Category: Analysis

Feminists and women’s rights activists were among the most hopeful when the Jan. 2011 revolution took place with promises of equality. However, women’s rights issues remains a subject of much controversy. Four years since the first post-revolutionary International Women’s Day, is the annual celebration being matched by changes on the ground?

Hassan al-Shamy, a member of the Arabic Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), said Egyptian women have not been rewarded for their role in the revolution. “Women paid with their lives and… participated in all important political events that followed the revolution, yet weren’t adequately appreciated.”

Shamy said allocating half of parliamentary seats for women is among the most crucial steps that need to be taken toward gender equality. “Women should also have access to all kinds of official positions.”

An AOHR statement expressed concern over the safety of women during protests, and cited the recent death of leftist activist Shaimaa al-Sabagh in a peaceful march commemorating the fourth anniversary of the revolution. “Sabagh’s fate is an indication of the spread of violence against women even though article (11) of the constitution grants women full rights,” said the statement.

The Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions issued a statement highlighting the reasons why women have not been granted enough rights post-revolution. “On the financial level, most women are still dependent on the male members of their families and on the political level, they are still not equated… even though the 2014 constitution prohibited discrimination between men and women.”

The statement added that constitutional and legal rights will never be efficient as long as social constructs are not drastically altered. “We still live in a patriarchal society where tradition takes precedence and where women are still expected to be confined to the domain of the house while men dominate public space.”

Haitham al-Hariri, a member of Al-Dostour party, said the state cares about women only as voters. “Only during times of elections and referenda are women given extra care and their participation in the political scene is promoted as crucial. Yet when this isn’t the case, women are still raped and sexually assaulted in the streets.”

The next parliament, Hariri added, will be an indication of whether actual change will take place. “The percentage of women in the previous parliament was shameful,” he said, in reference the predominantly Islamist parliament elected after the revolution.

Mixed bag

However, writer Ola Abdullah wrote that the 2014 constitution, drafted after the toppling of President Mohamed Mursi, has done great justice to women. “Women have a special status in the 2014 constitution. Around 20 articles in this constitution are directly about women and focus especially on equality between men and women in all civilian, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, granting women access to senior official position, and protecting women from all sorts of violence.”

Some things, she adds, have also been achieved since 2011. “The percentage of women occupying official positions reached 36.3% in 2013 and the current government features five women ministers while the diplomatic representation of women rose to 22.5% in 2012.”

On the downside, Abdullah said the percentage of women in the judiciary does not exceed 4 percent, and women are still unable to join the General Prosecution Authority or the State Council. “There are also certain offices that women have never occupied like president, prime minister, and governor.”

Abdullah said the number of female registered voters rose to 48 percent in 2012, which translates to 23 million, and the participation of women in the various polling processes since the revolution was historic, yet this is not reflected in female representation.

“Women constituted only 2% of the 2012 parliament and the new constitution did not specify a quota of women in upcoming parliaments and only allocated one quarter of municipal councils to women.”

Abdullah said violence against women remains the toughest challenge. “A 2014 report showed that 91% of women in the country and 85% in the city are subjected to female genital mutilation. And 99.3% of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed.”

This issue, said Abdullah, still awaits the next parliament which will look into a draft law prepared by the National Council for Women and aimed at countering violence against women.

A study by the Cairo Center for Development and Human Rights said cancelling the women’s quota is a major reason why their representation in the 2012 parliament was very weak.

This “is bound to limit the number of seats women will get in the 2015 elections,” said Amr Samir, a researcher in political sociology and a participant in the study. “This issue won’t be solved until article (11) of the 2014 constitution about gender equality, which is one of the best since the 1923 constitution, is implemented through a set of legislations.”

The study recommends allocating 60 percent of each electoral list to women and 50 percent of the total number of seats. “Other recommendations include exempting women from the administrative fees of candidacy, and giving women space and airtime equal to men to promote their political agendas,” said Ali Hossam al-Din, a political researcher and another participant in the study.

Political manipulation?

Some analysts view the underestimation of post-revolutionary achievements in women’s rights as influenced by international reports that magnify the problems facing women in Egypt. Howaida Mustafa, professor of mass communication, said members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been living in Europe since Mursi’s ouster, and have infiltrated many organizations to tarnish the image of Egypt.

“That’s why those reports are biased and only focus on condemning violations committed against women and ignoring all achievements,” she said. “The state is actually keen on including women in different decision-making positions, but the problem is that this isn’t shown in the media to counter outside claims.”

Mona Omar, former secretary-general of the National Council for Women, refuted allegations about the rise of sexual harassment and the prevalence of human trafficking in Egypt. “Egypt is witnessing a remarkable development in the field of women rights. The National Council for Women prepared a comprehensive plan for countering violence against women in coordination with 11 ministries.”

Omar said a special unit of female police has been created by the Interior Ministry to deal with sexual harassment. “The ministry is paying close attention to this issue, and the recent verdicts against harassers provide the ultimate proof.”

Hoda Badran, head of the Egyptian Feminist Union, said: “Women’s problems in Egypt are extremely exaggerated. This is only a political campaign.”

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Egypt’s parliamentary elections, the first since the ouster of President Mohammad Mursi, have been suspended until further notice. The Supreme Constitutional Court ruling was based on the unconstitutionality of the Electoral Districts Law that divides the country into constituencies.

While the office of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the law will be modified as soon as possible, it is still unclear if this is the only obstacle, and if the verdict can be overturned with the drafting of a new law. It is also unclear when the elections, originally due to start on March 21, can be held.

According to official statements, the law will be modified as soon as the reasons for judging it unconstitutional are clear. “We are waiting for the report of the Supreme Constitutional Court to know what exactly was wrong with the law and whether we need to add or remove seats,” said General Refaat Qomsan, the prime minister’s advisor for electoral affairs.

