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On its 6th anniversary, the revolution continues, insists Egyptian Revolutionary Council

January 25, 2017 at 9:49 am

Egyptian Security Forces attempt to control the crowds of protesters during the Egyptian revolution on 25th of January 2011 [M. Soli/Wikipedia]

On the sixth anniversary of the revolution in Egypt, the struggle against oppression continues, the Egyptian Revolutionary Council (ERC) has insisted in a statement to mark the occasion. The council is upholding its principles, it said, by rejecting all forms of military or authoritarian rule, while maintaining its non-violent struggle to achieve freedom, democracy and social justice for all Egyptians.

“We salute those in Egypt who are standing firm in the face of the most severe forms of oppression to demand their rights and freedoms,” commented Dr Maha Azzam, the head of the ERC. “We shall support you and stand behind you until the victory of our revolution.”

The statement has been issued 6 years after the momentous 18 days of street protests that compelled the resignation of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. “The spirit of the January uprising continues to pose a threat to the regime which employs all means of repression to deter people from marking the day in Egypt,” noted the ERC.

Describing the regime in Cairo as “a ruthless military counter-revolution”, the ERC explained that is marred by mounting levels of dissent, unprecedented levels of repression and brutal police practices. “Activists and journalists are targeted and the economy is failing. There is a growing security crisis and escalating political turmoil. The state, in fact, is incapable of guaranteeing even a modicum of social welfare provision.”

According to the ERC, Italian citizen Guilio Regeni, the former Cambridge PhD student, is perhaps the best known victim of the annual round up of activists that now takes place every January. “On the eve of 25th January, 2016, and despite being a foreigner and a leftist, Regeni was considered to be a serious enough threat to Sisi’s regime to be kidnapped and tortured in what we believe are among the cruellest and most inhuman dungeons on earth today.” The tell-tale signs of his relatively brief stay in these dungeons, said the ERC, were detailed in a 220 page forensic report last year.

In conclusion, the Egyptian Revolutionary Council pointed out that the Sisi regime in Cairo has been resisting all attempts to find the perpetrators behind Regeni’s murder. “It is well aware that it is not in the regime’s best interest to put on trial the very torturers and murders it trained specifically in order to continue its reign of terror over the people of Egypt,” claimed the ERC. The revolution in Egyptian, the movement added, will continue.