Egypt: At least 2,500 killed in violence within last 19 months

Aswat Masriya
At Least 2,500 Killed As a Result of Violence in Egypt Within 19 Months - Report

31 May 2015


Cairo — The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) said on Sunday that at least 2,500 civilians and security personnel were killed in violence in the period between June 2013 and December 2014.

NCHR, whose members are appointed by the government, said in a report on human rights conditions that 700 security personnel and 1800 civilians were killed, including 1,250 Muslim Brotherhood members.

The reporting period started one month before the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood politician and former president Mohamed Mursi by the military, following mass protests against his rule.

Since July 2013, violence caused by militants has surged, especially in the Sinai Peninsula, although other parts of the country have been affected.

In addition to the deaths caused by violence, at least 80 detainees died in custody in prisons and police stations in the same period, the report said.

"The phenomenon of deaths in detention had disappeared completely ... but it returned again," the report said. The council called for a quick solution to this.

It cited health and living conditions and "extreme over-crowdedness" as the reasons for the deaths. Occupancy inside police stations reached 400 percent and 160 percent in prisons, the report stated, citing the Interior Ministry.

"It is true that there is nothing to prove that any of them died as a result of torture but there is nothing to prove otherwise," it read.

The reporting period has also witnessed an expansion in the use of prolonged periods of preventive detention. "So preventive detention became a punishment."

The council demanded a reasonable maximum period that may be spent in preventive detention and called for the release of humanitarian cases, the elderly and students who have not been implicated in violence.

Sisi extends terms of unelected union leaders for another year

Mada Masr
Sisi allows unelected board members of state-run trade union to stay another year

Monday, May 25, 2015

Jano Charbel

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a presidential decree Thursday extending the terms for board members of the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) for another year, inciting the ire of critics who point out that ETUF elections are now four years overdue.

In the absence of union elections, the Manpower Ministry has been appointing its board members since 2011.

According to the Trade Union Law, ETUF elections should be held every five years, but the country’s largest labor federation hasn’t held elections since October through November 2006. An Administrative Court ruling invalidated those polls in late 2006 due to the lack of judicial oversight.

Independent union organizers and other critics argue that by extending the terms for unelected ETUF leaders, Thursday’s decree facilitates the state's direct control over the federation. They also lambaste the move for encouraging a lack of transparency and accountability among the union’s leaders.

“These elections are being postponed, yet again, because the ruling authorities do not want to lose their control over this state apparatus. The regime wants to keep the ETUF under its wing,” Nagy Rashad, a former caretaker member of the ETUF, told Mada Masr.

Rashad further argued that the decree “is a non-democratic measure and has clear authoritarian dimensions.”

He pointed out that the ETUF has remained under state control since it was founded in 1957, “and since the January 25 revolution [of 2011], we’ve witnessed how all the interim and ruling authorities have sought to keep the ETUF in line with their political and economic objectives, in order to serve their own interests — just as [former President Hosni] Mubarak had done before them.”

ETUF leaders joined Sisi on April 27 to commemorate Labor Day at Cairo’s Police Academy this year. At this official event, ETUF’s acting president Gebali al-Maraghi presented Sisi with a declaration from his federation pledging that its members would reject labor strikes and refrain from other forms of industrial protests.

“We demand free and fair elections so as to insure that the ETUF becomes a representative trade union body, which genuinely represents its members, as opposed to representing the interests of the ruling regime. We also demand new legislation to replace Trade Union Law 35/1976, which allows for indirect elections of the ETUF’s top leaders,” Rashad concluded.

ETUF elections have been postponed time and time again since 2011 under the pretext of avoiding overlap with parliamentary elections.

However, the parliamentary elections that were slated for March and April of this year are now also overdue, having passed the deadline stipulated by constitutional Article 230. The Supreme Constitutional Court halted those elections on March 1, on the basis that the law on electoral constituencies does not guarantee fair voter representation.

German Parliament rescinds invitation to meet with Sisi in June, cites human rights concerns

Mada Masr 

German Parliament rescinds invitation to meet with Sisi in June, cites human rights concerns

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

 
Head of the German Parliament Norbert Lammert canceled a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi scheduled for early June due to concerns regarding “the human rights situation in Egypt,” German newspaper Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday.

