In the midst of a bitter winter, a gay spy scandal and charged political debate ignited the headlines, Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed read on Recent press statements have been the most telling barometre of the fast-inflaming political tensions in Egypt today. Ironically, even as temperatures plummet -- being as we are in early February -- the political heat is on. The subject of much of the debate is none other than the controversial themes of prospective constitutional amendments and political reform. Cynical critiques abounded in the press this week and the pundits lashed out with savage opprobrium of the government's intentions. "The regime is suffering from old age symptoms and the [ruling] elite is the betrayer. Precious few people among the elite have a certain political stand that they defend to the end. It has become very easy to lure the elite by [offering them] easy political gains," bellowed the celebrated Al-Ahram columnist and septuagenarian Salama Ahmed Salama. Writing in the weekly mouthpiece of the Arab Nasserist Party Al-Arabi, Salama warned, "[The amendment of] Article 76 does not secure equal opportunity to run for the presidency. It allows the National Democratic Party and the parties that are approved [by the regime] to run for elections." Salama was quite candid in the interview. "I think the lack of transparency in the regime helped power centres to surface. These centres [sometimes] agree and harmonise or conflict and clash. There is the presidency on the one hand, the Policies Committee on the other, the National Democratic Party on another hand, and security apparatuses on the other side." In an unprecedented personal attack on President Hosni Mubarak, Salama noted that the Egyptian leader's indefinite stay in office was the real cause of the country's political crises. "Mubarak's staying in power for a long time is the reason behind the collapse [of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary]." Strong words, indeed. Salama's scathing critique, however, was superseded by that of Nader Fergani, author of the Arab Human Development Report, who wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom "the practices of the regime corrupt the constitution more and more. And those who tailored the constitutional amendments are more corrupt than the regime itself, for they were keen to reduce freedoms though freedom is the essence of the constitution." Fergani derided the so-called constitutional reform in a most uncompromising manner. "What was proposed recently was not considered constitutional amendments, but constitutional constraints aimed at finding a legal formula to help the corrupt regime continue." He didn't mince his words. "The re- amendment of Article 76 is a constitutional scandal. There is a group that has power that wants to become richer and to hell with the rest," he said. "Egypt's ministers are traders. And corruption is a product of marriage between public funds and private money." Another hot topic of discussion was the calls for the release from jail of Ayman Nour, ex- presidential candidate and former head of the opposition Ghad Party. Writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom Abdel-Moneim Said, head of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, urged the government to release Nour because of his state of health. "I join my voice to all colleague journalists and writers who call upon President Mubarak to release the former leader of the Ghad Party. And I also call for the release of all political detainees who have not been accused of definite charges." Writer Gamaleddin Hussein of Al-Arabi defended Nour and called on President Mubarak to show mercy and release Egypt's most notorious political prisoner. "Ayman Nour was not an owner of ships and ferries that sank into the Red Sea. Nor was he an owner of a company that produces polluted blood bags. Nor was he accused of rigging parliamentary elections... all he did was allegedly fabricate documents forming his political party. This was the announced crime. The hidden reason behind his detention was challenging President Mubarak [in the presidential elections]. However, I call upon the president to release him for humane reasons so that he can be treated in [a good] hospital. He is suffering from heart disease and diabetes and he could lose his eyesight." The launching of the Heikal Foundation for the Arab Press also received much attention. Abdullah El-Sennawi, in Al-Arabi, referred to the unexplained campaigns against the new foundation in the state-run press. "This was the last thing Heikal could have sought or wished... He never [expected] that the state could deal with his new foundation as a political issue that is liable to political conflicts. The foundation is aimed at securing and maintaining thousands of important Egyptian documents that date back to Nasser and Sadat's eras." One spicy issue that emerged towards the end of the week was the capturing of an alleged Egyptian spy working for Israel. The story was replete with sexual innuendo. According to Al-Ahram, the alleged spy, Mohamed Essam El-Attar, grandson of Sheikh Hassan El-Attar, one of the pioneers of enlightenment in the 19th century and a mentor of Sheikh Rifaa El-Tahtawi, had a homosexual liaison with an Israeli agent. El-Attar was also charged with changing his religion. His conversion from Islam to Christianity was supposedly a sure sign he was amoral. His sexual orientation was further proof of his depravity. "The spy began the betrayal by changing his religion," Al-Ahram stressed. The paper also disclosed that his homosexuality was the main reason why he hated Egypt, left the country and was recruited by Israeli intelligence. "He couldn't live in Egypt anymore. He tried to gain the status of a refugee in Turkey but failed. He then headed to the Israeli Embassy in Ankara where he was hired as an agent by three Mossad officers." Other reports said he was given assignments by the Mossad to hire emigrant Copts to spy on Egypt. No doubt the story will unfold further in the weeks ahead.
