Amnesty: Egyptians Facing Same Police State They Did Under Mubarak

The more things change the more they stay the same

Last November, deadly clashes between Egyptian security forces and enraged protesters cycloned through sections of Cairo in what, to many, appeared to be a revolution unraveling at the seams. Dozens of demonstrators—mainly Coptic Christians—had been killed the previous month in a battle with police outside Egypt's state television headquarters, and the public had grown sick of unfulfilled promises for police reforms.

Tarek Moussa, 33, was seriously injured in the protests after live bullets pierced his stomach, liver, and diaphragm—including one that tore through someone else's body before hitting his, since security forces fired at close range. "Many people were hit in the head in front of me," he said in testimony to Amnesty International. "Why did they do this to me? I did not hurt my country. I will go back again to Tahrir [Square] to get my rights, but also the rights of others."