Sonia Farid

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/04/13/The-Egyptian-Copts-who-listened-to-ISIS-s-threat-and-fled-before-the-church-attacks.html

In February, more than 100 Christian families fled the city of Arish in northern Sinai to the Suez Canal city of Ismailia following a series of attacks that killed seven, including a young man who was burnt alive after his father was shot in front of him.

These attacks were not the first in the city, but were seen as the most serious, especially with ISIS posting a video threatening to eliminate the Christian community and labeling Egyptian Christians “infidels” who collaborate with the West against Islam. Although Christians have been trickling out of Arish when ISIS first took hold of the city, this is the first mass migration.

The decision to relocate the Christians of Arish, at times referred to as “forced evacuation,” was met with indignation by many for it was seen as proof of the government’s inability to protect the Christian community.

The attacks were also considered a desperate attempt by a defeated ISIS that sustained major losses at the hands of the Egyptian military. Some even wondered if the attacks really targeted Christians or only used them as a weak link to regain control over the Sinai Peninsula.

However, the Palm Sunday twin bombings, which killed more than 44 people and injured more than a hundred, proved beyond doubt that one, ISIS is as powerful as ever if not more and that they can and operate outside their hideouts in Sinai; and two, Egyptian Christians are becoming much more than the object of a random vengeance spree.

Mokhtar Awad, research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, argues that targeting Christians in Egypt seems to coincide with the sectarian approach ISIS has adopted since its inception. “For months, the Islamic State has been accelerating the import of Iraq-style sectarian tactics to Egypt,” he wrote.

“In doing so, the group hopes to destabilize the Middle East’s most populous country and expand the reach of it’s by now clearly genocidal project for the region’s minorities.”

For Awad, ISIS is obviously placing Egyptian Christians in the same position as Iraqi Shiites, which means “they can be killed indiscriminately and for no reason other than for what they believe.” This is seen by Awad as a radical step when taking into consideration Egypt’s size and the fact that the militant project has so far failed to gain ground in it.

Sectarian strife, he adds, is now ISIS’s way of infiltrating a society that is known for its “relative cohesiveness” as Awad puts it. “SIS hopes that inflaming sectarian strife in Egypt will be the first step in the country’s unraveling.”

Security expert General Mohamed Zaki said that the recent bombings demonstrate ISIS’s desire to inflict maximum pain upon the Christian community, thus increasing the impact of the operations. This, he explained, is done through the choice of time and place.

“They choose churches that have symbolic significance for Christians,” he said.

This particularly applies to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, which stands in the site of the church built by Mark the Evangelist. He is the author of the second gospel who brought Christianity to Egypt and became founder of the church of Alexandria and the first Bishop of Alexandria and is one of Christianity’s most revered martyrs.

“They also choose special days for Christians as was the case with Palm Sunday,” Zaki added.

Those two factors upon which terrorists base their choice, Zaki added, lead to a major third factor – casualties.

 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/03/26/Iraqi-Christians-and-the-dream-to-return-to-Mosul.html

In the summer of 2014, Mosul was for the first time in its history almost totally emptied of Christian civilians. More than 200,000 of Iraqi Christians, who make up the fourth largest indigenous Christian population in the Middle East, were forced to flee the city following invasion by ISIS whose leaders gave them the choice to convert, leave, or die then seized their houses and burnt their churches. It was only recently that the Christians of Iraq started harboring hopes of returning to their homes as Iraqi forces managed to reclaim the city, which was home to one of the world’s most ancient Christian communities.

Reverend Daniel al-Khari, a Chaldean priest who oversees a Christian refugee camp in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan where large numbers of Christians fled, argued that ISIS’s departure from Mosul makes it possible to return, yet not safe. According to him, it is not about ISIS’s physical presence as much the culture the group managed to nurture in the city. “We can go back but it is a question of safety. We are dealing with a new generation bred by ISIS – they have a radical anti-Christian viewpoint and so it would be really hard to go back,” he said, arguing that with the spread of fanaticism he doubts that Muslim and Christian communities can co-exist. Al-Khari particularly referred to ISIS’s recruitment and radicalization of children, who came to be labeled “caliphate cubs” and were instructed to walk around the city armed with knives and guns. “It would be very hard for children here and children in Mosul to get together,” he added. “We really need to work with the children in Mosul to change what ISIS has implanted there.”

Long before ISIS

Romeo Hakari, head of Assyrian Christian political part Bait al-Nahrain, said that the threat to the existence of the Christian community in Iraq started long before ISIS, particularly with the 2003 US invasion of the country. Hakari blames Western countries for encouraging Iraqi Christians to settle outside Iraq instead of supporting them to rebuild their homes and churches and defend themselves. “European embassies in Iraq, especially the French and German embassies, have facilitated the migration of our people,” he said, adding the leaders of the Iraqi Christian communities are holding meetings with EU and US officials to demonstrate the downside of this approach. The Iraqi Christian Relief Council, on the other hand, said that Christians, estimated at 1.5 million before the US invasion, were subjected to systematic persecution as part of the sectarian violence that started in 2003 and continued with the emergence of ISIS so that now the Christian population has decreased by almost 80%.

