Newspapers followed the details of Hosni Mubarak's retrial. Al-Tahrir on Monday had ‘Mubarak behind bars anew... trial postponed to 8 June'. Al-Wafd on Sunday quoted the prosecution accusing Mubarak of premeditated murder of revolutionary youth. Newspapers followed the signs of dissatisfaction with and outright rebellion of the current regime, especially the Tamarod or rebellion campaign which aims at gathering some 30 million signatures to withdraw confidence from President Mohamed Morsi. Al-Watan on Monday noted that Tamarod had collected more than two million authorisations and Al-Akhbar on Sunday quoted the minister of interior as saying a terrorist cell linked to Al-Qaeda was uncovered. Negotiations with the IMF to get a LE4.8 billion are in the final stages as Al-Shorouk website quoted Prime Minister Hisham Kandil on Tuesday stating. He expected to get the loan in 45 days. Writers looked into the significance of Mubarak's retrial. The retrial brought to Ibrahim Mansour the feeling that nothing has changed, as if there was no revolution. The situation, Mansour explained, appeared as if we substituted Mubarak's political party and despotic regime for Morsi and the MB's regime. “It looks as if the governance headquarters changed from the NDP on the Nile to the Guidance Bureau in Muqattam. The targets of the revolution were not achieved. No freedom, no social justice, no human dignity,” Mansour wrote in his regular column in the independent daily Al-Tahrir. What Morsi did in the last 10 months, Mansour continued, was not different from what Mubarak had done: Mubarak killed revolutionary youth and Morsi killed revolutionary youth as well. Mansour concluded his column by underlining that “it is our duty to put Morsi on trial as we did with Mubarak because there is no difference between the two. Morsi needs to be tried for escaping from prison during the revolution, for killing revolutionary youth and for failing to run the country. People need salvation.” The arrest and release of the co-founder of the 6 April youth movement left many writers confused. Amr Khafagi described what happened to Ahmed Maher as beyond understanding. Khafagi wrote in the independent daily Al-Shorouk that a warrant to arrest Maher was issued a month ago. Nevertheless, he was allowed to travel abroad only to be arrested upon his return. The prosecution decided to detain him for four days after he was questioned. Shortly after that, Khafagi continued, presidential aid Pakinam Al-Sharkawi and the spokesperson of the Freedom and Justice Party Murad Ali stated that the arrest of Maher was unacceptable. The following day, the writer added with amazement, it was declared that Maher was referred to the criminal court and shortly after that he was released. Given that Maher's situation is extremely hard to understand, Khafagi reached the conclusion that the political messages and comments issued regarding the matter cannot be understood. Thus he suggested that politicians can put these messages in bottles and throw them in the sea. “These messages can reach the shore in another era decades from now as ‘messages from the sea'. People who will read them then may understand them. These messages have no meaning or significance at present.” Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi clearly stated this week that the army will not interfere in politics. Nehal Ahdi did not find Al-Sisi's statement surprising or shocking as did others who have put a great deal of hope on the army taking to the streets and uprooting the MB and its followers. Ahdi questioned whether the army which intervened in politics before and was faced by slogans calling for the end of army rule would risk another adventure and the possibility of disbanding in response to a sentimental call that reflects the inability of the opposition to face the MB. Thus, she asked the army to do its job. In that context, Ahdi was not shocked by Al-Sisi's statement which emphasised that any army interference in politics would push Egypt 40 years back. It also sent a clear message to the people that they should take part in upcoming parliamentary elections which would be protected by the army. Thus Ahdi called on the people to remember the 18 days during which a common cause united all Egyptians in Tahrir Square which ultimately toppled Hosni Mubarak. During those days they were able to sack a ruler who was far stronger than the MBs. “By our own hands we managed to throw out a despotic regime. We can, by our own hands as well, kick out a more despotic regime,” Ahdi concluded her column in the independent daily Al-Watan. Mohamed Al-Rifaai commented on Morsi's repeated tours abroad which have all failed to achieve much. Al-Rifaai noted that in Russia, Vladimir Putin declined to respond to Morsi's request to increase Egypt's quota of wheat for there could be a shortage in this year's harvest. As for his visit to Brazil, the writer added, it aimed at helping Egypt benefit from the Brazilian experience especially in dealing with slums — as if the president needed to go there in person to see it for himself. Al-Rifaai also noted the visit came immediately after the government reshuffle in which the president insisted on keeping Kandil as prime minister. “He should have at least changed the minister of information, interior and local governance to guarantee fair parliamentary elections. However, it is obvious that Brotherhoodising the state is his main target,” Al-Rifaai wrote in the independent weekly Sawt Al-Umma. Abdel-Kader Shuheib issued a new economic warning in his column in the back page of the official daily Al-Akhbar. “Our economy is like an ailing man who, despite his pain, refuses to take medication,” he wrote. At a time when we know our economic problems are in need of a political solution, one that involves ending political unrest, Shuheib explained, we take steps that contribute to increasing that unrest like arresting political activists, sticking to a unilateral political vision, ignoring national dialogue and disregarding public opinion on important issues like the formation of the government. Our basic economic problem is a shortage in financial resources, namely foreign currency, and that problem contributed to an increase in the budget deficit, and downgrading Egypt's credit rating. As long as political unrest continues, Shuheib added, tourism and national investment will decrease and we will continue to suffer from a deficiency in foreign currency. Thus, the write concluded, “the only way out before us is to immediately end the political unrest in order to regain our badly needed foreign currency and achieve a degree of economic development that would guarantee jobs and an acceptable standard of living for Egyptians”.
