Cairo: 13 January, 2020

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) announced today that it has released its annual report on the state of the democratic path in Egypt during 2019. The report, entitled “Less Hope, More Despair”, addresses the cases, incidents and measures that have affected, either negatively or positively, the democratic process in Egypt. It concludes that the country is further away from democracy as a result of the mounting repression and the constant attempt to impose silence on citizens, thereby increasing the feeling of despair compared to some few facts that indicate that a faint glimmer of hope remains.

The report includes statistical figures on a number of cases pertaining to the democratic path as monitored by ANHRI, which amounted to 86 cases. Of these cases, 73 are being considered by civilian courts and 13 by the military judiciary.

The report also monitors more than 490 protest activities related to civil and democratic rights that took place throughout 2019, in addition to 180 protests and sit-ins /strikes related to economic, labor and social rights.

With regard to the violations of media freedoms, ANHRI monitors 170 cases of violation that range from arrests, trials, dismissal from work, censorship, publishing and media coverage ban, and verbal and physical assaults against journalists and media workers.

The report concludes with the most prominent measures and incidents that took place during the year, on top of which is the amendment of the Egyptian constitution to allow the President to remain in power for the coming 10 years. These milestones also include: the extension of Egypt’s state of emergency across the country and the expansion in the arrest of politicians affiliated to the civilian current, throwing them in prison over cases most importantly the case known in the media as “The Plan for Hope”, in addition to the scattered protests broke out in September 2019 in Egypt’s different cities and governorates and resulted in the arrest of thousands of citizens.

To read the full report: