A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Sisi to Criminalize "Insulting" January 25 and June 30

I'm very much in the midst of work on the current issue of the Journal, but I can't let this go by without comment.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is to issue a presidential decree that "criminalises insulting;the 25 January and 30 June uprisings."
The news was issued in a press release on Tuesday without providing more details.
My first reaction is to note that the story more or less equates the ouster of Mubarak in 2011 with the ouster of Morsi in 2013, but that's been the official line all along.

The second reaction is to wonder if this is a response to the outrage many are expressing about the Mubarak verdict.

And, finally, I have to wonder: since many Sisi supporters have been saying the January 25 uprising was a sinister plot by foreign intelligence tto destabilize Egypt, are they going to be punished?

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