Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Silence Shrouds New Security Agency



[Please see Amnesty International's report, issued today, and posted below, on this very subject.]

By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani

"CAIRO, Apr 20, 2011 (IPS) - In mid-March, Egypt's transitional government formally dissolved the hated State Security Investigations (SSI) apparatus, meeting a longstanding demand of the opposition. But in the month since, authorities have remained tight- lipped about the SSI's planned successor agency, raising fears that the transformation will be in name only.

"There has been an inexcusable lack of information until now about the new security agency's precise role and activities," Amr Hashim Rabie, expert in political affairs at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told IPS.....

Egypt's SSI, originally dubbed the "Special Department" was first established in 1913 during the British occupation, with the express aim of keeping tabs on political dissent. Following the 1952 Revolution, President Gamal Abdel Nasser did away with most elements of the colonial administration, but kept the Special Department intact. The agency was renamed the SSI in the 1970s during the presidency of Anwar Sadat."

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