The presidency’s statement stressed its full respect for court rulings and promised quick action. “Being keen on ensuring the legitimacy of all state institutions, the president ordered the drafting of a new law in not more than a month,” said the statement.

“It is very important for the president to carry out the third phase of the road map agreed on by all Egyptians,” the statement added, referring to the political agenda that followed Mursi’s ouster, which consisted of three stages: the constitution, the president and parliament.

Timeframe

Zaid Ali, senior advisor on constitution-building for International IDEA, said issuing a new law is expected to take much more time than estimated by the presidency, especially as there is no guarantee that the constitutionality of the new law will not be contested.

“The law’s drafters will now have to go back and redraft the law on the basis of the decision, which will take a while, and then the new versions of the law will also be subject to appeal,” he said, adding that the elections have practically been postponed indefinitely.

Saber Ammar, constitutional expert and member of the Supreme Committee for Legislative Reform, agreed: “The verdict of the Supreme Constitutional Court means that constituencies for individual candidates have to be divided from the beginning, which will take long, especially that this time those who draft the law need to be very meticulous so that no other appeals are filed.”

The process is not just about the law, he added. “All the procedures will be repeated from the beginning, including the applications and selection of candidates.”

Constitutionality

Mohamed Abul Ghar, activist and chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, criticized the state for drafting laws before verifying their constitutionality. “The president does not want a parliament now,” he said. “That is why the call for holding the elections was delayed, and why the state keeps issuing laws that violate the constitution.”

Abul Ghar added that if the elections are eventually held, the resulting parliament will likely be very fragile and unable to make decisions. “This is exactly what the state wants: a parliament that does not act as a watchdog.”

He criticized the alleged interference of security apparatuses in the electoral process. “The National Security Bureau met with several wanna-be candidates, and asked some of them to run and others not to run,” he said, adding that the entire mechanism of parliamentary elections needs to be changed. “Otherwise, it will be just a postponement of another failing round of elections.”

Wahid Abdel Meguid, professor of political science and deputy chairman of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, blames the committee that drafted the law. “While drafting the law, the committee should have sent a memorandum to the Supreme Constitutional Court requesting clarification on articles of the constitution that concern parliamentary elections,” he wrote.

Fairness

Abdel Meguid said terms such as “fair representation” are very broad, and it is unclear how they can be applied to the division of constituencies. “The calculation the committee did to determine the average number of citizens the MP represents was quite faulty, and led to a huge difference in the weight of each vote from one constituency to another,” he said.

Abdel Meguid blamed the state for not consulting experts and political parties before issuing the law. “The law should have… been brought forth for a communal discussion in order to have its defects underlined and redressed.”

Professor of constitutional law Dawoud al-Baz said while the division of constituencies is not usually mentioned in constitutions, and while there is no precedent for a fixed regulation for such a matter, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration while drafting that law.

“The drafters of the law have to be very accurate in dividing constituencies in a way that makes sure there is no remarkable discrepancy in the number of voters in each constituency, and the imbalance that characterized the disputed law was bound to render the parliament itself illegitimate if the elections were held,” he said. “It is also important to consult politicians and statisticians while dividing constituencies.”

Baz added that it is necessary to abide by the main principles of the constitution while working on the law, in reference to the articles of the constitution (4,9, 53, 87 and 102) that the law violates by not treating citizens and voters equally.

“The division of constituencies for individual candidates shows that the drafters of the law did not observe the rules of fair representation for voters and citizens,” said the verdict. “The law discriminates between voters without any logical basis.”

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The latest attacks on military targets in the Sinai were seen as the most shocking, not only because of the number of casualties, the penetration of highly-secured areas, or the advanced tactics used by the assailants, but also because the attacks followed a series of reportedly successful campaigns against militant strongholds in THE PENINSULA.

The last factor in particular was a source of concern among analysts, who underlined the necessity of contemplating whether the state is making any actual progress in eliminating terrorism.

The first official reaction to the Jan. 29 bombings said they were driven by the “successful strikes carried out by the army and the police against militants and their strongholds in North Sinai, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s failure to wreak havoc on the fourth anniversary” of the Jan. 25 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

General Alaa Ezz el-Din, director the Armed Forces Center for Strategic Studies, said the attacks are a sign that militants are “becoming increasingly desperate” following successful strikes against them.

Writer and sociologist Al-Sayed Yassin said the army is fighting a global war and protecting the world from terrorism, which is why the mission will take time. “Terrorism is threatening the whole world since it is based on a set of fixed ideas to which youths from everywhere are attracted,” he wrote, adding that Egypt cannot face this growing threat alone.

Yassin underlined the difficulty of garnering international support for Egypt’s efforts. “Calls for international cooperation will be obstructed by superpowers, especially the United States, which are conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood to serve their political interests.”

Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian’s correspondent in Egypt, sees the state’s inability to contain attacks as related to its enemy, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis. “In reality no one knows exactly who runs it, or how centralized its operations are, nor its relationships with local tribes, other smaller militant groups in Sinai, or al-Qaeda itself,” he wrote, adding that it has not been possible to know the number of militants launching such attacks, but that they are reportedly increasing.

Ill equipped

Former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Zvi Mazel, wrote that Egypt’s army “is not prepared for a guerilla war since its training mostly focused on conventional wars that have not been taking place in the Middle East for years.”
The army, Mazel added, is not only facing extremist militants but also Sinai locals. “These are Bedouins who are not willing to cooperate with a state that has for decades marginalized them. That is why they cooperated with Hamas in building tunnels and some of them even joined jihadi operatives to avenge themselves on the state under the name of Islam.”

