Egypt tense ahead of revolution anniversary
The clock is ticking…
Shahira Amin
31 Articles
Shahira Amin is an award-winning freelance journalist and former Deputy Head of Nile TV. She quit her job at the height of last year's uprising in Tahrir Square in protest at State TV's biased coverage of the revolution. Amin is also a longtime contributor to CNN International.
Latest by Shahira Amin
Train disaster fuels rising anger
News of Monday night’s deadly train accident in Badrashin, 40 km south of Cairo, shocked and dismayed Egyptians . Nineteen young conscripts of the Central Security Forces were killed and scores were injured (many of them critically) when two train carriages derailed and rammed into a parked freight train. The train, carrying more than a …
Fighting for inclusion
A few weeks ago I was invited to a UNDP-sponsored forum on “women’s participation in post-revolutionary parliamentary elections.” Policy makers, legislators and opinion leaders from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia had gathered to share their experiences in legislative elections held following the mass uprisings in their countries and discuss ways of ensuring increased participation of women …
Silencing the critics
Bassem Youssef, host of the satirical TV show “Al Bernameg” (The Program) faces investigation after a lawyer filed a complaint earlier this week, accusing him of insulting President Mohamed Morsy. The case against Youssef is the latest in a series targeting journalists and bloggers in recent months, threatening to undermine freedom of expression in the …
Alber Saber’s case: A litmus test for freedom of expression
Shahira Amin discusses Alber Saber’s case
Crisis over constitution shows no sign of easing
Egyptians living abroad headed to polling stations on Wednesday to vote in a popular referendum over the country’s first post revolution constitution. In Egypt meanwhile, controversy over the proposed constitution deepened. Rival mass protests were held nationwide on Tuesday ahead of next Saturday’s vote on the draft document. Tensions have been running high since President …
Fasten your seat belts please
The mood was tense last Thursday as anti-Islamist protesters continued their sit-in in Tahrir Square, demanding that President Mohammed Morsy annul the constitutional declaration he had issued a week before. Liberals and leftists had all come together to adopt a common stance: “No to absolute powers for the president.”They vowed to continue their sit-in until …
A crisis of trust
It is a must that all political forces come together and immediately start reconciliation dialogue
Anger over unmet expectations
It was as if the clock had turned back to those fateful days last November when youth revolutionaries had battled with security forces on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in downtown Cairo, in protests demanding an end to military rule. This weekâs clashes between activists and riot police on the very same street were reminiscent of last …
The battle against female genital mutilation
The first time female genital mutilation was discussed openly in Egypt was in 1994. This was during the UN-coordinated International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. The two week conference brought together world leaders, government officials, rights campaigners, and representatives of civil society and the media from 179 countries to discuss developmental challenges, linking …
Morsy faces choice, militancy or moderation?
The militant ambush on a police patrol in North Sinai bears the hallmarks of the Al-Qaeda terror group. Not only did the gunmen who carried out the attack raise black flags bearing the Muslim declaration of faith on them “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his Prophet,” but they also chanted Allahu …
The price of broken promises
This week I am in Houston, Texas. I am here to give a talk to students of journalism, at the opening of the Sam Houston University Global Center for Journalism and Democracy, about the situation in Egypt post- revolution. This isnât my first visit to Texas. I was here eight years ago as an Egypt …
Mobs use violence to keep women away from Tahrir
The mob attack on France 24 Correspondent Sonia Didri near Tahrir Square last Friday as she was reporting on the protests is both shocking and disturbing. It’s disturbing because the mob violence phenomenon appears to have become a trend in the “new” Egypt. The assault on Didri is the latest in a wave of sexual …
Jordan’s women celebrate success
Eman Hylooz is a Jordanian Computer Science graduate and a successful young entrepreneur. The company she started in June 2012 is steadily growing and is expected to make a net profit of 114,108 Jordanian Dinars in its first year of operations. Hylooz recalls that the idea for her business start-up first came about when she …
Egyptian women struggle for equality and freedom
Nearly twenty months after last year’s mass uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s women are again taking to the streets, demanding âbread, freedom and social justice,â the same demands made by pro-democracy activists protesting in Tahrir Square during the 25 January revolution. A women’s rally outside the Shura (Consultative) Council headquarters on Qasr Al-Eini …
Bar for free expression still low in ânewâ Egypt
In March 2011, blogger Maikel Nabil became the first prisoner of conscience in Egypt, post-revolution. He was arrested and detained on charges of spreading rumours about the armed forces and criticising the military in his blog posts. Nabil was tried in a military court and sentenced to three years in prison, but was released after …
The volcano erupts
The outpouring of rage in Islamic countries isn’t just about a low-budget film insulting the prophet Muhammad. It is the eruption of a volcano that has been simmering for the past eleven years
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
On 8 March, I was in London attending a panel discussion on the safety of women journalists. I had been invited there by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) after contributing a chapter to a book published earlier this year by the INSI on the safety of female journalists working in conflict and danger zones. …
Are Egyptians Africans or Arabs?
Shahira Amin discusses egyptian identity and how egyptians perceive themselves
IMF lifeline, a test for Morsy
For many Egyptians, life was tough under the former regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Now it’s even tougher and things are likely to get worse before they get better
Keeping the peace
Should Islamist rule in Egypt be cause for growing Israeli concern or is it indeed a new opportunity for peace?
Egypt at a crossroads
Seventeen months after the revolution, Egypt is vastly different from the country that existed the day hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets to overthrow the former dictatorial regime
Ending the Legacy of Hatred
Egyptians reacted with shock and grief to the news of an armed attack on an Egyptian border post in North Sinai earlier this week. The fact that the attack occurred just as the victimsâmore than 16 Egyptian border guardsâwere breaking their Ramadan fast made the deadly incident all the more tragic. Speaking to reporters after …
Hopes fade for an inclusive government
Many Egyptians now doubt the new cabinet will match expectations for a reformist government capable of addressing the pressing
challenges
Your ID, Your rights
Thousands of marginilised women in Qalyoubia are now the proud owners of national IDs but it will be a while yet, before all four million women in Egypt who are without national IDs – can acquire their cards and their rights
Omar Suleiman: Man of mystery and controversy
To most Egyptians, Suleiman will remain a man of both mystery and controversy. Respected and admired by some, he also inspired loathing and fear in others
Women at the frontiers
For those who launch attacks on journalists to stop the free flow of information, perhaps no message is as fitting as the following words from Chilean poet Pablo Neruda: âYou can cut the flower but you cannot stop the coming of springâŠâ
Tolerance and diversity
Only by reversing policies and norms that encourage divisions within the society can Egyptians hope to peacefully co-exist and live in harmony.
Egyptâs women after the uprising
The uprisings transformed the image of women from voiceless and submissive to powerful leaders, that is, until the revolution passed
Cautious optimism as first Egyptian civil president is sworn in
Morsi may or may not be the president we had wished for when we took to the streets to topple the autocratic regime, but it is only through solidarity and the support of all political movements that the newly elected president can gain the clout he needs to implement the much-needed political, social and economic reforms