It is hardly noteworthy by now that Saad Eddin Ibrahim s pro-democracy activism and work toward social justice has been troubling to the Egyptian regime, to say the least.
After several encounters with authorities, the professor is still politically active, and continues to work toward tangible political and social reform in Egypt and the Arab world. Nonetheless, the regime continues to target him as a threat to the well-being of the Egyptian state, by filing highly dubious legal complaints against the professor for his activism and its allegedly deleterious effects on Egyptian society. The latest bout in the saga of Ibrahim, unfortunately, suggests a winning round for President Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), as they have successfully forced Ibrahim into what looks like an indefinite exile, evidenced by his resignation from the American University in Cairo (AUC) earlier this month.
Ibrahim is certainly no stranger to controversy, as his adversarial relationship with the Egyptian regime over the past several years clearly portrays him as a gadfly of the NDP. As most avid followers of Egyptian politics are well aware, he has had a history of run-ins with the authorities, stretching back to his 2000 incarceration for allegedly defaming the Egyptian state, until his exoneration from all charges by the High Court in 2003. After the international outcry in the aftermath of his trial, and his subsequent release, one may have figured that the matter was fully resolved. Clearly this is not the case.
Now, following his June 2007 meeting with President George W. Bush, Ibrahim is again the object of the regime s animosity. His suggestion to President Bush that Egypt s financial aid package from the United States be linked to the government s level of commitment toward legitimate reform – common sense for anyone committed to democracy and freedom – was interpreted as treasonous by the NDP. Consequently, Ibrahim was targeted by a new set of specious and flimsy legal charges, accusing him of harming the integrity of the state. They include: communicating to a foreign leader (President Bush) information related to Egyptian security; putting Egypt in harm s way; and defaming the country abroad – an act which constitutes high treason.
These charges are utterly vacuous, bereft of any standards as to what exactly constitutes defaming Egypt abroad, or putting the Egyptian state in harm s way. Nonetheless, they have put Ibrahim on the defensive. His recent decision to abandon his professorship at the AUC is an acknowledgment of the severity of the recent slew of pending charges against him. Indeed, as his lawyers have advised him, merely setting foot in Egypt would result in immediate incarceration – a de facto death sentence for Ibrahim, whose health deteriorated significantly during his three-year stay in an Egyptian prison. In abdicating his position at the AUC, he leaves behind a 32-year legacy of scholarly distinction and teaching excellence.
Nevertheless, Ibrahim relentlessly continues his work remotely. Geographic boundaries and isolation from his host country notwithstanding, he continues to tirelessly promote civic engagement, participatory democracy, and respect for human rights in the Arab world. Orchestrating his activist projects from overseas, he continues to lead the direction of his Cairo-based democracy think-tank, the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, as well as spearhead new projects and conferences dedicated to democracy, and regularly publish op-ed columns in leading opposition publications.
That said, despite Ibrahim s valiant efforts to continue his fight from abroad, his work is nonetheless threatened, as his detractors are not satisfied with his mere exile. A particularly nefarious case against him, currently under review, demands the Ibn Khaldun Center be placed under sequestration, and that the state appoint a guardian to ensure that the Center be run in a manner benefiting the country. Were this case to be ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the Ibn Khaldun Center, presently an avant-garde think tank devoted to genuine reform, would be reduced to a pathetic arm of the state, a sinecure at best and a tool of political manipulation at worst.
This case, the results to be announced within the next few days, represents a pivotal moment in Ibrahim’s saga, and indeed his intellectual and activist career. Should he lose this case, his core institution will be neutered, stripped of its radical capabilities and commitment to any meaningful reform, and in its place will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Egyptian bureaucracy, in place merely to preserve the status quo.
The fruits of Ibrahim s labor, of his struggle for civility and the basic recognition of human rights in Egyptian society, for which he endured a particularly harsh stay in prison, functionally hang in the balance of the outcome of this case. But in the end, we can only hope justice will prevail.
Daanish Faruqi is a senior researcher at the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Cairo (www.eicds.org).
