We have another abusive crackdown in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Egypt has seen a dramatic rollback on civil liberties under al-Sisi. In Egypt, a teenager was jailed for cartoons of Muhammad and a leading businessman was attacked for a cartoon of Micky Mouse with a beard. Then there was the three-year sentence given Amr Nohan, a 22-year-old law graduate for posting a Facebook image of el-Sisi with Mickey Mouse-style cartoon ears. A leading cartoonist Islam Gawish, 26, was arrested in Egypt by the hyper sensitive al-Sisi government. Now Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadeq ordered an investigation into a TV presenter, Azza Al-Henawy, who simply criticized al-Sisi for not delivering on promise.
Al-Henawy engaged in a standard critique of a politician that you find in countless countries — an objection about unfulfilled promises:
“You [Sisi] didn’t solve anything since you began ruling Egypt; you promised that within two years we will see a new Egypt, and one year and eight months have passed without any improvements. Only a few months are left and we are waiting.”
Her objection that Sisi has been “all talk and no action” resulted in a criminal charge.
The darkest character however was not Sisi or even Sadeq. It was a lawyer named Samir Sabry who filed a complaint against Henawy, accusing her of insulting the president and inciting to topple the government. Sadeq is a lawyer who is trashing the very foundations for the rule of law and civil liberties. To put it simply, Sadeq is a disgrace to every member of the bar in every country around the world.
Henawy was suspended from work. Notably, this is her second suspension. The first time as during the presidency of Mohammad Mursi for criticizing his administration. Unlike Sadeq, Henawy is a champion for the ideals of journalists and has shown tremendous courage in the face of blind authoritarianism.
@GaryT
Good points! Condemnation of The Feast of Fools is another good example:
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I would think in the case of the teenager with the cartoons of Muhammed he was probably jailed for his own safety.
Their rulers need rules. Just like nuns need rulers. Ever go to a catholic grade school run by nuns?
(music)
“Glory, Glory Halleluya!
Sister hit me with a Ruler!
I beaned her in the bean with a rotten tangerine..
And school kept marching on!
du du du dunt da!”
– Saint John and James Grade School, Ferguson Mo. circa 1962
Their county, their rules.
There is an old, even ancient, theme going on there.
That laughter is evil, sacrilege, and that any humor will undermine the hierarchy of control and order.
The idea that some things cannot be viewed in any humorous light as I said is very old, and comes from the fear that they way of the world is not as rigid as the enforcers demand it will be. Humor undermines the absolutist’s view of world, and shakes his foundation of control.
Nothing exemplifies this better than a clip from The Name of the Rose:
https://youtu.be/jUUB96c6EpY?t=50s
She dared them to stop talking and take action. They complied.
A backward, repressive, totalitarian, and brutal land requires its people to speak up. Brave indeed.
Or the non-morons can all move to another country, using magic money that just appears in their pockets.
Settle down, whimper.
I don’t consider these morons to be brave–I consider them to be idiots, with a death wish. All of them. These fools, who, by the way, hail from the great land of Egypt, are completely familiar with the grave dangers which accompany such remarks, comments and/or behaviors, yet they consciously and purposely decide to proceed anyway, despite that knowledge. You want to live in a backward, repressive, totalitarian and brutal Muslim land–as if there is any other kind of Muslim land–and mouth off? Good luck with that. Oh well, them be the breaks. This falls into the too bad, so sad category.
Plus, today it is the funny cartoons, and tomorrow it is sodomites doing it in the streets! I say once again, that it is probably the West’s inability to keep a lid on the rotten behavior of our citizens which scares the crap out of leaders in the rest of the world.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
These territories need dictators. Why? Because their people are diverse and hate each other and are not ready for so called Democracy.