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Dina Guirguis is Advocacy Director for the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP). Formerly, she was the Keston Family research fellow in The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Project Fikra. She widely authored and published numerous articles and policy pieces on democratic reform in Egypt, both prior to and after the revolution. She also testified in Congress a number of times on human rights and religious freedom in Egypt, and advised policymakers on relevant legislation and beyond. She has been twice published in the Washington Post, in addition to speaking on numerous panels and appearing in media including CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera English, and BBC Arabic.
With the dual announcement this week of the completion of a preliminary constitutional draft by a ten-member committee of experts, in addition to appointments to the quasi-governmental National Council on Human Rights, Egyptians finally have reason to be cautiously optimistic.
Significant numbers of Egyptians again poured into the streets on July 26 in response to Defense Minister Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi’s call to demonstrate “against terrorism.” While some may argue over the merit of el-Sisi’s call, the deluge of people into the streets reflects a rejection of what they believe is a Brotherhood campaign of political violence waged not just against security forces but against civilians.
Yesterday, General Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s Minister of Defense and head of the military, called for Egyptians to take to the streets in protest on Friday to “confront terrorism.” Such a call amounts to a public relations one-upmanship vis-à-vis continued Islamist protests since Morsi’s ouster. Clearly, the Egyptian military is in no need of popular protests to confront credible national security threats or armed militias that threaten the security of citizens.
Amid last week’s uproar, now deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi issued a statement in English via top aide and advisor on foreign relations Essam el-Haddad, citing cases of sexual assault in or around Tahrir Square as evidence that “Tahrir crowds are out of control.”[1] Essam el-Haddad’s son, Gehad, took to Twitter, also in English, to stand up for the “protection of women.” With these moves, the Muslim Brotherhood sunk to a new low in its propaganda war against its detractors.
