Møt Amnestys Egypt-ekspert

Mohamed Lotfy er egypter og har jobbet som etterforsker for Amnesty International i Egypt i fem år. Han oppholdt seg selv i Egypt hele våren i fjor (fra januar til mai) og er nå tilbake på plass i Kairo. Han bor og jobber til daglig fra London.

Spør han om menneskerettighetsbrudd i Egypt.
Avholdt onsdag 25. januar 2012 kl. 10:00. Intervjuet er avsluttet.

Borgerkrig

Innsendt av: Julian

Hei Som resultat av den revolusjonen og opprøret som har vært. Er det sannsynlighet for en eventuell borgerkrig hvis ikke situasjonen roer seg? I såfall (korriger meg hvis jeg tar feil) Være den første borgerkrigen siden faraoenes tid? Hilsen Julian
Hi Julian, there is no reason to fear a civil war in Egypt. The main forces in the country have no interest in a war. The Egyptian economy is to a large extent based on turism so everybody will be hurt if that would happen. What is actually the feature of the socalled 25 January revolution in Egypt is that it was peaceful. Even if the protests have been met with brutal force and many have been wounded and killed, the protestors have themselves been unarmed and peaceful. Women have participated to a large extent.

Skoleprojekt - Arabiske vår

Innsendt av: Vegard Askjer Lien

Kan du gi meg et kortfattet referat fra hva som skjedde fra de første demostrasjonene og til Mubarak "ga" fra seg makten. Og litt om hvordan situasjonen er idag ang. Det muslimske brorskap og forsvaret.
Dear Vegard, I'm afraid I can just give you a very very brief answar to you question - you will be able to find a lot more information on the web, so please, go on and look for more answers.
In brief, the peaceful protestors gathering in Tahrir square (Tahrir in Arabic means Liberation) asking president Mubarak to leave, managed in two week's time to create such a strong pressure on the authorities that Mubarak stepped down, handing over the power to a military council. Since then, the military has ruled the country. Now, a new parliament has been elected and hopefully the military will hand over power to this parliament. We still do not know how the Islamist paties who now hold the majority in the parliament will use their power.

The new constitution and human rights issues

Innsendt av: Evdol Njørb

What do you think will be the most critical issues in a new constitution from a human rights point of view?
Guarantees of political rights and economic and social rights are very important. Most controversial will be protection of women's rights, non-discrimination against Copts and other minorities...
Please see press release: http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/egypt-parties-pledge-end-state-emer....2012-01-24

From an egyptian in Norway...

Innsendt av: Walaa

Mr.Mohammed.How is the situation in egypt now??People are making me still in fear that egypt is still unstable.i wish egypt will be a better place for all of us egyptians.God bless Egypt.
Hi. Well the political situation is still unstable indeed but I generally don't feel one should worry. Insecurity has been exagerated in general since the uprising, mainly to justify exceptional powers to security forces remain in place.

The situation for the Copts

Innsendt av: Arne

During Christmas people from the Muslim Brotherhood defended Christians. Do you think the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to secure the rights for the Copts? Are those who have attacked the Copts salafis or just criminals who exploit the turbulent situation?
Non-discrimination on the basis of religion and gender equality are key to building a new Egypt that respects the rights of everybody.

We will be vigilant in the next period to issues of discriminations and will hold all political parties to the same universal human rights standards and values we have been using.

Nysgjerrig og lærevillig

Innsendt av: Mohammed Ali

Hei. Hvordan er situasjonen for kvinnene, har de fått flere rettgheter, eller har det blitt verre? Hvordan har det blitt for ikke troende og konvertitter som konverterer fra islam? Hvordan er det med arbeidsledigheten, og tursinæringen? og siste spm ang. salafistene ig brorskaper, hvordan er med med samrbeidet dem imellom? vil det bli et nytt diktatori bare i en religiøst kontekst? mvh
Dear Mohammed,
You have a lot of questions, some of them I have touched upon in other answers. Here I will focus on the situation for women. There is still no new constitution so we will have to see if the new parliament will put in place a constitution based on the principle of non discrimination. Amnesty International has asked each and every party elected to the new parliament if they will work towards full respect of human rights. The two Islamist parties holding the majority in the parliament have so far refused to answer and many other parties have refused to commit themselves to combatting gender discrimination. Unfortunately, most of the parties do also refuse to say that they will work towards the abolishment of the death penalty.