What makes Egypt’s job harder, he added, is a lack of support from the West. “It is quite surprising that Egypt is not getting support from the West, especially the United States which continues to support the Muslim Brotherhood and which can provide the training the Egyptian army needs for this type of war. The same applies to the European Union that is not making any effort to help Egypt.”

For Borzou Daragahi, the Financial Times correspondent in Cairo, the attacks “brought into question claims by the armed forces that their hardline security strategy was working in Sinai.” Borzou said targeting one of the Egyptian army’s most formidable units, Battalion 101, highlights the growing strength of militants.

He referred to the commentary of H A Hellyer, Egypt and Middle East specialist at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, about the sophistication of the recent attack compared to earlier ones. “It is one thing to kill two dozen people in a single place. It is another to target a dozen places at once,” said Hellyer. “The latter is far more effective and disruptive.”

Hellyer added: “The armed forces seem to be getting the guys they say they’re getting. But if the point to their counter-insurgency efforts was to ensure that attacks like this don’t take place, obviously they failed.”

Comprehensive plan

Journalist Mohamed Azzam said the state “needs to have a comprehensive plan, and the security dimension should only be part of it. In all confrontations between the state and religious extremists through the eras of [Gamal Abdel] Nasser, [Anwar] Sadat and Mubarak, this approach has not only proven a failure, but also made terrorist groups grow fiercer.”

According to Azzam, a comprehensive plan should comprise three parts. The security dimension, which means military strikes, is one. “The second is development. If Sinai remains undeveloped it will remain an easy shelter to all clandestine groups.”

The third is Sinai residents becoming active participants in Egyptian politics. “Political marginalization plays a major role in encouraging locals to take up arms against the state or join groups that do.”

Failure

Journalist Mohamed Hani said the state’s reaction to every attack demonstrates its failure. “After each terrorist attack, we only hear vows of revenge and calls for supporting the state in its war on terrorism, but that is it,” he wrote.

“Those who question the state’s approach or demand an explanation on how highly-secured areas can be attacked are accused of treason or supporting terrorism.” Hani said the state is trying to distract Egyptians from its inability to eliminate terrorism.

Writer Michel Naguib attributes the state’s failure to “draining rather than eliminating terrorism. The state has not been targeting terrorist cells on a regular basis, but rather waits until a terrorist attack takes place in order to launch military strikes until it drains militants temporarily, then forces withdraw to their barracks away from volatile areas. This allows militants to regroup and get more weapons to strike again.”

Naguib said the recent establishment of a special military command permanently based in the Sinai is the only hope in reversing this failure. However, “this decision came very late, after terrorists… already built an infrastructure, obtained new weapons, and agreed on the next targets.”

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The first doctor to face trial for performing female genital mutilation (FGM) was handed a two-year jail sentence with hard labor for manslaughter, and another three months for performing an illegal practice.

The case, the first to be referred to criminal court after FGM was officially banned in 2008, was filed by the National Population Council (NPC) and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) following the death of a 13-year-old at the doctor’s clinic. The operation was performed at the request of her father, who was sentenced to three months in the same case.

The verdict is the first to herald a serious move from the theoretical ban on FGM to the practical prosecution of its perpetrators. “The verdict is a triumph for women,” said lawyer Reda al-Danbouki, head of the Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness, and who represented the deceased.

Debate is ongoing, however, about how far such a step can eliminate a practice that has for decades been regularly observed in several parts of Egypt. “The victims of female genital mutilation are finally vindicated,” said the Egyptian Feminist Union, in reference to scores of young girls who die in the process.

“This is a historic verdict which proves that children are not the property of their parents and warns that supporting circumcision implies approving subsequent deformation and/or death and makes all parties involved accomplices in the crime.” The statement, however, said further procedures were required to curb and eventually eliminate the phenomenon.

“The penalty for practicing female genital mutilation should be intensified through modifying article 240 of the Penal Code. The Doctors’ Syndicate should also take a firm stance against any doctor who performs circumcision.” The statement referred to the challenge facing rights organizations, with surveys estimating the percentage of Egyptian women undergoing circumcision at 91 percent.

NPC rapporteur Atef al-Shitani hailed the verdict as historic, especially since the law has been in place for seven years. Shitani said FGM is not only prohibited by the law, but also by the constitution, though this is still not enough. “Articles 11, 18 and 80 of the Egyptian constitution state that women and children are to be protected from all sorts of violence and abuse, but work on the ground is the most effective.

“The NPC, for example, launched the National Program for Family Empowerment and the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. This program raises awareness about the danger of the practice, alerts people across Egypt that it is illegal, and encourages families to report doctors who practice it.”

UNICEF representative in Egypt Philippe Duamelle said the verdict “is a precedent and sends out a strong signal that FGM, which still affects the lives of so many girls each year, is no longer to be tolerated.” However, he underlined the obstacles faced by any institution that campaigns against the practice.

Tradition or religion?

“I know how delicate it is to address cultural norms and traditions here, but with all due respect to cultural norms and traditions, those which have such dramatic negative impact on people have to be changed and abandoned. Now what is important is not just that the progress continues, but that progress accelerates,” Duamelle said. “This would happen by not only having a solid legal framework, but also in enforcing these laws.”

Journalist Deena Adel Eid said traditions constitute the main challenge to eliminating FGM. “Many in Egypt believe that FGM is rooted in religion, and that it is parents’ duty as Muslims to cut their daughters,” she wrote, adding that this was not changed by Al-Azhar’s statement dissociating the practice from Islamic law. “Many Christian families in Egypt also practice FGM, claiming they are continuing the practice for ‘moral’ reasons – FGM is viewed as a sign of a woman’s chastity.”

