{"id":39017,"date":"2019-04-16T09:22:52","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T09:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39017"},"modified":"2019-04-16T09:22:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T09:22:52","slug":"egypt-parliament-to-vote-on-extending-el-sisi-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=39017","title":{"rendered":"Egypt parliament to vote on extending El-Sisi rule"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nALGIERS: Emotion filled the voice of Mustapha Bouchachi as the Algerian veteran lawyer and human rights activist recalled the peaceful mass protests that swept aside President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
The young protesters \u201care finishing what my generation failed to do,\u201d said the man who became a mentor to demonstrators who have mobilized against \u201cthe system.\u201d
Bouchachi, in his mid-60s, has been careful not to try to \u201cseize\u201d the youth-driven movement even as he helped formulate its demands, notably in Facebook video clips that exceeded 200,000 views.
Whether speaking in his old-fashioned Algiers office or addressing university students, he has been tireless in explaining the goals of what he calls the \u201crevolution of smiles.\u201d
\u201cI am proud that many Algerians trust me, but this is the demonstration of young people,\u201d he told AFP, refusing the status of spokesman for the activists who ended Bouteflika\u2019s two-decade reign on April 2.
\u201cWe can accompany and give advice, but we must not steal\u201d their movement, he said.
Bouchachi\u2019s eyes filled with tears as he recalled his amazement when crowds of Algerians began to peacefully take to the streets on February 22.
\u201cI was so afraid that there would be no-one, that we would just be a few thousand, isolated, like in 2011,\u201d he said, referring to the Arab Spring uprisings that started in Tunisia but largely bypassed Algeria.
This time around, he admitted, \u201cI cried with joy,\u201d his grave face transforming into a deep smile.
He pointed to Algeria\u2019s 1962 independence from French colonial rule and said: \u201cI told myself that it is these young people who will finish liberating the country, because our fathers liberated the land of Algeria but the people were not free.\u201d
Bouchachi was seven years old when his father was killed fighting in the independence war.
When asked whether he has a political bias, Bouchachi replied without hesitation: \u201cdemocracy.\u201d
\u201cYou can\u2019t have politics in a totalitarian regime,\u201d he said. \u201cAll politicians must campaign for the rule of law, this is the priority. Only after that we can have debates between left and right.\u201d
Bouchachi studied law in Britain on a scholarship and graduated at the age of 25.
After defending victims of torture and arbitrary arrests during Algeria\u2019s civil war of 1992-2002, he found himself labelled a \u201clawyer of the Islamists.\u201d
But he stressed that he is \u201cnot selective in the fight against human rights violations,\u201d adding that \u201cnow I am being labelled a secular leftist.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nMustapha Bouchachi, a rights activist and lawyer, marches with others during a protest to demand the immediate resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in Algiers, Algeria on March 23, 2019. (REUTERS\/Ramzi Boudina\/File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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From 2007 to 2012, he was president of the Algerian League for Human Rights, at a time when the regime was using a mix of repression and social measures to pre-empt street protests.
He was elected to parliament in 2012 for the Front of Socialist Forces, on the promise of having \u201ca forum to question ministers.\u201d
But when he found his questions remained unanswered, Bouchachi left the legislature in 2014 to go back to his legal practice.
In recent weeks he returned to the political scene where, backed by his four student children, he has been hammering home the message of non-violence.
\u201cOur only weapon is the peaceful nature of the demonstrations,\u201d he told students.
Bouchachi has also urged young people to resist the temptation of wanting to sweep away all politicians and officials, including those in the opposition.
\u201cYou have to aim at the heads of the system,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they are gone, then we can get organized.\u201d
He now hopes for \u201cnine months or a year of transition,\u201d a process he said must include youth who took the lead in the street protests as well as opposition parties, civil society and political leaders from the pre-Bouteflika era.
As for the army, he said, \u201cyou have to be pragmatic. It\u2019s a strong institution, we need them for the transition. But they must accompany, not interfere in, the people\u2019s affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALGIERS: Emotion filled the voice of Mustapha Bouchachi as the Algerian veteran lawyer and human rights activist recalled the peaceful mass protests that swept aside President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.The young protesters \u201care finishing what my generation failed to do,\u201d said the man who became a mentor to demonstrators who have mobilized against \u201cthe system.\u201dBouchachi, in his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}