A court has issued a decision to release the ousted former president Hosni Mubarak at the same time that Egyptian prisons are receiving the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and when ousted president Muhammad Morsi is being detained and charged.
Former leader released, current leader detained
A court has issued a decision to release the ousted former president Hosni Mubarak at the same time that Egyptian prisons are receiving the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood and when ousted president Muhammad Morsi is being detained and charged.
Former leader released, current leader detained
A court ruled on Wednesday that the 85-year-old Mubarak, who still faces charges of corruption in public office and complicity in the death of protesters when he was removed form power in 2011, can no longer legally be kept in detention. Mubarak was flown from prison to hospital yesterday and will remain under house arrest until further notice. His supporters have already started a 2014 presidential campaign in his name. All this when senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders, such as Mohammed Badie, are still being arrested.
The Muslim Brotherhood has found in the release of Mubarak a golden opportunity to prove that the June 30 demonstrations and the subsequent military intervention that removed President Morsi are a regressive move towards the times of the former regime.
Opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood blame the orthodox Islamic party for the release of Mubarak. Critics say the Brotherhood refused to issue the Transitional Justice Law under which those affiliated with the Mubarak regime should have been prosecuted.
Transitional Justice Law: safeguard of the Revolution?
Some say Morsi and his group refrained from issuing the Transitional Justice Law because they reconciled with the former regime by maintaining the Mubarak state structure, but also by giving high ranking positions to members of the former regime. Others say Morsi’s administration endorsed and prolonged elements of Mubark’s regime, such as financial corruption, for their own benefit.
The government decision to put Hosni Mubarak under house arrest means the overthrown former leader is unlikely to return to politics anytime soon. It is clear to the government that releasing Mubarak unconditionally would have negative consequences on the status quo. Despite its explicit steps of rebuilding a Mubarak model security state, the government is aware of the fact that public opinion is not pro the release of Mubarak.
But the road map agenda must now focus on the issuance of the Transitional Justice Law (TJL) under which Hosni Mubarak and his regime could be prosecuted. The same law could also be used to prosecute Morsi and members of his regime. The presence in the interim government of a minister specialized in transitional justice suggests the TJL could still be passed.
But this is weighed against the Interior Ministry’s desire to restore the security structure which existed before January 25 2011 and to employ journalists to mobilize public opinion to accept these steps. The government ministers who belong to the January Revolution should not allow this to happen.
Ministers have exerted pressure on the government to issue the ‘Protection of the Democratic Process Programme,’ which was passed on the same day as Mubarak’s release and at the same time as the prosecution of the Brotherhood’s key personnel. This step is not without significance. It shows that there is an on-going conflict between two approaches; the first wants time to freeze on the morning of Egypt’s revolution, January 25, 2011; the second wants to move forward in building a civilian democratic state in Egypt.
Minimum wage
Yet the Revolution seems to roll on, albeit impeded. The recently-appointed Minister for Labour announced that the government is discussing the establishment of a minimum wage, which is one of the demands of the revolution in order to achieve social justice.
But conflicts prevail, not only within the government, but in the streets too. On the one hand, there are those who believe that the unstable security conditions and the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the Jihadi groups associated with it, require the strengthening of the state’s iron grip to restore stability. These forces see that this should be the first priority for the state.
On the other hand, many Egyptians believe that one of the most important achievements of the 25th of January revolution is ending the strong ‘iron grip’ policy associated with the security apparatus. They want the government to expand the public space through laws that guarantee freedom of association and which would liberate civil society organizations.
The revolution is still ongoing and the future hasn’t been written yet. Will Mubarak have a word in it?
