Human Security Centre Human Rights and International Security Research
HSC Executive Director Julie Lenarz reflects on Foreign Secretary William Hague’s comment on the violent situation in Egypt for the Evening Standard
20th August 2013
“I welcome the Foreign Secretary William Hague’s comment on the situation in Egypt.
The military’s overthrow of Mohamed Morsi’s government was legitimate and could never have taken place without the unique popular mobilisation on June 30th, 2013.
The Muslim Brotherhood was democratically elected, yet its rule was inherently undemocratic. The economy was on the brink of collapse, law and order broke down, social and public services were no longer delivered, and ethnic and religious minorities were brutally persecuted.
Morsi’s November decree disabled democratic institutions and paved the way towards a totalitarian Islamic state.
That said, military rule must be a strictly temporary measure to facilitate fair and democratic elections and transfer power to civilian government as soon as possible.
The current level of violence in the country is unacceptable and the killing on both sides must be wholeheartedly condemned. No one has the right to randomly assassinate civilians exercising their elementary right of free speech.
The Egyptian deadlock cannot be solved with bullets. A political solution is the only option. Liberalism cannot reside in a theocratic tyranny envisioned by the Muslim Brothers. But neither can it exist in a Pakistani-style military-run pseudo-democracy.”
