Egyptian artist: More than a quarter million Sinai residents paying the price

The Egyptian artist Mohammed Attiya said that there are more than a quarter of a million Sinai residents who are paying the price of the army leaders’ preoccupation with business, pointing out that their security failures have resulted in Egyptian soldiers losing their lives, which the army leaders are not being held accountable for, Alamat Online reported.

According to the news website, Attiya wrote on his Facebook page that: “More than a quarter of a million Egyptians in Sinai are paying the price of the military leaders’ preoccupation with business, making money and securing power, while covering up their failures to maintain security, resulting in the death of Egyptian soldiers, may they rest in peace.”

He added: “These leaders are not held accountable for their crimes … but rather the people of Sinai are the ones who are being punished … These leaders are used to giving orders that get implemented without any discussion. What is happening now is a disgrace to Egypt. We have become a fascist state, as described in the history books. We embrace Islamic State [ISIS] principles under the cover of patriotism. We replaced the turban with the military uniform and legitimise the killing of our sons, copying the same ISIS abuses that we supposedly condemn. We exploit the others’ extremism to justify our own and decorate it to suit and support our point of view … We abandon, kill and imprison, all under in the name of our motherland … What a rotten situation … #displacement is not a solution#.”