'You know I'm a thief or what?': Crackdown on Egypt's Faisal Street after offensive comments against Sisi

Egypt's Faisal Street in western Cairo witnessed a security crackdown late on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday after an LED screen located on top of a local burger restaurant had displayed doctored videos and pictures of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi involving offensive comments on him.

An unknown number of citizens were detained as security forces were deployed in and around the long street, cordoning off side roads in and around it, also known as the Faisal neighbourhood, located some kilometres away from the famous Pyramids of Giza, according to the Egyptian Network for Human Rights.

The pictures in question involved words condemning Sisi and accusing him of corruption and persecution.

One picture showed Sisi asking Egyptians a famous rhetorical question to appease them: "You are the light of our eyes or what?" was replaced by "You know I'm a thief or what?"

Other doctored photos involved Sisi in a military uniform at the time he was the Minister of Defence back in 2013 covered in blood on which a holy Muslim Quranic verse was written on oppressors threatened with pain and suffering.  

Daring move 

Pedestrians nearby were quick to post pictures and videos of the display screen and its surroundings on social media platforms as some gloated the president and others, seemingly pro-government trolls, deemed the move as outrageous. 

The hashtags "Faisal Street," "the shop owner" and "national security" have been trending over the past few hours on most social media platforms.

Shortly after the situation went public, electricity was cut off to the whole area as policemen inspected the scene. 

"Anybody carrying a mobile phone or a device connected to the internet, such as a tablet or a laptop, was subjected to random inspection and, in some cases, detention," a witness told The New Arab on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.    

A cybersecurity expert explained to TNA, requesting to remain anonymous, also for safety reasons: "A hacker seems to have infiltrated the server connected to the screen and posted the footage and pictures in question."

"Another possible scenario is that one of the workers or anyone who had access to the screen could have inserted a flash memory inside it," the expert added.

No official statement has yet been made on the incident, while local media outlets, mostly pro-government, have not yet reported it.

Unconfirmed reports, meanwhile, indicated that Sudanese refugees, who fled the civil war at home that erupted over a year ago, were among the detained suspects.

Faisal Street is known for having a large community of Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees. TNA could not independently verify the reports at the time of publishing.

Last month, Amnesty International accused the Egyptian government of persecuting Sudanese citizens seeking asylum in the country, documenting in a detailed report abuses they had reportedly been subjected to.   

Deteriorating conditions

Sunday's incident came almost two days after social media activists called on citizens to take to the streets of Egypt to protest against Sisi's rule, calls met with a security crackdown on the country’s major streets and squares.

Economic hardships the country has been experiencing for over a decade now had, arguably, been accompanied by the worst restrictions on human rights and freedom of expression the country had witnessed in decades with thousands of Sisi's critics currently behind bars.

Public spending on white elephant projects including the New Administrative Capital, which costs Egyptian taxpayers around US$60 billion, has been met with widespread criticism.

A report by Amnesty International claimed that enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment remained rampant in the country, while death sentences were handed down after grossly unfair trials of regime critics and opposition figures.

Egypt's external debt soared by 5.1 per cent during the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching US$162.94 billion, a total of US$10 billion more than the previous quarter.