For more than two months now since the military’s removal of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, widespread demonstrations and protests have destabilised the country, with the army’s clashes with supporters of Mohamed Morsi leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured.
Egypt has since been split down the middle between those who believe their vote in last year’s election has been disregarded, and others who criticised Morsi for granting himself extraordinary powers of office, and for supposedly ceding control of the country to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Though an interim president has been appointed in Adly Mansour, who issued a decree proposing amendments to the previously suspended constitution and promised a nine-month transition towards further democratic reform, the fate of Egypt’s future hangs in the balance.
With Morsi detained under house arrest in a Cairo military hospital for an indefinite period, and speculation that he may even face murder charges over a bloody prison break from Wadi el-Natrun in 2011, his supporters remain steadfast in their determination to see him returned to his elected position.
“Millions won’t leave the squares until President Morsi returns,” said Mohammed Badie, chairman of the guidance council of the Muslim Brotherhood, who is now himself on trial for incitement to violence. “We won’t give up on our president.”
The violence in Egypt reached a bloody zenith on 14 August when scores were killed in an action by security forces who moved in to clear thousands of pro-Morsi protesters from two camps, one near the Rabaah al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City and a smaller one at Nahda Square in Giza.
Egypt’s health ministry said more than 1,000 people died in the clashes, and more than 2,500 people were wounded in skirmishes across the country. But Morsi supporters claim the death toll is much higher, closer to 3,700.
In the wake of this carnage Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi defended the operation, saying the authorities had to restore security. Expressing regret for the loss of life, he said the state of national emergency would be lifted as soon as possible.
In the meantime, there was an Irish connection in the chaos as four Irish citizens were caught up in a raid on the al-Fateh mosque in Cairo.
The Halawa siblings – Omaima (20), Fatima (22), Somaia (27) and Ebraheem (17) – were apparently detained by Egyptian security forces after they sought refuge in the mosque from violent street clashes.
The four – children of Hussein Halawa, imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Clonskeagh – had been visiting family in Egypt when they decided to join the pro-Morsi protests. They are now thought to be facing charges of belonging to a militant group and even attempted murder.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says it has been in contact with Egyptian authorities with regard to their detention. They were visited by their mother and a representative from the Irish Embassy in Cairo on 24 August and were said to be in good health.
Since the Halawa siblings’ detention, dozens of protesters gathered at the Egyptian Embassy in Dublin to demand their release and to voice opposition to the continued violence in the country.
They and many others argue that the army must accept the constitutional authority of the electorate, and it has to respect this to ensure that the crisis does not deepen. In turn, Egypt needs a legitimate government and a return to full democratic structures in order to carry out necessary socio-economic reforms and reflect the democratic will of the people.
Eda Halis is an intern with Metro Éireann from Turkey.