Lammert reportedly sent a letter to the Egyptian Ambassador in Berlin justifying rescinding Sisi’s invitation. In a statement issued by the German Parliament on Tuesday, Lammert criticized the current political situation in Egypt.

“Instead of holding the long-awaited parliamentary elections, we have been witnessing months of systematic prosecution of opposition groups, mass arrests, convictions to lengthy prison terms and issuing a shocking number of death sentences, including against former head of the Egyptian Parliament Saad al-Katatny,” he clarified.

Lammert’s statement emphasized that “since no efforts seem to have been made toward maintaining the peace in Egypt or towards democratic development,” he “sees no basis for a conversation with the Egyptian president.”

In response, Egypt’s Ambassador to Germany Mohamed Hegazy told privately owned newspaper

Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Egyptian side had not “requested” nor was it “looking forward to meeting with the head of the German Parliament.”

“The meeting was added to the trip’s itinerary by the German side,” Hegazy added.

According to Der Spiegel, the German Federal Press Office has yet to comment on whether Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with Sisi in light of recent developments.

Lammert’s decision is one of many reactions triggered by Saturday’s court decision sentencing Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood figures to death.

On Sunday, a US State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that the US is “deeply concerned by yet another mass death sentence handed down by an Egyptian court to more than 100 defendants, including former President Morsi.”

The European Union also criticized the court’s decision, adding that the “cruel and inhumane” penalty “stemmed from a flawed trial.”

*Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Sexual violence by security forces surges under Sisi's reign

FIDH/International Federation for Human Rights

Stifling Egyptian civil society: Sexual violence by security forces surges under el-Sisi

 

 

19 May 2015

Since the military takeover in July 2013, there has been a surge in sexual violence perpetrated by the security forces in Egypt, asserts a report released today by FIDH.

“The scale of sexual violence occurring during arrests and in detention, the similarities in the methods used and the general impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators point to a cynical political strategy aimed at stifling civil society and silencing all opposition,” said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.

Based on interviews with victims, lawyers and members of human rights NGOs, the report reveals the involvement of police, National Security Intelligence officers and the military in sexual violence, including rape, sexual assault, rape with objects, electrocution of genitalia, sex-based defamation and blackmail.

“We were attacked in a raid led by the chief of the Alexandria Criminal Intelligence (Mabahith)... They made us kneel down with our hands behind our heads. Then they took the young women to one side and frisked us with our faces towards the wall, sexually harassing us and insulting us. I tried to remove the hand of one of the Central Security soldiers from my trousers, so then they beat me with their weapons until I could no longer resist.” K., an activist from an Egyptian human rights NGO.

Such violence is perpetrated on a massive scale by state security forces, making a mockery of government commitments to make combating sexual violence in Egyptian society a priority.

Piecemeal and token measures, including partial legislative reforms and the establishment of a unit within the Ministry of Interior dedicated to fighting violence against women, have had little impact on the spread of this epidemic.

The FIDH report shows that such violence is widely tolerated, with perpetrators, whether state actors or civilians, rarely having to answer for their crimes. Since the July 2014 trial of seven men accused of participating in mob-sexual assaults in Tahrir Square during the inauguration of President el-Sisi in June 2014, there have been no further trials for mob sexual violence. As for the security forces, despite complaints, no officers have been tried for crimes of sexual violence.

The role of the security forces in perpetrating sexual harassment and assault, including during body searches, security checks and in police stations, constitutes a further deterrent to victims filing complaints. The general climate of impunity fosters and fuels further violence by state actors and civilians.

“The Egyptian government must immediately put an end to these crimes, committed by actors under their direct authority. They must ensure serious investigations into all allegations and the prosecution and punishment of those responsible in accordance with international standards,” said Amina Bouayach, FIDH Secretary General.

While tolerating these crimes, el-Sisi’s regime has also hijacked the fight against sexual violence as a pretext to tighten state security. Since autumn 2013, the government has orchestrated a campaign of repression against LGBT persons.

Security forces raided bath houses and detained LGBT persons based on information gathered through internet surveillance and accused them of “debauchery” and
“sexual indecency.” The government justified the arbitrary detention of these individuals, during which many suffered sexual violence, by invoking protection of Egypt’s moral and religious order.

This report supplements information documented in a report published in April 2014 on sexual violence perpetrated against women in the public sphere by civilians, in which FIDH and Egyptian NGOs underlined the State’s failure to effectively investigate and prosecute perpetrators of mob rape, sexual assault and harassment and called for the adoption of ten urgent measures to end violence against women.



