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Now on BBC News, it's
time for Our World. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:04 | |
Welcome to Egypt. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:11 | |
Enticing images of timeless
hospitality and ancient attractions. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:17 | |
A picture postcard view
the authorities are keen to promote. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:26 | |
But there is another Egypt -
a military-backed regime | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
where dreams of freedom
have been crushed. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:39 | |
and this is the approach to dissent.
In the last few minutes the police | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
have been using teargas and have
been live rounds. I have been the | 0:00:44 | 0:00:49 | |
BBC 's corresponded in Egypt in the
four years. I have tracked the | 0:00:49 | 0:00:56 | |
escalating crackdown on the streets.
Gatherings like this are few and far | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
between. Gunfire. And I have
witnessed peaceful protest is being | 0:01:00 | 0:01:05 | |
targeted. Wait. I have never seen a
regime as bloody as Sisi's regime. A | 0:01:05 | 0:01:13 | |
regime were a growing number have
simply disappeared. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:16 | |
This regime is based on Terara and
torture is one detail of that. Press | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
freedom is under attack, much of the
brutality carries on scene. This is | 0:01:28 | 0:01:35 | |
a story the regime would prefer us
not to tell. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
It all looked so different seven
years ago. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:56 | |
This was Tahrir Square
in February 2011 - | 0:01:56 | 0:01:59 | |
the night the people broke free
of President Hosni Mubarak, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:06 | |
ending 30 years of authoritarian
rule - or so they hoped. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:26 | |
At the new dawn didn't bring a
vibrant new democracy in the heart | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
of the Middle East. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
Now, the square feels like a place
of lost opportunity. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:39 | |
Well, standing here in Tahrir Square
seven years on, there is really | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
nothing
to indicate that this | 0:02:42 | 0:02:43 | |
was the cradle of an uprising, | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
that it was here that the people
toppled an autocrat. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
The monument is bare,
no list of names of all of those | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
who were killed, and that is just
the way the authorities want it. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:58 | |
It is as if the revolution has been
erased and along with it, | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
the hope it brought. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:09 | |
The former military strongman Hosni
Mubarak wound up behind bars. He was | 0:03:09 | 0:03:14 | |
succeeded in 2012 and the Islamist
Mohamed more sea the Muslim | 0:03:14 | 0:03:19 | |
Brotherhood. Egypt's first
democratically elected president. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:27 | |
But he too was jailed after a
divisive here in office. He had been | 0:03:27 | 0:03:37 | |
ousted in July 2013 in a military
coup that had mass popular support. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:44 | |
The coup was led by the Army Chief,
General Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi who | 0:03:44 | 0:03:50 | |
went on to be alert to President one
year later. Critics say he has | 0:03:50 | 0:03:56 | |
presided over an unprecedented
assault on human rights. I came to | 0:03:56 | 0:04:06 | |
Cairo on Egremont's watch as history
was being rewritten. Those hailed as | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
heroes of the revolution were being
treated as enemies of the state. | 0:04:10 | 0:04:17 | |
Like Alaa Abd El-Fattah, one of
Egypt's best-known dissidents. He is | 0:04:17 | 0:04:23 | |
seen here out on bail. The blogger
and human rights campaigner is from | 0:04:23 | 0:04:29 | |
a prominent family of activist. This
was someone who could have been | 0:04:29 | 0:04:38 | |
amazing, not just to this country,
this is someone with a really | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
valuable mind and set of skills and
it is because of fat that he is | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
being put away. I met Alaa Abd
El-Fattah in April 20 14. He had | 0:04:46 | 0:04:54 | |
already been charged and he talked
about how much worse things were | 0:04:54 | 0:04:59 | |
than before the revolution. When you
were confronting Mubarek, hope was | 0:04:59 | 0:05:06 | |
material things, like you could
almost touch it, and it was very | 0:05:06 | 0:05:12 | |
easy to feel that it was worth it
and people were taking these risks | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
without feeling any kind of despair.
