| Mona Seif منى سيف |
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|---|---|
| Born | March 12, 1986 [1] Cairo, Egypt |
| Residence | Cairo |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Ethnicity | Egyptian |
| Religion | Muslim |
| Parents | Ahmad Seif and Laila Soueif |
| Relatives | Alaa Abd El-Fatah (brother) |
| Website | |
| http://tahrirdiaries.wordpress.com/ | |
Mona Seif (Arabic: منى سيف, IPA: [ˈmonæ ˈseːf]) is a female Egyptian activist, known for her use of social media,[2] her role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution,[3] and her continued push against military trials for civilian protesters.
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Seif grew up in a family of activists, and activism was a constant topic of discussion in Mona's childhood. Her father, Ahmad Seif, is a human rights attorney who was imprisoned five years. During his detention, he was tortured. Her mother, Laila Soueif, is also an activist and a mathematics professor. She helped organize demonstrations against the Mubarak regime over the decades before his downfall. She was with a group of women assaulted by Mubarak thugs in 2005 where Mona's older brother, Alaa Abd El-Fatah, protected his mother breaking his arm. Her mother is known as, "brash and courageous, and has on numerous occasions faced down baton-wielding policemen with nothing but her scolding, scathing, booming voice and steely eyes".[3] Mona's brother Alaa is a programmer and popular internet activist. He and his wife, Manal, created the Egyptian blog aggregator Manalaa. From 2005 onward Alaa documented increasing abuses by the Mubarak regime. Alaa, was arrested at a demonstration in 2006 and imprisoned for 45 days. Mona and Manal helped organize a worldwide online campaign to free him. Mona's younger sister, Sanaa, is also involved in organizing protests.[3]
Seif is a cancer research lab worker, but much of her time is spent pursuing human and civil rights reforms.[3]
In 2010, tension between protesters and the regime increased. Mona began attending protests and working to raise awareness. "I actually celebrated my 25th birthday at a demonstration, in front of the ministry of prosecution. My friends were all there and it was very funny," she told CNN.[3]
During the revolution, between January 25 and February 5 Mona's entire family was together in the square. Extended family traveled to be with them. "It was a life-changing moment for most of the people in Tahrir Square. You could see the gunshots at people, and you could see how people were just going to face the thugs that were attacking us, with nothing to protect themselves. ...This was the important moment when everyone realized that everyone in Tahrir Square is willing to take this to the end, no matter what. From that moment on, for me and a lot of others, we had this blind faith that we really will win in the end," she recalled.[3]
Seif is a member of No to Military Trials for Civilians[4], a group pushing for the release of those detained during the revolution, the movement of civilians from military courts to trials by a civil judge, and, investigation of torture allegations involving military police.[5][6][7][8][9] Seif wrote on her blog Ma3t, about the military police during crackdowns on Tahrir protesters, requesting people come forward with their stories.[10]
She has been critical of the action's of Egypt's interim ruling body the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) saying, of the release of protesters without full exoneration: “The fact that they have suspended sentences does not give them the pride they deserve as revolutionaries who did nothing wrong."[11]
Seif estimates that military courts have sentenced 7,000 civilians since former Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February, 2011.[12][13] She notes that there has been a shift in the SCAF's approach since March: “Unlike what happened with protesters of March 9 and April 9 and 12, who got three to five-year sentences, protesters now are getting suspended sentences...but it is hard to predict the reactions of the SCAF; I think this shift is the result of the continuous reports issued by international human rights organizations condemning military trials, and also to halt the usual calls for Friday million man marches," she said.</ref>
She has continued to criticize tactics of the SCAF: "We have evidence that the military right now is targeting protesters. ... They selected known figures of the Tahrir protest. They selected people who were known and they tortured and beat them up...and if you read or listen to the testimonies of those who were released, which are a few, we still have a lot of people detained unconstitutionally. And you see that it's not just that they're getting tortured or beaten up, but there's an element of the Army trying to break the revolutionary spirit." [3]
Part of Seif's project involves asking detainees who have been released to record what happened to them. "They write it down. Some of them we managed to get their video testimonies right after they were released, so it actually shows bruises and burn marks." The testimonies are part of a blog called the Tahrir Diaries. "Especially with the army violations and the army torture cases," Seif said, "the Internet is really our only means of fighting this." [3]
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