*Download the report Stifling Egyptian civil society: Sexual violence by security forces surges under el-Sisi

Court bans football Ultras & labels them "terrorists"

Mada Masr

Court bans Ultras and labels them terrorists

Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Cairo Court for Urgent Affairs issued a verdict on Saturday banning the activities of all hardcore football fan groups known as Ultras across the country and declaring them terrorist organizations.

The verdict, which criminalizes the existence of Ultras groups, stems from a report by Zamalek Club President Mortada Mansour, who also accused them of attempting to kill him and banned them from entering the club.

It is the latest development in a long history of animosity between the state and the Ultras, which has resulted in frequent confrontations between Ultras fans and police forces at football stadiums and escalated following the involvement of Ultras in the 2011 revolution.

Two massacres have occurred during football matches since 2012, which Ultras groups hold security forces responsible for.

In February 2012, clashes between Ahly and Port Said fans following a match in Port Said stadium turned tragic when security forces blocked the exits of the stadium and 72 Ahly fans were killed.

Again in February 2015, around 20 Zamalek fans were killed when the police deployed teargas in the small metal box they were passing through to enter the stadium.

Dalia Abdel Hamid, a social researcher who has studied Ultras groups extensively in recent years, says that the state’s animosity towards the Ultras is based on several factors, including their participation in the revolution and the state’s fear of organized groups.

“They are being punished along with all other factions who took part in the revolution, whether activists, journalists, or civil society, but they have endured the most severe consequences, along with the Muslim Brotherhood as the two groups who have faced real massacres,” she explained.

Since the establishment of the two main groups — Ultras White Knights and Ultras Ahlawy — in 2007, the fan groups have clashed frequently with the authorities.

In 2008, there were confrontations when police forces attempted to ban fans from entering indoor matches. This resulted in clashes outside the stadiums that occurred again when security forces tried to prevent fans from using fireworks and banners during games.

In 2009, a media campaign was started against the fan groups, led by former footballer and talk show host Ahmed Shobeir, who accused them of being drug addicts. This was followed by the mass arrests of ultras members from their houses, according to a report by privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

The Ultras groups used their experience in confrontations with the police during football matches on the front-lines of clashes during the 2011 revolution.

Abdel Hamid says the fact that Ultras groups are well organized and self-funded makes them a threat to the state, despite them not being primarily political groups.

Ultras groups, whose members are in the thousands and are spread across the country, have not yet officially responded to Saturday's ruling.


*Additional reporting by Mostafa Mohie
**Photo courtesy of Ultras White Knights Facebook age

Court issues death sentence for ex-President Morsi & 105 others

The Slate

Egyptian Court Sentences Ex-President Morsi to Death

May 16,  2015

Daniel Politi

An Egypt court has sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi, along with 105 other Muslim Brotherhood supporters, to death for a mass jail break in 2011.

The sentence was referred to the grand mufti, Egypt’s most important religious authority, “whose opinion isn't legally binding but is traditionally adopted by the court,” details the Wall Street Journal.

But Yehia Ghanaem, a former managing editor of the newspaper Al Ahram tells Al Jazeera the death sentence is the expected outcome, and whatever the grand mufti decides was “not compelling to the judiciary.” The court is expected to make a final ruling on June 2.

The sentence against Morsi, who is already serving a 20-year prison term on charges tied to the killings of protesters in 2012, was immediately condemned by Amnesty International. Morsi’s sentence “shows a complete disregard for human rights.

His trials were undermined even before he set foot in the courtroom,” said Said Boumedouha, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program, reports CNN. “The death penalty has become the favorite tool for the Egyptian authorities to purge the political opposition.”

Morsi and the other defendants were convicted of killing and kidnapping police officers as part of their escape from Wadi Natroun prison at the height of the revolt that led to the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak. More than 20,000 prisoners escaped or were released during the revolt, and the court said Morsi colluded with foreign militants to free Islamists, reports the BBC.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan criticized Egypt for the sentence and the international community for staying silent. “While the West is abolishing the death penalty, they are just watching the continuation of death sentences in Egypt. They don’t do anything about it,” he said.

