Prominent Egyptian author Alaa al-Aswany called on Egypt's ruling military council to stop its attempts to maintain the old regime. In an article published in U.S. magazine Newsweek, Aswany wrote about the historic moment Egyptians shared when they saw their former president, Hosni Mubarak, inside the dock at his murder trial. He said this moment was Egypt's checkpoint to a new era. Although there are many optimists who see a bright future for Egypt, people are still worried about real changes which have been delayed more than six months after the former regime stepped down in February, said Aswany. He added that there are some doubts about the military council's actions, which didn't respond to the real demands of Egypt's January 25 Egyptian Revolution. Aswany called to changing the prosecutor who worked under the old regime, accusing him of offering concessions to serve Mubarak's policies. He also accused the corrupt judges who supervised the elections and stopped military trials for civilians. Aswany went further to accuse the military council of accepting Mubarak's resignation in order to maintaining the old regime. He warned of the “counter-revolution” where Mubarak's men are using thugs to threaten people. Aswany talked about the dangers of Egypt's Islamist trends, whom he described as opportunists because they allied with the military council and supported it to reach power. Aswany ended his article by pointing out that the absence of a leader of the revolution after Mubarak's departure was a good thing that helped the revolution to succeed. “But we now need a leadership represented in a delegation or ministry or a government and not an individual. We aren't seeking a hero, because the real hero is the Egyptian people,” he wrote. Aswany is most famous for his novel, The Yacobian Building. His books have been translated into many languages.