The Muslim brotherhood

Innsendt av: Jan Johansen

Do you think the brotherhood is anything but Egypts Taliban, and we know what they achieved? Why should we belive that Muslims can create democracy, they come to the west, and tell us they will destroy ours, and take over.
Humans are equal everywhere and are capable of the best and the worst.
The millions, men and women, who filled the streets of Egypt throughout 2011 have demonstrated their aspiration to live free and with their dignity respected by their government.

A balanced democracy?

Innsendt av: Maria Louise

Hey! I was working for Amnesty International in Mauritius this summer, where I met an Egyptian girl who I later came to live with for a month in Cairo. And now I live in London. (Just got a bit fascinated by your background) Anyway... My impression is that, because of the differences in wealth and thus also education, the well educated are fighting for a democratic country, while the ones that have not been lucky enough to get an education barely understands the concept. Do you believe there is a chance for a democratic Egypt? And how will it balance a development towards a political model, which is more similar to the European one, and religion?
Hi colleague.
I have seen both, well educated/well off people who are pro change and others of the same cathegory who are against change of Mubarak/the military council. And I have seen both, poor who are pro change and others against change of Mubarak/ the military.
The main solgan in the uprising was (and continues to be): "Bread, Freedom and Social Justice"..
Slum dwellers have heavely participated in the uprising across Egypt and continue to do so. Most victims killed in the uprising were youth coming from underpriveledge background.
The spark may have come from the youth activists who have better education but the masses who joined and paid by their lives the price for change I would say were mainly from underpriveledged background.

Kairo tur

Innsendt av: Jæger

Hei! Skal på studietur til Kairo i februar og lurte egentlig bare på om det enda er tendenser til uroligheter nå etter valget? Vil bare vite om det er plasser å unngå og forhåndsregler som må tas..
Dear Jæger,
I would advice you to follow the news this days of the anniversary of the uprising in Egypt. The amount of violence happening now will give you an indication of the developent. In general, I would say that most Egyptians will try their outmost to avoid clashes and unrest to dominate the country.

Torture

Innsendt av: E.P

Hi Mohamed, Is torture still being practiced in Egyptian prisons? Are protesters randomly arrested and tortured, and if so, with what motive? Keep up the good work! Thanks,
Yes torture is still practiced at the hands of the military against protesters. I am currently collecting new evidence in this respect. The motive seems to be mainly to humiliate the detainees, remind them who is the stronger, including torture against women who reported sexual assault in detention.

Overgrep mot kristne

Innsendt av: Jokke

Hva er bakgrunnen for at kristne i større grad utsettes for overgrep nå enn under Mubarak?
Dear Jokke,
I guess you are referring to the incident in October where more than 27 demonstrating against discrimination of the coptic minority were killed outside the Maspiro building in Cairo. The security forces didn't protect the demonstrators from being attacked. Amnesty is concerned that the authorities are not credible in the protection of the religious minority in Egypt.

The christian situation

Innsendt av: Undrende fredsentusiast

Hey! I have heard from verious sources that christians are beeing discriminated in Egypt. How big of a problem would you say this is, and has is gotten worse after the arabic spring?
One of the main complaints of Copts (Christian Egyptians) is the fact they don't get treated equally when it comes to building churches, compared to building mosques. They need a presidential authorization.

Also Churches and communities were attacked several times thorughout the years and the police has done little to protect them from those attacks.

The dispersal of the protest in October 2011 by the military where some 27 people were killed, run over by aroured vehicules and from live ammunition, was unprecedented.

What are the dangers?

