Court hears appeal from activist convicted of assault and slander

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm English edition
October 10, 2010

Amid protests against police brutality and human rights violations, a misdemeanor court opened hearings Sunday for an appeal filed by a young Alexandrian activist convicted of beating and slandering a policeman.

“This [case] is meant to terrorize political activists and to discourage them from engaging in any form of protest,” Mohamed Abdel Aziz, Hassan Mostapha’s lawyer, told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “The case is fabricated and the testimonies of the witnesses that the interior ministry has brought are self-contradictory.”

The court is expected to deliver a verdict on October 17.

In June, Hassan Mostafa--currently released on bail--was sentenced to six months in prison and fined LE2000 for the alleged transgressions against a Lieutenant Colonel in Alexandria.

His conviction came on the heels of a complaint that Mostafa had filed earlier against another policeman who the defendant claimed beat him and dragged him on the ground during at a demonstration over the murder of
Khaled Saeed in Alexandria. Hassan was on his way to undergo forensic examinations when the Lieutenant Colonel intercepted him and leveled accusations against him, according to Abdel Aziz.

Mostafa is an active member of the Popular Democratic Movement for Change (PDMC) that emerged last winter to voice socio-economic grievances and to oppose President Hosni Mubarak's rule, the Emergency Law, violations of human rights and corruption.

Surrounded by riot police, dozens of Mostafa’s young supporters rallied outside the court shouting slogans and raising banners condemning torture and police extra-legal practice. Nearly 20 protesters were arrested.
“It is not just Hassan [Mostafa]’s problem but it is the problem of a lot of young people who want change,”

Mohamed Mostafa, the defendant’s brother, said in a video clip posted on the social networking website Facebook last week. “The regime’s coercive apparatus is getting more violent and more brutal against young people who constitute the nuclear of any change in society.”

Turkish school takes US approach to get foothold in Egypt

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm English Edition
October 10, 2010

Last year, Zeinab Abdel Aziz, an Egyptian-American teacher visited Egypt with her family to attend the weddings of her two brothers. Eventually, she decided to temporarily settle here to escape deteriorating economic conditions in the US. But the 31-year-old mother had to first find a decent school for her five-year old son.

“I was looking for an Islamic school; that was the most important thing for me," recalled Abdel Aziz. "At the same time, I wanted an American school because we can go back at any time.”
But as soon as she got wind of the nascent Salahaldin International School (SIS), a Turkish enterprise, Abdel Aziz felt compelled to investigate.

“When they told me about their vision and how they are implementing the American curriculum and applying the values of religion at the same time, I loved the school right away and told my husband 'this is the school',” said Abdel Aziz.

The confluent American curriculum and religious instruction did not only convince Abdel Aziz as a parent; it also encouraged her to apply for a teaching position at SIS. Eventually, her son was enrolled and in the fall of 2009 she was hired as a first-grade teacher.

Salahaldin has, since its establishment less than two years ago, conquered the booming market of international education in Egypt. The institution, located in the heart of Cairo's posh eastern suburbs, has succeeded in attracting 650 students whose parents, like Abdel Aziz, seek both a first-class education and religious upbringing.

“Parents do not want their kids to be totally in a Westernized environment,” said Salahaldin director Shawkat Shimshek. “They want good education with their social values. We said 'this is the environment you are looking for'.”

The school is affiliated with the international movement of widely known, liberal Islamic thinker Fethullah Gulen. Followers of the Sufi intellectual constitute the largest and most influential Islamic group in Turkey. The group, which aims to revitalize the Islamic faith, is known for its moderate views and promotion of universal values. Gulen currently lives in self-exile in the US and preaches tolerance, interfaith dialogue and co-existence between Muslims and the West.

Since the 1990s, the movement has sought to spread Islamic principles through educational outlets in Turkey and abroad. Schools started to crop up in Central Asia and eventually moved across the globe.
“We have a character education program," said Shimshek. "We focus on responsibility, respect, caring, citizenship and giving back to society.”

Islam stands out as the cornerstone of the school’s curriculum. Besides government-dictated religious books, the school offers a “character building” class that is inspired by Islam but taught in English.

“If we speak of honesty, we look for the Hadith [Prophet Mohamed’s sayings and deeds] or the Quranic verses that talk about honesty,” said Shimshek.

