There is growing concern about a return to authoritarianism in Egypt, where the military-installed authorities have cracked down on freedom of speech, stifled protests, and arrested activists. Almost three years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the BBC’s Orla Guerin looks at what has become of the revolution.
Ahmad Harara is seldom seen without his Ray-Ban sunglasses. But for the 33-year old former dentist, they are not a style statement.
When he lifts them up, it is to reveal two unseeing eyes – the left one a prosthetic. It bears an inscription – “hurriya”, the Arabic word for freedom.
It was the fight for freedom that cost him his sight, one eye at a time.
Mr Harara was shot in the face twice in 2011, both times by police he says.
Shot-gun pellets destroyed his right eye on 28 January, a few days after the mass protests against Mr Mubarak began.
He lost his left eye to a sniper that November
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[The army] has ruled here since 1952 and doesn’t see the need to change because some young people took to the streets”Ahmad Harara
“I am not the person who has paid the highest price,” he says over Turkish coffee and cigarette at Cairo’s Cafe Riche, where coffee and dissent have brewed for more than a century.
“There are others who had much more serious injuries,” he adds, “and they are carrying on.”
Military untouched
In spite of his injuries, he too is carrying on.
He is still fighting the regime that plunged him into darkness, which he says has not been overthrown yet.
“The system remains the same,” he explains. “The army is maintaining its position. No-one holds it to account. No-one monitors it. On the contrary, it has taken more privileges.”
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