*Photo by Khaled Desouki courtesy of AFP/Getty Images

Deutsche Welle criticizes banning of Egyptian talk show

Daily News Egypt

DW criticises authoritative ban of Reem Maged’s show

Too early to tell whether partnership between both channels will continue, yet we support OnTV, DW AR spokesperson says

May 16, 2015

Menan Khater

  
German TV channel Deutsche Welle (DW) Arabic condemned the alleged interference of Egyptian authorities in banning a joint programme between the German channel and Egyptian private channel OnTV on Friday.

The weekly programme “Gama’a Moanath Salem” [Feminine sound plural], presented by Egyptian anchor Reem Maged, has only aired two episodes on both channels since 2 May, to feature success stories of Egyptian women in society.

The first episode featured folklore artist Shaheera Mehrez, while the second episode, aired on Saturday, featured Al-Masry Al-Youm photojournalist Eman Helal and her encounters with shooting and field reporting current events in Egypt from 25 January Revolution in 2011 to the dispersal of Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-ins on 14 August 2013.

There is much ambiguity surrounding the ban’s real reasons, as well as uncertainty regarding the entity which ordered the ban. DW Arabic spokesperson Christoph Jumplet told Daily News Egypt: “I cannot really tell why the show was banned, ask the Egyptian authorities.”

He added: “It is too early to tell whether the partnership will continue between both channels, yet we support OnTV and we want to continue this programme.”

In an official DW Arabic statement Friday, the channel said: “This act is a blatant violation against press freedom in Egypt.” The statement added that the programme will continue airing on its channel and on the website every Saturday.

The banning has also stirred negative responses on social media platforms. Thousands of Twitter users, media personnel, and activists used a hashtag of the programme’s name to criticise the ban. “Reem presents a source of fear to the state dictatorship,” a Tweet read.

The show was considered a comeback for Maged on TV after an absence that lasted for nearly two years following the halt of her programme “Baladna b el masry” [Our country in the Egyptian way] on OnTV in 2013.

Maged is also a political advocate who took part in the “No to military trials” protest in front of the Shura Council in 2013. Earlier, she was accused of insulting judiciary on her show in 2012. She was also summoned by military prosecution, for previewing alleged military violence towards activists in 2011.

Workers & journalists cite increasing punitive employment measures, sackings

Mada Masr

Workers claim increasing punitive measures are the result of state discrimination

Wednesday, May 13, 2015
 Jano Charbel

Workers and journalists raised a number of grievances during a conference on Tuesday, hosted by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), over increasing punitive measures against them in recent months.

Some claimed that such measures, which have included dismissals, forced relocations and retirements, pay deductions and criminal charges, are punishment for oppositional views to their employers or the state, whilst others point to a lack of legal recourse and legislation protecting their rights.

The criminalizing of the right to strike and lack of union or syndicate support was foremost in the minds of both workers and journalists, who voiced concerns and shared experiences.

Presented at this meeting were figures compiled by the recently-established 'Association of Laid-off Journalists' regarding the number of media staffers fired from their jobs since the beginning of 2015.

According to their figures, a total of 160 have been "punitively fired" from the state-owned Al-Ahram Media Company, 134 from the privately-owned Youm 7 Media Company, 67 from the privately-owned news portal Dot Masr, 30 from the privately owned Al-Dostour News, 18 from the privately-owned Shorouk News,  four from the private Al-Masry Al-Youm Media Company, and 12 from the privately-owned 3agel News website

Panelists at this conference, dubbed,  “Lay-offs, forced retirements, and trumped-up charges against labor leaders and journalists,” called for the release of Yasser Mahmoud, a worker from the state-owned Egypt Gas Company who was jailed on charges of instigating strikes, and of Mohamed Zaki, a worker who was sacked from the state-owned Petrotrade Company and is in police custody pending criminal investigations related to his involvement in strike action.

Grievances were also raised by workers from Egypt’s largest textile company, the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla al-Kubra. Prominent labor leader Kamal al-Fayoumy was sacked from his job on April 16, after company administrators charged him with instigating strikes resulting in millions of pounds worth of losses.

Prior to Fayoumy’s dismissal, another two labor leaders, Nagy Haidar and Gamal Gad were dismissed from the company in February for similar reasons.

“We went on strike in protest against the mismanagement and rampant corruption in our company,” Fayoumy said.

The company blamed our strike action for financial loses, which the state’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported amounts to LE1.3 billion, he explained, adding, “In reality, my two co-workers and I were sacked because we demanded accountability and an end to corruption.”