Quran sessions are a pillar of the school’s vision. All grade levels including kindergarten are expected to learn how to memorize and recite Quranic verses at least twice a week, according to Shimshek.

Kamal Mogheeth, an expert with the state-run National Center for Educational Resource Development, says schools that combine Western curricula and religious education meet the needs of a rising Islamized elite that seeks integration into an ever-globalizing world.

“These schools have seized the opportunity and want to cater to the need for Western education, foreign languages and the engagement in a global world on one hand and the urge to protect local identities whether religious or ethnic,” said Mogeeth.

But the religious focus at SIS has risked deterring some potential clients like psychiatrist Mona Yosri who was nearly dissuaded from enrolling her two sons last year.

“I did not send them to that school until I felt sure they were moderate," said Yosri. "I fear religious fanaticism especially that there are other Islamic schools that are very violent with kids and make them hate religion.”

Like most international schools in Egypt, the tuition fees at SIS are expensive. Depending on the grade level, the fees range between LE22,000 and LE35,000.

“Egypt is a very good market for international schools,” said Shimshek. “Maybe people want something different, possibly the facilities, the quality of education, and the English language which is very important in this county and the Gulf area. A lot of parents want their kids to be able to speak and communicate in English. They see this as the future for them.”

In small-sized classrooms, students from grade one through twelve are taught by Egyptian, Turkish, British, Canadian and American staff. As English is the first language, the school is keen to hire native speakers as instructors, according to Shimshek.

“They have everything, they make your life easier," said Abdel Aziz. "They pay for everything you want to use in the classroom."

Besides Islam, the school also strives to promote Turkish culture through optional language classes that are offered not only to students but also parents. Every Saturday, Yosri goes to Salahaldin to attend Turkish classes. In addition to language training, teachers and students are sent on exploratory journeys to Turkey during breaks in the school year.

“Turkish people serve as a good example for us,” said Yosri. “One of the reasons why I chose the school is because Turkey has progressed at an amazing pace in the last 20 years. I hope we can benefit from them and their expertise.”

In recent years, Turkey has risen as a formidable regional force, challenging traditional Middle Eastern power-wielders.

In May, the Turkish administration, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, impressed Arab observers by embarrassing Israel on the international stage after Israeli forces attacked the Turkish flotilla seeking to break the Gaza blockade. That incident added to Erdogan's established credibility in the region after he had clashed with Israeli President Shimon Peres over the humanitarian situation in Gaza at The World Economic Forum a couple of years ago.

Turkey is also regarded by laymen and intellectuals alike in the Arab World as a success story for its continuous progress and European Union admission prospects. The fascination with the Turkish model had prompted the Egyptian regime to routinely launch smear campaigns against Turkey in the state-owned press.
Turkish investment in education in the Arab region should be read in this context, according to Mogeeth.

“Turkey wants to play a regional role and it is logical for it to do that in parts of its former empire that fell almost a hundred years ago,” Mogeeth says. “It does not have to resurrect an empire along Ottoman lines but it can do it by spreading its Turkish culture.”

Eye on Elections: Egypt’s opposition seeks to translate social discontent

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm English edition

“Down with Hosni Mubarak!”, “Down with the National Democratic Party”, “Enough” were the slogans clamored by the opposition on the street ahead and during the 2005 parliamentary elections. The demonstrations marked the inception of a resilient political dissent that broke conventional political taboos. And although those who spearheaded the demonstrations failed to mobilize significant numbers, the street mobility represented rising political and social discontent in Egypt.

As Egypt is approaching a new highly significant parliamentary race next month, the 2005 political mobility continues to wane. Analysts are divided on whether the weakened vocal dissent is because Egyptians are focused more on deteriorating economic matters and other less political concerns.

“In 2005, we had more political demonstrations and at some points the number of protesters was over 1000,” said Khaled Ali, director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights. “Now there are major divisions that split [opposition] forces. They are divided over the presidential candidate; they support different names: Gamal, the military and Mohamed ElBaradei.”

“Plus, they are divided over whether to run or boycott the elections," added Ali. "These substantive divisions prevent them from organizing large demonstrations."

Amr Hamzawy, an expert with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says the impetus for demonstrations over the past seveal years is not political yet the two are not mutually exclusive.

