Dozens of people were beaten and arrested yesterday by Egyptian riot police during an anti-police brutality demonstration in downtown Cairo (who said irony was dead?).
The protest was one of many following the murder of Khaled Said, the Egyptian man allegedly beaten to death by police after shooting a video of police officers involved in a drug deal.
As U.S. policymakers debate whether to hand Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a "stunningly deferential," nearly strings-free endowment to be used over the next five to ten years -- an endowment that Cairo has proposed should reach a whopping $4 billion -- it might be useful to remind ourselves about the reality of life in America's ahwa-sipping, shisha-smoking Arab best friend in the Middle East.
Josh Rogin from Foreign Policy published an important report this week on what we've dubbed the Mubarak trust fund. The U.S. Congress already approved a $50 million endowment for the Egyptian government, essentially a pot of money the Mubarak regime can use however it wants.
The lead headline in Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram this morning was both startling and contradictory (عربي): "The repeal of the emergency, and its restriction to terrorism and drugs." That was followed by a notice from the Egyptian prime minister's office, announcing a 10:30GMT press conference on the renewal of the emergency laws.
Confused? You'd think all of these things would be mutually exclusive: How can you abolish a law, restrict it, and renew it?
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's (slightly belated) labor day speech yesterday was billed as his office as a "major address." Aides said the president would address all of Egypt's major political issues -- though, given the timing, the speech mostly focused on the economy.
The stagnant economy has been a major flashpoint for years; the boisterous labor protests of the last few weeks are merely the latest in a series of more than 3,000 demonstrations since 2004.
The Egyptian government's relationship with Hamas and Hizballah -- already frosty -- will probably take a turn for the worse after the last 24 hours.
Egypt's state security court yesterday convicted 26 men of links to Hizballah; four of them are on the run and were tried in absentia. The men received tough sentences -- including life sentences for three of them -- which cannot be appealed (the security court isn't subject to judicial review, pursuant to the emergency laws). Prosecutors had requested the death penalty.
I'm still excavating my Google Reader backlog (you honestly cannot take a vacation these days, even a short one), so this stuff might be old news to some readers -- but two items worth reading on democracy promotion in the Middle East.
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak went back to work today, holding his first cabinet meeting (عربي) since his gallbladder surgery in Germany last month, and promptly ordered 10 percent raises for state employees and a larger budget for farm subsidies.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not attend President Obama's nuclear security summit in Washington next week, his office announced tonight.
Netanyahu is hardly the only high-profile world leader skipping the event. British prime minister Gordon Brown, facing a tough parliamentary election on May 6, will stay home to campaign. Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd is busy debating health care reform (sound familiar?).
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a potential candidate for the Egyptian presidency, released a video on his Facebook page on Saturday urging citizens to join his new National Association for Change. Supporters of political reform in Egypt hope that ElBaradei, 67, challenges 81-year-old incumbent Hosni Mubarak in next year's election, and it seems as though ElBaradei is willing to flirt with the possibility.
My Arabic isn't nifty enough to offer a translation for the video (after the jump), but we'll work on it, and in the meantime, our Arabic-speaking readers should feel free to offer their thoughts in the comments:
(Updated below) Egyptian state media reported today that Ahmed al-Tayeb has been appointed the new sheikh (عربي) of Al-Azhar University, replacing Mohamed Tantawi, who passed away last week.
The 64-year-old Tayeb, born in Qena province, is a safe choice for Mubarak. He's spent more than four decades at Al-Azhar: He received a Ph.D. in religion from the school in 1977, then went on to join the faculty, and eventually became dean of the philosophy department. In 2003, he was appointed president of the university; he also served a one-year stint as Egypt's grand mufti. (The current grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, congratulated Tayeb on his appointment today.)
With elections for Egypt's People's Assembly, the lower house of parliament, set for this fall, the government has already begun its usual crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist social organization and political party that is banned by law but allowed to operate with a low profile by the government. Following the arrest in February of high-ranking Brothers, police arrested dozens (perhaps hundreds) on Friday and Tuesday at protests.