While admitting that Christians in Iraq were victims of the sectarian conflict the followed US invasion, Joel Velkamp traces their persecution back to the era of Saddam Hussein. According to Velkamp, Hussein used his war with Iran as a pretext for getting rid of as many Assyrian Christians as possible since he felt threatened by their affirmation of their non-Arab identity. “Assyrian Christians found themselves drafted for the war more often than other groups. 40,000 of them never returned from the battlefields,” he wrote, adding that during his war on Kurds Hussein also destroyed 120 Assyrian villages and killed over a thousand Christians, including priests, which drove Christians to flee the country.

Different factions

Iraqi writer Gawhar Audish argues that another problem that would hinder the resettlement of Christians in their hometowns is the current conflict between different Christian factions. “There are several armed Christian groups in the Nineveh plain and each is fighting for its own agenda and I wonder how they’re capable of doing so at such a critical time when they should unite to liberate their towns from ISIS,” he wrote. Audish cited the struggle between the Babylon Brigades and the Syriac Democratic Union as well as attempts by the Nineveh Plain Protection Units, founded by the Assyrian Democratic Movement, at monopolizing power in Christian areas. Audish called the conflict between Christian factions one in which “dwarfs” fight over “leftovers.”

Several Iraqi Christian figures accused the state-sponsored Popular Mobilization Forces of arming warring factions, thus intensifying the conflict. “The struggle for power in Christian areas led the Chaldean Babylon Brigade to storm the headquarters of the Syriac Union in southern Mosul and abduct the leader of the Syriac Eagles Battalion,” said activist Haithan Bakou. Writer Caesar Hermes said that several Christian militias are vying for power in the Nineveh plain. “Examples include Lions of Babylon, Babylon Brigades, the Syriac Children Squadron, Syriac Eagles, and Nineveh Plain Protection Units,” he said, warning that the situation is bound to escalate if heads of different Iraqi churches do not take a unified stance against the conflict that “is bound to have graver consequences than the ISIS invasion,” as he put it.

A sizable number of Christians, however, seem to be quite hopeful, which was demonstrated in their return to several liberated parts and the cross they raised on top of a hill outside Mosul as they cheered “Victory for those who chose faith and those who return.” According to the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Baghdad Luis Rafael Sako, the erection of this cross delivers a message to the whole world. “Our ancestors were buried in this pure land and we are going to remain to preserve them with all our might and for future generations,” he said. “It is a sincere and great call to return and rebuild.” Sako held the first Mass since the ISIS invasion and described it as “the first spark of light shining in all the cities of the Nineveh Plain since the darkness of ISIS” and reassured the congregation that they are finally back in their land.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/03/16/The-boy-who-ignited-the-Syrian-revolution.html

“It’s your turn, doctor,” wrote 14-year-old Muawiyah Sayasneh on a school wall in February 2011 in the city of Daraa, clearly referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, originally an ophthalmologist.

Security forces stormed Sayasneh’s house and arrested him. They did the same with his three classmates that were with him when he wrote that. The people of Daraa took to the streets demanding the boys’ release and did so every single day until they did come back with shocking signs of torture, which angered the people even more.

On March 15, called the “day of rage” by revolutionaries, other cities across Syria joined Daraa in protesting against state repression and the local unrest turned into a full-scale revolution that demanded the ouster of the regime then evolved into a seemingly unending conflict.

While Sayasneh acknowledges the impact of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt on his decision to spray the wall, he admits that he had never imagined an actual revolution would take place in Syria. He actually says that he had never done that before.

“But we were full of anger. Sick of the repression and the torture,” he said in a phone interview with The Telegraph from Daraa on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Syrian revolution. Even though what Sayasneh and his friends did seemed no more than a teenage prank, the Syrian regime was aware of its danger at a time when uprisings had started sweeping the entire region.

This explains the severity of the torture to which the boys were subjected at the intelligence headquarters. “They beat me with cables, poured freezing cold water on me and electrocuted me many times. They hanged me by the wrists from the ceiling of the cell,” he explained. “It was very, very hard, I was just a kid.”

The search for Sayasneh was also another indication of the Syrian regime’s concerns over the repercussions of his actions. “They stopped everyone on the streets of Daraa, including children, to know who did that,” he said in an interview he gave on the fifth anniversary of the revolution.

The first arrest

“They first arrested the three who were with me while I managed to hide for three days. Then they knew where I lived and took me from my house.” While Sayasneh had accomplices in the regime’s point of view, he was still conceived as the most dangerous and that is why his release was delayed.

“They released my friends first while I stayed in detention for more than a month and half.” Sayasneh added that the police accused him and his friends of being “spies” and never believed that their action was not part of a bigger conspiracy against Syria.

Already becoming a national hero, Sayasneh joined the protests right after his release and continued to spray anti-regime slogans on the walls of government facilities. He left school and dedicated all his time to organizing demonstrations that were brutally suppressed by regime forces.

This lasted for two years until a major turning point that made him decide to change course occurred. His father was killed by a rocket attack and it was on that day that Sayasneh joined the Free Syrian Army and turned to armed struggle.

This struggle is, however, rife with complications since the group on whose side Sayasneh fights is no longer the only party fighting against the Syrian regime, but is rather becoming a minority group in the midst of the numerous parties currently involved in the conflict.

