University of Oxford Project on Contemporary Egypt

The UK Foreign Office has updated its Human Rights report on Egypt. It states "restrictions on civil society worsened significantly" and identifies a "worrying trend of civil restrictions on civil society".

Human Rights Priority Country update report: July to December 2016 - GOV.UK Restrictions on human rights in Egypt continued in the second half of 2016, including growing restrictions on civil society. We raised our concerns around political detentions, torture and restrictions on civil society in Egypt in our national statement at the UN Human Rights Council in September un...

UK Foreign Office calls on Egypt for a "full & transparent" investigation into the torture & death of Cambridge student.

UK Foreign Office calls for "full and transparent investigation" of Regeni murder Friends of the Girton student have called the statement "bland"

Interesting to note that jailing of novelist Ahmad Naji for writing a sexually explicit novel has become a lightening rod for intellectual protest. Even Egypt's Minister for Culture has spoken out, as well as two former Ministers for Culture.

Yet more evidence that the arts and culture are powerful political tools:

Egyptian cartoonist arrested for 'unauthorized' page - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the... In an interview with Al-Monitor, Egyptian cartoonist Islam Gawish speaks about his brief detention and vows to continue with his work.

For some details of our ongoing project on "Democracy in Contemporary Egypt", see here:

Democracy in contemporary Egypt | KE Feature | Knowledge Exchange Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

If you missed the seminar, or want to listen to one of the talks again, visit our podcast site:

Religion & Politics: Defining the Civil State in Egypt | Podcast Series | News and Media Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

Morality aside, this could well be counter-productive in terms of creating a martyr & fueling the next generation of terrorists.

Egyptian judge requests death penalty for ex-president Mohammed Morsi Country's first freely elected president provisionally sentenced to death for arranging mass jailbreak

Fighting for the right to criticise in Sisi's Egypt Comment: Criticism should be a part of any healthy public debate, but...

Egypt sentences Mohammed Morsi to death Verdict against former president referred to the Grand M***i for confirmation.

Keynote address by His Grace Bishop Angaelos Pembroke College, Oxford.

: : We must not let our people fall into a mental state of victimhood. Pembroke College, Oxford