[E-rundbrief] Info 1002 - Egyptian Army role in revolution challenged

Di Apr 5 23:00:47 CEST 2011

E-Rundbrief - Info 1002 - Maikel Nabil Sanad (Egypt)/ War Resisters 
International: Egyptian Army role in revolution challenged in new 
Report. (Summary).

Bad Ischl, 5.4.2011

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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  Egyptian Army role in revolution challenged in new Report.

Its author, Maikel Nabil Sanad, arrested after publicizing his 
findings on the net.

Below is a summary of some of the main findings of his report. For the 
full report go to the War Resisters International website at: 
www.wri-irg.org

Note: Maikel Nabil Sanad, 25, lives in Cairo, and is a political 
activist and blogger. In April 2009 he founded the "No to Compulsory 
Military Service Movement". As a pacifist, he declared his 
conscientious objection to military service and demanded to be 
exempted from it. He was arrested on 12 November 2010, by military 
police, but released two days later, and finally exempted from 
military service on medical grounds. He participated in the Tahrir 
demonstrations from the start.

Following the publication of his report on line, he was arrested on 10 
March 2011 by military police. According to his lawyer, Mr Haithem 
Muhammaden from the El Nadeem Centre, Maikel Nabil Sanad and detained 
pending an investigation on charges of "insulting the military 
institution and publishing false news about it" and "disturbing the 
public security.”

Summary

The Egyptian army did not at any point side with the protesters. They 
supplied live ammunition to police attempting to suppress the 
demonstrations, were involved in the arrest, detention and even 
torture of protesters both before and after the departure of Mubarak, 
and are seeking by various means to suppress or limit the scope of the 
revolution. Many people are continuing to protest, calling for a 
civilian council instead of the Supreme Council of the Armed forces.

The report identifies three stages in the revolution:

Stage 1: from the beginning of the demonstrations on 25 January 2011 
until the army took over the streets on 29 January

The Egyptian revolution started on 25 January, 2011 when tens of 
thousands of Egyptians took to the streets. During the first four days 
of the revolution, the police forces brutally confronted the 
protesters, killing more than 500 of them and injuring over 6000. 
Another thousand are missing. What was the reaction of the army?

1. Sami Annan, the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian army visited the USA 
to assure the Obama administration that the Egyptian army remained 
loyal to Mubarak and it would not abandon him. (See full text for the 
evidence of this gleaned from the US news agency Startfor and the 
Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm.)

2. The army provided the police with bullets to kill the 
demonstrators. On 28 January, the police used tear gas, smoke bombs 
and rubber and live bullets to attack the tens of thousands of 
demonstrators who had occupied Tahrir Square. When the police ran out 
of ammunition, military jeeps moved through the crowds to supply the 
police with live bullets which they fired at the protesters. The 
military police intervened in this way a second time when the police 
again ran out of ammunition. In response the crowd set fire to two 
army jeeps, an armored vehicle belonging to the Armored Corps, and 
captured four tanks.

Stage 2: From 29 January until Mubarak announced he was stepping down 
on 11 February

 From the early hours of Saturday 29th of January 2011, and after the 
demonstrators detained some of the tanks and burnt several jeeps the 
armed forces began to change tactics. Officers started speaking to the 
demonstrators, calming them, pacifying them. However, the new phase of 
the relation between the protesters and the army was based on managing 
the conflict through indirect mechanisms such as:

     * Blockading the protesters and preventing them from leaving 
Tahrir Square. During the first few days, the army stopped 
demonstrators from moving in the direction of the Ministry of the 
Interior and Parliament. However, during the last the last three days 
of Mubarak's rule, when the crowds in the square had become too large 
and determined to control, the army did not attempt to obstruct them 
from marching from the Square. This accorded with its policy of 
avoiding a direct clash with the revolutionaries.

     * Adopting a stance of passive neutrality whilst continuing to 
support the police and Mubarak thugs. The army issued many statements 
proclaiming it would protect the protestors. However, after the second 
speech of Mubarak on the night of Tuesday 1 February, the army stood 
by as thugs flooded the streets chanting for Mubarak to stay. They 
continued to do so during the following two days, when the thugs 
attacked the demonstrators with camels and horses, killing ten 
demonstrators and injuring over 1,500. The thugs were also allowed to 
climb buildings overlooking Tahrir square and throw Molotov cocktails 
at those below.

