Egypt Finds Democracy Can Wait
President Hosni Mubarak's enforcers have a particular way of dealing with female demonstrators: they sexually humiliate them. The case of journalist Abir al-Askari is but one example. When she arrived at Cairo's high court last week for a disciplinary hearing against two pro-democracy judges, she was grabbed by several men.
"They drove me to Sayyida Zeinab police station. I screamed and resisted and they beat me and pulled my hair and my veil," Ms Askari said. "Right in front of the police station they kicked me. When people gathered and told them to stop they replied: 'She's been committing adultery.'"
Ms Askari told Human Rights Watch investigators that she was taken to a room where three female activists from the Kifaya reform group had previously been abused. "'Nobody will know where you are,' the officer said. 'You are lost.' They tore at my clothes, my shirt buttons. They continued to slap and punch me ... I was lying on the floor. He placed his shoe on my face." She was later released.
"The political and economic reforms needed to achieve democracy and restore public faith in government can be achieved only under an independent judiciary," Mr Mekki and Mr Bastawisi wrote in the Guardian last week.
But Egyptians and outside commentators accuse Mr Mubarak, spooked by rising Islamism, sectarian tensions and renewed terrorism, of ditching the reform agenda as US pressure has relaxed. Hated emergency laws were recently renewed. "The government is apparently determined to stamp out peaceful dissent. Mr Mubarak sees growing popular support for the reformist judges as a real challenge to his authoritarian ways," said Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch.
"There is no prospect of significant political reform in Egypt in the foreseeable future. It's dead in the water," said Hugh Roberts, a Cairo-based analyst. "Western efforts to shape reform in Egypt have been a fiasco."
Mubarak's Democracy Bombshell
"Surprises are rare in Egyptian politics, where democracy is an affair carefully managed by the government, and President Hosni Mubarak's 24-year presidency has never been contested at the ballot box. That's why the announcement, Saturday, by the 76-year-old Mubarak that he wants the constitution amended to allow more than one candidate to run in September's presidential election registered as something of a political earthquake in Cairo. Rather than yet another presidential referendum in which his is the only name on the ballot, Mubarak is proposing a direct, competitive presidential election — the first in Egypt's modern history."
3 pro-Democracy Activists Arrested
"Three pro-democracy campaigners are being detained by Egyptian security forces on charges of distributing leaflets opposing a new presidential mandate for Hosni Mubarak and the inheritance of the presidency by his son, Gamal Mubarak."
Egypt Reins in Democratic Voices
Murbarak orders arrest of 70 members of opposition group Muslim Brotherhood, effectively setting limits to the amount of opposition he will tolerate.
Protesters Beaten as Egypt Votes on Electoral Reform
Muslim Brotherhood Leads Dissent Against Mubarak
"The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest organized opposition force in Egypt, has evolved into the country's most assertive campaigner for democratic reforms by defying bans on its political activities and spearheading a series of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak."
Egyptian People Approve Referendum for Democratic Reform - 83% vote yes
Egyptian Judges to Boycott Upcoming Elections
"around 1,200 judges threatened to abstain from supervising this year's presidential and parliamentary elections unless they were given full control over every stage of the elections. The judges also called on the state to endorse their draft amendment of the judiciary authority law, which they see as currently undermining judges' independence.
"We want a truly independent judiciary through which we can protect freedoms and rights," the general assembly declared."
Egyptian state 'stifles' students
163 Muslim Brotherhood Members Released
anti-Mubarak Protesters Beaten in Cairo
Mubrarak Rejects International Monitors for Sept. 7 Election
claims they violate Egypt's sovereignty
Egyptian Campaign Press Coverage Bias
Mubarak Wins Egyptian Elections, Promises Reform
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has won a comprehensive victory in the country's first multi-candidate presidential election.
Turnout was low, with just 23% of 32 million voters heading to the polls.
Egyptians Rally for Campus Freedom
"We don't want security forces on campus, we don't want the regime to intervene and rig student elections on 11 November," said one of the organisers, Abdulmonem Ibrahim.
Muslim Brotherhood Wins 28 Seats in Egypt's Parliament
"The Muslim Brotherhood has further built its strength in Egypt's parliament, winning 28 seats this weekend in legislative elections despite restrictions on voting, the Islamist group said on Sunday.
The group, which is officially outlawed, has now won 75 seats in the chamber with slightly less than a third of the places still to be contested."
Iranian Elections
Keep Democracy Out of the Arab World
Syria's President Confirms: Arab World Can't Handle Democracy
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