04 July 2022; MEMO: The Arabic hashtag, Leave Sisi, was trending yesterday in Egypt on the anniversary of the military coup which overthrew the country's first democratically elected president.
Then army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi led the coup against President Mohamed Morsi and went on to spearhead a tsunami of human rights violations.
Protesters were killed by police and security forces and dissidents were imprisoned and tortured. In 2021, Egypt issued the highest number of death sentences worldwide.
Nine years since the bloody coup, Egyptians have taken to Twitter to criticise the worsening political, economic, and social situation the country is in.
They said that the dream that came with the 2011 revolution, of freedom and social justice, is a distant memory.
"They stole the revolution and the people's dream."
One social media user posted a video of police beating a civilian.
They also criticised Al-Sisi for not daring to allow Egyptians to protest or hold presidential elections because of his fear of rejection.
Hatem Saleh said Al-Sisi has a clear message: "Whoever supports him will get everything, and whoever stands against him or violates him will be crushed."
As conditions worsen in the country in the aftermath of the global coronavirus pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and numerous price hikes including food and petrol, Egyptians have taken to Twitter to call on Al-Sisi to leave numerous times over the past several months.
On the anniversary of the 25 January uprising critics called out the government for continuing to imprison 60,000 political prisoners, dragging their feet over the case of murdered PhD student Giulio Regeni and Al-Sisi's attempts at whitewashing the crisis in the country by asking Egyptians to be "patient" with him.