Fayoumy accused the current government of favoritism towards businessmen and investors, while neglecting employment rights.

Lawyer at the ECESR Alaa Abdel Tawwab sarcastically suggested, “Instead of celebrating Labor Day in Egypt, perhaps we should start celebrating the ‘Day of Punitive Dismissals’,” as they have become a daily occurrence.

He said lack of new legislation to replace the Trade Union Law 35 (1976) has meant that independent labor unions are still not recognized and that punitive measures are often taken against those involved in labor action in their workplaces as a result.

A draft law, the “Trade Union Liberties Law,” was prepared in 2011 to replace Law 35, but was never passed.

ECESR lawyers took part in a campaign — “Towards a Just Labor Law” — to draft a new law to replace Unified Labor Law 12 (2003). A draft was published on May 1 this year.

Labor activists claim the provisions of Law 12 (2003) facilitate the punitive sacking of workers for engaging in strikes and other industrial action.

Abdel Tawwab argued that, instead of siding with those demanding basic labor rights, Egypt's judiciary has actively sided against them.

“It is a catastrophe that the Supreme Administrative Court forced striking workers in the public sector into early retirement, especially as this violates Constitutional Article 15, and a host of international rights conventions to which Egypt is a state party.”

According to Abdel Tawwab, “If the court claims that strikes are criminal actions, then it is the court that is committing a crime” by violating the constitution.

The lawyer dismissed the court’s verdict that labor strikes are a breach of Islamic Sharia Law. “Sharia Law does not directly refer to strikes or other forms of industrial actions,” he said.

Ahmed Shaheed, a former fare-collector and independent unionist at the Public Transport Authority (PTA), is another labor leader who was sacked from his job this year for instigating strikes and obstructing public bus services.

Shaheed and the PTA authorities accuse each other of responsibility for hefty loses.

“Egyptian law now criminalizes workers’ protest marches, and penalizes public sector employees who exercise their lawful right to strike,” Shaheed said.

A total of 32 PTA employees, including Shaheed, are due to stand trial before the State Council Court on May 15, and again in another trial on June 13, for strikes they led in 2012 and 2013.

According to leftist labor lawyer, Haytham Mohamadeen, the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has taken criminal action against striking workers on the basis that they are harming the national economy, incurring financial losses, and deterring investment.

The government “never pursues businessmen for engaging in the equivalent of employers’ strikes, such as: mass lay-offs, punitive sackings, lockouts, factory closures, and capital flight abroad, even though such actions may strongly harm the national economy and incur billions of pounds worth of losses,” Mohamadeen asserted.

Recent remarks by the former justice minister, when he commented that the children of workers could not join the judiciary, are indicative of the regime’s classist attitudes, he claimed, adding, “You’ll never see the police cracking down on employers when they establish their chambers of commerce, or business associations.


*Photo by Jano Charbel

No cause to celebrate WPFD as journalists remain under attack in Egypt

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
World Press Freedom Day: Journalists under attack in Egypt 

May 3, 2015

 

Journalists in Egypt face acute dangers including arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention without charge, prosecution and intimidation according to a statement published by Amnesty International on World Press Freedom Day (3 May) highlighting the dangers of media reporting in the country.

At least 18 journalists are currently detained in Egypt, dozens more have faced arbitrary arrest. Since June 2013, at least six journalists have also been killed while covering protests, either by security forces or in clashes between demonstrators.

"In Egypt today anyone who challenges the authorities’ official narrative, criticizes the government or exposes human rights violations is at risk of being tossed into a jail cell, often to be held indefinitely without charge or trial or face prosecution on trumped-up charges," said Philip Luther Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

"While the detention and prosecution of the three Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed made international headlines, out of the spotlight many other local journalists are languishing in jail or being punished or harassed for speaking out. Any journalist detained solely for their journalistic work must be released immediately and unconditionally."

*Read Amnesty International's public statement.

**Artwork by Ben Jennings 

Egypt: No reason to celebrate Labor Day this year

Mada Masr

In unusual break with tradition, no Labor Day celebrations in Egypt this year

Friday May 1, 2015

Jano Charbel

For the first time in living memory, Egypt is not celebrating Labor Day.

The only official commemoration took place on Monday, April 27 behind closed doors at Cairo’s Police Academy in the presence of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, governmental officials and state-appointed leaders from the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF.)

