For those seeking democracy in Egypt, May 18th was a day of setbacks: A Cairo court of appeals upheld the conviction of former presidential candidate, a disciplinary tribunal denied promotion to a judge who had called for cleaner elections, and hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were beaten and arrested.
"This is another grim day for Egypt's supposed commitment to political reform," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East division at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"People are trying to gather peacefully to support critics of the government, which responds by putting them behind bars or beating them into silence."
Following a trial that HRW says did not meet the standards for a free and fair judicial proceeding, former presidential candidate Ayman Nur's appeal against charges of forgery was denied on Thursday. Nur, a member of Parliament and outspoken dissident, was Egyptian President Husni Mubarak's strongest challenger in the country's first multi-candidate presidential elections held in September 2005.
Nur was jailed in December for allegedly forging signatures on his political party's registration application, charges that most observers consider to be politically motivated.
"The Egyptian Government's handling of this case represents both a miscarriage of justice by international standards and a setback for the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people," said Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US State Department, at the press briefing on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, a Supreme Judicial Council disciplinary tribunal in Cairo ruled on the cases of two judges who had publicly voiced criticism of fraud in the parliamentary elections that were held last autumn. One of the judges, Ahmad Mekki, was exonerated, while his colleague Hisham al-Bastawisi received a rebuke and was denied a promotion.
Mekki and al-Bastawisi were among four judges who were stripped of their judicial immunity in February after the professional association of judges refused to certify election results because dozens of its members reported polling station irregularities.
Escalating Protests and Repression
In an unusual display of unity between Islamist and secular opposition groups, the disciplinary hearings have in recent weeks become a focal point of joint civil society demonstrations. Hundreds of citizens have mobilised to support the judges and call for further democratisation, chanting slogans such as "judges, rid us of these tyrants."
Despite being non-violent, the protests have been met with increasing repression on the part of the government. The crackdown peaked on Thursday, with the arrest of an estimated 300 activists, including several members of parliament.
According to HRW, Egyptian authorities arrested 240 activists in the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, as well as 14 members of Kifaya (Arabic for "Enough"), an umbrella opposition group of mostly secular and leftist activists.
Among those detained was Muhsin Radi, a member of parliament who is also on the Muslim Brotherhood's executive bureau, as well as 'Issam al-'Irian, a leading member of the Doctors' Syndicate.
This latest crackdown follows weeks of escalating repression. The first arrests took place on April 24th, when uniformed and plainclothes policemen reportedly beat dozens of protesters who were conducting an around-the-clock vigil outside of the judges' professional association.
"Around 2:30 a.m., hundreds of hired thugs and uniformed police stormed our camp and started beating us," one eyewitness told HRW. "I saw about 20 plainclothesmen beating one young man. Later I saw him fall from the police truck. His face was completely covered in blood."
Protests escalated further following an April 30th approval by parliament of legislation to extend the State of Emergency that has been in force since 1981 and which has been used by the Mubarak regime to curtail civil liberties.
A few weeks later, on May 11th, thousands of security forces sealed off large parts of downtown Cairo, beating and arresting hundreds of people arriving to join a rally in support of judges Mekki and al-Bastawisi.
"We were encircled and didn't know where to run," activist, Rabab al-Mahdi told HRW. "They staring beating us…I saw some on the ground being trampled. I've never seen this level of violence or police presence."
Journalists came in for especially harsh treatment by the security forces. According to al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based Arabic news station, plainclothes police officers beat two of their journalists, who were trying to cover the protest.
The reporters were not detained, but the authorities confiscated their tape of the events.
Writer Abir al-'Askari for the weekly paper al-Dustour reported being sexually harassed by police.
"They beat me, put me in a police microbus, and drove me to Sayyida Zeinab police station," she told HRW. "They tore at my clothes; my shirt buttons. They continued to slap and punch me…I was there for about three hours."
Such violence has not gone unnoticed by the international community. Both the United States and the European Union have issued mildly-worded statements in recent weeks, protesting against the backslide in political reform, while human rights groups have made more serious demands.
"The Egyptian government should immediately release all those arrested today unless it can show that a particular individual was engaged in violence," said HRW's Joe Stork.
"Coming together for peaceful protests is not a crime."
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