Here are some key events from more than seven years of turmoil and transition in Egypt, leading up to presidential election on March 26-28,2018
Feb. 11, 2011: Autocrat Hosni Mubarak steps down after 18 days of nationwide protests against his nearly 30-year rule. The military takes over, dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution after the uprising leaves hundreds of protesters dead in clashes with security forces.
Nov. 28, 2011-Feb. 15, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the seats in multi-stage elections for the first post-Mubarak parliament, while ultraconservative Salafi Islamists take another quarter. The remainder goes to liberal, independent and secular politicians.
June 18, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohammed Morsi defeats Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, with 51.7 percent of the vote in a runoff, taking office on June 30 as Egypt’s first freely elected president.
Aug. 12, 2012: Morsi removes the defense minister and military chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and replaces him with Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Nov. 22, 2012: Morsi unilaterally decrees greater powers for himself, giving his decisions immunity from judicial review and barring the courts from dissolving a panel charged with drafting a new constitution. The move sparks days of protests.
Dec. 15-22, 2012: Egyptians approve a constitution drafted and hastily passed by Islamists amid protests and walkouts by other groups, with 63.8 percent voting in favor but a low turnout of 32.9 percent.
March 12, 2013: Egypt rejects an offer of a $750 million rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund. In the coming months, fuel and electricity shortages stoke discontent, while a campaign called Tamarod, or “Rebel,” gathers signatures calling for Morsi’s removal and early presidential elections.
June 30, 2013: On Morsi’s anniversary in office, millions of Egyptians begin days of demonstrations demanding his resignation. The military gives him 48 hours to reach an agreement with his opponents, but he vows to remain in office.
July 3, 2013: El-Sissi announces Morsi’s removal, installing Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour as interim president.
Aug. 14, 2013: More than 600 people, mostly Morsi supporters, are killed when police clear two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo. Islamists retaliate by torching government buildings, churches and police stations. Hundreds more die in subsequent violence.
Aug. 19, 2013: Suspected Islamic militants kill 25 policemen in the Sinai Peninsula. Militant attacks escalate in Sinai over the following months, with shootings, bombings and suicide attacks against security officials and troops.
Sept. 23, 2013: An Egyptian court orders the Brotherhood banned and its assets confiscated.
Oct. 9, 2013: The U.S. suspends delivery of tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to Egypt in a show of disapproval over the anti-Brotherhood crackdown.
Nov. 4, 2013: Morsi appears for the first time since his ouster at the opening of his trial on charges of inciting violence, the first of several court cases against him. Some charges against him carry the death penalty.
Dec. 25, 2013: The government designates the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Jan. 14, 2014: Egyptians vote in favor of amendments to the constitution adopted under Morsi. The referendum sees 98.1 percent of voters approve the measure. Turnout is less than 39 percent.
April 28, 2014: An Egyptian court sentences to death the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual leader and 682 other people over violence and the killing of policemen. The verdict, which can be appealed, sparks an international outcry.
May 26-28, 2014: Egyptians vote in a presidential election. El-Sissi wins with 96.9 percent of the vote. Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi receives 775,000 votes, fewer than the 1.4 million invalid ballots cast. Turnout was 47.45 percent.
Nov. 10, 2014: A Sinai-based jihadi organization called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledges allegiance to the Islamic State group, giving the organization a foothold in Egypt.
Nov. 30, 2014: A judge dismisses murder charges against Mubarak and acquits his security chief over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising.
April 21, 2015: Morsi sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges linked to the killing of protesters in 2012.
May 9, 2015: Mubarak and his two sons sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges during a retrial.
May 16, 2015: Morsi and more than 100 others are sentenced to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising.
October 2015: Egypt holds parliamentary elections, leading to an assembly packed with el-Sissi supporters
Oct. 31, 2015: A bomb brings down a Russian airliner that had taken off from the resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group.
April 15, 2016: Thousands demonstrate against Egypt’s transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in the largest protests since el-Sissi was elected president.
Nov. 11, 2016: The International Monetary Fund approves a three-year $12 billion bailout loan agreement with Egypt.
Dec. 11, 2016: Suicide bomber strikes inside a Cairo chapel adjacent to St. Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s ancient Coptic Orthodox Church. The Islamic State group claimed the attack, which killed at least 25 people.
March 13, 2017: Egyptian prosecutors order the release of Mubarak, ending years of legal proceedings.
April 3, 2017: El-Sissi visits U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House.
April 9, 2017: Twin suicide bombings rock churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and Tanta, killing at least 45 people. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declares a state of emergency nationwide.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants open fire on a bus packed with Coptic Christians, including children, south of Cairo, killing at least 28 people and wounding 22.
Oct. 20, 2017: Militants ambush a convoy of Egyptian security personnel, killing at least 16 policemen in the western desert, southwest of Cairo.
Nov. 24, 2017: Militants kill 311 worshippers in a mosque attack in north Sinai, the deadliest such terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history. No group claimed responsibility.
Jan. 7, 2018: Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq pulls out of the presidential race after he announced intention to run.
Jan. 15, 2018: Former lawmaker Mohammed Anwar Sadat says he will not run for president, citing a political “climate” not conducive to campaigning.
Jan. 23, 2018: Authorities arrest former army Chief of Staff Sami Annan on charges of inciting against the military and forgery, three days after he announced his intention to run for president.
Jan. 24, 2018: Presidential hopeful Khaled Ali announces his withdrawal from the race, saying many of his supporters outside Cairo were arrested and faced terror charges.
Jan. 27, 2018: Former anti-graft chief Hisham Genena is wounded in a brawl with unidentified men outside his suburban Cairo home. Genena was earlier named as a top aide to Annan.
Jan. 29, 2018: Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports el-Sissi, declares his candidacy in the presidential elections.
Feb. 13, 2018: Genena arrested after he tells a television interviewer that Annan is in possession of documents incriminating the country’s “leadership.”
Feb. 14, 2018: Former presidential candidate Abdel-Monaem Abul Fetouh arrested over his alleged links to Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
March 26: Polls open in Egypt’s presidential election, with el-Sissi virtually guaranteed to win. Voting ends on Wednesday, March 28.
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