islam is a mixture of violence and terrorism known to us as the Jihad, which allows them to do any evil in the name of Islam. To enable them to achieve their goal, they were trying to grab as much power as possible by dominating all Egypt’s institutions as well as key positions in Egyptian ministries. They also tried to penetrate the intelligence department and the army, claiming they were corrupted, which is far from the truth.
Moreover, Ministers in the government were appointed only because they are
members of the Muslim Brotherhood, known as the “Ekhwan”, such as the appointment of the director of Morsi’s presidential campaign, a sales representative in the Vodafone telecom company, as a Minister of Investment! It became very apparent that “Ekhwanization” was taking place in all the key positions in the government as well as in local municipalities.
In my opinion, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the investigation that a young and brave prosecutor undertook which discovered that during the first Egyptian Revolution Morsi and more than 20 members of the Muslim Brothers escaped from the Wadi El Natroun Jail with organized help and support from members of Hammas, El Qaeda and Hezbu Allah, all known terrorist groups. It became known as the 2011 Prison Break. Over the last year and until now, events continue to unfold as to the true violent nature of the Muslim Brothers, who do not carry inside them the values of peaceful Islam that all Egyptians believe in but an agenda that feeds evil and radical Islam through terrorism.
People went to the streets because they realized they elected not only an incompetent president who was about to destroy the ancient civilization of Egypt in one year but, most important, because they realized they are under the leadership of an international terrorist group trying to make Egypt the base for all Jihadists and terrorists in the world in the name of religion.
Egyptians are known to be peaceful, kind, patient and very tolerant, all values of true Islam, but once they reach their breaking point no ruler through history and no current regime or superpower can oppress or break them. By June 30, the first anniversary of the ruling of the Muslim Brothers, they reached that point and on July 3, backed by their patriotic army, toppled not only Morsi but the whole Muslim Brotherhood Project in Egypt.
Alia Arafa worked for the Foundation from 1983 through 2000. She obtained her master’s degree in Public Administration from the American University in Cairo, specializing in Development Studies. She held several executive positions at international donor agencies in Egypt and elsewhere. From June 2010 and until May 2013 she was director of the Program Management Unit of the EU Human Rights and Good Governance Programs in the Ministry of International Cooperation in Cairo.
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