Vivian Fouad, a leading member in the NPC campaign, said even though FGM is linked more to morals than religion, figures trusted by the public play a major role in lending it legitimacy. “Part of it is myth. Many still wrongly believe that if they don’t circumcise girls, they will grow up to be sex-obsessed creatures – a belief that is perpetuated by respected community and religious leaders, who also circumcise their daughters.”

This “myth,” Eid added, takes precedence over the law. “Families who carry on the practice believe it’s essential for religious and moral reasons and value the time-honored tradition over the new law. Thus, cases of FGM largely go unreported.”

The statement issued by Al-Azhar against FGM was supported by a fatwa from Dar al-Iftaa, the body in charge of issuing religious edicts, which said FGM was “prohibited in Islam.”

However, many religious scholars disagree, including those from Al-Azhar. Professor Abdel Ghaffar Helal said while FGM is not obligatory in Islam, it is also not prohibited. “FGM is, in fact, recommended,” he said. “The real problem is not in circumcision as a practice, but in the fact that many of those who perform it are not qualified. That is why I call for prosecuting doctors who harm girls during circumcision.”

Hanaa Abu Shahba, professor of psychology at Al-Azhar, called FGM “a double-edged weapon,” acknowledging that it was traumatic for girls who undergo it, but adding that sometimes it is necessary. “If the girl’s genitals are oversized, she becomes like men in the way she wants to have sex all the time, which is very humiliating to her. A specialist has to be consulted about whether the girl needs to have part of her genitals removed.”

Ibtesam Morsi, professor of sociology at Al-Azhar, condemned the practice but objected to the methods used to fight it. “It is not wise to criminalize circumcision all of a sudden,” she said. “Instead, society should have been gradually prepared for abandoning the practice through the media outlets, schools, and awareness campaigns that acquaint people with the fatal risks involved in the process.”

Morsi said the law simply drove many to circumvent it rather than stop the practice altogether. “People are going back to taking their girls to midwives for circumcision after several doctors started refusing to perform the procedure for fear of persecution following the official ban.”

It is noteworthy that the verdict was passed after much lobbying by anti-FGM activists, since the prosecutor at the time of the girl’s death in June 2013 refused to refer the case to court, said Danbouki.

“The prosecutor himself saw female genital mutilation as a necessity. In fact, he sympathized with the doctor,” Danbouki explained. “It was only when he was replaced by another prosecutor that we were able to go ahead with the lawsuit. Even then, the father and the doctor were both acquitted until we appealed and finally a judge that understands.”

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The entire border city of Rafah is to be levelled to the ground, Egyptian authorities have announced. “The establishment of a buffer zone requires the complete removal of the city. In fact, it will be completely destroyed,” said Abdel Fattah Harhour, governor of North Sinai, to which Rafah is administratively affiliated.

“A new Rafah is to be established, and until this happens, evacuated families shall receive financial compensation.” Harhour said the buffer zone, originally intended to be 500-meters long between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, needed to be expanded to stop militancy in the Sinai Peninsula.

Benefitting Israel

Some analysts see Israel as the only beneficiary. Journalist Moheb Emad said the zone was an Israeli request. “Israel asked Egypt to establish a buffer zone with Gaza several times, the first of which was right after Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai,” he wrote.

“At the time, the Egyptian authorities evacuated 350 meters along the border.” Emad added that Israel called for a bigger buffer zone after the second Palestinian uprising, but Egypt built a concrete wall between Rafah and Gaza instead.
Mohamed Nabil, a member of the April 6 Youth Movement’s politburo, said: “Israel has for years been making sure Sinai is left undeveloped and unpopulated, and now we are giving them exactly what they want.”

Yahya Moussa, head of the oversight committee at the Palestinian Legislative Council and a member of Hamas, said Egypt is prioritizing Israel’s security over the lives of Gazans.

“The decision aims at serving global and regional politics against the Palestinian people, and will only increase the suffering in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “These are free services that Cairo is offering to serve regional interests and protect Israel’s security at the expense of our people’s interests and stability in Gaza.”

Journalist and Middle East expert Hana Levi Julian said the plan benefits both Egypt and Israel. “The existence of the city of Rafah still constitutes a military weak point vis a vis Gaza and Hamas, as it does for Israel,” said Julian, adding that being the only border crossing that is not under Israeli control, Rafah is the most prone to falling under the control of extremist militants.
“In Jordan, the sole crossing with Iraq was shut down last year after the Iraq side was seized by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria,” she said. “European monitors in Rafah who were supposed to remain at the site to ‘keep the peace’ and maintain its neutrality abandoned their posts at the first sign of danger years ago.”

Julian linked the razing of Rafah and the destruction of tunnels that Hamas uses to smuggle weapons into Gaza and militants out. “But if there is no home to camouflage a tunnel entrance or exit, and no city in which a terrorist can hide, it will be that much harder for Gaza terror to gain a foothold in Egypt. Fewer supplies to terrorists will mean fewer attacks on Egyptian security personnel… Fewer supplies via Egypt hopefully will mean fewer weapons with which to attack Israel.”

Local toll

Sinai activist Saeid Aateeq underlined the communal trauma to be sustained by evacuated locals and their offspring. “All locals are now miserable for leaving their lands and homes, and face an unknown fate. This bitterness will be bequeathed to future generations,” he said.

Aateeq acknowledged the danger of tunnels built between Gaza and Rafah, but objected to the way the state is dealing with the problem. “Those tunnels constituted an illegal pathway into Egyptian territories and were used in activities that compromised Egypt’s national security, so they had to be removed. However, security in Sinai will only be achieved through development and never through evacuation.”

Problem misdiagnosis?