“In 2010, we have more social protest activities over bread and butter issues than in 2005,” said Hamzawy. “This is not happening at the expense of political mobilization but it is part of it.”

“Those with socio-economic grievances have surmounted the barrier of fear of demonstrating and they may come up with broader and more general demands later on,"he added. "This is how politics work in the whole world.”

While labor protests are estimated in the hundreds, demonstrations over democratization have failed to exceed a few dozen. According to a report by the Egyptian Association For Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE), Egyptian streets hosted nearly 80 protests from the beginning of 2010 until June. Protesters chanted a variety of political slogans against the ruling regime demanding the amendment of the constitution, opposing torture or expressing support of Elbaradei. Other protests had regional and international interests such as opposing the siege on Gaza, according to the association.

In 2005, American pressure on Mubarak’s regime to democratize Egypt emboldened the opposition. Kefaya emerged as the vanguard of an unprecedented opposition that demanded--for the first time--the amendment of the constitution to allow for multi-party presidential elections, denounced Mubarak’s rule, and warned against the ascendancy of his son. Since late 2004, Kefaya's intellectuals and veteran activists held several protests that led to the president’s decision to amend the constitution in February 2005.

Then the opposition was not restricted to a bunch of intellectuals. It spread to professional groups that seized the momentum created by Kefaya and voiced political and economic demands in a country where at least 20 percent of the population languish in poverty. Groups such as “Lawyers for Change” and “Journalists for Change” came to the fore as new platforms to claim a democratic rule.

Judges were another robust professional bloc that toed the same opposition line in 2005. While Kefaya and its satellite groups were opposing the re-election of Mubarak on the street, judges threatened to not participate in monitoring the elections unless guarantees of full, independent judicial supervision were issued.
“In 2005, Judges were part of the political movement and had reform demands and this was a major step.

One of the drawbacks of 2010 is the absence of judges from the political scene,” said Ali.
The judges’ movement declined after reformists lost the electoral battle to more mainstream magistrates in 2009.

Yet, political opposition began to wane earlier than 2009. After the Muslim Brotherhood registered an unprecedented electoral victory in 2005 and their Palestinian offshoot-group Hamas won a parliamentary majority, the American administration began to scale back pressures for democracy.

This change of heart gave the Egyptian government leeway to crack down on the opposition. In mid-2006, the government renewed the controversial emergency law, ignoring sustained calls for its abrogation. In the same year, tens of the Muslim Brotherhood’s high-profile leaders were arrested and referred to a military tribunal.

“In 2005, it was more of political propaganda that attracted a lot of media attention because it was the first time to see people making reform demands,” said Ahmed Fawzi, a representative of the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE). “Yet, this mobility was relying on the same traditional opposition figures.”

“Now we have larger segments of the Egyptian society that are getting politically engaged. We have workers, professionals and young people,” said Ahmed Fawzi, an EACPE representative.

While mobilization over democratization may be weaker than five years ago, this year’s poll comes in the midst of unprecedented social outrage over inflation and labor conditions. Since late 2006, Egypt has been rocked by hundreds of labor demonstrations and strikes that demand a minimum wage to combat inflation. In 2007, the number of labor protests was estimated at 756 in 23 provinces nationwide, according to the annual count conducted by the Land Center for Human Rights. By this June, over 300 labor protests were held in 2010, according to the labor advocacy group’s latest mid-term report.

“This should enrich political groups but it seems that the latter are not capable of profiting from groups with socio-economic demands because they are divided and dispersed,” said Mohamed Al-Agaty, Executive Director of the Arab Forum for Alternatives.

This year’s parliamentary race comes at a crucial political juncture with much anticipation over the future of the presidency after the mandate of 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak ends in 2011. For the last six years, opposition groups have persistently voiced fears over possible hereditary succession in favor of the president's son Gamal, Assistant Secretary General of the ruling NDP.

Earlier this year, the former head of the UN atomic agency Mohamed ElBaradei rose to the fore as a credible rallying opposition figure after he had announced his willingness to run for president if the constitution was amended to ease restrictions on candidacy eligibility. His plea attracted thousands of young people and intellectuals who started to market the former diplomat through the social networking site Facebook.

