The second Cairo fire .. and the waste of Egypt's history

 The undersigned organizations express their deep regret at the occurrence of a fire in the building of the Shura Council yesterday, and a number of annexes to the People's Assembly building, the Ministry of Health and a post office in Qasr al-Aini, in an incident that brought to mind the memory of the Cairo fire on January 26, 1952, which destroyed countless buildings, establishments and shops, and the scene ended. By dismissing the government of Nahhas Pasha and accusing it of not being able to maintain security.

 The late President Sadat established the Egyptian Shura Council in 1980 without granting it constitutional powers similar to the powers of the Senate in the parliaments of Europe and America, and the immunity of its members, especially those appointed, remained a means of saving and legitimizing the activities of some of them and granting others a social prerogative, especially in light of the reluctance of citizens to participate in the elections. It has its seats, but its building and the People's Assembly still contain the most important decision-making files in Egypt.

 On the other hand, the legislation depriving freedoms increased during the past years in a manner that accompanied corruption in Egypt to "left behind" according to the assertion of parliamentarians and local and international reports. The shura and people's stores remained packed with documents and hot files for serious issues, and the government had prepared draft laws that would enhance its capabilities to withhold information. On behalf of the people, civil society and the press, such as the law regulating satellite and visual broadcasting, the law of disclosure and circulation of information, and the law on criminalizing possession of national documents, while keeping all big and small about the history and biography of the Egyptian people and the methods of governing their systems for them.

 The scene of the second Cairo fire yesterday seems more dangerous than the first, as it overthrew the memory of a nation, but it must be pointed out that every official, negligent or negligent should be punished, even if we are not waiting for the dismissal of the government as it was in January 1952 because that seems impossible, and we believe that the introduction of junior employees and workers in buildings The burning of the trial, similar to what happened in the case of the burning of the Upper Egypt train, reinforces suspicions about the news reported by Al-Badeel newspaper, which Al-Ahram refused yesterday to print, and its headlines indicated, according to a statement issued by the newspaper, to the burning of serious case files affecting senior state officials, Such as the issue of the term death, contaminated blood bags, carcinogenic pesticides, and the Upper Egypt train. Al-Ahram previously disrupted the printing of the newspaper’s issue yesterday, after the newspaper titled its home page entitled “Weddings in Pakistan after the resignation of the President ...

 The organizations raise several questions related to the incident that may have seemed naive to some: Was it a premeditated proposal and it was responded to by security experts? Or is it a short circuit or is it from the temperature of the air?

Will the government come out against us with an organization claiming to be a terrorist, planning and executioner of the incident, similar to the “Victorious Sect” organization, which renewed the emergency in April 2006? Is the government taking advantage of the incident to implement proposals to transfer the ministries and parliament headquarters to the outskirts of Cairo?

 And stresses the necessity of preserving the history of the people of Egypt and their government departments, in a safe manner, after the accident proved the inability of the government and its apparatus to protect those documents and that date.

The Signing Organizations:

Maat for juridical and constitutional studies

One World Foundation for Civil Society Development and Human Rights

Human Development Association