     * Using Egyptian Intelligence to try to persuade some politicians 
to appeal to the revolutionaries to leave Tahrir Square. A document 
seized at the state security headquarters in Nasr City when it was 
occupied on 5 March shows that a Major Khalid Mohamed Mohsen Sharkawy 
visited Amr Mousa, Secretary General of the Arab League, asking him to 
make such an appeal to the demonstrators. He subsequently did so, 
urging them to accept the terms offered by Mubarak in his second speech.

     * Arresting, abusing and torturing demonstrators, and raiding the 
offices of Amnesty International (3 February), the Heshm Mubarak 
Centre for Human Rights and other international human rights 
organizations, confiscating their files and arresting of their leaders.
     *

     * On 30 January Malek Adly was arrested, so too on 3 February was 
the blogger "Sand Monkey" on his way –with medical aid- to Tahrir 
Square; a few hours later his blog was blocked. On the 4th of 
February, Wael Abbas, the blogger, and Maikel Nabil Sanad (author of 
the report) were arrested, and on the 6th of February the blogger 
Kareem Amer was arrested. Some estimates put the number of 
demonstrators arrested and held in military establishments during 
these two weeks at over 10,000. Those who were subsequently released 
told of the torture and killing of many other demonstrators by army 
officers and members of the intelligence service.
     *

     * The document goes on to list a number of testimonies including 
that of the author who was subjected to beatings and sexual harassment 
after his arrest. It refers also to the report in the Guardian of 9 
February by Chris Greal which cites human rights groups who state that 
the army was involved in detentions, disappearances and torture, and 
to an Amnesty International report (17 February) that included 
testimonies of young people who were arrested and tortured by the 
military police with whips and electric shocks.
     *

     * Attempting to invade Tahrir Square. The army attempted on more 
than one occasion during the period 4th to the 10th February 2011 to 
eject the protesters from the Square. This resulted in many clashes 
between them. For example on the night of the 6th of February when the 
troops near the Egyptian Museum tried to move further into the square, 
they were halted by protesters forming a human chain. The army fired 
shots in the air, and arrested 3 protesters whose fate is still not known.
     *

Stage 3: After Mubarak stepped down -From February 12 until the report 
was written in late March

After Mubarak announced he was stepping down, the army used the media 
to convey the message that it had joined the revolution, whilst doing 
everything to ensure its suppression, or at least hindering its 
progress. Among the steps taken were:

     * A ban on photography in Tahrir Square. The aim here was to 
isolate the rebels emotionally from the rest of the Egyptian people. 
So, when the revolutionaries were attacked they might start to feel 
they had been abandoned by their own people. And the wider Egyptian 
public, having no idea of the extent of the crackdown against 
protesters, might start to wonder why they were continuing to protest.

     * Manipulation and control of the media. Various means were used 
to this end. For example, on 15 Feb some officials in the higher 
military council held a meeting with the chief editors of newspapers 
and other media personnel and ordered that there should be no further 
discussion of Mubarak’s wealth. On 26 February major general Trek 
E-Mahdi was appointed general supervisor of the television and radio 
union, which means that Egyptian media is now directed by an army 
department.

     * Ordering mobile companies to send SMSs to people warning them 
against participating in sit-ins and encouraging them to oppose 
protesters.
     *

     * Further violent attempts to clear Tahrir Square. On 14 February 
Many people were injured and taken to Qasr Al-Ainy hospital after the army

    * succeeded in dispersing various demonstrations in the square. 
The army then published a statement warning citizens against 
demonstrating.
     *

The report goes on to cite further instances of attacks by the army on 
demonstrators since the departure of Mubarak, and provides more 
testimonies of arrests, detentions and torture. It points out that the 
armed forces continue to enforce a curfew, and refuse to end the state 
of emergency. It concludes that although the army claims to have 
joined the revolution, it constantly tries to circumvent its demands 
and could exercise an undue influence on the provisions of the new 
constitution.

Contact:

War Resisters' International office
Tel +44 (0)20-7278 4040
Email: info at wri-irg.org
www.wri-irg.org

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Siehe auch E-Rundbrief Info 1000 (Kriegsfolgen in Libyen):
http://webmail.horus.at/pipermail/e-rundbrief//2011/001062.html

und E-Rundbrief Info 1001 (Sick of the warmakers):
http://webmail.horus.at/pipermail/e-rundbrief//2011/001063.html

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