President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi intensified a crackdown on political opponent a month before his new term, starting in June.
President Al Sisi won the elections in March with 97% against Moussa Mostafa Moussa after all of Al Sisi’s real opponents have been jailed and eliminated from the race.
Moussa publicly announced his support for Al Sisi, stating that he is just running to protect the country’s democracy by making the elections fair.
A security crackdown was expected after the elections.
The government, which is mostly controlled by the military, was cautious before the elections. However, after the elections ended it was expected that the government would to take all the measures necessary to protect the regime’s control over the country.
According to the current constitution, the president can only stay for two terms of four years.
However, President Sisi shows no intentions of leaving after his new four year term ends.
A proposal to amend the constitution and increase the president’s term or increase the number of terms a person can run for has been submitted to the parliament.
The proposal to increase President’s Sisi’s term was meet by fierce opposition from the public and an increase in political activism. The opposition was met by an increased number of arrests by the authorities.
As the years of freedom of speech that was witnessed after the revolution has come to an end after President Sisi’s rule, an intensified security crackdown is no surprise. The people detained include three human rights advocates and a lawyer.
The government concerns of political instability have increased because the opposition of the general public has increased as a result of the worsening economic situation.
During President Sisi’s rule, the gas prices have increased dramatically and the U.S. Dollar to Egyptian Pound ratio has tripled, creating an unexpected increase in goods prices with no equal increase in salaries.
In fact, a new increase in gas prices is expected within the upcoming weeks.
Mohammed Lotfy, the director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, stated: “The government is worried about any mobilizer, anyone who could mobilize people, and Facebook is their biggest nemesis.”
Lotfy’s wife was arrested in May after she posted a video on Facebook criticizing the police’s treatment of women. Mr. Lofty believes that his wife’s arrest was a response to his work as a human rights advocate.
Wael Abbas, an award-winning writer, and a political activist were also arrested last week. Security officers arrested him and seized his laptop on Wednesday morning.
Ms. Abbas commented on the situation saying: “Wael hasn’t been writing for a while, we are surprised at the timing, at dawn during Ramadan, and in this terrorizing manner.”
Political activates were not the only ones targeted during the government’s recent arrests.
Police arrested dozens of people earlier in May because they were protesting a surprise increase in the price of subway tickets.
The future of the situation in Egypt remains unclear. The majority of the public is upset of the economic and political situation.
However, most of them are scared to protest because of the increased number of arrests and the government’s use of violence in the past.