Political experts and activists have belittled the importance of the report released by the US State Department, which has criticized Egypt's human rights file. The interest in the file of democracy in the Arab world retreated during the last period of Bush's term in office and this retreat will continue during the coming period, they said, warning of depending on the US to spread democracy, because it is "only interested in achieving its goals."
Wahid Abdel Maguid, Deputy Chairman of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, has expected that Obama's policy would be like Bush's. The US interest in human rights issues retreated two years ago and this retreat will continue during the coming period because the US offered democracy was part of an integrated policy to change the Middle East. However, the failure to achieve this goal resulted in a change in the US tools and policies in the region, including the "tool of democracy". The US needs a help from the Arab countries to get out of the Iraqi quagmire, so it may ignore many human rights violations.
Abdel Maguid has warned that the US might be interested in the freedoms of the minorities such as the Sudanese issue and how it would deal with it, but the US intervention would be limited.
Omar al-Hadi, blogger, said such reports often do not have a direct impact on the ground, especially as they are issued by governments. The reports, which have a real impact, are those that are issued by international organizations concerning a certain event, but the US report is nothing but an "archive". The US is not honest, as it only tries to achieve its own goals and uses the issue of human rights to practice a "pressure" on the weak Arab regimes.
The US report commented on a large number of violations, especially the April 6 strike and the arrests of a large number of bloggers, especially Mohamed Adel, who was arrested due to his blog "dead" and personal opinions and not due actions he committed in the street. The ruling against blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, with whom we disagree, was politicized, he said. These reports are a part of the US intervention and hegemony over the region, especially as they are issued by the "biggest" violator of human rights. If the Obama administration alleges that it insists on observing human rights, it should not forget that Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp has not been closed so far and that the US occupies two countries. In addition, the US government supports the Arab dictatorships because it achieves its own goals, gets oil and ensures the security of Israel.
Bahey Eddin Hassan, director of Cairo Center for Human Rights Studies, said that the report comments on the wide-scale attack on bloggers in Egypt and many Arab countries, such as Bahrain, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Syria. This report is compatible with another report we and many human rights centers had previously received.
The report added that many blogs have been closed and many bloggers have been arrested or harassed, especially after the appearance of new bloggers who took part in several political activities. The US administration will focus on human rights issues from behind the "closed doors" in contrast to Bush's policy. And the release of Ayman Nour has been one of the results.
Bush resorted to the technique of public policies and the imposition of force, such as the green light to the re-occupation of the West Bank and the recent war in Gaza, Hassan said, expecting that the Obama administration will discuss human rights in public in some special cases.
