In the one year since the ouster of former Muslim Brotherhood President, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s legislative and judicial landscape has seen dramatic developments, with the passing of several controversial laws, and the sentencing of activists and journalists to several years in prison, as well as the sentencing of hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters to death. In that time, a new constitution has been passed, and a new president elected, and as the country is now looking to go to the polls once again, this time for parliamentary elections, below is a timeline of the key events that have transpired over the past year.
July 3, 2013: Minister of defense, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, joined by leaders from across the secular political spectrum, and state and religious institutions, announces Morsi’s ouster and the suspension of his 2012 constitution. The Nour Party is the only Islamist party to support the coup. Head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour is appointed interim president. Several leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist parties are arrested, and Morsi is placed under house arrest.
July 8, 2013: As the Brotherhood vows to continue protests a new roadmap is announced by interim president Mansour, laying out a timeline to amend the suspended constitution, and hold parliamentary and presidential elections. On the same day, 57 Morsi supporters are killed and 480 injured in violent confrontations outside the Republican Guard Headquarters in Cairo. A day later, Hazem El-Beblawy is named interim prime minister, and is tasked with forming a new cabinet.
July 16, 2013: Hazem El-Beblawy’s interim cabinet is sworn in. No Islamists are included in the list, with the Nour Party, the only Islamist party supporting Morsi’s ouster refusing any ministerial positions. The cabinet includes three women and three Christians, while interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim, appointed by Morsi, remains in his position.
July 21, 2013: A ten member committee, comprised of six judges and four constitutional law professors, begins to amend the 2012 constitution. The process comes under harsh criticism for the lack of transparency in the committee’s decisions. A month later, their amendments were made public, to be passed on to a Committee of 50 members, said to represent different sectors of Egyptian society, for their review.
July 26, 2013: A court officially orders Morsi’s detention over allegations that he was involved in the 2011 prison breaks, in collusion with Palestine’s Hamas. Morsi’s supporters continue to stage rallies across Egypt, with significant sit-ins continuing in Raba’a al-Adaweya and Nahda Squares. Meanwhile, thousands of protesters come out in response to Sisi’s call. He asks Egyptians to grant him a “mandate” to combat terrorism.
July 27, 2013: 81 civilians and a police officer are killed in clashes at a demonstration in support of Morsi, with the majority of deaths taking place at Raba’a al-Adaweya.
August 4, 2013: The trial of six Muslim Brotherhood leaders, among them Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, and Brotherhood leader Khairat al-Shater, is set for August 25. They face charges of inciting violence against protesters outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters on June 30.
August 14, 2013: Following Morsi’s ouster, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements mobilize supporters to stage significant sit-ins in Cairo, in Raba’a al-Adaweya and al-Nahda squares. The sit-in lasts over a month, with intermittent clashes with security forces. On July 8, at least 51 pro-Morsi protestors and three members of security forces are killed, and over 400 injured, during clashes at the Republican Guard. On August 14, the violence escalates when security forces move in to disperse the sit-ins. The disproportionate use of violence leaves hundreds killed and thousands injured. While the Egypt’s Forensics Authority claims the death toll is just over 600, the Muslim Brotherhood claims more than 2,000 were killed. The dispersal is the most violent attack carried out by security forces in Egypt’s post-revolutionary transition. In the wake of the violence, at least 80 churches and monasteries, and more than 100 Christian shops and houses are attacked, and at least five Christians killed in retaliation for what was perceived as Christian support for Morsi’s ouster.
Photo: The dispersal of the pro-Morsi Raba’a al-Adaweya sit-in (Mosa’ab El Shamy)
August 18, 2013: 37 pro-Morsi protesters are killed while in custody. Held in a police truck, officials accuse them of attempting a prison break. Police fire teargas into the truck, and the prisoners suffocate to death.
August 20, 2013: As arrests of Brotherhood leaders continue, Mohamed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide is arrested. His arrest is followed by the arrests of Safwat Hegazy, Hassan al-Brince, Mohamed Beltagy and more.
September 8, 2013: With the constitutional amendments received from the ten-member committee, the Committee of Fifty (selected by the presidency) which includes two Islamists, five women, and four Copts, begins its work. The committee elects Amr Moussa as its head. While tasked only with making amendments to the existing constitution, the committee disregards the draft submitted by the ten-member committee and proceeds to draft a new constitution.
November 4, 2014: In his first public appearance since his overthrow, Morsi appears in court on charges of inciting violence. The Brotherhood leaders appearing alongside Morsi flash the Raba’a sign, as they all refuse to recognize the court. Morsi’s supporters rally outside the courthouse.
