Open letter to Egypt's 'Committee of Fifty'

Dear members of the Committee of Fifty (“Lagna Al-Khamseen”), in the beginning, you told us that your constitution is one that is filled with unprecedented freedoms that could not be mirrored by any constitution that came before or after it. You attacked the 2012 constitution (the Muslim Brotherhood’s version) and you told us that it was the constitution of slaves, one that would turn Egypt into a sectarian state. Some of you chose to withdraw from the foundation committee so that the fact that you participated in this so-called crime would not go down in history.

Look at the news. I hope that one of you will take it upon himself to tell us what you think of all the crimes taking place in Egypt.

Omar Abdel-Maqsoud, an Egyptian journalistic photographer for one of Egypt’s news websites (Masr Al-Arabiya), was arrested at his home last Monday. Abdel-Maqsoud has been accused of participating in a movement that seeks to vandalise police cars; that is, he is accused of setting a police car on fire despite the fact that his colleagues have all testified and confirmed that he was working on a story with them at another location at the time that the offence took place.

When his family visited him in detention, they found that his fingernails and toenails had been removed and that his body was marked with all kinds of bruises and marks from being electrocuted; his right hand seemed to be broken and his feet severely injured. He is on the verge of death; however, the police will not allow any medicine or food to be delivered to him. His family sought help from a number of institutions but no one has moved an inch.

I ask you, Committee of Fifty, is this the constitution that you want people to vote for? Is this what Egypt has become in the wake of the “constitution of freedom”?

Aljazeera’s news correspondent in Cairo, Abdullah Al-Shami, has been held in custody for nearly eight months, since mid-August 2013. He has been on a hunger strike for nearly 90 days. The worst part of this entire scenario is that he is not accused of anything. He is a man who has been thrown in prison under unbearable circumstances and for no reason or basis. He has not met with an investigator or a judge to this day.

Is working for Aljazeera reason enough to deprive an Egyptian citizen of his rights under the new constitution? I ask the members of your committee if this is truly the constitution that they are asking the Egyptian people to vote for. Is this what Egypt has become in the wake of the constitution of freedom?

Egyptian citizen Hamada Khalil, was thrown in prison just the other day, on 13 April, when he went to the police station to pay his friend’s bail. Yet, this did not please the chief of police and he decided to arrest Hamada for no reason. A police officer wanted to kill him but the other officers didn’t let him. All of a sudden, the officer fired two shots into Hamada’s back and before he could kill him with a third one, he turned and said, “Didn’t I tell you I was going to kill you?” This information comes directly from the people who were with Hamada Khalil in the cell on that day.

I ask the members of the Committee of Fifty, if this is truly the constitution that they are asking the Egyptian people to vote in favour of. Is this what Egypt has become in the wake of the constitution of freedom?

Omar Al-Shouaikh, a 19 year-old college student, was arrested on his way to class at Al-Azhar University. In a written account to his lawyer, Omar wrote that an officer dressed in civilian clothes in the Nasr Than police station subjected him to sexual abuse and harassment, directly after he was arrested on March 23, 2014.

Omar Al-Shaikh was subject to beatings and torture. His underarms and fingers were electrocuted and he reached such a weak state that his life was in danger. He is now in Tara Prison.

A young man named Fadi Sameer was arrested recently while he was walking in the street with his friends. A police officer accused him of being a Muslim Brotherhood supporter, when in fact he was, initially, a supporter of the military coup. Although Fadi informed the officer that he is a Christian, he was arrested, tortured and sexually abused. In an interview with the Observer, Fadi said: “I was tortured and beaten numerous times, taking several blows to the back and neck. I was questioned repeatedly about my political affiliations and in the event that my answers were not to the officer’s liking, he stuck his finger in my back end. He did this two times.”

The following is a YouTube video of Fadi’s parents at a press conference as they discuss their son’s story in prison. They accuse the coup of producing terror and terrorists:

To the members of the Committee of Fifty, these five stories are a few from thousands of similar incidents and I ask you to respond to them. If you refuse to do so, I can say the following with a clear conscious: you are nothing more than tools to bring back a tyrannical security state. If you are truly nationalists, you would have stood on the side of justice and brought an end to the violence; however, you know full well that this state is not legitimate and that this constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper and a meagre attempt to gain international legitimacy on the global scene. As for the Egyptian citizens, you have rendered them useless and without any rights under this new constitution.

Shame on you for remaining silent! Shame on you for remaining silent! Long live Egypt for the Egyptian people and by the Egyptian people!

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.