Innsendt av: George

What are the dangers for human rights organizations working in Egypt? Are you being monitored or harassed?
Generally it is safe for Amnesty. During the uprising in February 2011 two of my colleagues were detained for some 36 hourse by the military along with about 30 human rigts activists in a raid on the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. The other were release 48 hours later.

But indeed the goverment now is leading a smear campaign against human rights organizations as they criticise abuses by the military rulers. A jusicial investigation is underway on foreign funding by NGOs.

sabah el kheer Mohamed.

Innsendt av: Ingunn

Hi. The muslim brotherhood promised that they will not claim to be in the new government. But they seem to have won the elections, (or they have done a good election). I here many here in the west are sceptic to those who claim that the brotherhood are a moderate islamic organization. I just want to know if there will be any huge changes in Egypt if the brotherhood gain power.
We submitted to the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, a manifesto for human rights change, including civil and economic rights, non-discrimination and protection of women's rights. We still wait for an answer until now.

The Muslim Brotherhood were persecuted under Mubarak, they know well waht it means to be detained arbitrarely and unfairly tired and put in prison.

We will hold them to account according to the same standards and human rights instruments as we did in the past with the Mubarak government and as we do now with the military rulers.

Militær innflytelse

Innsendt av: August Myrseth

I hvilken grad styrer Mubaraks generaler fortsatt hva som foregår i kulissene? Ser vi nå fremveksten av reell parlamentarisk makt, inkludert sivil kontroll over militæret, eller tror du de militære lederne i stor grad vil styre utenriks-og sikkerhetspolitikk uavhengig av hva som foregår i parlementet? Takker for svar
Dear August,
We still do not know if the military in fact will hand over power to the newly elected parliament. There is fear among Egyptians that they will try to keep both economic and political power. We will have to assess the situation after some time.

Best and worst?

Innsendt av: Morten Ednes

Concerning human rights, what is the best and the worst happening in Egypt the last year?
The best Iin 2011 is that Egyptians have raised up to claim their human rights and dignity and refuse torture and humiliation.

The worst is the military rulers trying to contain that movement and break the protesters' will for change, by torture, military trials, and killings.

Konsekvenser for turismen?

Innsendt av: Bjarne Betjent

Vil situasjonen som Egypt nå er i ha konsekvenser for ferielivet? Grunnen til at jeg spør dette er fordi jeg skal til Hurghada i løpet av vinteren.
Dear Bjarne,
Amnesty do not believe that the current situation in Egypt will affect turism. In fact the income from the turism in Egypt is very impotant for a positive development of the country. So, go to Egypt and talk to people about what is going on.
Mohamed

The release of the blogger

Innsendt av:

Do you have any comments on the release of Maikel Nabil Sanad?
Maikel Nabil Sanad was a prisoner of conscience. he should not have been arrested or imprisonned in the first place. He received an unfair trial by military court just like about 12000 other people, a staggering number, that exceeds what Mubarak did in 30 years in power.

Nationalism and human rights

Innsendt av: Evdol Njørb

It seemed as Mubarak's regime had a strategy for discrediting human rights activism by labelling it as "un-Egyptian. They did this by pointing to foreign funding of human rights organizations, claiming that human rights activist somhow were agents of foreign powers that spoke out to undermine Egypts reputation. Hence, they were percieved as a threat against national security. Furthermore, the former regime favored a more national stance (rather than universal) on human right and established an state-run Egyptian Council for Human Rights. How do you think the egyptian human rights discourse will develop in the future, considering that some of the groups that have been victims of human rights abuse seem to get important positions (judging by the outcome of the parliamentary elections)?
Unfortunately we observe that the current government continues to use the same discourse against human rights organizations and media, especially official media, has carried out a smear campaign against such organizations. Egyptian and US, German organizations were raided in December, which had never happened under Mubarak. What is worrying is that discourse is believed by many in Egyptian society and human rights defernders are now on the defensive.

As to the National Council for Human Rights, the new council does have a number of reputable members from civil society and strives to criticise the violations of human rights, although not yet as strongly as one would want to, but definitely it is transforming for the better now.

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