Dr Reem Abou-El-Fadl on whats happening in Egypt
Reem Abou-El-Fadl has recently given four interviews on contemporary Egyptian political affairs to the BBC News 24 channel, Voice of Russia radio, Alternet.com and World Politics Review.
On 24 May 2012, Reem spoke on BBC News 24 about the results of the first round of the Egyptian presidential elections. On 14 June 2012, she participated in a discussion on Egypts Presidential Election Controversy on Voice of Russia radio. In these interviews, she reflected on the imposition of the timetable for transition by the military council, in turn explaining the reasons why some citizens boycotted the vote. She discussed Egyptians anxiety about electing a president whose executive powers are as yet undefined, since the constitution has yet to be rewritten. Many of them also reject the candidacy of General Ahmad Shafik, Mubaraks last prime minister. She also noted the blessings given to this electoral process by such influential external powers as the United States.
In late May 2012, Reem was interviewed by Alex Kane of Alternet on the state of Egyptian foreign relations since the 2011 uprisings of the Egyptian revolution. The extended interview was published on the Alternet website on 5 June. Reem was asked to reflect on Israels regional position since 1948, and what changes the Arab uprisings had occasioned to its dynamics with Arab states. She was also asked to summarise the arguments of a recent article she wrote in the Journal of Palestine Studies on the importance of both domestic and foreign policy concerns in Egyptian protesters conceptions and demands, and particularly on the place of anti-Zionism and Palestine in the past four decades of popular protest in Egypt. Finally, she was asked to reflect on the Egyptian presidential elections potential outcomes, and to compare the recent tensions between Turkey and Israel with those developing between Egypt and Israel since the January 2011 revolution.
On 5 June 2012, Reem was interviewed by reporter Catherine Cheney of the Trend Lines section of World Politics Review, on the Mubarak trial verdicts of 2 June, and their implications for the presidential elections process. The article, entitled Mubarak Verdict Underscores Challenges of Transitional Justice in Egypt, discussed the mixture of sentences (given to Mubarak and his Interior Minister, Habib Al-Adly) and acquittals (handed to Mubaraks sons and Al-Adlys aides as well as to tycoon Hussein Salem), public reactions to the trial, and the state of the justice system in Egypt. Reem said that the fact that most Egyptians expect Mubaraks life sentence to be successfully appealed or shortened on health grounds only added to the general outpouring of anger: The chant in the court as soon as the sentences were delivered was along the lines of the familiar Arab revolutionary chant, The people want the fall of the regime. It went, The people want the purification of the justice system. Reems views were published alongside those of another interviewee, Middle East scholar Larbi Sadiki, who argued for the importance of truth and reconciliation types of transitional justice measures in the Egyptian case. By contrast, Reem argued that the trial could have been better handled with a proper judicial process with full evidence and transparency There was no need for a truth and reconciliation commission with Mubarak. People rather demanded justice, what they called al-qasas, which means retribution and which is essential to being able to move forward.
Reem recently expanded on her views on transitional justice in the Egyptian context in an article entitled Beyond Conventional Transitional Justice: Egypts 2011 Revolution and the Absence of Political Will, published in the International Journal of Transitional Justice (Vol. 6, 2012).
