THE hypocrisy and double standards practised by Western leaders when it comes to dealing with tyrannical regimes are unacceptable. They condemn alleged human rights violations in China, Turkey and other Third World countries, but provide strong support to the military regime in Egypt because it serves to protect Israel and the commercial interests of its transnational corporations.
Last week, an Egyptian court, after a mass show trial of 739 people, handed down death sentences to 69 of them, and prison terms to the rest.
The European Union merely condemned the death sentences, saying that there were “serious doubts” over whether the defendants had been given a fair trial.
Just three days after the verdict, Egypt and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a two-grant agreement worth €32 million (RM155 million) to receive technical assistance and investments. EIB investments in Egypt have reached €8.3 billion since the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown in a military coup.
Is this how a brutal dictatorship that kills and imprisons its own people should be treated?
Those sentenced were accused of crimes, including murder, during the peaceful sit-in at Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiyya Square and al-Nahda Square in August 2013. They were protesting against the military coup engineered by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He ordered the security forces to disperse the demonstrators using force and, as a result, around 1,000 people were killed, according to online news portals.
Based on a year-long investigation of the killing, the Human Rights Watch concluded that the violent dispersal of the demonstrators followed a plan that envisioned several thousand deaths and that the killing “probably amounts to crimes against humanity”.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: “In Rabaa al-Adawiyya Square, Egyptian security forces carried out one of the world’s largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history. This wasn’t merely a case of excessive force or poor training. It was a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government. Many of the officials are still in power in Egypt, and have a lot to answer for.”
Neither Egypt nor the United Nations have carried out an independent investigation into the massacre, and no one has been held accountable for the mass killings.
Former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, called al-Sisi’s Egypt a “republic of fear”.
Anyone who wants to express his opinion is afraid that he will be harassed, detained, that his house will be stormed, or a case against him will be fabricated, or it will be said that he is insulting the judiciary.
Abol Fotouh was detained early this year for calling a boycott on the fake elections in which al-Sisi reportedly received more than 97 per cent of the votes cast.
The security apparatus has been given carte blanche to arrest, detain and “disappear” critics of the regime.
Human rights agencies have reported that hundreds of civilians have been “disappeared” by Egyptian security forces. Amnesty International, in its report, revealed that the al-Sisi regime “disappears” up to four people a day to wipe out dissent. Children have also “disappeared”.
Italian student Guilio Regeni was believed to have been kidnapped and murdered by the security forces in 2016 because of his research into Egypt’s independent labour unions.
It was also reported that the al-Sisi regime has removed independent judges from the judiciary and turned it into a tool to punish those resisting the military dictatorship.
The local media has been turned into a cheerleader for al-Sisi and an instrument for vilifying and demonising his critics. Independent journalists are being persecuted and jailed. At least 32 journalists are currently detained and 22 of them are being held without charges.
In its recent report, Transparency International Defence and Security said Western governments and arms companies had contributed to the Egyptian military’s consolidation of political power.
Its deputy director, James Lynch, said: “Western states which could do much to influence this situation are failing to demand serious reform and, instead, are carrying on with business as usual, while mistakenly still considering Egypt a trusted partner for security and stability in the region.”
He warned that by providing support to the armed forces with few strings attached, the international community must understand that not only it is doing a major disservice to the people of Egypt, it is also contributing to the security crisis in the country and region.
The Western powers should reassess their relations with the al-Sisi regime and take measures to end the military dictatorship.
Providing aid should be linked to democratisation and the elimination of Egyptian armed forces’ vast political and economic powers. They must demand that the Egyptian government practise transparency and independent public monitoring of military budget and activity.
S.M. Mohamed Idris, is the Chairman of Citizens International