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US VOICES NEEDED TO AID ARAB REFORMER
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By Ahmed H. Al-Rahim
The Boston Globe - January 9, 2003
A Muslim-American recently won an important legal victory. On Dec. 3, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Egypt's leading human rights activist and a U.S. Citizen, was released from Egyptian prison. Several months ago, Ibrahim was convicted and imprisoned on charges of fraud, bribery, and spreading false information. After condemnations from Western observers and a threat from President George W. Bush to withhold additional foreign aid, Egypt finally released Ibrahim.
But this victory is only a small step in the struggle for human rights. Though released from prison, Ibrahim still faces a retrial in Egyptian civil court. If found guilty, Ibrahim cannot appeal the verdict. He needs our support to ensure that he is acquitted. More important, we need to affirm Ibrahim's agenda for strengthening Egyptian civil society.
For years Ibrahim has been an outspoken critic of repression in Egyptian society. He champions an opening up of the democratic process and election monitoring. He promotes freedom of speech at a time when Egyptians are not free to talk about social and political problems in their country.
As a Muslim, Ibrahim also speaks out on the plight of minority Coptic Christians. The Copts were in Egypt centuries before the Muslim conquest, but their presence has steadily declined in the face of physical attacks by radical Islamists.
Though known for promoting "Western" ideas of individual and minority rights, Ibrahim really speaks to an internal Middle Eastern dynamic. He is of an older generation that feels tremendous guilt for its misguided ideologies. It was his generation's Pan-Arabism that raised hopes and expectations for the rise of postcolonial development, secular values, and an open society.
Ibrahim recognizes that pan-Arabism has been a failure and that pan-Islamism, which has emerged in its wake, also cannot make good on its promise of a fair and just society. Rather than swap one revolutionary ideology for another or advocate the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, Ibrahim seeks to strengthen existing institutions of Egyptian civil society by holding them accountable.
While admired in private, Ibrahim has been publicly stigmatized by his conviction. At a recent colloquium on Islam and modernity at which he was not present, Ibrahim was dismissed by some participants as an irrelevant stooge who "gets Western money." The bitter irony is that the Egyptian government itself receives $2 billion every year in American foreign aid - and that all of us sitting around debating Ibrahim were on the payroll of American institutions.
While Ibrahim's work has been supported by a few small grants - including seed funding in 1985 from the Emirate of Kuwait - no one is really interested in the financials. Ibrahim was charged and convicted for taking a stand and publicly addressing issues in Egyptian society that are supposed to be discussed only in private.
Muslim Americans would be making a mistake to remain silent and not extend full support to Ibrahim. We have rightly championed the same issues Ibrahim has because we know how important they are for a healthy society. If this were a Muslim-American on trial here for merely speaking out in defense of civil society, we would be outraged. We should not hesitate to extend the same support to Ibrahim.
As the Arabic proverb says, "Al-sukut 'alamat al-rida" - silence is a sign of acquiescence. All Americans should take this to heart and speak out. And Muslim Americans - even those who may not agree with Ibrahim's stand on minority rights, strengthening civil institutions, and open elections - cannot deny that Ibrahim should have the freedom to speak his mind.
As Americans, we value the truth of this basic freedom. Ibrahim's release from prison demonstrates that we can play an important role in defense of this freedom in Egypt. We must be willing to rise and face the greater challenges that lie ahead.
Ahmed H. al-Rahim is chairman of the American Islamic Congress and teaches Arabic language and literature at Harvard University.
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