A state of emergency in place, curfews that begin at 7 p.m. on Fridays, army tanks in the streets, Islamists either dead or in prison, Egypt’s aging former dictator Hosni Mubarak out of jail, a rise in Islamist militant attacks against security targets and the intimidation of journalists and human rights workers: These are some of the developments since June 30 that have left some wondering whether, two and a half years after the uprising that brought Mubarak down, Egypt is in fact going through a counterrevolution.
On July 3, three days after millions took to the streets calling for Egypt’s first democratically elected civilian president, Mohamed Morsi, to step down, Morsi was detained by the army and to this day remains in an undisclosed location. An army-backed roadmap is now being implemented for a transition back to a democratically elected government.
The plan—unveiled by the head of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, after Morsi was ousted—has seen the appointment of an interim technocratic government that is overseeing amendments to the 2012 constitution, and has scheduled parliamentary and presidential elections for early next year.