This commemoration, which was not televised, is reported to have involved 10 workers who received honorary medals. It is the first time ever that the president of Egypt has not delivered a Labor Day address.

During Monday’s commemoration, Gebali al-Maraghi, chief of the state-controlled ETUF, presented Sisi with a declaration from his federation vowing that its members would reject strikes and refrain from protests, sit-ins or other industrial actions.

ETUF leaders called instead for dialogue and collective bargaining between workers, the state and employers, according to the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram.

The Cabinet also announced that there would not be a working day off, as this year the official holiday coincides with the weekend.

This comes during the same week in which a judicial decree was issued by the Supreme Administrative Court dictating that public sector employees who partake in strikes will be forced into early retirement. The judges who issued this decree, which cannot be appealed, claimed that a military decree issued in 2011 and Sharia law both prohibit labor strikes.

A statement was issued by a host of Egyptian human rights organizations on Labor Day in which they denounced the aforementioned judicial decree as violating Article 15 of the 2014 Constitution, as well as international rights conventions to which Egypt is party.

“We are witnessing the worst Labor Day in Egyptian history this year,” commented Ali Fattouh, an independent union organizer and bus driver employed at Cairo’s Public Transport Authority.

Fattouh argued that the government is pushing back on workers’ rights and the organizational freedoms of unions, while Egypt’s largest independent labor federation — the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (ETIFU) — “is falling in line with the government’s dictates, denouncing workers’ right to strike while championing the policies of the ruling regime.”

Like Fattouh, many other independent unionists, labor rights organizations and leftist groupings are not celebrating Labor Day this year, as they believe there is nothing to celebrate in 2015.

Since their emergence in the 2011 uprising until 2013, independent labor federations had celebrated Labor Day in Tahrir Square. However, they were only capable of organizing small rallies involving just a few hundred workers, revealing the inability of these independent federations to mobilize their ranks.

Following the military led regime change on July 3, 2013, Tahrir Square was made off-limits for workers’ rallies, and in 2014 independent unionists celebrated Labor Day indoors.

Workers at the state-owned petroleum services company Petrotrade issued a statement on Thursday declaring, “We are not celebrating Labor Day this year, as there is no cause for celebration.”

“This is the fifth Labor Day since the January 25 revolution, and yet none of the revolution’s demands have been achieved, nor has social justice been realized,” the statement added.

Despite government pledges since 2011, neither a new labor law nor a new trade union law has been issued to replace the repressive and outdated laws regulating workers rights, the Petrotrade workers continued.

The statement argued that Egypt is suffering from a counter-revolution, indicated by the fact that a host of striking workers and independent unionists have been subjected to punitive measures nationwide, including disciplinary hearings, relocations, lay-offs, prosecution and trials.

Dozens of workers across the country are presently being prosecuted for instigating strikes and labor unrest, as well as incurring losses for industries with their work stoppages.

Fattouh explained that he and 31 of his co-workers at the Public Transport Authority are standing two separate trials on May 15 and June 13 before the State Council Court on charges of instigating strikes in the years 2012 and 2013.

“We are being sent to court, and possibly to jail, simply for exercising our right to organize a peaceful strike at our workplaces,” said Fattouh.

 “When you have a court of law outlawing the right to strike, which is clearly safeguarded by international conventions and domestic legislation, what is there left to celebrate on Labor Day?” he argued.

But Maraghi is quoted in Al-Ahram as declaring that “Egypt is currently blessed with a climate of freedom and democracy,” and “that the ETUF is the only legitimate representative for all of Egypt’s workers, regardless of their political tendencies.”

Maraghi concluded by singing Sisi’s praises, while claiming: “there is no room for politicization of the union movement.” 

Yet even Ibrahim Eissa, a TV anchor on the show 25/30, which broadcasts on the privately owned ONtv channel, criticized Sisi’s labor commemoration this year.

Eissa argued that Labor Day should be celebrated on May 1, as is the national and international tradition.

“Labor Day should be commemorated in a factory, company or workplace,” he added, asking Sisi, “Oh president, if you celebrate Labor Day at the Police Academy, then where are you going to celebrate Egypt’s National Police Day?”



*Photo of 2011 Labor Day rally in Tahrir Square, by Jano Charbel

Whatever happened to Egypt's independent labor unions?

