Democracy on the Nile
EDITORIAL
The Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2005
EGYPT'S STUTTER-STEPS TOWARD democracy took a great leap backward last week with the conviction of a man for the crime — oh, the horror! — of running against President Hosni Mubarak. International condemnation of the treatment of Ayman Nour, who was sentenced to five years in prison, may yet push Cairo to open the prison door of a candidate convicted for political reasons.
Mubarak, the autocratic ruler of Egypt for a quarter of a century, opened the September presidential election to all comers under heavy pressure from Washington, which gives Cairo $2 billion a year in foreign aid. (It is the second-largest recipient of U.S. largesse, behind Israel.) But Mubarak took care not to have too free a vote. Security forces intimidated Nour supporters, and Mubarak backers violated election laws with impunity. The final tally gave Mubarak more than 80% of the vote, Nour less than 8%.
Unsatisfied with a mere landslide, the government after the election reinstated charges that Nour forged signatures on his nominating papers. But the charges make no sense; Nour well understood the scrutiny the government would give his candidacy and was exceedingly careful in the campaign. His contention that the government trashed his papers and substituted forgeries is more believable.
Mubarak's political party also took steps to run a candidate against Nour in the parliamentary elections this month and saw to it that Nour lost that race. The party's heavy-handed tactics elsewhere included blocking voters from polling places and arresting some candidates from the main Islamic party, the semi-underground Muslim Brotherhood.
Yet the Muslim Brotherhood announced this month that its candidates had won 88, or nearly 20%, of the seats in parliament. This is a group whose leader said last week that the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews was a "myth."
It's almost as if the statement was timed to underline Mubarak's implicit warning to the United States that, in Egypt at least, it's him or disaster. But there is an alternative to both Islamic fundamentalists and secular autocrats like Mubarak: democrats like Nour and Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who was convicted three years ago of defaming the country. Ibrahim's conviction was overturned on appeal. Nour deserves the same verdict.
The Bush administration has rightly said that Nour's conviction "calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule of law." President Bush has urged Egypt to "show the way" to democracy in the Arab world.
Many Egyptians believe that Mubarak is grooming his son to succeed him. He would better serve his country by encouraging secular democrats to participate in elections both within his party and against the Islamists. Otherwise, voters angered at a corruption-plagued, one-party government will be forced to choose between the dismal reality of poverty and the false hope of fundamentalism. That's unacceptable for citizens of a country that seeks recognition as a leader in the Arab world.
The Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2005
EGYPT'S STUTTER-STEPS TOWARD democracy took a great leap backward last week with the conviction of a man for the crime — oh, the horror! — of running against President Hosni Mubarak. International condemnation of the treatment of Ayman Nour, who was sentenced to five years in prison, may yet push Cairo to open the prison door of a candidate convicted for political reasons.
Mubarak, the autocratic ruler of Egypt for a quarter of a century, opened the September presidential election to all comers under heavy pressure from Washington, which gives Cairo $2 billion a year in foreign aid. (It is the second-largest recipient of U.S. largesse, behind Israel.) But Mubarak took care not to have too free a vote. Security forces intimidated Nour supporters, and Mubarak backers violated election laws with impunity. The final tally gave Mubarak more than 80% of the vote, Nour less than 8%.
Unsatisfied with a mere landslide, the government after the election reinstated charges that Nour forged signatures on his nominating papers. But the charges make no sense; Nour well understood the scrutiny the government would give his candidacy and was exceedingly careful in the campaign. His contention that the government trashed his papers and substituted forgeries is more believable.
Mubarak's political party also took steps to run a candidate against Nour in the parliamentary elections this month and saw to it that Nour lost that race. The party's heavy-handed tactics elsewhere included blocking voters from polling places and arresting some candidates from the main Islamic party, the semi-underground Muslim Brotherhood.
Yet the Muslim Brotherhood announced this month that its candidates had won 88, or nearly 20%, of the seats in parliament. This is a group whose leader said last week that the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews was a "myth."
It's almost as if the statement was timed to underline Mubarak's implicit warning to the United States that, in Egypt at least, it's him or disaster. But there is an alternative to both Islamic fundamentalists and secular autocrats like Mubarak: democrats like Nour and Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who was convicted three years ago of defaming the country. Ibrahim's conviction was overturned on appeal. Nour deserves the same verdict.
The Bush administration has rightly said that Nour's conviction "calls into question Egypt's commitment to democracy, freedom and the rule of law." President Bush has urged Egypt to "show the way" to democracy in the Arab world.
Many Egyptians believe that Mubarak is grooming his son to succeed him. He would better serve his country by encouraging secular democrats to participate in elections both within his party and against the Islamists. Otherwise, voters angered at a corruption-plagued, one-party government will be forced to choose between the dismal reality of poverty and the false hope of fundamentalism. That's unacceptable for citizens of a country that seeks recognition as a leader in the Arab world.
posted by Hanan Elbadry at 12:51 PM
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