“He opens the door for a civilian alternative to the regime,” said Fawzi. “He is making demands that no one from the political elite has made before. This could engage people who were not politically engaged before.”
But so far, ElBaradei’s group has fallen short of creating the same mobility engendered by Kefaya on the street, said Al-Agaty.

“On the cyberspace, ElBaradei’s movement is much stronger in terms of mobilization. But on the street, it is weaker than Kefaya,” said Al-Agaty.

However, ElBaradei’s group was plagued by divisions at an early stage. In the summer, he was harshly criticized by one of his followers for settling in the west and only coming to Egypt on short visits. Opposition parties have also refused to heed his call to boycott parliamentary elections despite the government's refusal to enhance judicial monitoring.

Nevertheless, his followers still maintain their door-to-door campaign which aims to collect signatures in favor of ElBaradei’s seven reform demands. ElBaradei is calling for the the lifting of the state of emergency, the full judicial monitoring of elections, and the amendment of the constitution to allow for multiple candidates to run for president. With online signatures, ElBaradei’s campaigners have garnered the endorsement of nearly one million Egyptians to date.

In the meantime, the 68-year-old former diplomat has been averse to the idea of leading protests on the street. Only a handful of the 80 political protests that Egyptian streets witnessed this year were affiliated with EBbaradei’s demands, according to the mid-term report issued by the Egyptian Association For Community Participation Enhancement.

During his latest visit to Cairo, he held that protests should come in a later phase when the opposition is strong enough to change the regime.

ElBaradei's strategy resonates with Carnegie's Hamzawy. Hamzawy says the protests are still far from bringing about any real change.

“This mobility is not enough to pressure the decision maker and or pose a threat to the regime,” he said. “The numbers of those who take to the streets remain small and their protests are not sustained over a long period of time.”

For Fawzi from EACPE, challenging legal restrictions on the formation of independent associations is the gateway to change. “Neither ElBaradei nor protest movements could topple the regime any time soon,” he said. “It is a long way. No change will be achieved in Egypt unless people get together and retrieve their right of association and form parties, syndicates or NGOs,” he said.

TV show bans prompt fears of pre-election crackdown on private media

Originally published in al-Masry al-Youm English edition
September 27, 2010

Every evening, millions of Egyptians are plastered to their television screens, surfing through dozens of privately-owned satellite channels that broadcast a plethora of news talk shows. But in an abrupt move last week, one show was banned and the other lost its prime host shocking journalists and human rights
advocates who fear that the margins of freedom of speech may be scaled back ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for November.

Amr Adeeb’s popular talk show, "Al-Qahira al-Youm" ("Cairo Today"), was barred from broadcasting from state-owned studios in 6 October City. According to government spokesmen, the show was halted because the production company, Orbit, had not paid its dues.

However, the show’s co-host, Ahmed Moussa, said in a subsequent televised interview that Orbit was willing to pay all its back dues. He went on to attribute the ban to "malice" on the part of the government.

“Someone wants to crush freedom of expression and opinion,” Moussa declared when the ban was announced.

Meanwhile, it was also announced that Ibrahim Eissa, an outspoken critic of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, had departed from the privately-owned ON TV, on which he had co-hosted the popular talk show “Baladna Belmasri." According to a press release issued by the channel, the 45-year-old journalist had quit the show voluntarily in order to give his full attention to independent daily Al-Dustour, of which he has been the editor-in-chief since 2005.

For his part, program producer Omar Shoeb denied that Eissa had been subject to any pressure to resign by the management. He also asserted that the show would maintain the same editorial policy.
"There will be no editorial changes whatsoever. We will continue as strong as we started," said Shoeb, reiterating the channels' earlier account of Eissa's departure.

Eissa, however, has neither confirmed nor denied the channel's claims and has refrained from providing further details. As of press time, Al-Masry Al-Youm was unable to reach the journalist for comment.

According to Gamal Eid, executive director of the Cairo-based Arab Network for Human Rights Information, the incident is hardly unprecedented.

“This is not a new practice by the state,” he said. ”The only difference this time around is that it has involved two very well-known people, and at the same time.”

The moves, Eid went on to assert, were meant to “pave the way for upcoming parliamentary elections in order that they can be rigged without having anyone talk about it.”

