What If Egypt Falls?

[Geee]

Commentary Magazine:

Whether or not the Sinai Province of the Islamic State blew up Russia’s Metrojet flight, killing 224 people, it is obvious that Egypt has a big problem; namely a growing Islamist insurgency. Yet President Sisi and his military regime are focusing a lot of their energy not on rounding up terrorists but bloggers, journalists, and civil society activists.

 

On Sunday, military intelligence took Hossam Baghat, a journalist and human rights campaigner, in for interrogation. He was released a few days later, but he may still face charges for reporting news that the military doesn’t want reported. Even while Baghat was released, many others are imprisoned.

 

Amnesty International reported this past summer that during his first year in power Sisi arrested, charged, indicted, or convicted 41,000 people of dubious offenses. “The Protest Law, passed in November 2013, enables the authorities to arrest and prosecute peaceful demonstrators on a whim, and criminalizes the very act of 10 or more people taking to the streets without prior authorization,” Amnesty International noted. “It also grants the security forces free rein to use excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters.”

 

The most famous victims of Egypt’s purges have been Mohamad Morsi, briefly the president, and 100 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood who have all been sentenced to death. But many of those who are locked up are liberals, not Islamists, whose crime is not trying to impose a theocracy but rather protesting against the heavy hand of military oppression.