Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=04-06-03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=EGYPT / DISSENT

NUMBER=5-53625

BYLINE=TETIANA ANDERSON

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: For nearly a month, following Friday prayers in Egypt, tens-of-thousands of people have been demonstrating against the U-S-led war in Iraq. The protests have intensified since the war began, and, Egyptian security forces have used force to break up many of them. Tetiana Anderson reports from Cairo, many activists are calling the Egyptian government's crackdown on anti-war sentiment a violation of human rights.

TEXT: Extra-heavy security prevented a planned anti-war protest in Cairo this past Friday. But even though there was no demonstration, human-rights activists say, police continued arresting, detaining, and even abusing some would-be participants and observers.

Human-rights activists in Egypt say several-hundred people have been arrested in the series of protests, including lawyers, university students, opposition leaders, and journalists. Many have reportedly been subsequently released.

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib El-Adli issued a statement reminding potential protesters of the 23-year-old Emergency Law, which strictly bans street demonstrations, unless they are approved by the government.

But many activists say, even when permission is granted, police often prevent or break up the protests.

At the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in Cairo, Executive Director Ahmed Seif Al Islam Mohamed says the Egyptian government sees the protests as a threat. And he says the harsh reaction is a bad sign for Egypt's future.

/// MOHAMED ACT ///

The court supported this demonstration today, and they arrested around 100 persons. What the Egyptian government does now -- they try to stop the Egyptians to criticize Hosni Mubarak regime, which leads Egypt to a very critical situation.

/// END ACT ///

The government says the demonstrations violated Egyptian law, and that the security forces must intervene if protesters turn violent. Officials say fewer than 30 people have been arrested during the protests.

Officials also point out that nearly 15-thousand people were allowed to demonstrate two Fridays ago in a government-sponsored anti-war protest. Thousands have also rallied in the port city of Alexandria and other Egyptian cities.

But three human-rights groups have issued a statement warning that fundamental freedoms in Egypt are under threat.

Human Rights Watch, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights said the arrests send the message that dissent in Egypt will be brutally suppressed, and they are deeply alarmed by that message.

/// ACT OF CROWD CHANTING, EST AND FADE UNDER ///

In an unapproved demonstration two-weeks ago in Cairo, 10- to 15-thousand demonstrators worked their way downtown, set a fire truck ablaze and were met by police with clubs.

A day later, plain-clothes police arrested Hossam El Hamalawy, an Egyptian journalist working for the Los Angeles Times newspaper. He says they threw him into a truck and took him to state security headquarters. He was released after 12 hours. Mr. El Hamalawy says the police were on edge.

/// EL HAMALAWY ACT ///

There was a sense of anxiety. I mean, the security service (was) worried that what happened on Friday, which were like the biggest riots this city has witnessed since 1977, could develop into something much more militant.

/// END ACT ///

Analysts say one concern is that protesters could turn their anger on the Egyptian government for its close relationship with the United States, and could also raise such issues as the poor state of Egypt's economy and the restrictions built into its political system.

But at the Human Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners in Cairo, director Mohamed Zarei says the harsh police reaction could only make matters worse for the government.

/// ZAREI ACT ARABIC, ESTABLISH, FADE UNDER ///

Mr. Zarei says the crackdown will mobilize people against the government. He says it will create a belief that Arab leaders are supporting the coalition attack on Iraq. If this idea takes root, he says, it could arouse instability throughout the Arab world. (SIGNED)

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