The elections will be held amid calls by opposition groups to boycott the voting, which will not be subject to any oversight by the judiciary. Independent presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei, for his part, has consistently warned that this year’s poll would likely be marred by vote rigging and violence so as to maintain the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)'s overwhelming majority in the national assembly.

The former head of the UN atomic watchdog has argued that whoever participated in the poll--either as voter or candidate--would be effectively challenging the will of public. Major opposition parties and the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, however, have rejected ElBaradei's calls for a boycott.
NDP officials, meanwhile, have made repeated promises of a fair election--promises that many observers dismiss as empty.

“How can anyone believe talk about electoral integrity when such television shows are being banned?” asked prominent newspaper columnist Soliman Gouda, who hosts his own political talk show on the privately-owned Dream satellite network. “Everything that's being said about the integrity of elections is just words. Nothing will be seen on the ground.”

Within the last five years, private media has proven itself a force to be reckoned with, frequently exposing government corruption and human rights violations and discussing highly sensitive issues such as the question of presidential succession.

According to Gouda, the plethora of TV talk shows now emanating from privately-owned stations have served to “raise the level of people’s awareness regarding their rights and public issues."
Unlike government-owned media, such channels are not subject to the whims of the state--at least not officially. Most, however, are owned by high-profile Egyptian businessmen, many of whom are either NDP members or rely on financing from state-run banks.

Some of these private media barons admit that they still remain subject to government diktats.
In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm earlier this summer, Dream TV owner Ahmed Bahgat--whose news channel attracts millions of Egyptian viewers--said that he would "shut Dream down" if asked to do so by the state.

“What else could we do?  Would we challenge the state?” asked Bahgat, who is currently saddled with an LE3 billion debt to the National Bank of Egypt.

In another interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Hassan Rateb, owner of the Al-Mehwar television channel, said that he never hired anyone without receiving "clearance" from the state security apparatus.

According to Eid, such businessmen are driven by “a commercial mentality that cares more about money than principles.” He went on to cite past incidents in which the management of privately-owned channels had given in to state pressure to have certain shows banned.

“No businessman has dared to disobey the state, because this might not only cause him to lose money but could also lead to him being driven out of the country,” said Eid.

The targeting of Adeeb’s show in particular has raised eyebrows, since the latter is commonly perceived as being relatively soft on the state. This leniency was most explicitly illustrated in the show’s recent decision to hire Moussa, who had been managing editor of state-run daily Al-Ahram, to co-host the show.

For Eid, the targeting of even relatively soft-spoken critics reveals the regime's “despotic” nature.

“The fact that there are no clear and fixed red lines in the media can turn state friends into enemies at any moment,” he said. “This is typical of despotic regimes that have weak institutions and a blurred vision.”

Gouda, however, said that Al-Qahira Al-Youm does not necessarily toe the government line.

“Adeeb, with his cynical style, could be more provocative to the state more than other talk show presenters,” he said. “Therefore, it was only natural that he was targeted."

In any event, the ban comes at a critical juncture in Egypian politics. Given Mubarak’s shaky health condition, there is a growing sense of anticipation about who will succeed the 82-year-old president. In the meantime, opposition groups have sought to build momentum against the re-election of Mubarak and the possible nomination of his son for a presidential poll slated for 2011.

The opposition’s staunch views are closely monitored by the independent local press and widely diffused by private television stations.

“I believe the ceiling for freedom of expression will be lowered,” said Gouda. “The state will not want to fight on several fronts at once. It is already facing the opposition, young Facebook activists, ElBaradei, and foreign pressures."

"The least it can do is silence the talk-show front, which has become more outspoken in recent years," he added.

Trial of Khaled Saeed's alleged murderers resumes

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm

September 25, 2010

The trial of the two policemen who allegedly beat a young man to death earlier this year resumed on Saturday amidst a resurgence of street demonstrations against human rights violations by the security forces.

Lawyers speaking on behalf of the victim demanded that the case be postponed again until all witnesses were present. In particular they insisted that the chief forensic officer who completed the autopsy report on Saeed should be present to give evidence.

“We insist that he comes to court to be questioned about the report,” said lawyer Raafat Nawwar.  “He is the backbone of this case. His report is flawed and I cannot reveal the flaws until the next hearings. Our statements will be quite shocking.”