Mada Masr
Whatever Happened to Egypt's Independent Trade Unions

Friday May 1, 2015

Jano Charbel

Independent labor unions flourished across Egypt with the popular uprising of 2011, but this growth translated neither into unity nor strength, and these independent associations appear to have withered away since the military-led regime change in July 2013.

State-controlled trade union federations are presently attempting to dissolve these independent associations, which have never been formally recognized by the government. Members also face punitive measures from their employers, political polarization within their own ranks, organizational schisms and a lack of resources.

These factors threaten the viability and utility of independent unions as agents of labor reform. Meanwhile, Ministry of Manpower politics also cast a shadow on these independent associations, with some independent unionists claiming the ministry is striving to marginalize them.

The two chief federations for such unions emerged in the form of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU), which was established on January 30, 2011, and the Egyptian Democratic Labor Confederation (EDLC), established on April 24, 2013. These two federations have not succeeded in uniting their ranks.

Moreover, a host of smaller independent federations have since been established outside the realm of both the EFITU and EDLC, several of which broke off from these two larger federations.

Hoda Kamel, a former EFITU board member, explains there are a total of six labor union federations in Egypt, and “of these, the independent federations are in disarray. They are weak, divided and underfunded."

EFITU and EDLC are both headquartered in Cairo, with no regional offices or strong presence elsewhere in the country.

Mostafa Bassiouny, an analyst of worker politics and the author of several books on the trade union movement, says that “over the past four years, Egypt's independent unions have proven they are unable to build solid labor structures, to organize general strikes or to mobilize on the national level."

Several leaders of the independent union movement — particularly from the largest federation, EFITU — "moved to support state politics since July 3, 2013, to align themselves with the Ministry of Manpower and to oppose strikes,” he argues.

"In doing so, an independent federation loses its independence, identity and purpose," Bassiouny adds.

While EFITU's former leader, Kamal Abu Eita, was appointed minister of manpower following the deposition of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, hopes for a political climate conducive to independent union organizing quickly evaporated with the arrival of Nahed al-Ashry, who replaced him as minister in March 2014.

Ashry gradually rose to prominence during the era of former President Hosni Mubarak, becoming the ministry's leading go-to official for labor arbitration and dispute resolution.

Although she has described herself as neutral, with a hands-off approach to all unions, Ashry and her ministry have been accused of obstructing the authorization of new independent unions and siding with the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF.)

Ashry has shown resolve to end strikes in order to increase investor confidence and employment opportunities, and in the past, she accused independent unions of being the main instigators of work stoppages and labor unrest in the country.

Kamel believes independent unions have become a scapegoat for the nation’s economic woes. "The ETUF's affiliate unions have led strikes, as have independent unions and non-unionized workers alike,” he says.

Several labor activists claim Ashry favors the ETUF over other unions, as leaders of this state-controlled federation have officially authorized only two strikes in its nearly 58 year history.

Numerous articles posted on the official ETUF website claim independent unions are illegal and illegitimate, undeclared recipients of foreign funding, political agents and threats to national security — all accusations with serious legal penalties.

Some ETUF leaders even claim independent unions are involved in sabotage and sponsoring terrorist activists.

The treasurer and co-founder of the Independent Federation of Petroleum Employees, Hatem Abdel Dayyem, dismisses such claims as "baseless accusations."

"It's the state-controlled, yellow federation which has no legitimacy,” he argues.

Abdel Dayyem points out that ETUF's leadership was last elected in 2006, in elections which the Administrative Court ruled null and void due to a lack of judicial supervision. Nonetheless, its leaders remained in office until their terms expired in 2011, and ministers have been appointing ETUF leaders since then.

"The ETUF claims we independent unions receive illegal foreign funding. Let them look inside our coffers — we are struggling financially, and all the money at our disposal is LE3,015. What kind of foreign funding or currency is that?" he asks.

Abdel Dayyem added that the application papers for the Independent Federation of Petroleum Employees were rejected by the Manpower Ministry in December 2014, "due to unspecified reasons."

"We know all our paperwork is valid and in order. We also know our rights, and that our federation is officially established upon notification," Abdel Dayyem claims.

The Manpower Ministry’s spokesperson could not be reached for clarification regarding the official recognition of this independent federation, or other questions regarding the independent union movement.

“Historically, there exists a sort of umbilical chord relationship between the ministry and ETUF. They both want to maintain these direct links,” Bassiouny explains.

