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Is Egypt Any Better Off Now Than Before The 2011 Revolution?

Four years ago, Egypt rose up against police brutality and a repressive government that limited its freedoms. Is it any better off now?
Posted at 1:14 PM, Aug 17, 2015

Is Egypt any better off now than before the revolution four years ago?

In 2011, thousands of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square in Cairo to decry their government. (Video via Al Jazeera)

They protested against a repressive government that restricted their freedoms. (Video via YouTube / Gh Ng)

A government that used a supposed state of emergency to concentrate power in the executive branch. (Video via CCTV)

And employed police brutality and harsh sentencing to crack down on dissidents

But after the Egyptian people ousted that government and elected Mohamed Morsi, a military-backed coup installed former general Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. (Video via Clinton Global InitiativeABC News)

Now, four years later, El-Sisi has enacted restrictive "counter-terrorism" laws in response to high-profile attacks. (Video via ERTUBBC)

Those laws allow for harsher punishments not only for suspected militants, but also for journalists who deviate from state reports of attacks. (Video via CNN)

Human rights groups allege the new laws broaden the definition of terrorism so much that they curtail free-assembly rights. (Video via Press TV)

And Amnesty International says the laws do all of that by extending state-of-emergency measures to concentrate power in the executive branch. (Video via YouTube / Abdelfattah Elsisi)

Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood dissidents sit in jail, some awaiting death sentences, including former President Morsi. (Video via CCTV)

So it's not surprising, then, that some of the same grievances that sparked the revolution in 2011 are already festering again.

This video includes images from Getty Images and music from Chris Zabriskie / CC BY 4.0.