Right now it is looking bleak. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:22 | |
He was a leading light
of the Tahrir protests. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:25 | |
Secular, articulate,
a software developer, | 0:05:25 | 0:05:32 | |
He was used to paying the price for
speaking out. He was jailed or | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
threatened with arrest under all of
the recent regimes here. And when | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
his son was born, he was in prison. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:51 | |
Alaa Abd El-Fattah was accused
of organising this protest. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:55 | |
The demonstrators appeared peaceful. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:57 | |
The authorities were not. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:04 | |
Protest or effectively banned. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:10 | |
-- Protests are effectively banned. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
I was in court to see him being
convicted. Others came forward to | 0:06:13 | 0:06:21 | |
say they plan to the protest. He
still got five years. Another member | 0:06:21 | 0:06:28 | |
of generation jail. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:35 | |
His fractured family
go through the motions | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
without a much-loved son,
husband and brother. | 0:06:45 | 0:06:50 | |
Human rights groups say
there are thousands like them | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
in Egypt, families of
political prisoners. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
His sister campaigns
against civilians being tried | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
in military courts. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:09 | |
His mother has been an activist for
decades. In this household, | 0:07:09 | 0:07:16 | |
percenters the family business | 0:07:16 | 0:07:24 | |
dissent
the family business | 0:07:24 | 0:07:25 | |
But she says the struggle for change
is harder than ever under | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:30 | |
The level of bloodiness
is beyond anything I've ever | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
heard or experienced. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:33 | |
And the way they have managed
to desensitise people towards death, | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
to belittle the value of people's
lives, to make people get used | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
to death sentences, to forced
disappearances and abduction, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
to torture, to torture victims,
this is becoming daily News. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:50 | |
Her brother has another year
to serve, | 0:07:50 | 0:07:52 | |
then faces a further five
years on probation with | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
stringent conditions. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
In this tightly knit group,
the empty space at the table | 0:07:58 | 0:08:01 | |
is keenly felt. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:17 | |
these days on the streets, there is
no clamour for reform. Many are | 0:08:17 | 0:08:22 | |
struggling to get by. And grateful
the relative stability. And plenty | 0:08:22 | 0:08:28 | |
prefer not to raise their heads
above the parapet. With good reason. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:35 | |
Well, there is something that you
cannot see here that you can feel | 0:08:35 | 0:08:39 | |
and that his fear. It has been
increasing during my time here. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
People who would have been ready to
speak on camera two or three years | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
ago are too frightened to do that
now. In the last few weeks we have | 0:08:47 | 0:08:52 | |
looked into many cases,
disappearances, torture, people | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
whose loved ones were killed in
custody, and those families were too | 0:08:56 | 0:09:02 | |
frightened to work here. They tell
us they are afraid and other loved | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
one will be arrested if they do. --
and other loved one. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:12 | |
Those who end up in custody
can expect the harshest treatment. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:17 | |
Torture is nothing new in Egypt. But
my sources say it is now routine | 0:09:17 | 0:09:28 | |
nationwide. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:29 | |
Mahmood Mohammed Hussein has
first-hand experience | 0:09:29 | 0:09:30 | |
of the latest torture techniques. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
We first met one year ago when every
step was a reminder of the abuse he | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
suffered. He was held without trial
for more than two years. This is the | 0:09:40 | 0:09:47 | |
only reason he was arrested, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:52 | |
aged just 18, was
because of his T-shirt. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
The slogan read "A nation
without torture". | 0:09:54 | 0:09:56 | |
now 22, he is struggling to rebuild
his life. But could still be tried | 0:10:00 | 0:10:07 | |
for attending a band protest. And
joining a terrorist group. Charges | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
he denies. -- banned. Despite the
risks, he wants to tell the world | 0:10:11 | 0:10:19 | |
his story. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:20 | |
Aren't you afraid that by speaking
out like this that the authorities | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
could come after you again? | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
Others also want their words to be
heard at feel unable to appear on | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
camera. Like another young man I met
who described being subjected to | 0:11:45 | 0:11:51 | |
every kind of abuse. He gave us a
detailed, credible and disturbing | 0:11:51 | 0:11:59 | |
account, he identified the police
station where he was interrogated | 0:11:59 | 0:12:03 | |
and tortured, he said he was beaten,
blindfolded, stripped, kicked, and | 0:12:03 | 0:12:08 | |
electrocuted. And later, in his
words, he discovered there was | 0:12:08 | 0:12:13 | |
something worse than electrocution,
he was raped with a stick. Torture | 0:12:13 | 0:12:27 | |
victims used to have one refuge. One
place to go for support. This centre | 0:12:27 | 0:12:33 | |
in Cairo. For over two decades,
staff provided rehabilitation. But | 0:12:33 | 0:12:44 | |
last year, the authorities moved in
and forced the Centre to close its | 0:12:44 | 0:12:49 | |
doors. Its co-founder, a
psychiatrist, says the prevalence of | 0:12:49 | 0:12:58 | |
torture is the worst she has ever
known. I work in this field since | 0:12:58 | 0:13:06 | |
1993 and I have been hearing about
this field is in my university | 0:13:06 | 0:13:11 | |
years. What I have been seeing and