November 21, 2014: Egypt announces a plan to review all pardons issued by Morsi during his year in power, among them pardons issued for members of al-Jama’a al-Islamiya.
November 25, 2013: Adly Mansour approves a restrictive protest law that requires Egyptians to seek prior approval for staging demonstrations. Secular activists immediately stage a protest in defiance of the law. A week later, several activists, among them Alaa Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Douma, and April 6’s Ahmed Maher are arrested on charges of breaking the protest law. They are later sentenced to prison.
December 4, 2013: The fifty-member committee concludes its task of amending the 2012 constitution and submits it to interim president Adly Mansour. On December 15, Mansour announces the referendum is slated to take place on January 14 to 15. Most parties and movements come out in support of the draft with the exception of the Strong Egypt Party, the April 6 Movement, who call for a ‘no’ vote. The pro-Morsi National Alliance to Support legitimacy announces its plan to boycott the referendum. Strong Egypt later announces its intention to boycott after several of its members are arrested while campaigning for a ‘no’ vote.
December 22, 2013: Activist Ahmed Douma, and April 6 co-founders Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel are sentenced to three years in prison on charges of violating the protest law. In April, 2014, the court of appeals upholds the sentences.
Photo: Ahmed Douma in Tahrir on January 25, 2011 (Sarah Carr)
December 24, 2013: In the first major bombing in the Nile Delta, a deadly attack hits the Daqahliya Security Directorate in the early hours of the day in the city of Mansoura. The blast kills 13 and injurs 134 in what appears to be the worst terrorist attack on a government site since Morsi’s ouster. Sinai militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claims responsibility for the attack.
December 25, 2013: Egypt’s cabinet declares the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
January 14, 2014-January 18, 2013: A constitutional referendum takes place over a two-day period across Egypt’s governorates. On January 18, the High Elections Commission announces the results. Voter turnout is at 38.6 percent, while the approval rate for the constitution is a staggering 98.1 percent. The first day of voting is marred by violence, with at least seven killed in violent clashes.
January 19, 2014: Morsi faces new charges of insulting the judiciary, in the fourth case brought against the former president. He also faces charges over a 2011 prison break, charges of killing protesters, as well as espionage.
January 25, 2014: The third anniversary of the popular revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, sees deadly fighting erupt between police and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi and some non-Islamist protesters in several parts of the country. The death toll from clashes reaches 64. A total of 1,079 are arrested according to a statement released by the ministry of interior.
January 26, 2014: Mansour issues a decree stating that presidential elections will take place before a House of Representatives is elected.
January 28, 2014: Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood’s trial on charges in connection with a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising begins. He appoints Islamist thinker Mohamed Selim al-Awa as his defense lawyer, who will represent him in this trial and the three other cases Morsi faces.
February 9, 2014: Prominent leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi announces he will run for president in this year’s elections, making him the first to declare his intention to enter the 2014 presidential race.
February 16, 2014: The lawyer representing ousted president Mohamed Morsi and thirty-five other Muslim Brotherhood figures in Sunday’s trial for espionage charges withdraws his defense team, prompting the court to appoint ten new lawyers and postpone the trial until February 23.
February 17, 2014: Sami Anan, former Chief of Staff, announces on Sunday he will participate as a candidate in upcoming presidential elections.
February 24, 2014: Egypt’s Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawy announces on State TV that his cabinet has submitted its resignation to interim President Adly Mansour.
February 27, 2014: Prime Minister designate Ibrahim Mahlab announces he is finalizing the list of names chosen for Egypt’s new cabinet, to be presented to interim President Adly Mansour on Saturday. On the same day, interim President Adly Mansour issues a presidential decree reconstituting the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to be headed by the defense minister and not the president for the first time in Egypt’s history.
March 7, 2014: Saudi Arabia lists the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi as a terrorist organization.
March 9, 2014: The law aimed at regulating Egypt’s upcoming presidential polls is officially issued by interim President Adly Mansour. An article in the law immunizing the final results from judicial appeal comes under fire.
March 18, 2014: A Cairo court sentences a police officer to ten years in prison on charges of killing 37 men in custody at Abu Za’abal Prison. The detainees died when tear gas was fired into a police truck, suffocating them. Three months later the sentence was annulled, and the case referred back to the prosecutor for investigation.
March 19, 2014: In Beni Suef a 13-year-old boy is shot dead in clashes between Egyptian police and protesters supporting deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
March 21, 2014: A Cairo court sentences seventeen Al-Azhar University students to fourteen years in jail on charges of storming the university headquarters, judicial sources said.
