Blog No.6 (Ryan Smith) - In New Era, Egyptian Police Mimic the Old, Critics Say

They say old habits die hard, and when it comes to Egypt's history of police brutality, this admittedly cliche aphorism is used for a reason.  Merely two years after revolution poster boy Khaled Said was brutally and publicly beaten to death by Egyptian security forces outside an Alexandria internet cafe, two more were killed in a police raid of another cafe this past month.  The cafe owner was severely beaten for unknown reasons, and when witness and local resident Atef al-Mansi when to the nearby police station to complain he too was detained and beaten, only to die from resulting injuries shortly thereafter. As news spread of the raid and ensuing beatings, many townspeople took to the streets to protest, only to have security forces fire upon the crowd, killing one more.  It should also be said that Khaled Said was killed two years ago for allegedly uncovering and possessing evidence of police corruption.

Human rights organizations like Amnesty International have been keeping a watchful eye on the changes taking place within Egypt during this tumultuous transition after the toppling of the former President and late Hosni Mubarak's oppressive regime.  They have noted minimal changes taking place within the country's security structure, one of the chief complaints of Egyptian protesters for years.  One of the newly elected President Mohammed Morsi's first order of business was to appoint a career police officer as the head of the Interior, a department in charge of investigating corruption and reports of abuse within the government.  Security clean ups were expected to be at the top of the reform priority list, but little has been done thus far, leading many to believe that the handling of internal security reforms were rushed to quell any further rebellion. Human rights violations have continued since the Muslim Brotherhood took power, but the deeply intrenched habits of oppression and abuse may take longer to weed out than Egyptians are prepared to have to bear.  No one expected a quick and easy transfer to democracy, but Morsi's questionable lack of resolve so far may indicate that the fighting is not yet over for the Egyptian people.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/03/world/middleeast/in-new-era-egyptian-police-mimic-the-old-critics-say.html