“Each group is fighting for its own interests and agenda,” he said. “Meanwhile, civilians are living in deplorable conditions and are being bombed by Syrian forces”.

Son of the soil

Sayasneh never left Daraa even though most of his friends are either dead or in jail. He is still in his family’s house, which was damaged by airstrikes and partially rebuilt, with his mother and siblings who all live off a salary he receives from the Free Syrian Army. He said on several occasions that he does not plan on leaving Syria at all and that he will stay there until victory or martyrdom.

“I am no longer a kid. I am a fighter now and I will remain so,” he said. “Victory is coming eventually. I might be alive or dead then, but what I am sure of is that one day I or another Syrian youth would come back to spray the same walls with news of this victory.”

Sayasneh and his fellow-revolutionaries, who all amount to 15, are all part of a group that came to be called “The Daraa Children”. Those children, who followed Sayasneh’s suit and started spraying walls with anti-Assad slogans, are given credit for ridding the Syrian people of their decades-long fear of the regime”.

“Bombings that target Daraa are always interpreted as the regime’s retribution against the children of Deraa. Every year on the anniversary of the Syrian revolution, their story is told and the commemoration of the revolution is at times referred to as “a tribute to the Deraa children.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/media/print/2017/03/07/Egyptian-print-press-Gasping-for-one-last-breath-.html

The transformation print press in Egypt has undergone in the past few years is too radical to go unnoticed and too ominous to be overlooked.

A sizable number of middle class households went from buying at an average of three newspapers a day-at least two official and one independent, to not buying any or keeping one official, usually for the obituaries.

Newspaper stands started dwindling and the image of early morning readers gathering around them has become a scarcity except maybe of a few from the older generations. And if print press is about to be laid to sleep, there is little doubt its electronic rival would be the perpetrator.

The question remains whether Egypt would really witness the disappearance of a decades-long tradition of reading newspapers on daily basis.

While the decline of paper press in Egypt has been ongoing for a few years, the devaluation of the pound in November 2016 is expected to be the beginning of the end.

According to Salah Eissa, secretary general of the Supreme Council of the Press, the entire printing and publishing industry would be affected, in reference to the 150% increase in the prices of paper and ink.

“Newspapers can in this case decrease the numbers of their pages, cut down on production costs, or raise newspaper prices,” he said, noting that while the last option might seem the easiest, it is not in the best interest of newspapers on the long run. Eissa found it unlikely for the state to support affected newspapers.

“This is not feasible under the current financial crises, plus the fact that state support is confined to official newspapers, which are already losing now.”

Head of the Journalists’ Syndicate Yehia Qallash argued that state support is bound to save paper press.

“If the state realizes that newspapers are strategic commodities and part of national security, they can save paper press,” he said. “Access to knowledge is a basic right and that is why countries like France and Germany support newspapers.”

Qallash also noted that the state needs to bear in mind the consequences of closing down newspapers on unemployment rates. “The numbers of journalists, technicians, and workers who can lose their jobs is extremely alarming.”

Journalist Mohamed Habousha objects to linking the fast deterioration of paper press to financial crises and rather attributed it to the power of new media. “Youths under 30 constitute 65% of the Egyptian population and all those get their news from the internet,” he wrote.

“Added to that is the fact the paper press lacks the professionalism and creativity required to attract readers.” Habousha noted that electronic newspapers offer more attractive material through not only featuring news, but also in depth analysis of hot topics and quick updates.

“Paper newspapers cannot also rival electronic ones in their ability to reach readers’ cellphones.”

Adel Sabry, editor-in-chief of Masr al-Arabiya website, argued that readers no longer look for news in paper newspapers. “They get the news from electronic websites,” he said.

“They rather look for studies, reports, and investigative journalism. The problem with newspapers is that in 2017 they are still working in the same way they did before the internet.”

A matter of trust?

Sabry added that readers now trust websites more than print newspapers. “Laws in Egypt restrict free circulation of information and create of many newspapers propaganda machines for the regime, thus defeating the purpose of journalism, which is serving the people.”

According to writer Farida al-Nakkash, the different stages through which a printed newspaper goes through are closely linked to each other so if one fails the others follow suit. “When people stop reading print newspaper and the prices of printing material increases, circulation decreases, which in turn leads to less advertisements, thus a huge loss for those papers,” she said.

“Advertisements are a major source of profit for papers and they determine to a great extent the success of each paper.” Nakkash added that businessmen who own newspapers are gradually finding out that they are hardly yielding any profit and are, therefore, expected to shut them down soon.

“However, despite the disastrous situation through which print press is going, I still believe it will not disappear.”

Journalist Ahmed al-Samani argued that print press in Egypt would never survive if it does not follow Western models such as “the Washington Post revolution,” as he called it.

“The 138-year old newspaper was on the verge of ending its paper publication until Amazon and Jeff Bezos purchased it in 2013 and changed the entire strategy,” he wrote.

Samani explained that Washington Post reversed the traditional equation of the electronic website being subordinate to the paper publication. “The newspaper developed its website so that it becomes the primary source of information with the majority of journalists working there instead of the paper publication,” he explained.

“Some of the content of the electronic newspaper is then chosen to be included in the print issue.”

