Egyptian-American fears arrest
2007-08-22 11:30
Cairo - One of Egypt's most outspoken government critics, Egyptian-American academic Saad Eddin Ibrahim, said he could not return to the country of his birth for fear of arrest "or worse".
In an opinion piece that appeared on Tuesday in the Washington Post, the 68-year-old sociologist described a regime cracking down on all forms of opposition in order to engineer an unpopular father-son succession.
He wrote: "Sadly, this regime has strayed so far from the rule of law that, for my own safety, I have been warned not to return to Egypt. Regime insiders and those in Cairo's diplomatic circles have said that I will be arrested or worse."
Ibrahim, who once advised the regime, was a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo and headed a local think tank, called the Ibn Khaldoun Centre. He was a visiting fellow at the Romanian Ratiu Centre for Democracy.
Ibrahim arrested, charged
According to Ibrahim, the regime was under the impression that he was trying to turn United States leaders against Egypt, as seen by the House of Representatives attempt in May to attach conditions to the country's annual aid package.
He wrote: "I was solely to blame, according to the regime. Would that I had a fraction of the influence attributed to me by the state-controlled media!"
Ibrahim was arrested and charged in 2000 for smearing the country's reputation abroad and embezzling foreign funding in a three year odyssey of trials and appeals that ultimately resulted in the academic's acquittal, but not before he spent years in jail.
The article came during a period of political crackdown in Egypt with 40 leading members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood facing military trial on charges of money laundering and former opposition presidential candidate Ayman Nour languishing in prison.
The country's security services were also coming under increasing criticism for their heavy handed tactics against not only suspected terrorists, but also in the course of ordinary criminal investigations.
A report released earlier this month by the Egyptian Organisation of Human Rights said that the abuse and torture of Egyptians by their security forces had become increasingly common.
- AP