Former president Mohamed Morsi’s term in office ended abruptly after only one year, following mass protests and the subsequent decision by the armed forces to remove him from office.
Removing the Prosecutor General from office, putting presidential decisions above judicial review, and shielding the Constituent Assembly from dissolution were all controversial actions that sparked outrage from opposition figures. This was compounded by continuous complaints about the worsening economic situation, the constant electricity cuts and fuel shortages, and soaring food prices, leading up to the 30 June mass protests.
Morsi has been in custody since his ouster by the military on 3 July 2013. Until his first appearance in court on 4 November 2013, his place of detention was unknown.
Five different cases were brought against Morsi; Prison Break trial, ‘espionage’ case, Presidential Palaces case and the Qatar espionage trial.
The first sentence that Morsi received was 20 years imprisonment in the Presidential Palaces case on 21 April. Almost a month later, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Morsi to death in the Prison Break trial and the espionage case, and referred his file to the Grand Mufti for consultation. However, the Court postponed the final verdict in both cases to 16 June.
Morsi also stands trial, along with 24 other defendants including, liberal politician Amr Hamzawy, on the charge of “insulting the judiciary.”
(AFP Photo and DNE Photo)
One year of Morsi’s rule (July 2012-July 2013)
Mohamed Morsi was elected after receiving 51% of votes during elections. The candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated FJP faced Ahmed Shafiq, former prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, in the final round of the elections.
A review of Morsi’s year in office, similar to the current review for Al-Sisi, was published online. The website is still running, and contains data on various fields such as the economy, tourism, democratic transition and social justice for that year.
The review also documents the political instability at the time, as it reported 24 calls for million man marches, 5,821 demonstrations and clashes, and 7,709 protests including ‘factional’ ones.
(AFP File Photo)
All figures are based on the respective presidential offices’ official figures.
Security and terrorism
- 342 criminal hideouts were captured; 2,435 criminal elements arrested
- 15,591 stolen cars retrieved
- The Ministry of Interior reported 85 deaths within its ranks, 4,538 injuries and 50 destroyed vehicles
Economy
- Growth rate increased from 1.8% to 2.4%
- Investments increased from EGP 170.4bn to EGP 181.9bn
Tourism
- Number of tourists increased from 8.2 million to 9.2 million
Social justice*
Increase in wages of teachers and administrators at the Ministry of Education and university faculties, with a budget of EGP 2.4m
- Financial assistance to the families of the martyrs and injured of the 25 January Revolution, with a budget worth EGP 100m – 665 people injured during the revolution were given jobs
- Provision of health insurance for 13.2 million children below school age, and half a million women with families
- For people with disabilities – 5% of jobs in the state’s ministries were allocated
- Twenty basic goods were subsidised with a reduction of 15% on their market price
Democratic transition*
- Fact-finding committee established, and two reports were produced
- Remuneration for families of martyrs and victims of the revolution
- ‘Coptic rights’: appointment of 14 Copts in the Shura Council
- ‘Freedoms’: released civilians who received sentences from military courts, cancelled pre-trial detention in press-related cases, ended cases of political detention
- ‘Rule of law’: revoking the decision to reinstate the parliament
- A constitution was passed with approval of “two thirds” of the people’s votes
- ‘Separation of powers’: in the absence of a parliament, legislative power was transferred from the president to the Shura Council until a parliament was elected
- ‘Women’s rights’: preparation for drafting a law combating violence against women and preparation for forming an ‘anti-harassment and crimes of violence against women’ unit in the interior ministry
- ‘Establishing civilian rule’: “through regaining balance in the relationship between the military establishment and the civil government”
Foreign affairs
- Strengthened and organised means of communication with Egyptians living abroad
One year has passed since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s official inauguration into office. He won the elections held in the last week of May 2014 by a landslide 96.9% against his only rival, Hamdeen Sabahy.
(AFP File Photo)
One year of Al-Sisi’s rule (June 2014 – June 2015)
The presidential office launched a media campaign on its official Facebook page on Sunday evening celebrating the “achievements of the year” under Al-Sisi’s rule. It published data on achievements made in several fields during the first year of Al-Sisi’s presidency, including the economy, education, security, and combating terrorism.
Among the most important achievements mentioned by the campaign is the Suez Canal Axis Development Project. Al-Sisi had announced the launching of the project in August 2014, with the aim of deepening the current channel and developing the entirety of the Suez Canal. The campaign states that the new channel will be inaugurated next August.
On combating terrorism, the report recorded that:
- 254 terrorist hideouts were discovered and captured; 1,671 criminal elements were arrested
- 30 terrorist elements were killed
- 6m court decisions were implemented during Al-Sisi’s first year in office
- 2,821 criminal hideouts were captured; 38,000 defendants in criminal cases
- 5,866 cars reported stolen retrieved
- More than 160 security personnel have died since the start of 2014
Regarding education
- A UAE grant was used to construct 71 schools in areas with the most need.
- 159 schools were accredited, and 1000 schools were improved in order to qualify for accreditation.
- The illiteracy rate has decreased by 1%, placing the rate of illiterate individuals aged 10 years and above at 20.6% of the population
Measures to generate jobs, counter unemployment
- 260,000 jobs offered in both public and private sectors
- Training of 1,512 individuals for the job market, and evaluation of 68,000
- Rehabilitation of 900 women for the job market
On the economy
- Growth rate of 5.6% in the first half of 2014
- Tax revenue increased by EGP 36bn compared to the previous fiscal year (FY)
- 4, 673 companies established in the first half of the FY 2014/2015
- Fitch upgraded Egypt’s credit rating to ‘B’ with a “stable” outlook
Tourism
- 9.3 million tourists visited Egypt
- Revenue from the tourism industry increased by 49% compared to the previous year, reaching $6.7bn
Other files under review include public transportation and health services.