With much of the content available on the website being accessible through subscription, the paper managed to make profits that compensated for its losses in paper issues.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/02/08/Is-Egypt-extremely-poor-like-Sisi-says-it-is-.html

“So, nobody told you that you are extremely poor?” asked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the annual Youth Forum, held this year in the southern city of Aswan earlier this week.

“Then let me tell you that we are very poor. Very poor!” he added.

Despite the fact that the two-day conference witnessed discussions on several issues, especially ones pertaining to Upper Egypt, this statement was the most widely circulated.

Reactions to the statement mainly ranged between many taking it seriously and others were mocking it. Between the two lay a bunch of analytical speculations over the real meaning of the statement.

Journalist Hossam al-Hindi said that the statement is in line with the general discourse Sisi has been adopting since he came to power and which basically promotes austerity.

“In last year’s Youth Forum he said that for 10 years he had only water in his fridge yet never complained and following the crash of the Russian plane over Sinai he said that it is not important if we starve as long as we are united,” he wrote.

Hossam, however, sees an obvious contradiction between this discourse and actual state expenses. “For example, the inauguration of the New Suez Canal cost LE 250 million ($13 million) and the Economic Development Conference in Sharm al-Sheikh cost LE 100 million,” he explained, adding that huge amounts of money are spent on presidential motorcades and private jets and the salaries of ministers and officials. Hindi also mentioned examples of “provocative” statements by officials and which demonstrate lack of sensitivity towards the poor.

“For example, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said that the increase in electricity prices equals the prices of a cup of tea in a café, former Minister of Transportation Hani Dahi claimed that underground commuters demanded an increase in ticket prices, and former Minister of Justice Ahmed al-Zind claimed that the average Egyptian citizens can live with LE 2 daily.”

Professor of political science Moustafa Kamel al-Sayed disagreed with the notion that Egypt is a poor country.

“People who argue that Egypt is poor, among them the president, rely on the several factors such as the fact that 26% of the population do not get their basic needs and the decrease of the per capita share of natural resources,” he wrote.

“But this is not the only way poverty is measured.” According to Sayed, the president’s statement contradicts the view of major international institutions such as the World Bank, which does not classify Egypt as a low-income country.

“It also contradicts the fact the Egypt is rich in natural and human resources and enjoys several geographical, historical, and climate privileges.”

According to Sayed, there are three reasons why Egypt can be seen as poor: First, the inability to make the best use of resources; second, unfair distribution of wealth; third, public spending priorities. “Many countries can go through financial crises, but are not classified as poor. This was the case in Mexico, Brazil, and several countries in Southeast Asia.”

Who’s ‘we’?

Meanwhile, journalist Mohamed Hammad questioned who the “we” in the president’s statement refered to. “Does this refer to the people? Or does it refer to the police, army, judges, ministers, and senior officials?” he wrote. “And if Egypt is poor, why is it being controlled by billionaires and foreign franchises?” Hammad argues that poverty is not about money and resources, but is rather about management and governance, policies and priorities.

“For example, Japan is poor in resources, but through good governance managed to become on the world’s greatest economies and China was not hindered by its population challenge,” he added. For Hammad, poverty is only an excuse for governments to maintain the status quo and not embark on a real change. “Governments talk about poverty as if it is a country’s destiny and totally overlook the fact that it can be subverted through a change. When Lula Da Silva came to power, he did not tell Brazilians that they are poor, but took serious steps towards taking Brazil from poverty to prosperity and in eight years made a miraculous transformation.”

Writer Mahmoud Khalil believed the Sisi’s was addressing officials and not the Egyptian people in order to warn them that their actions do not take into consideration the economic problems through which the country is going.

“The president is telling officials to make sure they do not take actions that provoke the poor,” he wrote. “These include the purchase three 18-million-pound cars by the House of Representatives and requests for increasing the salaries of senior officials such as the prime minister and his deputies, the ministers and their deputies, and governors and their deputies.”

On the other hand, Khalil noted, the government abstains from increasing minimum wages citing budget deficit and the large amounts allocated to wages and salaries and several major institutions, such as the National Bank of Egypt, which paid large bonuses to their staff following the recent price hike.” For Khalil, Sisi is siding with the poor in the way he criticizes the government and the parliament for their spending patterns that contradict their continuous statements about the financial crisis, which detach them from average people. “Sisi is instigating them to feel for the people and offer an example of wisdom and integrity.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/02/02/Why-is-Egypt-s-military-entering-the-pharmaceutical-industry-.html

The Egyptian government gave the military a license to establish a pharmaceuticals company. According to the prime mister’s decree, the National Authority for Military Production, which is affiliated to the Egyptian Armed Forces, will establish the Egyptian National Company for Pharmaceutical Products. The announcement came after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called upon the military to play a bigger role in major infrastructure projects and in the distribution of subsidized goods. While this step could be seen as a solution to the shortage of a large number of drugs and the soaring prices of available ones, it also heats the already-existing debate on the army’s control of the Egyptian economy.

Osama Rostom, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Chamber at the Egyptian Industrial Federation argued that the army’s establishment of a pharmaceutical company comes at a time when the Egyptian drug market is suffering from a lot of problems mainly related to drug shortage and price hikes. “The state’s involvement in the pharmaceutical industry can regulate prices to a great extent since raw materials would be imported in bigger quantities and in fewer shipments, which would in turn reduce production cost,” he said. “If this would benefit Egyptian citizens, especially poorer classes, then why not?”

