Political Repression in Egypt: Courts Under Military Dictatorship

Join us for a discussion of the transformation of Egypt's courts in a system of authoritarian presidential rule under Sisi, with US backing. *Arabic interpretation of this event is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1En5CdxJO7RaMr6Hezi19MFKrUgivR3a9/view?usp=sharing* The modern Egyptian judiciary was established in the middle of the 19th century and is one of the oldest in the Middle East. Throughout the 20th century and the first decade of this century, it enjoyed a large degree of independence from the executive branch of government. Since the coup of July 2013, led by then-head of the armed forces and current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, the Egyptian state has gradually turned the judiciary into a subservient extension of presidential power to eradicate all opposition and critical voices from the public sphere. In this forum, experts on Egyptian legal history, human rights, and international law will discuss these attacks on the judiciary in Egypt, the complicity of the US and other Western governments, and the role of global solidarity in supporting victims of the military dictatorship in Egypt. Speakers: Khaled Fahmy is Sultan Qaboos Professor of Modern Arabic Studies in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research interests lie in the social and cultural history of nineteenth-century Egypt, with special emphasis on the social history of the army, medicine and the law. His most recent book, In Quest of Justice: Islamic Law and Forensic Medicine in Modern Egypt, won the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award from the American Society for Legal History in 2019. Nancy Okail is President and CEO of the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. She is a leading scholar, policy analyst, and advocate with more than 20 years of experience working on issues of human rights, democracy, and security in the Middle East and North Africa. In her subsequent role as Director of Freedom House’s Egypt program, Okail was one of the 43 nongovernmental organization workers convicted and sentenced to prison in a widely publicized 2012 case for allegedly using foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt. She was then exonerated by court ruling in December of 2018. Richard A. Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Emeritus at Princeton University and Distinguished Visiting Professor in Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of The Nation and The Progressive, and Chair of the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. During 1999–2000, Falk worked on the Independent International Commission on Kosovo. He blogs at Global Justice in the 21st Century. Yasmin Omar (moderator) is a human rights lawyer. She specializes in international law, UN mechanisms, and global sanctions. She practiced law in Egypt for ten years, defending victims of human rights violations, before moving to the United States after being targeted for her work. Omar is a member of the Steering Committee of the US Committee to End Political Repression in Egypt and the UN and regional mechanism officer at the Committee for Justice. This event is sponsored by the US Committee to End Political Repression in Egypt, Haymarket Books, the Committee for Justice, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), the Freedom Initiative, Internationalism from Below, Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), and St. John’s Center for International and Comparative Law. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/uvoXX7y75ao Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks