On June 8, 2014, Egyptian Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was sworn in as the country's seventh president. This was eleven months after the day the Egyptian army led by Sissi staged a coup on July 3, 2013, and overthrew Mohammed Morsi, the first freely elected president in the country's history. Of course, the result of the presidential election was not a surprise given that Sissi had already shown that he was the new tyrant of Egypt and he had no intention of leaving his position for a long time. He won 96.91 percent of the vote in the election that had witnessed many empty ballot boxes, despite the threat to non-voters of a large fine and extending voting days. According to official figures, the turnout was 47.5 percent, but many critics claimed that even that figure was inflated. You may remember that Sissi promised that he would not become involved in Egyptian politics after the coup. He did not keep thas promise. He also promised freedom of speech, freedom of the press, democracy and social equality. He did not keep those either. He portrayed himself as the savior of Egypt and promised that he would restore security and stability and improve the lives of the people of Egypt. But none of these proclamations came true either.
Instead, thousands have been killed. Tens of thousands, including journalists, have been detained and arrested while hundreds have been sentenced to death in five-minute trials over two years. Morsi as well as several leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement he has been a member of, are among those who have been handed death penalties. As part of a revenge plan of the old guard of Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has been crushed and banned. Public protests have been restricted. Arguing against the coup or post-coup policies in the media is equated with disloyalty and treason. In the meantime, Egypt has been suffering from growing insecurity and instability on the second anniversary of the coup. Last week, the coordinated attack of a militant group, which pledged allegiance to the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), on at least 10 Egyptian military targets in Sinai and the killing of state prosecutor Hisham Barakat in a Cairo car bombing, have revealed that Egypt is still far from being secure. On the same day that ISIS killed about 50 Egyptian soldiers, 13 Muslim Brotherhood lawyers were attacked and killed by police forces in an apartment in Cairo. Their execution with no trial in a hateful act by the coup government shows that Egypt is a long way from becoming a stable country.
Egyptian authorities equate the Muslim Brotherhood with ISIS and all members of the Muslim Brotherhood with ISIS militants. In spite of the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has been trying to resist the coup government's brutality with peaceful activism since it took place and have refused the way of armed groups, the Egyptian coup government alleges claims to the contrary. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly accused the Muslim Brotherhood of backing the militants in Sinai, although the Muslim Brotherhood denies this. Sissi and Egyptian authorities may think that they would make their accusations against the Muslim Brotherhood convincing if they continue to link it and the armed groups in Sinai. They may believe that in this way they would legitimize the coup and their brutal post-coup policies. But something big is coming from Sinai, the region that Cairo has long forgotten to rule, and putting ISIS's blame on the Muslim Brotherhood's shoulders will not stop it. The self-seeking approach of the coup regime is not only pushing a young generation into the lap of ISIS by giving them no other change except accepting "being a terrorist," but also bringing the country to the edge of a bigger state of political and civil turmoil.