A different solution

Rostom, however, added that the same result could have been reached in a different way that does not involve the military. “If the same privileges that will be given to the military are instead given to the existing 154 drug factories and the 55 under construction, this would solve the crisis and there would be no need for creating a new company.”

Mohamed Ashraf, secretary general of the Pharmaceutical Chamber at the Egyptian Industrial Federation, had previously called for the army’s intervention in the pharmaceutical sector through becoming in charge of importing raw materials. “This will protect the sector from manipulation and monopoly,” he said, specifically mentioning the Armed Forces Logistics Authority, which has always stepped in at times of shortage, as the most suitable entity for such step.

Politician and head of al-Geel Democratic Party Nagi al-Shehabi said that establishing a national company for pharmaceuticals is the only way to face the drug crisis following the devaluation of the Egyptian pound. “Medicine is a matter of national security and that is why it is important for it to be manufactured locally,” he said.

According to Shehabi, the army stepped in at the right time as it always does at times of crises. “This is because only the army can protect the country from different dangers and it does so even while it is facing huge domestic challenges as well as external conspiracies,” he added.

Journalist Anas Fares sees in the establishment of the pharmaceuticals company another attempt on the part of the Egyptian army to control the economy. “This is not the first time the Egyptian Armed Forces get unprecedented privileges and it’s not a coincidence but only part of an expansive investment plan that targets the monopolization of several industries,” he wrote.

For Fares, the main problem with economic activities carried out by the military is lack of transparency. “All economic institutions owned by the Egyptian military are not subject to any form of monitoring by any government entity and their financials are listed in the state budget in one single figure under one item.” Even though the Egyptian military has for decades been involved in several economic sectors, Fares argues that this increased since the coming to power of Sisi. “In December 2015, Sisi issued a decree that allows the military to establish companies with national capital or in partnership with foreign capital. This is the key to the army’s interference in investment in all sectors.”

Mohamed Hussein, founder of the Egypt Parallel Constitution initiative argued that the intervention of the army in the pharmaceutical industry does not allow for free and fair competition. “The army gets free labor through obligatory military service since conscripts work in all institutions affiliated to the army,” he said. “These institutions do not also pay taxes and do not pay for utilities such as electricity and water.”

Hussein added that this will allow the army or a few companies with strong ties with the army to monopolize the pharmaceutical industry.

Tackling shortage

Mohamed Ezz al-Arab, medical advisor at the Egyptian Center to Protect the Right for Medicine, begged to differ. “We have suffered a lot in the past few months from shortage in the most strategic drugs and many people actually died because their medicine was no longer available,” he said. “This was specifically the case with cancer drugs.”

Ezz al-Arab said that the state has to interfere in order to prevent similar crises from taking place. “The military in particular took this initiative because it is the institution that currently has the capabilities and the technology to do that. Plus, the discipline with which the military is characterized would guarantee the quality of the products,” he added.

For Ezz al-Arab, the issue is more humanitarian than political or economic since the priority is making medicine available to citizens.

A few days after the decree, Minister of Military Production General Mohamed al-Assar, announced that the ministry is working on establishing a factory that specializes in manufacturing cancer drugs. “This is part of a mega project that includes several pharmaceutical industries such as syringes and avian flu vaccines,” he said, adding that projects of that type are a matter of national security. “We cannot just be at the mercy of imports.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2017/01/29/-I-hereby-divorce-you-Egypt-s-verbal-divorce-phenomenon-surges-.html

“Can’t we have a law that makes divorce only effective when it is documented?” asked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a televised speech he gave at the Police Day celebration on January 24. “If marriage is documented then the same should apply to divorce.” Sisi then addressed the Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, who was among the attendees: “Don’t you agree with me, your eminence?”

He then playfully added, “You are giving me a hard time, your eminence!” Sisi was referring to verbal divorce through which a Muslim husband can end the marriage through uttering the words, “I, hereby, divorce you.” Throughout the few days that followed the speech, the issue of verbal divorce has become the talk of the town with growing speculations over an imminent legislation and equally growing debates on the possibility of changing what is seen as an integral part of Islamic family law.

For journalist Mahmoud Bakri, what seemed like a joke between Sisi and Tayeb is actually an indication of the tension between the presidency and al-Azhar as far as religious discourse is concerned. “This is not the first time Sisi criticizes al-Azhar for not embarking on serious attempts to adapt religious laws to modern times and to correct untruthful conceptions of Islamic ideology,” he wrote. “True, Sisi has been calling for a reform in Azhar as a means to combat terrorism both in Egypt and the Islamic world, but now his criticism was also directed at the way al-Azhar handles family law.”

Controversy

Bakri noted that talk about banning verbal divorce started in mid-2016 based on a book entitled Verbal Divorce Ban for Documented Marriages in Egypt by professor of comparative jurisprudence at al-Azhar University Saad al-Din al-Helali. “A committee to discuss the matter was formed by al-Azhar. It included representatives of the four Islamic schools of thought as well as historians and theologians and they agreed against the ban.” Bakri argues that Sisi is asking al-Azhar to reconsider its position. “This puts al-Azhar is a very awkward situation since it either takes the president’s request seriously or risk an escalation of tension with the presidency.”

