Arab Republic of Egypt

Egypt, 2009 - 2016

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[The Arab Republic of] โ€œEgypt has been under a state of emergency for a total of 53 years between 1956 and 2017. Periods without a state of emergency were the exception to the rule, lasting only three years under Gamal Abdel Nasser and eighteen months under Anwar Sadat. It was not until after the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces lifted it in 2012 that Egypt went for the better part of five years (barring a few months in 2013) without a national state of emergencyโ€”the longest period in its history.

 

For much of the Egyptian public, the practice of the state of emergency, complete with curtailment of rights and freedoms, has become the normโ€”whether the law itself is imposed or lifted. The overwhelming fear of extrajudicial arrest or assault, combined with the systematic labeling of any civil activism or expression of dissent as support for terrorism or the Muslim Brotherhoodโ€”accusations with grave repercussions for any individual or groupโ€”has created a uniquely Egyptian twist on McCarthyism. Voicing any opinion critical of the state of emergency is a risky move, even among regime supportersโ€.  - Sherif Mohy Eldeen with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

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This series of street photographs were made within this framework of โ€œthe practice of the state of emergencyโ€.

 ยฉ 2021 Anthony Hamboussi

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