what might colleagues have been | 0:13:11 | 0:13:17 | |
seeing since 2013 is unheard of. It
was never, ever that the. So how | 0:13:17 | 0:13:26 | |
widespread would you say the
practice is now? As widespread as | 0:13:26 | 0:13:30 | |
the conflict. As widespread as the
country. What would you say to | 0:13:30 | 0:13:38 | |
government officials here need you
to deny them as torture? You are | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
liars. I would say you are liars. I
would say you know there is torture | 0:13:41 | 0:13:49 | |
because you practise it. What can I
say? And I would say that there will | 0:13:49 | 0:13:58 | |
come the day. Maybe I will not
witness the day but there will come | 0:13:58 | 0:14:02 | |
a day when those people will be
brought to justice. But justice can | 0:14:02 | 0:14:13 | |
be elusive for anyone hidden behind
the Sun. That's what Egyptians call | 0:14:13 | 0:14:20 | |
those who vanished from the streets
and are held in secret by the state. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:26 | |
Most are Islamist but anyone
opposing the regime is at risk. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:31 | |
Human rights campaigners say
enforced disappearances are a | 0:14:31 | 0:14:36 | |
trademark of the Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi era. They have documented at | 0:14:36 | 0:14:43 | |
least 1500 cases in the last quarter
years. But they believe the real | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
figure is much higher. -- last four
years. Most of the disappeared and | 0:14:47 | 0:15:01 | |
merge weeks or months later in
custody, facing terrorism charges. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:07 | |
But some remain hidden. But this
man's brother who has been gone | 0:15:07 | 0:15:13 | |
since July 2013. A bill says his
brother, Mohammad Amir, was an | 0:15:13 | 0:15:26 | |
engineering student who disappeared
as an Islamist protest aged 22. He | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
tells me witnesses saw him being
taken away by the security forces. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:36 | |
The years of fruitless searching
since then have been a torment for | 0:15:36 | 0:15:41 | |
his family. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
Their father, Ibrahim, a lawyer, has
been fighting a lonely battle for | 0:16:09 | 0:16:17 | |
Egypt's disappeared. He founded an
association for families of the | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
victims. Last September, he set off
for Geneva, to address a United | 0:16:20 | 0:16:30 | |
Nations working group on
disappearances. However, at Cairo | 0:16:30 | 0:16:35 | |
airport he is well joined the ranks
of the disappeared and was later | 0:16:35 | 0:16:38 | |
discovered in jail. The lawyer is
now being held here in the full | 0:16:38 | 0:16:47 | |
bidding prison complex in Cairo. His
family says he has been tortured. -- | 0:16:47 | 0:17:00 | |
across town after nightfall, a
journey to yet another broken | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
family. We are on our way to see a
mother who has a truly terrible | 0:17:04 | 0:17:12 | |
story to tell. We have been in touch
with her over the last few weeks and | 0:17:12 | 0:17:17 | |
we have arranged to sit down with
her tonight. She lives in a suburb | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
out near the pyramids so we are them
now. -- headed there now. This is a | 0:17:21 | 0:17:33 | |
student of 23 who wants to open her
own business. Her mother says that | 0:17:33 | 0:17:40 | |
she and her daughter were arrested
near a demonstration in 2014 and | 0:17:40 | 0:17:46 | |
convicted of offences including
attending a band protest. She says | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
they were in the wrong place at the
wrong time and spent seven months in | 0:17:50 | 0:17:55 | |
jail but were later acquitted. She
tells me that in 2016, is a glider | 0:17:55 | 0:18:02 | |
was detained again at a police
checkpoint and disappeared. -- her | 0:18:02 | 0:18:06 | |
daughter was detained again. She was
dumped by the roadside after 28 days | 0:18:06 | 0:18:12 | |
a changed girl. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:23 | |
But her legal papers show the
anguish did not end there. As she | 0:18:50 | 0:18:56 | |
was struggling to recover, she
disappeared for the second time last | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
April. Her mother says neighbours
saw her being taken by armed and | 0:18:58 | 0:19:10 | |
masked police. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
She seeks comfort now in her
daughter's bedroom. And in mementos | 0:19:36 | 0:19:43 | |
from the past. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
Her treasured keepsakes are just as
she left them are waiting for her | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
return. Her mother refuses to give
up hope, refuses to be silenced. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:17 | |
We wanted to ask the authorities
about her daughter 's disappearance | 0:20:56 | 0:21:02 | |
and the other cases in this report.
We approached the Interior Ministry, | 0:21:02 | 0:21:08 | |
the Foreign Ministry and the state
information service. No-one was | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
prepared to be interviewed. In the
past, the authorities have told me | 0:21:11 | 0:21:19 | |
there is no systematic torture. But
if mistakes are made, offices are | 0:21:19 | 0:21:26 | |
punished. They have also denied
there are enforced disappearances | 0:21:26 | 0:21:32 | |
and widespread human rights abuses. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:37 | |
On the banks of the Nile, there is
little hint of change. Egypt looks | 0:21:40 | 0:21:45 | |
locked in the past. Elections are
coming but the President does not | 0:21:45 | 0:21:53 | |
need to worry about the outcome.
Several potential to help meet | 0:21:53 | 0:21:58 | |
challenges have been intimidated out
of the race. -- potential | 0:21:58 | 0:22:04 | |
challengers. Many here are concerned
about security and the bomb attacks | 0:22:04 | 0:22:09 | |
by the so-called Islamic State. The
president says he is waging war on | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
terror. But human rights campaigners
say he is using that as a pretext to | 0:22:13 | 0:22:21 | |
wage war on dissent. Having been
here for over four years I know a | 0:22:21 | 0:22:29 | |
lot of the problems that Egypt is
facing. There are real economic | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
issues. There are serious security
threats from Islamic State. But this | 0:22:34 | 0:22:39 | |
is the most populous country in the
Arab world and if Egypt cannot steer | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
a course towards real democracy,
that is the problem for the Middle | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
East and a problem for the West. I
am leaving him with questions. How | 0:22:47 | 0:22:52 | |
long before all of the repression
here starts to backfire? And how | 0:22:52 | 0:22:58 | |
many more prisons and the regime
feel? -- fill? | 0:22:58 | 0:23:13 |