Egyptians Bemoan Slow Progress on Reform

How would you describe public feeling as reforms get underway?

For years, we did not have real debate in Egypt, or any way towards fruitful discussions. Early this year people took to the streets and finally made their voices heard. There was a sudden galvanisation. It’s estimated that between eight and 12 million people took the streets in Egypt during the 18 days of the revolution. But there are 80 million Egyptians, and there are no clear statistics as to how ordinary people feel about the revolution. The general sense is that the changes are welcome, though at the same time people are tired of demonstrations and constant calls for action. There is already disappointment with how things are going and a romanticisation of the uprising and the unity that prevailed during it. People look with awe at the 18 days, but right now we are in a more difficult part of the transition. Saying the president had to leave was easy. Now the work has shifted to the different parts of the corrupt regime, which means multiple goals.

What is the public perception of the way the justice system is dealing with the aftermath of the revolution?

In Egypt, a judge has the ability to either bail an indictee or to keep him in prison pending trial. Some judges have decided to bail officers until their trials, which has created a lot of anger amongst people. Of course you can’t ask a judge to listen to public opinion when he makes a judicial decision, but the perception of such decisions is damaging. I fear personally that we will reach a stage where the families of the martyrs will take the law into their own hands to exercise revenge. This is a scenario that will be impossible to control because vigilantism will spread everywhere.
I think Mubarak might be acquitted of responsibility for the deaths during the revolution, because the justice system is failing to work its way all the way up the chain of command. And this would be met with a huge uproar. But many people think the military won’t even go through with the Mubarak trial. The theory is they will continue to stall until Mubarak dies, because his health is reportedly deteriorating. The trial is due to start already on August 3 – maybe it will have to be held at the hospital, if it is not adjourned.

Is there more confidence in reform of the police?

We have had three interior ministers so far this year. Some activists had a good impression of the current one, Mansour el- Essawy, but he has been presented with many suggestions for reform which he has failed to follow and he has disappointed many expectations. For instance, he ended the service of more than 500 senior police officers, a move which was widely hailed, and then it turned out that this was largely a cosmetic move. Some senior figures implicated in corruption had simply been moved to other departments or governorates. And 54 officers who were implicated in the deaths of protesters were simply moved to desk jobs.

It’s too early to judge the new government, which has just been sworn in. But many ministers have not been changed. The prime minister had named a rather revolutionary and outspoken IT expert, Hazem Abdul Azim, as the new minister of telecommunications. But, in the event, he was removed just a day before the swearing in. I think it was for his views because he was a critic of the military council. Others tied it to a charade worthy of the Mubarak era - a website ran a three-paragraph story claiming that he had ties to an Israeli company. Although he denied this completely he was removed for “security reasons”.

What about progress on freedom of speech and expression front?

There is a complete lack of transparency; and there is still no freedom of information law although some people are working on one. Right now, at least there is no censorship. People from the government used to regularly call to warn us when we threatened to cross red lines, for instance, discussing Mubarak or the army. We even had the paper pulled a couple of times. There is a sense amongst journalists that there are unspoken limits on discussing the military council, with some state-owned media giving direct instructions to their journalists to avoid referring to the authority. But we are an independent paper and sometimes manage to fly under the radar.

The Egyptian media has long had a lack of professional journalists and this is now being displayed. There is some very irresponsible reporting. People are publishing unverifiable stories that are taking us away from the real debate. There have been lots of incidents of leaked news and certain journalists seem to be manipulated. The governing and the military council are testing the waters by leaking information – and then denying it. So, for instance, there was the story that Mubarak was likely to escape trial due to pressure from the Gulf countries. This story was testing the water – when it came out, the military denied leaking it, but I am sure they were behind it.

Sarah el-Sirgany is deputy editor of the Daily News Egypt.