The Brotherhood won 88 seats in the 454-seat Assembly during landmark elections in 2005. Since then, the leadership of the Brotherhood has changed and signaled less of an interest in electoral politics, but President Hosni Mubarak's approach to the organization has remained the same: Mubarak's government looks like it's in the process of turning the screws on the Brotherhood in the run-up to this year's elections, just as it did in 2005.
Egypt has been awash in rumors about Hosni Mubarak's health ever since the president's gallbladder surgery in Germany on March 6.
One reason: Mubarak hasn't been seen on television. But his office finally released footage today of the president sitting with his doctors. Heidelberg University Hospital says his condition is improving well; Mubarak's chief of staff, Zakariyah Azmi, says the president is in good condition (عربي).
I'm sure this won't quiet all the rumors that Mubarak is really dead/in a coma/etc. -- he didn't hold up a copy of today's newspaper, after all! -- but this video makes him look about as healthy as he did before the operation.
Last post about Hosni Mubarak's gallbladder surgery, I promise, but the Egyptian president has been moved from intensive care (عربي) to the regular wing of Heidelberg University Hospital, and he's apparently well enough to be photographed on the telephone. From today's El-Shorouk:
Feel free to suggest captions in the comments.
The Egyptian president is in stable condition in Heidelberg University Hospital; he's recovering well enough that he's able to sit up and eat yogurt (عربي), according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.
I don't know why, but I have this funny mental image of Mubarak sitting in bed in a well-tailored jacket, with an aide standing by his side, watching bad German daytime television, slowly eating a container of Swiss yogurt and seething about Mohamed ElBaradei.
Hosni Mubarak temporarily handed over power to his prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, while he recovers from gallbladder surgery in Germany.
Mubarak traveled to Germany to meet with German chancellor Angela Merkel -- but also to undergo medical tests (عربي); the 81-year-old Egyptian president complained of recurring stomach pain. Doctors in Heidelberg say the surgery went well, and Mubarak is recovering at Heidelberg University Hospital.
Here's a good sign that the Egyptian government is a bit rattled by Mohamed ElBaradei: The state-run Al-Gomhuria, last seen proudly defending the Gaza barrier, published this cartoon today unveiling Hosni Mubarak's 2011 campaign promises (h/t Arabist).
As you can see, Egypt's future includes nuclear power and clean air. And giant stalks of wheat.
Mohamed ElBaradei issued his first statement in about a week yesterday: A list of proposed electoral reforms (عربي) which he says would ensure the integrity of Egypt's next presidential election -- and, presumably, which serve as prerequisites for an ElBaradei presidential run.
The list (bulleted after the jump) contains the changes ElBaradei has discussed for months in media interviews: end the emergency laws, lift restrictions on presidential candidates, etc. Taken together, they would be a significant overhaul of Egypt's electoral system.
A follow-up to my earlier post on the ElBaradei campaign and political reform: Issandr El Amrani was kind enough to respond via e-mail, and asked if I would post his response here. It's copied in full after the jump.
Issandr El Amrani has a thoughtful essay on his blog about the potential impact of a Mohamed ElBaradei presidential campaign in Egypt. I agree with most of his points -- particularly his observation that some of the ElBaradei criticism is "cynicism, a position that is hardly constructive and offers no solutions" -- but I want to highlight one item that concerns me.
Furthermore, ElBaradei's pseudo-candidacy may have already forced one alternative to a Gamal candidacy in 2011, if this report (عربي) that Hosni Mubarak is likely to run again in 2011 is to be believed.
This "Hosni will run again" talk is catching on: Al-Quds Al-Arabi this morning quotes unnamed Egyptian sources (عربي) who say Hosni will almost certainly run again next year, and will announce his decision publicly after parliamentary elections this autumn.