Writer Fahmi Howeidi questions the validity of linking terrorist attacks in the Sinai to Hamas, and assuming that razing Rafah will bring security to THE PENINSULA. “It is obvious that destroying the tunnels and creating a buffer zone have not yielded the desired results, which gives an impression that the initial assumption that Hamas is the culprit might be mistaken after all,” he wrote.

Howeidi called on the state to reconsider its strategy in the Sinai in a way that eliminates terrorism without uselessly draining the army. “Strategic thinking should rise above intransigence, and while its aim remains the same, it can always change the means through looking into alternatives,” he said.

Journalist Frederick Deknatel says the state’s preoccupation with getting rid of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, is leading it to fight the wrong battles.

“In the Sinai, the threat of jihadi militancy is dire and growing, but the government and state media, obsessed with crushing the Brotherhood, often distort its nature and conflate all militants with Hamas,” he wrote, pointing out the role of Ansar Beit al-Maqdes, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS, in Sinai terrorist attacks.

Support

The official discourse is, however, seen as legitimate by many. Journalist Abdel Fattah Abdel Moneim said expanding the buffer zone was the only way to eliminate terrorism in THE PENINSULA, which he solely linked to Hamas and the Brotherhood.

“The tunnels were used for carrying out terrorist attacks against Egypt,” he wrote. “We cannot deny the ties between the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas under the pretext of defending the Palestinian cause. Egypt’s national security is above everything.”

Supporters of the decision include residents of THE PENINSULA. Sinai activist Mona Barhoum said the tricks used to hide tunnel entrances and exits made it impossible to uncover them by traditional means.

“Tunnels are usually hidden in places that are not normally searched by security officers, like bathrooms and kitchens inside houses,” she said. “Others are hidden in the middle of olive and peach farms, and those are especially used for larger items that cannot be smuggled through houses.”

Some tunnels have several entrances and exits, so if one is discovered and closed the others are used, Barhoum added. “Those tricks have only started lately when raids intensified and security was tightened in THE PENINSULA, which had not been the case for years.”

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The headscarf, or “hijab,” has always been a controversial issue in Egypt, with most clerics saying it is obligatory in Islam, while intellectuals call it a tradition rather than a religious rule.

The controversy intensified with a campaign called “The International Day for Taking Off the Headscarf,” launched in Sept. 2013 by Bahaa Anwar, head of the Secular Party of Egypt and a prominent Egyptian Shiite.

The campaign never took off, but the debate has continued into 2015.

“The headscarf is not obligatory in Islam and it is used by clerics to control women. A piece of cloth cannot possibly determine how religious a woman is,” said Anwar, adding that his party planned to provide counseling for women who are forced to wear the headscarf or want to take it off.

Politics

Many commentators say taking off the hijab is politically motivated. Psychology professor Rashad Abdel Latif said a year of Muslim Brotherhood rule led youths to associate religion with extremism. “Women took off the headscarf as a statement against extremist ideas promoted by the Brotherhood and other Islamist factions,” he said.

Professor of political sociology Saeid al-Sadeq said the Brotherhood and its supporters tarnished the image of Islam. “Islamists used a violent discourse, and they followed talk about Islamic law with threats of torture and murder,” he said.

Professor of psychology Mohamed Nabil said the Brotherhood was incapable of understanding the nature of the Egyptian people. “They did not realize that Egyptians will be repulsed by the aggressive ways they used to promote Islamic principles, and will never be forced into doing something through such terrorizing acts,” he said.

Abdel Latif, Sadeq and Nabil also linked the phenomenon of taking off the hijab to the rise of atheism in Egypt, citing the latter as another consequence of Brotherhood rule.

Journalist Sara Allam linked taking off the headscarf to the rebellious atmosphere that has prevailed since the Jan. 25 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. “The 2011 revolution reshaped the Egyptian society as rebellion was proven to yield fruits,” she wrote, adding that this specifically affected women who played a major role in toppling the regime and realized they were capable of challenging other taboos.

“Women started reconsidering their position in society, and rebellion extended to the general patriarchal system,” she wrote. “That is when the legend of the veil fell, and women who claimed they were wearing it out of conviction admitted they were victims of a manipulative religious discourse.” Taking off the hijab, Allam said, was no longer the taboo it used to be.

Religion

However, Islamist analysts and supporters of the headscarf have focused on religion rather than politics. Safaa Salah al-Din, one of the administrators of preacher Amr Khaled’s website, says many girls wear the hijab without knowing its religious value, either because they are forced by their parents upon puberty, or because religious institutions do not sufficiently raise religious awareness.

Salah al-Din also criticized veiled women who behave in an un-Islamic manner, thus providing a bad example to others. “We cannot only blame the woman who takes off the headscarf, but also the surroundings that did not help her to understand the value of such a step,” she wrote.

Psychologist Amr Abu Khalil blames the clergy’s post-revolution behavior for women’s growing disinterest in wearing the headscarf. “When preachers started getting involved in politics, women no longer found the support they needed to keep the headscarf,” he said. “The same happened with men who became reluctant to marry veiled women, and this encouraged women even more to take off the veil.”

Fashion

Azza Kurayem, a sociology professor and advisor at the National Center for Social and Criminal Studies, focuses on the social aspect of the phenomenon, as she links the headscarf to fashion trends.

“In the sixties, when liberal ideas were promoted, women wore miniskirts and men had long hair, then it got more conservative in the seventies and eighties and this is when the headscarf started spreading,” she said. Similarly, the hijab “started off strict, then women began wearing tighter and more revealing clothes while keeping the headscarf, until they eventually took it off.”

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The Egyptian AIDS Society (EAS) announced its intention to file a lawsuit against TV anchor Mona Iraqi for a report she ran on her show “Al-Mistakhabi” (“The Concealed”) on a recent raid on homosexuals in a Cairo public bath, which she claimed was part of a campaign against AIDS.