March 24, 2014: On Monday, the Minya criminal court sentences 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death in the largest such sentencing in Egypt’s modern history. The defendants in the southern province of Minya are part of a larger group of more than 1,200 alleged Islamists accused of killing policemen and rioting on August 14. Varying media outlets reported that between 375 and 400 of the defendants were tried in absentia. The court also acquitted sixteen other defendants. The verdict is sent to the Grand Mufti for his review.
March 26, 2014: Sisi resigns from the military announcing his plan to run in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections. His announcement, made while wearing military fatigues, is aired in an address on state TV.
April 1, 2014: Defense lawyers for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and fifty of the group’s leaders withdraw from the first session of a trial on Tuesday in which the defendants are accused of orchestrating violence in the immediate aftermath of the dispersal of a pro-Brotherhood protest camp in Cairo last August. Judicial sources say the lawyers withdrew in protest after one of the defendants told the judge he couldn’t hear the proceedings and was told to “shut up.”
April 1, 2014: British Prime Minister David Cameron tells the country’s intelligence agencies to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood, amid reports the group is using London as a base to plan militant activities after a crackdown in Egypt.
April 4, 2014: The Egyptian government approves a new terrorism law and sends it to the presidency for ratification. Egypt’s State Council revised the law with amendments including toughening the punishment of the perpetrators of any crimes of terrorism to death, and included provisions that facilitated the task of officers to enforce the law.
April 6, 2014: Mortada Mansour, Head of Zamalek Sporting Club, announces he will run for president, the third candidate to formally enter the race.
April 9, 2014: The United States designates Egypt’s most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a foreign terrorist organization making it a crime to support the group.
April 10, 2014: The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters rules the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis (ABAM) a terrorist organization.
April 14, 2014: A student, Mohamed Adel, dies and two reporters suffer gunshot wounds during clashes at Cairo University between security forces and students loyal to ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
April 20, 2014: Egypt’s Presidential Electoral Commission (PEC) says on Sunday only two presidential hopefuls—former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi—are to run in next month’s presidential poll. Controversial lawyer Mortada Mansour announced on Saturday that he would not run in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections, claiming that his decision comes despite having collected 20,000 recommendation forms.
April 23, 2014: The Obama administration says Tuesday it has certified that Egypt is upholding its 35-year-old peace treaty with Israel and therefore qualifies for some military and counterterrorism assistance.
April 28, 2014: A court in Minya sentenced 683 supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi to death. The Islamist group’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie is among the defendants found guilty of attacking Adawa police station and killing a police officer on August 14, 2013. The verdicts must be ratified by the grand mufti before they can be carried out.
May 2, 2014: The International Criminal Court (ICC) rejects a bid by the Muslim Brotherhood to investigate the Egyptian military’s alleged crimes against humanity in the country.
May 5, 2014: Campaigning begins for Egypt’s two presidential candidates, Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Several parties announced their support for al-Sisi, including the Nour Party.
May 5, 2014: Presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gives his first ever TV interview on privately owned TV stations CBC and ONTV. During the interview, he says there will be no place for the Muslim Brotherhoodin his presidency.
May 13, 2014: Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim says that the ministry formed a committee to revise presidential pardons granted to Islamist “extremists” by former president Mohamed Morsi.
May 14, 2014: Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement announces it will boycott the presidential elections, describing the process as “a farce” during a press conference. The group accuses the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) of leading a counterrevolution against the 2011 revolution and using military power to bring Egypt back to military rule after the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
May 25, 2014: The Judges Disciplinary Council suspends 16 judges for their affiliation to the Judges for Egypt movement, a group with alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
May 26, 27, 2014: As Egyptians take to the polling stations in the second presidential elections in as many years, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to emerge victorious. Despite calls from Sisi and the media, turnout remains lower than in previous elections.
May 28, 2014: Balloting is extended for a third day during Egypt’s presidential elections. As the preliminary results for Egypt’s presidential election began to surface, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), a pro-Morsi coalition, declares a “third revolutionary wave.”
May 29, 2014: Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wins a landslide victory in Egypt’s presidential elections. According to preliminary figures, Sisi wins 93.3 percent of the votes cast, Hamdeen Sabbahi wins 3 percent, while 3.7 percent of the votes were invalidated.
May 31, 2014: The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters places the Muslim Brotherhood Dominated Pharmacists’ Syndicate under judicial supervision, after charges are made that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood controls the syndicate.
June 3, 2014: Two new laws aimed at regulating Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections and the House of Representatives trigger a sharp backlash from several political parties, particularly in response to a decision to allow 80 percent of seats to be contested via the individual candidacy system and 20 percent from party lists.
June 4, 2014: Former president Mohamed Morsi, in a message released from prison, encourages his supporters to protest against the “military coup” and recently elected president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The statement, published on his official Facebook page, is Morsi’s first since Sisi was confirmed the country’s next president.
