CAIRO - Guaranteeing them jobs and flats, in addition to preparing religious and psychological rehabilitation programmes for thugs and criminals will protect the society from the dangers they present, say experts. Following the eruption of the January 25 revolution, the withdrawal of police from Egyptian streets and police stations on January 28 facilitated criminals' escape from prisons, fostering the incidence of thuggery in Egypt. “The escaped prisoners and thugs are threatening Egypt's national security. They are spreading unrest and chaos, as well as robbing ordinary people,” says Sawsan Fayed, a professor of social psychology at the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research. Her words are endorsed by Mohamed Abdel-Aziz el-Gendi, Egypt's Minister of Justice. “Nowadays, the Egyptians are suffering from a new threat, represented in the presence of between 300,000 and 500,000 thugs in streets,” declares the minister. “The thugs believe that the revenues of robbery and theft exceed their counterpart of noble works.” Fadia Abou Shohbah, a professor of criminal law at the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research, resembles the threat posed by the thugs to a “bomb which may explode in society at one time or another.” “ The danger comes from the shantytowns, where people are in dire need of money. So, most of the thugs come from such districts.” She insists: “Religious scholars can play a prominent role in solving this problem. They can run religious rehabilitation programmes to rehabilitate the thugs who are held inside Egyptian prisons.” In a recently-held press conference, Egypt's Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa called for devising rehabilitation programmes to help prepare the thugs for daily social life. “We need to plan long-term rehabilitation projects, focusing mainly on street children, who live on the margins of society and may be the future's thugs,” says Ibrahim Negm, the Grand Mufti's spokesman. “The thugs are always seeking money. Hence, creating jobs is one of the best solutions to confront the problem,” suggests Abdel-Rahman Abdel-Aal, political sciences expert at the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research. Similarly, economic experts affirm that improving living conditions and livelihoods will limit the dangers of the thugs. “I hope that the improving economic conditions will have a positive effect on the occurrence of thuggery. We need to establish new economic and agricultural projects, as well as enhancing investments in Sinai,” proposes Hamdi Abdel-Azim, the former head of Sadat Academy for Management Sciences.