Sisi’s call for banning verbal divorce stirred much controversy among religious scholars. Islamic preacher Khaled al-Gindi, who had previously filed a lawsuit against the prime minister, the Ministry of Justice, and al-Azhar’s grand imam to demand banning verbal divorce but dropped it following Sisi’s speech, argued that verbal divorce does not count. “There are two contracts, one for marriage and another for divorce. Only the second can annul the first,” he said. “If a man divorces his wife verbally 20,000 times, this has no value whatsoever.” Gindi noted that verbal divorce was only valid at a time when all contracts were verbal and documentation did not exist. “Verbal contracts were totally eliminated in 1931 and ever since every deal has to be documented.”

Professor of Islamic law at al-Azhar University Ahmed Kereima argued that all transactions were originally verbal and the words said were translated into action. “Any contract is based on wording because wording is indicative of an intention to do a certain action,” he said. “Documentation is only an administrative formality that aims at preserving the rights of the parties involved in this contract.” According to Kereima, verbal divorce has been valid since the establishment of the Islamic nation and is agreed upon by the four schools of thought and by the majority of scholars. “It is also part of the Quran and the prophet’s teachings, so demanding otherwise is absolutely unacceptable because this would be a secularization of God’s laws.” When asked if banning verbal divorce would reduce growing divorce rates as Sisi said in his speech, Kereima replied in the negative. “When a man divorces his wife verbally while he is angry or ill or without meaning it, he can seek advice from al-Azhar which can then find a way out for him since divorce has to be based on a firm intention to end the marriage,” he said. “Plus, society needs to adapt to the rules of Islam not the other way round.”

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Shawki Allam said that Dar al-Iftaa, the institution in charge of issuing religious edicts, receives an average of 3,200 inquiries about verbal divorce. “After thorough investigation of each case and after looking into the husband’s intentions and the circumstances under which verbal divorce took place, only three of them prove to be an actual divorce,” he said.

Proof

Preacher Mazhar Shahin said that there are hundreds of cases where women are trying to prove that they were verbally divorced and cannot remarry because of that. “All these women remain in limbo for they are neither married nor divorced and have no right to remarry because no document proves they were divorced,” he said. Shahin added that as “guardian” of the Egyptian nation, Sisi has the right to “restrict the permitted,” as he put it, if this is in the best interest of his nation.

MP and professor of theology Amna Nosseir said that Sisi’s request “sent ripples across stagnant water,” as she put, since it brought back to the forefront one of the most critical problems Egyptian families face. “I think that the Committee of Religious Affairs at the House of Representatives should start taking the necessary steps towards drafting a legislation that bans verbal divorce,” she said, adding that she will fully provide members of the committee with the scholarly help they would need in this regard.

MP and secretary general of the Committee of Religious Affairs at the House of Representatives Amr Hamroush said that the committee will be ready in a few days with a draft law that regulates verbal divorce. “We will meet with representatives of major religious institutions and prominent scholars to discuss the law and make sure it does not contradict Islamic law,” he said. “The law aims at protecting Egyptian families from disintegration and at preserving the rights of the wife and the children and it will include fines and jail sentences for violators.” MP and member of the same committee Mohamed Shaaban argued that the new law is a manifestation of respect for women as stipulated in Islam. “A woman will no longer be under the mercy of a few words said by an angry husband during an argument,” he said.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/features/2017/01/25/What-remains-of-Egypt-s-January-25-revolution-.html

On January 24, Egyptian state and private channels aired live from the Police Academy in Cairo a lengthy celebration of Police Day and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke of the sacrifices by officers to preserve national security and on January 25 the president gave a short speech from the presidential palace on the sacrifices offered by revolutionary youths to effect a real change.

While the January 2011 revolution erupted on the 25th to protest human rights violations committed by the police and to demand the toppling of the police state, six years later Police Day seems to have taken over once more at least at the official level. And with a large number of Egyptians questioning whether it was a revolution in the first place and others not remembering it at all, few are left to commemorate the popular uprising and fewer still see it as a defining moment of Egyptian modern history.

Hassan Nafaa, Professor of political science, said that mention of the January 25 Revolution in the official discourse has been dwindling over the years and that the same applies to most political parties. “This is expected since none of the revolution’s goals materialized,” he said.

“The military did not suppress the revolution because they wanted to stop the bequest of power scenario to make sure Mubarak’s son would not become president and when this plan worked, the old regime was back in a different form.”

Nafaa added that the revolution receded to the background because none of the revolutionaries is actually present in the public sphere. “In fact, the public sphere is now mostly occupied by people who do not believe in the revolution and who constantly deride it.”

Systematic campaign

Mokhtar Ghobashi, deputy director of the Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies, argued that a systematic campaign was launched by regime loyalists, especially media professionals, to tarnish the image of the revolution and he particularly mentioned wiretaps involving leading revolutionaries. “There is no use whatsoever of airing years’ old wiretaps except to incite the public against the revolution through presenting it as a conspiracy that aimed at destabilizing national security and presenting the revolutionaries as a bunch of mercenaries,” he said.

Ghobashi noted that the timing of releasing the wiretaps reveals an attempt at distracting the people from remembering a revolution that “shook the whole world and not only Egypt,” as he put it. “Plus, where did they obtain those wiretaps from?” he wondered, possibly hinting that they might be fabricated.

