Tagged: ahmed shafik
Viva La Revolution
Be warned, some language is explicit.
The video above shows the Head of Security in the province of Damnhour, Egypt talking to his team of police officers, basically pumping them up so they can continue to “crush” civilians if they are out of line. They see civilians as subordinates, as thorns that they have to crush, not citizens they must protect. In a democratic, civilized society, this kind of talk can’t even be targeted towards criminals or murderers.
This is what has been happening for 30 years and this is what sparked the revolution in Egypt in the first place. Egyptian civilians and workers simply cannot continue to be treated without dignity. They cannot continue to be stabbed in the back by their should-be protectors. And, they definitely can not remain silent as all of this continues and their revolution gets crushed after hundreds of Egyptians died, thousands suffered, and were tormented.
Again, as long as the old regime, people like Prime Minister Shafik, & the man in this video are still in power, our revolution did not succeed. The problem is that this video is not a single incident. This is how most police officers and officials think and act. This is the mentality that cost us 356+ Egyptian lives. It’s the same mentality that has opressed us for decades. It’s the same mindset that crippled freedom of speech, reform, and unity in Egypt.
After this video spread, officials responded by saying this man was “moved” to another province to another position. What good will that do?! It’s not like they moved him to another country, he’s still poisoning Egyptian society. This won’t work anymore.
عاشت الثورة المصرية
Mubarak, Shafik, & Sharm…
Mubarak socializing with tourists in Sharm el Sheikh. photo from flickr.com
When Mubarak told his Vice President Omar Suleiman to announce to the Egyptian people that he was relinquishing, or voluntarily “letting go” of power, Mubarak and his family supposedly headed to reside in their palace in resort city of Sharm el Sheikh.
After all the violence his administration subjected us to and the deaths of our fellow Egyptians (before and after Jan 25), we all felt a relief that day on February 11, 2011 when Mubarak finally decided to step out of the picture. However, today, concerns are different. The revolution still has demands which were not met, but let’s just focus here on one of the main concerns of the revolution: Removing Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who was appointed by Mubarak himself. All of these factors, along with Mubarak’s presence in Sharm are valid threats to the revolution. Here’s some simple reasons why:
Shafik is a close friend to the ex-president, in fact they’ve been buddies since Shafik was a fighter pilot under Mubarak in Egypt’s 1973 Yom Kippur war. Having him in power as our prime minister is a conflict of interest. The fact that he was appointed by the ex-president also makes him illegitimate in the people’s eyes. Not to mention, appointing friends and family should not be the case. This is not a mafia, or a country club. This is a nation where people need to finally have the chance to elect their officials.
Therefore, Mubarak & his family will not be prosecuted as long as Ahmed Shafik and his cabinet are in power. To further understand why, we can see look to the case of Libya for example, Louis Moreno Ocampo, prosecutor from the International Criminal Court in The Hague, clearly stated that ICC cannot investigate Muammar Qaddafi for any crimes unless Libya files a case and demands justice. The same goes for Egypt. As long as our general prosecutor and our cabinet (the people who have power allow the ICC to investigate) remain the same from Mubarak’s regime, then we have accomplished nothing.
As long as Shafik & the rest of the cabinet is still in place, this will never happen. As long as Mubarak is living under the sovereignty of Egypt, he is untouchable. It’s because he knows very well what he’s doing. He knows that if he leaves, it will not only be a slap in the face for him, but he will be investigated and prosecuted at the International Criminal Court because he will no longer be protected in Egypt by his lifelong friends and cronies. It’s not that he wants to “die on Egyptian soil” as he put it or because Egypt is his beloved. If Egypt was indeed his beloved, as president he wouldn’t have invested in property all over the world and instead, he would’ve invested more in his beautiful country and its people that he neglected for 30 years. Or maybe that’s just too patriotic, but that’s just my humble opinion.
Many are still wondering why we can’t just leave Shafik as prime minister and let Mubarak stay in Sharm and ask for his assetts to be frozen until prosecutors can investigate. The answer is, nobody should be above the law. Mubarak and his cronies taught the police and the regime that they are above the citizens. Mubarak ordered the torturing of political prisoners. He knew that his administration was corrupt, in fact, he chose them! His administration and his ruling party also ordered prisoners and thugs to escape, loot, rape, kill and do whatever they want.
The fact that the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and the nation allowed all of this to happen is a catastrophe. It is his responsibility to ensure the safety of his people. And, there is not such thing as “well maybe he didn’t know.” Because, frankly, that would be an even bigger problem and it would make him even more guilty.
To find out details about who Ahmed Shafik really is, view this link, which is in Arabic.
In order for the revolution to be completed successfully, justice must be served and the current government must be changed.
To understand more on why Mubarak’s presence in Egypt serves as a threat to the revolution, you can watch Dr. Mohamed Hassanein Heikal give his insight on the issue:
‘Burn the Evidence’
Reports from Cairo today, Wednesday 23 February 2011: Interior ministry is on fire.
According to AlJazeera Arabic breaking news, the office that was burning contained information regarding criminal charges, such as murders, money laundering, etc. (جنايات)
I wonder why? Isn’t Habib Al Adly, Ex-minister of interior supposed to go on trial soon? And, isn’t the police and national security responsible for the deaths of 350+ civilians & protesters since the beginning of Jan 25? Aren’t they also responsible for subjecting civilians to torture and violence?
Just a reminder, the day after Ben Ali’s regime collapsed, the first thing police and security did was burn down a prison with detainees inside. (Tunisian government also participated in torturing/detaining prisoners for the United States.)
This is exactly the kind of thing that the revolution was fighting against. Where is justice? Where is accountability and transparency? If a revolution pauses, it ends. The fact that the army could not secure the Ministry of Interior from burning today is a catastrophe. The revolution is not over. If it had succeeded, the police who set fire to the Ministry of Interior wouldn’t even be allowed to walk the streets after the crimes they committed before and after the Jan 25 revolution. If it had succeeded, Mubarak would not be chilling in Sharm El Sheikh. After all, that’s what he was always doing when he was in power anyway. It’s not like he cared to fix the country or he actually stayed in Cairo to tend to civilian needs.
Ironically enough, just two days before this fire incident, Army generals were live on Egyptian TV saying that they were conducting investigations and gathering evidence in order to bring all corrupt officials to justice. How will they complete their investigations if evidence could be destroyed at the ministries were the corruption emerged? Many corrupt officials still haven’t been arrested yet, and you can’t expect them to welcome their evidence & history to be exposed.
This is why revolutionaries of Jan 25 are asking for faster and more transparent steps to be taken. This is why they want the rest of the government cleaned out, because corrupt officials who were members of the former Mubarak regime still remain. They are still in positions of power and are fighting for their immunity at the costs of Egyptian lives, justice, & freedom.
It’s time for everyone who abused their position of power to be held accountable. It’s also time for all of the revolution’s demands to be met. Only then will this revolution be complete.