June 7, 2014: Cairo’s Shubra Criminal Court sentences ten supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi to death on charges of inciting violence and blocking the Qaylub Highway in July 2013.
June 8, 2014: Former army chief Adel Fattah al-Sisi is sworn in as the eighth president of Egypt at a ceremony in Cairo before the Supreme Constitutional Court. Sisi vows to fight terrorism and says he will establish a “strong, just, safe state.”
June 11, 2014: Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, together with 24 co-defendants are sentenced by a court on charges of violating the protest law. Abdel Fattah is sentenced to 15 years in prison. The defendants are sentenced in absentia before they are given the chance to enter the courtroom. Abdel Fattah and two other defendants are immediately arrested after the verdict is issued.
June 15, 2014: Two supermarket chains, Seoudi and Zad, are seized by Egyptian security forces and closed due to ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. A day later they are placed under the control of the Egyptian Food Industries Holding Company.
June 16, 2014: Egypt’s new president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issues a presidential decree forming a Supreme Committee for legislation reform.The committee will be tasked with preparing, researching and studying draft laws as well as decrees issued by the president and prime minister that must be issued or amended in order to comply with the 2014 constitution.
June 17, 2014: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s first cabinet is sworn in, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. The new government retains twenty-one existing ministers, one of whom will hold a new portfolio, and introduced thirteen new ministers. Among the major changes is the replacement of Nabil Fahmy by Sameh Shoukry as Foreign Minister. Additionally, the ministry of information was scrapped, the ministry of urban development was established, and the ministry of investment was split from the ministry of trade and industry. On the same day, Egypt regains membership in the African Union. Egypt’s membership has been frozen since former president Morsi’s ouster in July 2013.
June 19, 2014: An Egyptian court sentences the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Badie, Mohamed al-Beltagy, as well as Safwat Hegazy to death. Badie has already been sentenced to death on other charges. The final verdict in the case is expected on August 3.
June 21, 2014: An Egyptian court upholds the death sentence for 182 of 628 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, alongside the organization’s Supreme Leader, Mohamed Badie. The death sentence for the remaining 445 defendants is not upheld.
June 21, 2014: Police detain twenty-four activists demonstrating against the protest law. At least two journalists are among those detained.
June 22, 2014: US Secretary of State John Kerry visits Egypt for the first time since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s election. During his visit, news emerges that in the week prior to his visit, the US released $575 million of its suspended military aid to Egypt. Kerry also promises that ten withheld Apache helicopters will be delivered soon.
June 23, 2014: Twenty defendants, among them three Al-Jazeera journalists, Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy, and Australian Peter Greste, are sentenced to up to ten years in prison. Some of the defendants, including two Britons and a Dutch journalist are sentenced in absentia. Greste is sentenced to the maximum seven years in prison. Mohamed is sentenced to ten, with three years added to his verdict because he was in possession of a bullet casing at the time of his arrest. The verdict is met with a strong international backlash, as the United States calls on Egypt to pardon the journalists. Sisi responds saying that he refuses to interfere in judicial rulings.
June 24, 2014: The The House Appropriations committee votes 35 to 11 against amendments to US aid to Egypt. On the same day, two courts sentence two Egyptian Christians on separate charges. One is sentenced to six years prison on charges of blasphemy for a Facebook post, while the other, a journalist, is sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting sectarian tension.
June 25, 2014: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reintroduces the presidential appointment of university heads and deans. In the wake of the January 25 uprising, the law was amended allowing universities to elect their own heads. On the same day, a Suez court sentences journalist Abdel-Rahman Shahin to three years in prison. Shahin previously worked for the pro-Brotherhood Misr 25 channel as well as the Freedom and Justice Party’s newspaper.
June 25, 2014: Eight people are injured after a string of blasts at four subway stations and a Heliopolis court. These are the first attacks since Sisi’s election.
June 27, 2014: The US Senate confirms the new US ambassador to Egypt, Robert Beecroft.
June 30, 2014: In a speech commemorating the one year anniversary of mass protests breaking out against Morsi, newly elected president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi says that Egypt protect Islam and the Arab region from extremism. On the same day, two policemen are killed defusing bombs in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Heliopolis. While the militant group, Ajnad Misr, claims responsibility for the bombings, authorities place the blame on the Brotherhood.
July 2, 2014: A court sentences Abdallah Morsi, the son of Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi, and his friend to one year in prison with labor on Wednesday, fining them EGP 10,000 each, for drug possession. They are sentenced in absentia.
July 2, 2014: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approves a law imposing a new 10 percent tax on capital gains and stock dividends.