Gamal Gibril, Professor of constitutional law, noted that despite several drawbacks, the revolution managed to make two critical changes in the political scene in Egypt. “First, it limited the presidency to two four-year terms so a president cannot stay in power as long as he wishes like what happened before,” he said.

“Second, it made the declaration and extension of the state of emergency contingent upon a number of strict conditions.”

Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, deputy director of the National Human Rights Council, said that while the revolution did not succeed in achieving many of its goals, it still made a substantial change. “The revolution put an end to the state of political stagnation that existed in the Mubarak era as the people became part of the public sphere and managed to get many of their demands through it,” he said.

Shokr added that drafting of a new constitution and holding presidential and parliamentary elections constitute extremely significant gains. “The revolution at least taught people a lot about their leverage and lobbying powers.”

Journalist Abdel Nasser Salama argued that there is no point remembering the January 2011 revolution whether by its supporters or detractors. “For the first group, the revolution was a source of frustration and for the second, it was a disaster, and now we are back to square one,” he wrote, adding that the Egyptian people are the real victim since they had high hopes that were eventually dashed.

For Salama, the revolution was a failure on all fronts, which becomes obvious in the immaturity of the revolutionaries, the greed of regime loyalists, economic and political conditions, and human rights violations “Celebrating the anniversary of the January 25 Revolution is a form of hypocrisy. Let us look for another date to celebrate and let us get over this one as we got over other past defeats. Meanwhile, January 25 will only be Police Day.”

No conflict

MP Mohamed Abu Hamed argued that there is not conflict between celebrating Police Day and commemorating the January 2011 revolution since both cases represent a struggle for freedom. “On January 25, 2011, Egyptians people took to the streets to topple a repressive regime and on January 25, 1952, Egyptian police officers fought British occupation forces,” he said in reference to the clashes that took place in the Ismailia governorate and in which British forces killed 50 policemen and injured 80.

“People in the two sacrificed their lives.” Abu Hamed argued that hostile sentiments against the revolution are partly attributed to the coming to power of the Muslim Brotherhood whose members “hijacked the revolution,” as he put it. “That is why official discourse should include a distinction between those who wanted freedom and justice and those who wanted chaos and destruction.”

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Following three years of silence, Mohamed el-Baradei gave a lengthy TV interview to the London-based channel al-Araby. As the first part of five was aired, so were several of Baradei’s tapped calls on the Egyptian satellite channel Sada al-Balad.

Shortly after, calls for Baradei to be stripped of his Egyptian citizenship echoed across parliament and social media citing the leaked calls in which it is alleged he “insults the army” and should therefore be considered a “traitor.”

Baradei mattered for a number of reasons, but these for the majority of Egyptians – both supporters and detractors – do not include being the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the former vice president of Egypt, or an internationally acclaimed academic, but rather his major role in paving the way for the January 2011 Revolution and his emergence ever since as a national icon.

The interview and its ramifications not only proved that Baradei still matters, but also raised a number of questions about the purpose and impact of his return, if it can be called so.

Journalist Mai Azzam argues that Baradei might be planning to run in the upcoming presidential elections and sees the interview as the possible beginning of an electoral campaign. “In the interview, Baradei implicitly demonstrated his disagreement with the current regime by appearing on a Qatari-funded channel considered in Egypt to be relatively sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and expressed a view on Syria that is more in line with Saudi Arabia than Egypt,” she wrote. “At the same time, he presented himself as wiser than previous presidents especially Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat who made wrong decisions that harmed the country.”

For Azzam, Baradei appeared as a politician whose expertise and academic background enable him to take diplomatic positions that seem much needed at the moment. “He criticizes Camp David and supports the Palestinian cause while stressing the importance of peace in the region and not being hostile to Israel; he has no issues with Qatar and supports the Saudi Arabian stance on Syria,” she explained. “And he says nothing that might be of concern to the United States.”

If this is the case, Azzam said that airing Baradei’s tapped calls is not in the best interest of the current regime since it shows that it does not tolerate any opposition. “The wiretaps, which are produced by security institutions and aired by media professionals known for their loyalty to the current regime, portray the regime as fragile, which serves Baradei if he really intends to run.”

Journalist Hayat al-Yamani argues that the only way Baradei’s interview can make a change is if he acknowledges his responsibility in the violent dispersal of the Rabaa al-Awadiya sit-in, staged by Islamists following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood. “A direct apology for that is the only way this interview would be meaningful,” she wrote. “And since only the first part of the interview was aired, this remains to be seen.” Yamani, who considers Baradei “the icon of a revolution who was the first to let down,” does not expect Baradei to emerge victorious following this interview regardless of its real purposes.

“Unfortunately, everyone watching the interview will remember a promise he did not keep or an action he did not take. It’s not that Egyptians hate him, but rather that he never really liked them, being the ‘hypocritical,’ ‘trashy’ and ‘backward’ people they are,” she added, in reference to words Baradei used in his phone calls to describe several revolutionaries and public figures. Yamani, however, stressed that the leaks are only a proof of how the state is afraid of the interview. “The question is: will they find enough wiretapped calls to cover the coming four parts of the interview?”