“Despite their shortcomings, independent unions are still closer to genuine concerns of the labor movement than ETUF, which functions more like a union police than a workers' organization. Ashry is not seeking to wipe out independent unions, but rather to have them sidelined or co-opted,” he claims.

When Ashry addressed the Arab Labor Organization last month, the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram quoted her as saying, "While Egypt is a law-abiding state, its ratification of International Labor Organization Convention 87 [concerning freedom of association and protection of the right to organize] is not synonymous with the plurality of unions."

According to statements published on ETUF’s official website, Ashry then went on to say, "Independent unions cannot take the place of legitimate unions." Ashry has consistently argued for the unity of the union movement, and warned against independent or alternate unions that could fragment such a unity.

Ashry commented she couldn’t overturn the recognition of independent unionists who had filed their application papers under former Manpower Minister Ahmed Hassan al-Borei.

Borei says that the foremost obstacle in the path of independent unions is their ambiguous legal status, as Trade Union Law 35/1976 — which solely recognizes the legitimacy of the state-controlled ETUF — is still in effect.

During his brief term as minister in 2011, Borei oversaw a host of unionists, labor lawyers and political figures who drafted a bill on trade union liberties to replace Law 35. The bill recognized the right to freely establish trade unions upon notification to the Ministry of Manpower. However, the consecutive ruling authorities of the past four years have kept it shelved, and the bill has yet to be ratified.

Borei explains that Law 35 runs against the essence of union freedoms stipulated for in ILO Convention 87, which Egypt ratified in 1957. Without a new trade union law guaranteeing the freedom to establish their labor organizations, he says, independent unions will continue to be left in a gray zone of isolation and marginalization.

"If Egypt does not issue legislation allowing its workers to freely organize, I fear it may be placed back on the ILO's short-list of states violating union rights,” he cautions.

"ETUF membership is mandatory for all unionized workers according to Law 35,” Borai adds. “Automatic deductions of union dues from workers' wages may often deter them from joining an independent union, where they would also have to pay dues."

While their membership figures are frequently contested, ETUF claims some 5 million members.

Similarly, EFITU's membership figures are contested. By 2013, EFITU chief Abu Eita was claiming a membership of some 2 million.

Bassem Halaqa, Secretary General of EFITU, claims his federation currently has a membership of around 800,000.

"We had around 1.4 million memberships. However, we've found that several of our affiliate unions are merely entities on paper" said Halaqa. "We're filtering out such entities, as they have no actual presence."
Kamel claims that the "total membership of all independent unions and federations probably does not exceed a few hundred thousand."
 
It’s nearly impossible to know the real number of independent unions or their members, because "many of them are not affiliated to any federation, other unions have quit federations, while others are still forming federations, and yet others are merely unions on paper, not really existing in workplaces,” Kamel explains.

Challenges to the independence and legitimacy of these unions haven’t stopped at legal measures, however. New leadership has shown a penchant for state alignment that flies in the face of their ultimate aims.

Last year, Kamel and other EFITU co-founders froze their memberships in their federation following the actions of the incumbent president, Malek Bayoumi. Under his leadership, EFITU representatives signed a declaration sponsored by Ashry in May 2014 to halt strikes for a year.

Bayoumi was also accused of using EFITU as a platform to endorse the 2014 presidential campaign of then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Kamel and other EFITU members sought to issue a vote of no confidence against Bayoumi due to his political alignment with the ruling regime. However, their attempts failed, as they were not able to reach the required quorum of members for such a motion.

EFITU's secretary general, distanced himself and Bayoumi from such actions.

"There are no schisms in our federation,” Halaqa claims. “However, we are facing very difficult financial circumstances. We're not a big federation like ETUF, and we're not propped up by the state."

Echoing Ashry's rhetoric, he adds, "We need some time out from strikes. We need to take into consideration our labor rights along with Egypt's economic needs."

Halaqa hopes in the near future, EFITU and EDLC will unite the ranks of Egypt's independent unions by forming a confederation amongst themselves.

EDLC member Talal Shokr, said he also aspires to see such a confederation taking shape.

However, Shokr added: "Presently there are no prospects for unity between the EDLC and EFITU. There seems to be no structural plans for such a merger. Nor are there currently any concerted efforts to bring all these independent unions and federations under one umbrella."