The Second Edition of “Sisi’s Dialogue” Under the Guillotine of Arrests

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

On the eve of the commencement of the national dialogue sessions, a large security force raided the home of translator and cartoonist Ashraf Omar. It took him, blindfolded, to an unknown location.

In an attempt to whitewash the face of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime, 79 detainees were released today out of the thousands imprisoned in Sisi’s jails. Sisi has been leading an unending security campaign for over ten years against every striker, protester, or supporter of Palestine, extending to the arrest of a cartoonist. Just hours after Omar’s arrest, and a day after journalist Khaled Mamdouh appeared before the State Security Prosecution following his enforced disappearance in a systematic campaign against journalists, the National Dialogue Board of Trustees today thanked Sisi for releasing 79 detainees in the context of discussing the national dialogue on the issue of pretrial detention.

The regime orchestrates a charade of dialogue, releasing some detainees only to arrest others. The regime exploits the horrific conditions of detention to ram through its policies of further assaults on freedom of opinion and expression, as well as attacks on people experiencing poverty and all wage workers. The regime was disturbed by Omar’s cartoons, which sided with people experiencing poverty, and thus arrested him immediately. The regime negotiates the freedom of thousands of detainees only to move directly from its superficial dialogue on pretrial detention issues to actual dialogue sessions on the issue of cash and in-kind subsidies, aiming to reduce and eliminate support for people experiencing poverty, who have been under attack since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power.

The Revolutionary Socialists vehemently condemn the arrest of journalist Ashraf Omar among dozens of journalists and detainees in opinion-related cases. We call on political forces to form the broadest possible front now to stand against Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime’s policies, which aim to attack people experiencing poverty. These policies are being pushed through under the threat of imprisonment and negotiations over detainees’ freedom while remaining silent on the policies of impoverishment and subordination to the International Monetary Fund and siding with the enemy by suppressing solidarity with Palestine.