While admitting that wiretapping Baradei’s calls without the proper warrant is illegal, constitutional expert Shawki al-Sayed refuted claims that the Egyptian regime is afraid of Baradei’s appearance. “Baradei’s appearance after all this silence is indeed suspicious and I believe he is taking advantage of the problems through which Egypt is going in order to manipulate the public,” he wrote. “The regime could be upset because Baradei’s intentions are obviously not good, especially that his views are against the Egyptian state.”

According to journalist Ahmed Nada, the concurrent airing of the interview and the leaks revealed two faces of Baradei.

“In the phone calls, he was being himself and was openly criticizing everyone he believed obstructed the revolution while in the interview he is the diplomat who calculates every word he utters,” he wrote.

“The two undoubtedly brought Baradei back to the limelight and provided an excellent opportunity for his supporters to reiterate, sometimes in an exaggerated manner, how wise he is.” For Nada, both Baradei and his supporters seem to be “outside of history,” since they were not able to learn from their mistakes. “If they insist on the same elitist discourse used extensively in 2010 and 2011, everything they say will seem cliché and irrational,” he explained. “Baradei is the man of bad timing and long silences.”

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The Coptic Churches Accountability Act, recently submitted by Republican representative David A. Trott, has requested “the Secretary of State to submit an annual report to Congress regarding efforts to restore or repair Christian property in the Arab Republic of Egypt that was burned, damaged, or otherwise destroyed during the sectarian violence in August 2013, and for other purposes.”

The bill, currently referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, was strongly repudiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which considered the bill a flagrant violation of Egypt’s sovereignty and argued that only national entities stated in the Egyptian constitution have the right to supervise any work carried out by the executive power.

“The bill also includes false information,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid in a statement. “Egypt did not witness sectarian strife, but was subjected to terrorist attacks committed by an outlawed group,” he added, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose members are accused of attacking and burning down churches following the dispersal of Islamist sit-ins that called for the return of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. The reaction of the Coptic Orthodox Church was not different.

“The Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church rejects the Congress bill on the restoration of churches and declares that the Egyptian government has done its duty in this regard,” said the church statement. “National unity comes first and we will never accept any interference.” The categorical rejection of the bill on the official level does not, however, diminish the significance of the bill and the way it is expected to affect relations with the US.

Father Rafik Greish, spokesman of the Egyptian Catholic Church, said the bill is an attempt to ruin the relationship between Egypt and the new American administration. “Donald Trump praised on several occasions the efforts exerted by the Egyptian president to combat terrorism and this apparently angered some people,” he said.

“We have to bear in mind that many members of the Republican Party do not support the Egyptian regime and this was very obvious after the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Greish added that 90 percent of churches destroyed in 2013 were renovated or rebuilt and expressed his surprise that the United States is not aware of that.

“The US has eyes everywhere and they can easily know what’s happening on the ground in Egypt.” Journalist Abdel Nabi al-Shahat had the same view and argued that the bill is part of a plan by Obama’s administration to put as many obstacles as possible in Trump’s way. “Trump and Egypt see eye to eye when it comes to combating terrorism, while Obama totally overlooks the terrorist actions committed by the Muslim Brotherhood, especially the destruction of churches,” he wrote.

US Democratic Party Member Mahdi Afifi disagreed that the bill reflects the intentions of the current administration towards the upcoming one or that the entire Congress is interfering in Egypt’s affairs as critics of the bill believed. “When a member of Congress submits a bill, this does not mean he is representing American interests.

“It just means that he is catering to the needs of a specific group of voters or lobby group or tackling an issue that he personally believes is important, so if he believes Copts are persecuted in Egypt he can simply submit such a bill,” he said, adding that any congressman in the United States can propose any bill and then the Congress can pass it or not based on votes.

“This applies to both local and international issues. In fact, 50 percent of proposed bills are about other countries and that is very clear in the case of Cuba.” Afifi said that Coptic groups in the US might have lobbied for the submission of the bill because they believe Copts in Egypt are persecuted. “If this is true, there would be few of them because most Copts in the US support the Egyptian regime,” he said.

“Islamist organizations that pledge allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood might have lobbied too, but they operate legally in the US so there is nothing to be done about them.” Journalist Naeim Youssef also refuted claims that the bill proves that the Obama administration is placing obstacles in Trump’s way or attacking Egypt: “Obama is Democratic and the congressman who submitted the bill is Republican,” he wrote.

Coptic US-based activist Magdi Khalil said that the Coptic Solidarity Organization lobbied for the submission of the bill. “The organization lobbied for two laws: the first was the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group and the second on the supervision of church restoration in Egypt,” he said. According to Khalil, the organization submitted the second bill in response to the state’s failure in issuing a fair law on the construction of churches.

“Many Copts inside and outside Egypt object to the current law, which still makes it difficult to construct churches and most of the requests to build churches after the law were rejected,” he explained, adding that he is surprised that while the state and the Coptic Church supported the first bill they reject the second even though both were submitted by the same organization. Khalil added that it is easy to manipulate Egyptian Copts and use them as a tool for pressure and that congressmen who submit such bills are usually after political gains.

“For example, one of the congressmen who support the accountability act asked Coptic Solidarity to thank him on the organization’s website so that his voters would know that he supports religious freedom.”