“The channel where Iraqi works did contact us to take part in a special episode on the occasion of World AIDS Day,” the EAS said. “We agreed and the society’s director gave an interview answering several questions related to awareness.”

The society said it was surprised that the interview was used for “unethical purposes,” and was aired together with videos and other interviews that “are totally against the society’s codes.” The EAS added: “We did not know about the details that were later inserted and the channel manipulated the interview.”

The controversial episode included a report on 33 homosexuals arrested in a public bath in downtown Cairo, as well as a video from inside the bath where, according to the report, male orgies took place. Iraqi said a member of the show’s crew sneaked into the bath to take the video after the owner confirmed that “orgies are being held all day.”

The show played a recorded phone call between the crew member and the owner, in which the latter said: “People who frequent the bath can’t bring strangers to their houses for fear of being exposed, so they come to the bath to do that.”

Iraqi said she contacted one of the bath workers for more information: “He told me that the price of one night can amount to $100, and that businessmen come from abroad to have sex with men there.” She said she reported the issue to the Interior Ministry, and security forces subsequently raided the bath and arrested the customers.

“This place is a pigsty and it had to be closed,” she said, promising to dedicate the following episode to “more causes of AIDS.” Iraqi posted photos of the semi-naked customers on her Facebook account, which she deactivated following the heated debate caused by the report.

Allegations

Rights groups across the Middle East and North Africa issued a joint statement condemning the raid and Iraqi’s role in it. “Iraqi did not only file a report with the police, but also accompanied security forces in the raid and took pictures of naked men trying to hide their faces,” said the statement.

According to the rights groups, Iraqi violated ethical codes of journalism, as well as articles 58 and 75 of the Criminal Procedures Law, which prohibit the disclosure of police procedures by unauthorized individuals or institutions. “Therefore, we ask that Iraqi be accordingly prosecuted.”

The signatories said Iraqi used AIDS as a facade for the report she ran on her show. “Such reports and raids will only lead to further stigmatization of AIDS patients and will, thus, discourage most of them from seeking advice or undergoing medical examination.”

Iraqi has denied all accusations leveled against her, saying she was only doing her job. “I am not a detective as people claim. I am working in investigative journalism and this necessitates reporting any crimes I come across to the police,” she said in a statement. “I did the same before the episodes on drug dealing and medical waste.”

Iraqi denied allegations that the episode and the police report constituted a violation of privacy. “I did not violate anybody’s personal privacy. I went to a public place where prostitution is openly practiced,” she said, adding that the customers were having unsafe sex, which is why the incident was relevant to the episode about AIDS.

Iraqi said even in countries where prostitution is legal, such places are constantly monitored, while this is not the case in Egypt, where those men’s families could easily contract AIDS. “I have done what my conscience dictated upon me on both the personal and professional levels,” she said.

Legality

Interior Ministry officials confirmed the legality of the raid and the charges. Ali al-Demerdash, director of the Cairo Security Bureau General, said the raid was “100% legal and arrest warrants were issued in advance.” District Prosecutor Mohamed Hetta said the owner of the bath would also be prosecuted for “turning a public bath into a homosexual brothel.”

Brian Whitaker of British newspaper The Guardian wonders why the customers in the bath, even if homosexuals, were arrested if there is no law in Egypt criminalizing homosexuality. He said defendants in such cases are charged with debauchery “under an old law originally intended to combat prostitution.”

Whitaker said the latest raid was conducted for the same reasons as one in 2001 known as the “Queen Boat Case,” in which 52 men were arrested for engaging in homosexual activities: diverting public attention.

The governments of former President Hosni Mubarak and current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are acting in the same way, Whitaker wrote. “It seems very likely that the crackdown under President al-Sisi is occurring for similar reasons: to distract attention from bigger issues, to show that while suppressing the Muslim Brotherhood the regime is still capable of playing the ‘morality’ card, or a combination of both.”

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“The Jan. 25 revolution is a reality that no one can ever question,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told journalists, adding that a law to criminalize insulting the revolution would be issued shortly. The decision came in response to demands by activists and political factions following a rise in accusations that the Jan. 25 protests were a conspiracy, as was the acquittal of toppled President Hosni Mubarak and his interior minister.

“The law is the only way to show respect to Egyptians who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy,” said the joint statement issued by revolutionary and youth movements, including the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, the Revolutionary Powers Bloc, and the Egypt MPs Union. Sisi’s announcement has been warmly welcomed and heavily criticized.

Professor of political science Hazem Hosni says the law complements the constitution. “Even though the constitution mentions the Jan. 25 revolution, it doesn’t say anything about insulting it,” he said. “That’s why the law was much needed.”

Professor of political science Ahmed Darrag says the law is the only way to counter allegations that the revolution was a conspiracy plotted by external powers: “Through protecting the revolution from its enemies, the law would make it easier to fight corruption.”

Amr Hisham Rabei of Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies says the law is necessary to assuage fears that members of Mubarak’s regime might return to politics. “The acquittal of Mubarak and his top aides intensified doubts about the authenticity of the revolution, and raised concerns that the country might be heading back toward the pre-revolution era,” Rabei said. “This is a message to everyone that there’s no going back.”

Magdi Morshed, vice-chairman of the Congress Party, welcomed the decision, but said it should have been made much earlier. “Both revolutions have been severely reviled by supporters of Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said, referring to the protests of June 30 last year that led to the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi, which will also be included in the law. “The trial and acquittal of Mubarak and his aides, and the fact that none of them was harmed, prove how civilized these revolutions are, so they deserve to be honored.”

Legal expert Essam al-Islambouli says journalists will not be jailed just for criticizing the revolution. “Article 71 of the constitution bans the imprisonment of journalists,” he said. “The law can be applied in case such anti-revolution statements by journalists are linked with the crime of inciting violence.”

Islambouli supports the inclusion of the June 30 protests in the law. “Those who call June 30 a coup should definitely be penalized,” he said, referring to the Brotherhood, whose members were the first to call the protests a “military coup.”

Objections

Lawyer Samir Sabry said the law “violates the constitution, which gives every citizen the right to freedom of expression. Therefore, everyone has the right to criticize the revolution.” Sabry said if such a law is passed, it should also apply to the July 1952 revolution that toppled the monarchy.

Similarly, Refaat al-Said, former head of the Cairo Court of Appeals, asked: “Why should we single out the January revolution? The law should then apply to all revolutions that took place in Egypt, starting with the First Cairo Revolution.” He was referring to the 1798 revolution against the French invasion of Egypt.

“This is all so childish,” he said, adding that every revolution has positive and negative sides. “Even the French revolution that changed the world had many unacceptable downsides, despite the principles of democracy and freedom it called for,” he said. “The same applies to the Egyptian revolution. Let history decide this, not the law.”

Pro-government journalist and TV anchor Ibrahim Eissa slammed the law. “Is the revolution like the Quran now? Nobody is allowed to question it?” he asked on his show. “We’re dealing with double standards here. How can we be calling for freedom while telling people what to say and what not to say?” Eissa said everyone should have the right to criticize the revolution, and even question whether it was a revolution to start with. “This law will be a huge mistake,” he added.

There are also objections from activists and revolutionary movements. Haitham Mohamadeen, a member of the Revolutionary Socialists movement, wrote: “The only purpose of this law is to legitimize the June military coup. The January 25 Revolution does not need a law since it acquired its legitimacy from the masses that took to the streets and the martyrs that sacrificed their lives.”

Human rights activist and lawyer Khaled Ali wrote that the revolution “cannot be protected through laws but only through policies and legislations that achieve its goals and principles.”

Activist Ahmed Hassan says June 30, rather than Jan. 25, is the reason behind the law. “The main purpose of this law is to clamp down on those who oppose June 30 and refuse to call it a revolution,” he wrote. Hassan added that those who call Jan. 25 a conspiracy will stop doing so on Sisi’s orders, while those who call June 30 a military coup will not follow suit. “Therefore, only the latter would be penalized under this law.”

Journalist Abdel Qader Shoeib says the law may backfire. “We have enough laws and enough penalties for those who violate them,” he wrote. “We don’t want more laws to monitor what we say. If this happens, we will all end up behind bars just for having different opinions.”

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Nov. 28 is the date set for the start of an Islamist uprising termed “the battle for Egyptian identity.” The call was first made in a YouTube video that explained the reasons why Egyptian Muslims should start a revolution.

The men and women in the video say a war is being waged against Islam and Islamic identity “when mosques in Sinai are razed to the ground by Apache helicopters,” when “Islamic studies courses are cancelled from schools,” and “when adultery and homosexuality become the norm.” A revolution, they add, is needed to restore values and morals, “without which no country can move forward.”

They say the revolution is not being organized by any specific party, group or faction, and does not condone bloodshed or sectarianism, but is rather about freedom and justice. Nov. 28 “is when you can defend your religion and liberate your country,” the video concludes.

The Muslim Brotherhood is supporting the protest movement, saying in a statement: “The Egyptian people will never accept to have their identity eliminated, their religion desecrated, their mosques destroyed, their Quran burnt, their youths killed, and their women dragged.”

The group added that the “coup,” in reference to the ouster of Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi, is about to come to an end. The statement warned the authorities not to carry out acts of violence or vandalism then blame the protestors.

The Salafi Front also expressed its support for the protests, which the ultra-conservative movement said will start right after Friday dawn prayers. Protestors “will ask God for victory and prepare themselves for martyrdom,” the front said in a statement. “The 28th will not necessarily be the day of victory, but at least the start of a wave of protests that will continue till the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution” that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

Opposition to protests

Not all Islamist factions adopt the same view. The Construction and Development Party, the political wing of the formerly militant Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, objects to the protests. “Calling for an Islamic revolution will only create division among the members of Islamist movements, and will increase tensions between Islamists and non-Islamists,” said party leader Essam Derbala. “Moreover, it will lead to a violent crackdown on the part of the state.”

The Salafi Calling movement, and its political wing the Nour Party, have launched a campaign against the uprising.

“These protests will bring about guerrilla wars,” said Yasser Borhami, the movement’s vice-chairman. “The collapse of the state is what will actually lead to the desecration of religion.” Borhami added that protestors killed in the uprising would not be martyrs even if they were peaceful.

Several non-Islamist movements that are opposed to the current government are refusing to take part in the protests. “We are against all attempts at polarizing society whether on the sectarian or the political level,” the April 6 Youth Movement said in a statement. “We believe that every citizen has the right to freedom of faith.” The movement stressed its support for the right to peaceful protests, and condemned all forms of violence.

The Revolutionary Socialists denied allegations about its members taking part in the protests, which “revolve around demands by Islamist factions and totally ignore revolutionary demands.”

Political researcher Wessam Fouad said the protests would deepen the rift between opposition factions, which he saw as divided into two main groups. “The first group calls for a civilian state and is categorically against military rule. The second group sees Islamic identity as the main cause at the moment,” he wrote.

Fouad added that the protests would make it easier for the government to win over the secular opposition by playing on its members’ apprehensions about the Islamization of the revolutionary discourse. “The Islamist uprising will also give the regime the perfect pretext for endowing the war against terrorism with more credibility.”

