Egyptians for Democracy UK condemns Blair's support for Egypt's coup

The Egyptians for Democracy UK  condemns Tony Blair’s misguided remarks on Egypt which he made in a televised interview with Sky News Arabia during his latest visit to Cairo.

Mr Blair, who visited Cairo Wednesday to lend support to the post-coup regime, argued that Egypt’s military-installed government wants an “open-minded society” and that the Muslim Brotherhood hijacked the revolution, and the army who toppled Mohamed Morsi is leading the country towards a democratic future.

These remarks are consistent with Mr Blair’s infamous stance towards the Arab Spring. A staunch advocate of Mubarak’s dictatorship, Mr Blair is unfit to lecture Egyptians on the revolution and the path to democracy.

Egyptians have expressed their will in five free and fair elections after the January 25 revolution. The military Junta, led by Abdel Fattah al Sisi, circumvented the will of Egyptians by forcibly unseating Egypt’s first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013, suspending the constitution, and dissolving the democratically elected parliament. In the aftermath of the coup, the military-backed authorities have embarked on a relentless crackdown against activists from across the political spectrum, killing and arbitrarily arresting thousands of men, women, and children, pursuing and harassing independent journalists.

Mr Blair’s comments suggest his endorsement of the authoritarian practices of the interim Egyptian rulers whose acts run contrary to all principles of democracy and open-mindedness which Mr Blair is preaching. Egyptians are fully capable of determining their own future by democratic means, and will continue their peaceful struggle to dismantle the coup and hold its leaders accountable for their crimes against humanity.