…and Europe remembers there was a coup in Egypt…

As of 9 March, the European Parliament finally took a step addressing journalists in Egypt and human rights violations in prisons in general, and recommended that European Union countries stop aid to Egypt because of rights violations and torture. The recommendation was adopted after the recent discovery of the body of the young Italian journalist Giulio Regeni, who had not been heard from since leaving his home on 25 January, the 5th anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution, on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road. It was recorded that Regeni's body bore many signs of torture, such as marks of beating, bruises and burns.

Following this incident the Italian authorities, at every level, called on the Egyptian administration to clarify the event, but after a while they themselves realized how meaningless this call was.

Because it was remembered that for three years there has been a military coup in Egypt, and that because of the despotic rule of this coup, several incidents similar to the Regeni incident take place every day.

In the very first days of the military coup, 3 thousand people who were holding entirely peaceful demonstrations and making their rightful objections, none of them carrying even a pocketknife, were massacred in the most merciless and savage manner in the square within a single day. Since that day, in Egypt journalists or ordinary people suddenly vanishing, their bodies later being found somewhere or never being heard from again, or their being held arbitrarily for a long time in prisons without trial, have become one of the most ordinary, most routine practices.

The Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms

, in the

report

it published on the occasion of 10 December, World Human Rights Day,

recorded only

"the number of people killed unlawfully during peaceful demonstrations, under torture and due to medical neglect"

as 3 thousand 946 people. Of these, 294 people died in custody due to medical neglect and 72 people under torture.

According to the same

report,

1. Number of people who disappeared at various times and for various durations: One thousand 950 people! No investigation was even opened for 322 of them!

2.

Number of people detained at a child's age:

690 people! About 300 of these children are still in detention on charges of having taken part in the events!

3.

Number of women and girls arrested:

One thousand 200 people! Of these, 66 women and girls are still in prison! Ms. Samiye Şenen was sentenced to death in person, and Ms. Sündüs Asım in absentia!

4.

Number of students whose rights were violated:

One thousand 956 people! Of these students, 245 were killed unlawfully, 1 thousand 64 students were unjustly expelled from their schools, 487 male and female students were forcibly held at various times and for various durations in unknown places, and 1 thousand 60 male and female students were tried in military court!

5.

Number of civilians tried in military court:

5 thousand 203 people! Of these, 256 people were unlawfully tried and convicted by military court, and the trials of 4 thousand 947 civilians are continuing unlawfully in military courts!

6.

Number of people who were severely tortured:

390 people!

7.

Number of people tried for the death penalty in 33 different cases and

whose files were sent to the Mufti of Egypt for his opinion:

One thousand 728 people!

The human rights violations recorded by the report thus go on and on.

The interesting thing is that there is no reliable statistic about prisons in Egypt. The number of political prisoners, which had nearly dropped to zero especially in the days of the Revolution, has reached 60 thousand in the coup period that is about to complete its third year.

In Egypt, where the economy reflects a state of complete bankruptcy, the state, which cannot afford to meet the most basic needs, has meanwhile built 10 new prisons.

Since the opposition facing the administration in Egypt, from the Ikhwan to the liberals, even to the Salafis, all prefer unarmed means of resistance, the pretext of terror that the state takes refuge in with regard to these rights violations is in no way convincing.

In Egypt the regime truly wished very much that the opposition would really be armed and engage in terrorist acts against it. It would have made its job far easier. Although it was not so, it expended great efforts to have the Ikhwan placed on the terror list.

Despite this, until the death of an Italian youth under torture, the world, truth be told, continued to remain blind, deaf and mute to the Egyptian dictator Sisi's so many rights violations.

If only that Italian youth had not been killed either, and Europe's conscience had awoken a little earlier.

In a written statement from the National Alliance for Rejecting the Coup and Supporting Legitimacy (Tedamun),

Europe's decision was welcomed, even if late, and the demand for severing relations with Sisi was renewed in the name of humanity.

We do not know how this belated decision of the European Parliament will affect Egypt, but it must also be noted that the Egyptian coup-maker has drawn a significant part of his courage from European silence up to now. These days Europe is also undergoing a great fiasco of a test over the refugees from Syria. When we add to this fiasco its record regarding Egypt, unfortunately nothing but Europe's tragic collapse appears.