Journalist Belal Fadl wrote that Nov. 28 marked the Brotherhood’s “political suicide,” as it was trying to “drag the country to an illusory battle for identity through promoting lies like the destruction of mosques and the burning of the Quran.”

He added: “As usual, the Brotherhood did not call upon its members to participate so that it can hijack the uprising if it yields fruit, or engage in more self-victimization if the regime stages another violent clampdown against Islamists.”

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Egyptian actor Khaled Abul Naga might be facing high treason charges for criticizing the policies of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to the lawsuit, filed by lawyer Samir Sabry, Abul Naga insulted the president, incited the public against the Egyptian army and promoted anarchist principles, which makes him a traitor and necessitates trying him as such.

“Abul Naga is a political dwarf who is attempting to gain fame through making such statements,” Sabry said in a television interview. “Those troublemakers have to be stopped by law.”

Sabry also declared that he plans to file another lawsuit accusing Abul Naga for attempting to topple the regime and “defy the will of Egyptians who elected Sisi as president.”

The lawsuit came in response to Abul Naga’s criticism of the current regime, especially as far as the Sinai evacuations are concerned.

“The regime does not have the right to kick people out of their houses under the pretext of security,” he said in an interview on the margins of the Cairo International Film Festival.

“If the regime cannot defend the country without displacing people, it is failing.”

Abul Naga argued that bringing back the security state would eventually ruin the country, especially that the revolution’s main goal was to eliminate it. Although he did not mention Sisi by name, he explicitly called upon the president to deliver or resign.

“If you cannot do your job then you better leave. Looks like we’ll be saying that very soon,” he added, referring to one of the Egyptian revolution’s most renowned slogans and which was at the time addressed to former President Hosni Mubarak: “Leave.”

Sabry’s lawsuit triggered a wave of indignation among activists and intellectuals who defended Abul Naga’s right to freedom of speech. A group of filmmakers, journalists, and writers issued a statement condemning what they termed “terrorism disguised as patriotism and which allows leveling grave accusations like high treason against citizens who have a different opinion.”

The statement pledged solidarity with Abul Naga and called for the respect of the rights granted by the constitution “for which Egyptians paid with their blood and lives.”

The signatories also called for expelling Sabry from the Bar since he “not only violated the constitution, but also contributes to undermining political life in Egypt.” A hashtag called “support_naga” was also launched on Twitter.

On the other hand, Abul Naga was the subject of a fierce campaign started by several journalists and talk show anchors, several of whom resorted to slander.

Anchor Tawfik Okasha, in fact, claimed that Abul Naga was a homosexual, a matter that Sabry apparently hinted at when he said there was a reason why Abul Naga could not join the army.

“You are no different from tabloids,” added Okasha.

Mazhar Shahin, a preacher-turned-talk-show-host, followed the same strategy.

“If Abul Naga does not like Egypt, he is the one who has to leave,” he said.

“He can go to Syria or Iraq where there is no army to bother him. He just needs to take care of his pants there.”

Journalist Moustafa Bakri accused Abul Naga of taking part in conspiracies against the Egyptian state since the Jan. 25 revolution.

“One is ashamed to talk about those people whose views conflict with the people’s will,” he said on television.

Talk show host Ahmed Moussa sarcastically called upon Sisi to appoint Abul Naga head of operations in the Sinai Peninsula.
“There he can apply all the military tactics he is an expert in and show us how he can fight terrorism,” he said in his show.

Meanwhile, talk show host Khairy Ramdan argued that Abul Naga’s statements are not worth paying attention to in the first place because of how “naïve” they are. “So, if you want someone else to be in charge, who is going to fight terrorism?” he asked. “Wouldn’t it be the army still? What is the alternative in your own point of view, Khaled?”

While objecting to the high treason accusation, journalist Hamdi Rizq argued that Abul Naga has been impulsive in his statements.

“Abul Naga seems to be totally oblivious to the terror through which the country has been going in the past year,” he wrote.

“There is a huge difference between heroic roles you play on the screen and the actual wars waged against Egypt.”

Rizq expressed his surprise that as an actor like himself, Abul Naga was not thankful for having Sisi as head of the state.

“Had it not been for Sisi, you would have stayed at home with no films to make and no festivals to attend,” he said. “You would have been governed by people who reject creativity and believe that arts are prohibited,” he explained, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abul Naga, who refused to retract his statements, cited article 65 of the 2014 constitution, drafted after the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood regime, to hold on to his right to express his views freely.

“Freedom of thought and opinion is guaranteed,” reads the article. “All individuals have the right to express their opinion through speech, writing, imagery, or any other means of expression and publication.”

Abul Naga’s supporters saw the Best Actor award he received Tuesday from the Cairo International Film Festival as a compensation for the insults he has been exposed to following his statements.

Mona Seif, founder of the No to the Military Trial of Civilians movement and sister of controversial activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, said Abul Naga’s patience in the face of slander was well rewarded.

“He has been bearing with incredible attempts at tarnishing his image for the past few days,” she wrote. “Now, he is named Best Actor. Congratulations to him and to us for having him among us.”

Seif also noted the role Abul Naga has played since 2011 in opposing the trial of civilians before military courts. Activist Hazem Abdel Azim wrote: “Congratulations to Khaled Abul Naga for getting the Best Actor award at a time when terrorism is used as a pretext for the suppression of freedom of speech.”

Meanwhile, no official statement was issued regarding Abul Naga’s controversial statements in what could be seen as part of Sisi’s policy toward opposition and insults to his person.

In a speech he gave for the commemoration of the 41st anniversary of the October 6 victory, Sisi stressed that he is not interested in responding to criticism. “If I responded to insults, I would be degrading myself,” he said.

“Many people have been insulted before but that never meant they were weak or unsuccessful.”