AFP Forum

EGYPT - ARAB - REVOLUTION - ANNIVERSARY - RIGHTS - PRISON

EGYPT - ARAB - REVOLUTION - ANNIVERSARY - RIGHTS - PRISON
Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah (C) smiles next to his mother Laila Soueif (R) and sister Mona Seif (L) in Giza, the twin city of Egypt's capital Cairo, on May 17, 2019. Ten years ago, millions dared to dream that political change could sweep across Arab capitals, but in most places such hopes have been crushed as thousands languish in jail. From Cairo to Damascus, regimes have cracked down on the dissent which flourished in the early, heady days of the Arab Spring uprisings, with many protestors now silenced through torture and imprisonment. Or even death. Today, some 60,000 Egyptian political detainees have been rounded up since then autocratic president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in early 2011, according to a grim toll by human rights groups.
Khaled DESOUKI / AFP