Egyptians are living at an unprecedented level of oppression since Sisi came to power, through a military coup against the late Mohamed Morsi, and 10 years after the popular uprising, fear continues to silence Egyptians.

This is what Edward Dropsay said in an article published in the French Liberation newspaper. Regarding this, a person whom the newspaper called (Muhammad) says, "I remember well the day of the fall of Hosni Mubarak's rule," while he looked around anxiously, stressing that despite the sound Voices glorifying Sisi, "Mubarak's name still resonates among Egyptians."

Fearing that he would be persecuted if his case was discovered, Muhammad, 30, suggested continuing the conversation in another place, 10 meters away in a safe place in his apartment, Muhammad resumed talking about his story, explaining, "The informants are in the street in the lookout, or what we call the title "Good citizens", and they will transmit everything they hear to the security authorities, so I asked to change the location.

Muhammad, like tens of thousands of Egyptians, participated in the Tahrir Square protests 10 years ago to demand the overthrow of the regime, and the events of January and February of 2011 remain engraved in his memory and the memory of all those who lived those days of hope.

The writer quotes Muhammad as saying, “This was the first time that my generation witnessed movements calling for freedom. My father’s health condition prevented him from attending Tahrir Square, and with the fall of Mubarak on February 11, I contacted him and gave him the news of breaking the barrier of fear.” .

Muhammad's father died a few months later, and thus he did not live to witness the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in 2012 and the return of the army to power within a short period, after the military coup led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Protests continued during the first two years of the transitional period, when Muhammad participated in The protests until one day he was hit in the arm and legs by bullets from a blinking ball rifle.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians participated in the Tahrir Square protests 10 years ago, calling for the overthrow of the regime (Reuters)

The Sisi massacre

The police closed all roads leading to Tahrir Square, and the same is true for all areas of central Cairo, where cafes are closed regularly, and riot police cordon off the streets.

Last September, fearing that the calls for protest would bear fruit, the government deployed more police officers, and the Organization for Freedom of Thought and Expression recorded 1920 arrests.

The writer quoted another Egyptian citizen who refused to reveal his identity, "In fact, Egypt has not experienced this type of oppression even during the reigns of Gamal Abdel Nasser or Hosni Mubarak. For example, a small blog could put an Egyptian citizen under arrest, and all Egyptians fear Sisi." Today, this is evidence of the weakness of the Authority, not the other way around. "

In 2012, the election of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood shocked some Egyptians, and the Islamists, in turn, faced massive demonstrations in the streets, and the army may intervene in July 2013 to put an end to it.

A month later, supporters of Muhammad Morsi took to the streets in the Rab'a al-Adawiya neighborhood, and the death toll was at least 800, according to figures from human rights NGOs. The regime of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was founded on the massacre described by Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch) in That time is the largest in the history of modern Egypt.

Tora prison

Consequently, it was clear that any protest would be suppressed. As a result, the Muslim Brotherhood was classified as a "terrorist" organization, and the trials were numerous, which were nothing but farce, and life imprisonment became a common punishment, and when the Egyptians discussed the revolution, it was in coded words.

One former Tahrir Square pioneer wrote, “I want to make my opinion, but on the Signal app, I don’t want to end up in Tora Prison (known as Scorpion Prison). This person speaks in the name of thousands of other Egyptians, as Tora is the prison. The most famous in Cairo, which can be entered easily;

But it is not known when it will be exited, and some even leave it in coffins.

Mustafa spent 10 days there in 2019, and agreed to testify, without revealing his identity, and remembers that he entered the entrance to the subway before the police searched him and checked his phone. Security officers discovered old leaflets criticizing the regime, so they transferred him to the police station, where he spent For three days, and during the next two days, he was kept in detention with about 60 people, before he was transferred to Tora.

As soon as he got there, he joined 85 people crammed in a cell, where the lights were on for a whole day, and he recalled the memories of his imprisonment as a resource. “They took everything from us; our money and valuables, we had nothing to eat and people started screaming.

Against all expectations, Mustafa and a large number of his comrades were released after two weeks, hoping that he would be able to leave his country.

Today, at least 60,000 political prisoners are in Egyptian prisons (Al-Jazeera)

Criminalizing any criticism of authority

Today, no less than 60,000 political prisoners are in Egyptian prisons, says Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, one of the last non-governmental organizations concerned with human rights in Egypt, "Certainly, the real number far exceeds these statistics," and the era of fear continues. In this country, President El-Sisi received from Emmanuel Macron the Grand Cross of the National Legion of Honor in December during his official visit to Paris.

But Mohamed Lotfy did not remain silent despite the imprisonment of his wife in 2019, and admits that this was "a method adopted by the regime to silence him," and states that he was also afraid, and for years, he documented cases of enforced disappearance and political imprisonment under the pretext of fighting terrorism and in the name of the 2015 law that criminalizes any A criticism of authority.

"We have witnessed a very rapid increase in accusations such as belonging to a terrorist group or publishing information affecting the security of the state, especially after the passage of this law, and as for the government, every voice that rises in criticism of it is considered terrorism," he added.

Lotfi continues that the regime is also afraid, as it “feels insecure, because the experience of 2011 is rooted in memory, and accordingly, it thinks that it has the legitimacy to suppress any voice that could lead in the medium or long term to a change towards democracy,” and two weeks after the anniversary of this The confiscated revolution, the authority is currently deploying its security forces to protect the "good citizen" and the Sisi regime.