Prominent Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah has been arrested by the Egyptian military. He was summoned for questioning on Sunday. His last tweet says starkly, “Going in.” He has since been remanded for further questioning for 15 days. During his initial appearance he refused to answer questions, declaring the military court that held him, and sentenced fellow blogger Maikel Nabil to three years in prison, was illegitimate.
The charge he was arrested on was inciting violence against the military.
Alaa has been a prominent voice in the Egyptian blogosphere (and many other spheres) for years. He came back to Egypt from South Africa to take part in the Arab Spring that overthrew Mubarak. Now the same military that those protesters looked to for protection against the violent, graft-ridden police force seems to have abdicated its role as protector.
The son of a well-known civil rights attorney, Alaa was one of the voices that decried what he saw as military involvement in the violent suppression of the October Christian protests.
The love of tyrants for inversion – up is down, backward is forward, good is evil – is visible in today’s Egypt, in a stark black outline against the hopeful, peaceful end of the decades-long rule of a corrupt dick. Given the dozens of activists dragged into the military’s dungeons in recent months, Mubarak must be delighted. He may have been turned out, but his policies are in full force.
