Reflections on Egypt, the Middle East, and history
Talk titled “Transitional justice in Post-Revolutionary Egypt” delivered at the American University of Beirut’s Asfari Institute Inaugural Conference on Civic Participation and Citizenship: New spaces of civil society activism in the arab world. Date: June 5, 2013
Published in Ahram Online on May 19, 2013 Islamists have recently shown sudden interest in transitional justice. But this interest focuses on revenge, not achieving societal reconciliation, restructuring the police, and ending all human rights violations Suddenly, and in the same week, three of the largest Islamist movements started talking about transitional justice, demanding its implementation at once. Spokesman for the Salfist front, Hisham Kamal, asserted, “Mubarak should have been tried for all his crimes from the start, not only for killing protestors.” Political consultant to the El-Benaa wa El-Tanmia (Building and Development) Party, the political army of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya,…
Published in Ahram Online on April 21, 2013 Although the fact finding committee formed by Mohamed Morsi to investigate rights violations from January 2011 to June 2012 found horrid cases of abuse, the president and his backers appear disinterested in its findings Three weeks ago, I briefly reviewed here “Nostalgia for the Light,” Patricio Guzmán’s wonderful documentary about mass murders and forced disappearances in Chile under Pinochet. I was deeply touched by Guzmán’s sensitivity in showcasing the suffering of victims’ families and their relentless efforts to find out what had happened to their loved ones. My intention was to draw…
An interview with the World Today program (BBC Radio 4) aired on 3 August, at 10:00 pm GMT on Mubarak’s trial (my piece starts at 12:08 ).
