As 'Friday of Dignity' inches closer, Egypt arrests suspect over anti-Sisi billboards at Faisal Street

The Egyptian authorities have detained a technician over allegedly displaying doctored pictures and videos of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi involving offensive comments on him over the weekend as the crackdown on civil rights and free speech has continued in the Arab World's most populous country.

"The suspect has confessed to [reportedly] being incited by social media trolls affiliated with the now illegal Muslim Brotherhood group who are in self-exile outside the country," according to a statement by the country's Ministry of Interior released on Tuesday.  

"The necessary legal action has been taken against the technician," added the statement posted on the ministry’s social media accounts with a picture of the suspect with a blurry face, without elaborating further.

Earlier on Sunday evening, an LED screen on top of a local burger restaurant displayed content critical of Sisi on Faisal Street, a major street in Giza, some kilometres from the famous Giza Pyramids.

'The light of our eyes?'

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 dating back to 2013 during Morsi's rule covered in blood on which a holy Muslim Quranic verse was written on oppressors threatened with pain and suffering.  

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 on social media, electricity was cut off to the whole area as security forces cordoned off the area, detaining an undefined number of suspects. 

Unconfirmed reports, meanwhile, said that Sudanese refugees, who fled the civil war at home that erupted over a year ago, were among the detained suspects, for Faisal Street is known for having a large community of refugees and asylum seekers from Sundan due to the moderate rates of rents there.  

Following the 2013 military coup, tens of thousands of Sisi’s opponents were imprisoned with hundreds more being crushed at two squares in Cairo and Giza, dubbed by international media and rights groups as the "Rabaa Massacre." 

Morsi himself died in an Egyptian courtroom in 2019 after years of allegedly suffering medical neglect in prison.

'Friday of Dignity'

The billboard incident came almost two days following calls for protesting against deteriorating socioeconomic conditions and human rights violations under Sisi rule had been crushed by security agencies on a day, dubbed, "Friday of Diginity."

Earlier last week, a total of 33 would-be protesters of different age groups and social backgrounds were detained in the process, after they urged Egyptians on social media to take to the streets of Egypt, according to a statement by the local Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

“The detainees - interrogated over July 9 and 10 - have been accused of being involved in a terrorist group, disseminating false news and misusing social media platforms to promote their illegal activities,” the statement read.

A state security prosecutor has remanded the 33 detainees, including two women, in custody for 15 days, pending further investigations into the charges against them. Such accusations have been commonly used since Sisi took office against dissidents and regime critics.

Mada Masr news outlet, one of the few remaining free voices in the country, meanwhile, reported on Monday that the number of detainees was up to 70.

No official confirmation has yet been released on either account, as The New Arab could not independently verify the actual number.

Over the past decade marking Sisi's rule, media freedom, free expression and human rights have sharply deteriorated in Egypt, a country ranked now as the world's third-worst jailer of journalists. 

The country's 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.