The Al-Ahram Weekly editorial for the week of May 5-11, 2005, began by detailing how the ruling party of Hosni Mubarak "has monopolised the political arena to the exclusion of other political players and independent public figures. ...Emergency law, imposed by the [party], kept the [other] parties at bay, hiding within their shells, isolated in their towers."
The editors concluded that as a result of this political stultification, "[the] youth of this country was left prey to narrow-minded theology. The rudimentary ideas of jihad caught up with their despair, turning them into human bombs, into a threat to the nation. ...We need to face the suicidal jihad tendencies with a clear mind and with concrete political programmes."
To that end, the Al-Ahram English editors called for the ruling party to allow "other parties and political forces to get a piece of the action." A diversified political arena, the editors apparently believe, would curb Islamism in Egypt.
Similarly, a columnist in the same edition of the Weekly, Galal Nasser, wrote that "it is the crippling effect of emergency law on rights and democracy that drives terrorism in Egypt." Following recent bombings in Egypt, he said, "people began looking closer into the causes of the violence, and their conclusion was that the bombings were neither individual acts nor a coincidence, as the Ministry of Interior would have us think."
The article refers to a report of the semi-official Egyptian National Council on Human Rights (NCHR), which recently issued its first report on "a number of torture cases in police stations and prisons. It cited unjustified cases of individual and mass detentions.... In its objective report, the NCHR warned that citizens could turn into human bombs...."
The sources of terrorism, according to the columnist, are "unemployment, poverty and political tension. Repression has led to the emergence of a 'suicide family' in our midst, complete with women taking to the streets with guns blazing. This is a serious development and those who brought it about must be held responsible."
With the terrorist movements, he suggested, a national dialogue is needed. "We need dialogue, not emergency law and the terror it induces," he concluded.
Touching the same theme, in the same edition of the government-controlled newspaper, was an article describing the sufferings of a terrorism suspect arrested by Egyptian authorities after the deadly Sinai bombings over half a year ago.
The prisoner's wife told Al-Ahram, "It was Ramadan and the police raided our house only five minutes before the sunset, when we were busy getting food ready for Iftar. ...[M]y husband... had been fasting when he got arrested and they did not allow him to even take a sip of water until dawn. He was subjected to severe torture. He had temporary paralysis in his hands after police hung him in the ceiling and gave him electric shocks. We were allowed to visit him twice, and every time we go, we find him in very poor psychological condition...."
On what grounds do the police treat a detainee this way? "Police told us we don't need to hire him a lawyer because there are no charges against him. If that is how the government deals with innocent people, then how should criminals fare?" the victim's wife lamented.
"This general feeling of injustice and suppression will only breed violence and wreak social havoc," she concluded.
The editors concluded that as a result of this political stultification, "[the] youth of this country was left prey to narrow-minded theology. The rudimentary ideas of jihad caught up with their despair, turning them into human bombs, into a threat to the nation. ...We need to face the suicidal jihad tendencies with a clear mind and with concrete political programmes."
To that end, the Al-Ahram English editors called for the ruling party to allow "other parties and political forces to get a piece of the action." A diversified political arena, the editors apparently believe, would curb Islamism in Egypt.
Similarly, a columnist in the same edition of the Weekly, Galal Nasser, wrote that "it is the crippling effect of emergency law on rights and democracy that drives terrorism in Egypt." Following recent bombings in Egypt, he said, "people began looking closer into the causes of the violence, and their conclusion was that the bombings were neither individual acts nor a coincidence, as the Ministry of Interior would have us think."
The article refers to a report of the semi-official Egyptian National Council on Human Rights (NCHR), which recently issued its first report on "a number of torture cases in police stations and prisons. It cited unjustified cases of individual and mass detentions.... In its objective report, the NCHR warned that citizens could turn into human bombs...."
The sources of terrorism, according to the columnist, are "unemployment, poverty and political tension. Repression has led to the emergence of a 'suicide family' in our midst, complete with women taking to the streets with guns blazing. This is a serious development and those who brought it about must be held responsible."
With the terrorist movements, he suggested, a national dialogue is needed. "We need dialogue, not emergency law and the terror it induces," he concluded.
Touching the same theme, in the same edition of the government-controlled newspaper, was an article describing the sufferings of a terrorism suspect arrested by Egyptian authorities after the deadly Sinai bombings over half a year ago.
The prisoner's wife told Al-Ahram, "It was Ramadan and the police raided our house only five minutes before the sunset, when we were busy getting food ready for Iftar. ...[M]y husband... had been fasting when he got arrested and they did not allow him to even take a sip of water until dawn. He was subjected to severe torture. He had temporary paralysis in his hands after police hung him in the ceiling and gave him electric shocks. We were allowed to visit him twice, and every time we go, we find him in very poor psychological condition...."
On what grounds do the police treat a detainee this way? "Police told us we don't need to hire him a lawyer because there are no charges against him. If that is how the government deals with innocent people, then how should criminals fare?" the victim's wife lamented.
"This general feeling of injustice and suppression will only breed violence and wreak social havoc," she concluded.