CAIRO: New York-based news agency Bloomberg ran an article Wednesday contending that President Hosni Mubarak is preparing for his son Gamal to take over as president.
The article notes that four editors were sentenced to year-long prison terms in September for making similar claims in their papers, which the government called “false information .
The article’s author, Daniel Williams, points out that Gamal Mubarak was recently appointed to the only body within the NDP whose members can run for president – the Supreme Council – making the move a “stepping stone for his succession.
The editorials about Gamal’s succession that resulted in the four editors’ sentencing, Williams writes, “now seem prophetic .
President Mubarak has ruled under emergency laws since his coming to power in 1981, Williams continues, following the assassination of Anwar Sadat, and the country since then has been lacking in democracy.
“While Egypt allows elections, it is hardly democratic. [The government] still bans public gatherings of more than five people and prescribes jail for besmirching Egypt s image. For much of Mubarak s rule, there were no independent newspapers, and opponents routinely were jailed, many without charge.
Yet there were notable shifts towards democratization in 2004, the article notes.
As part of the US administration’s plan to foster democracy in the Middle East, Mubarak – whose government is a key US ally, and recipient of an annual $2 billion in aid – relaxed his rule.
“He tolerated demonstrations and lively independent newspapers. After repeatedly winning new terms in opposition-free referendums, Mubarak decided to allow a presidential election.
As quickly as the reforms were introduced, says Williams, they were revoked.
There was the prosecution of Ayman Nour, Mubarak’s opponent in the 2005 presidential election. Nour had claimed the election was rigged and was hastily sentenced to prison, where he remains.
Similarly, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members have been jailed since they won 88 out of 454 seats in parliamentary elections in the same year.
Williams notes that civil society organizations have been closed down as well, most recently the Association for Human Rights and Legal Aid, which works on the issue of torture in Egypt.
“Torture in Egypt is methodical and systematic, the article quotes Tariq Zaghloul of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, as saying.
Moves such as these, the article says, as well as the ascension of Gamal Mubarak through the NDP’s ranks, are a way to curb dissent, and pave the way for his succession.