The court decided to adjourn the hearings until 23 October.

In June, news of the death of Khaled Saeed in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria made headlines. According to witnesses, the 28-year-old man was dragged out of an internet cafe before having his head repeatedly smashed against the ground.  Allegedly Saeed’s family have said that he was killed after posting a video on the internet showing the involvement of policemen in drug deals.

However, the forensic report released in late June denied that Saeed was beaten to death confirming an earlier statement made by the minister of the interior that the victim died after choking on a bag of drugs.

“The case is 400 pages long and there is no evidence that could support the conviction of the defendants,” Refaat Abdel Hamid, lawyer for the defense, told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

In today’s hearings, Abdel Hamid claimed that Saeed’s family may have tampered with the victim’s body before the funeral. He also alleged that Saeed’s brother had bribed the guard at the mortuary, removed his brother’s body from cold storage and poured blood on his face before photographing him and circulating the pictures.

“This was meant to falsify evidence and mislead the court,” said Abdel Hamid.

However, the pictures circulated both in cyberspace and in the media show more than blood. Photos showing Saeed’s deformed face, crushed head and twisted jaw have stirred outrage in thousands of Egyptians who took to the street demanding the prosecution of the policemen involved. The case also drew harsh criticism from western governments and international human rights organizations.

On July 27, two undercover policemen Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Ismail Suliman first took the stand in the Alexandria criminal court on charges that included illegal arrest and use of excessive force.

On Friday, Saeed’s supporters used Facebook to urge people to gather outside the Alexandria Court of First Instance to express their full support of the case and their condemnation of police human rights abuses.

“We are going there to tell the Egyptian judiciary and the world that Saeed’s case is a matter of public concern that will never die,” read the Facebook page called “We are All Khaled Saeed”.

In the wake of Saeed’s death,  the page of the  social networking site was created anonymously to serve as a platform to promote case. So far, the page has attracted nearly 280,000 people. 

Nearly a hundred of pro-Saeed demonstrators were confronted by hundreds of riot police who encircled the court building, and people believed to be plainclothes policemen raised banners in support of the two detectives and shouted, “They are drug addicts,” pointing at their adversaries.

Some took off their shirts and stood in their underwear brandishing wooden sticks to intimidate Saeed’s sympathizers, according to witnesses. 

“This is a group of secret police and thugs,” said Khaled al-Sayed, a 26-year-old engineer who traveled from Cairo to Alexandria with another 23 activists to participate in the pro-Saeed protest. “The police are harassing all those who sympathize with the case and keeping the trial on hold so that people will get bored and give up.”

The fading red lines in Egypt's political literature

Originally published in Al-Masry Al-Youm 
September 22, 2010




In recent years, book vending booths and bookstore shelves have become crowded with cynical titles that carry the president’s name and cartoonish covers that mock his persona--a development that attests to the erosion of a decades-old taboo.

“Criticizing the president and his son is no longer a red line,” says Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information.

Titles condemning President Hosni Mubarak, anticipating the demise of his regime and attacking his family have been landing safely on the shelves of bookstores in Egypt for the last five years. In these explicit releases, words are not the only means of expression; graphics have risen as a new tool to convey rising disenchantment with Mubarak’s long reign.

Some covers depict the 82-year-old president as a cartoonish figure with a flabby, wrinkled face, as a king sitting on a throne covered by spider webs, as an amputatee military general, or as a fissured Roman statue.

“These books did not emerge because the government is more inclined to respect freedom of expression,” adds Eid. “It is because now we have brave writers who are more willing to defend freedom of speech.”
Abdel Halim Qandil is one of those writers who spearheaded the phenomenon of anti-Mubarak content.

“I began the campaign against the president in June 2000 right after I became the editor-in-chief of al-Arabi,” recounts the 54-year-old journalist.“The main motivation was what happened in Syria after the death of and the rise of his son as president. The paper came out with the headline ‘We are against turning republics into legacies’.”

Since then, the defiant journalist has written extensive articles against Mubarak and his son in the Nasserist party mouthpiece, seeking to mobilize a wider opposition that would resist alleged attempts to groom the 46-year-old former banker.

And in 2004, Qandil moved from rhetoric to action. With tens of activists, he co-founded the famous “Kefaya” movement which took to the streets shouting: “No to an extension of Mubarak’s mandate! No to hereditary succession!”

For the first time, the president’s persona was openly attacked in the public space.

In the midst of this unprecedented street mobility, Qandil was kidnapped, beaten and left naked in a remote area. Back then Qandil accused the government of using violence to intimidate him.

“I decided to publish the first book against Mubarak after this incident,” says Qandil. “I realized that if my articles remained in newspaper archives, they would eventually go with the wind.  I decided to [compile them] in books to record this unique campaign that will be remembered as a landmark in the history of the Egyptian press.”

Eventually, his first book came out in 2005, under the title Against the President.
In the same year, his colleague Mohamed Taima from al-Arabi paper hit the public with his book Mubarak’s Dynastic Republarchy.

“The title is clear,” says Taima. “It combines republicanism that was instated by the [1952] revolution, and the monarchism that Gamal is trying to bring back.”

For three years as a journalist, Taima had scrutinized the ascendancy of Gamal within the ranks of the ruling National Democractic Party until he realized that his reporting would provide enough content for a fully-fledged book. Yet, finding a publisher was not an easy endeavor.

“I had a hard time finding a print house,” says Taima, who eventually settled for a small print shop in the poor neighborhood of Imbaba, but the mission had to be accomplished in full secrecy.

“I sponsored the first edition out of my own pocket. The print house owner used to turn off the lights at the front yard of his shop and work at the back,” remembers Taima, whose book is expected to go into its fifth printing soon.

While Qandil’s and Taima’s books adopt a sensational journalistic style based on anecdotes and highly opinionated assumptions, Ahmed al-Naggar, an economist with Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, has chosen a strictly academic approach in dissecting Mubarak’s economic performance throughout his 29 years in office.

His book, titled The Economic Deterioration in Mubarak’s Times, examines multiple layers of Mubarak’s economic policies, dismissing them as amenable to a slow growth rate, corruption, a flawed taxation system and skyrocketing poverty rates.

Substantiated with figures, tables and charts, the first printing of al-Naggar’s book, which came out shortly ahead of the 2005 presidential poll, made an explicit plea against the re-election of Mubarak.

“We should not remain under the same regime and ruled by the same president. The extension of his rule would only lead to more social injustice, poverty and unemployment,” says al-Naggar.

According to Eid, these writings began to flourish in the wake of the fall of Baghdad to the Americans in 2003. The quick demise of Saddam Hussein’s regime emboldened the Egyptian opposition to challenge their presidents.

“The fall of a dictator within very few days proved that he was not as strong as he claimed and made people feel that they could push for democracy themselves rather than wait for [foreign] tanks to bring it,” adds the human rights advocate.

This development coincided with the boom in independent papers and satellite channels and the exploration of new cyber venues such as blogs and Facebook, which all served as platforms to channel political and social discontent, explains Eid.

Nevertheless, this abundance in outlets did not guarantee the erosion of all taboos. Tackling the military remains a red line, contends Eid.

Qandil has tried to test this ceiling in many of his writings, though.  In his book The Last days, Qandil raises the question as to what would happen if a military general succeeds Mubarak. This chapter did not go unnoticed, according to Qandil. He claims the military summoned him and suspended the book, demanding it be revised. The publishing house sent copies for examination but defied orders to stop printing and released the book in 2008, adds Qandil.

“The military could have acted outside the law and referred me to a military tribunal, but this did not happen,” he says.

“The military seemed as if it was not concerned with the matter, or liked my criticism of the Gamal Mubarak scenario,”adds Qandil, who has just released a new book titled The Alternative President, in which he tackles the role of the military in the post-Mubarak scenario.

Strangely enough, none of these books have been banned and none of the authors have been arrested--in a country with a poor human rights record.

For Taima, this attitude attests to the fragmentation of Mubarak’s regime. “The regime is not capable of extending its control anymore to tighten this margin of freedom,” says Taima.

On the contrary: Tolerating such incendiary content is a well-calculated decision, contends Eid.
“Egypt is very smart. It does not ban or suspend books, unlike Syria and Tunisia,” says Eid. “Such moves would make these products more popular. It lets these things appear, but continues to chase and harass their creators.”