Europeans need to remain attentive in order for activists in the Arab world to bring about real change, says the Egyptian blogger and Sakharov Prize winner.

Interview: The fight is not over – Asmaa Mahfouz

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15789055/n003-0159-en_mf.srt

What does this Sakharov Prize  represent to you,

and do you have the impression  that it comes a bit late,

that European recognition of the revolution,  the Arab Spring, comes a bit late?

The history of the Prize and the people  it has been awarded to mean a lot to me.

It’s a prize for the freedom of thought.

Of course I value this Western award, but...

It's not too late. We knew  that the West has made mistakes,

many errors in maintaining  relations with dictators,

relations based on their own interests  and not on human rights.

Despite this award that I’ve received,  the West persists in this mistake.

The Arab Spring isn’t over yet, one can  even say that it’s only in its early stages.

I hope the relationship between the West  and the Arabs will be better in the future.

When you look at  the situation in Egypt today,

was this the kind of transition  you expected

when you started to write,  to call for a revolution?

when we took to the streets in Egypt  on 25 January, for a period of 18 days,

given the big sacrifices and the martyrs.

We expected a lot more, a well-managed  transition and a stable government.

We were shocked to discover that control  had been taken by the military council

which was part of the old regime,  its worst branch even.

Today people are killed every day,  but the media turn their back on us,

ignore our martyrs  and treat us like thugs and agitators

and say it’s us who are attacking the police.

That has started to tarnish the image of  all the revolutionaries and the revolution.

They want to give ordinary people the idea  that our revolution is harmful to our country

and that we want to destroy the country on  behalf of foreign forces, but all this is false.

We continue our fight by telling Egyptians  the truth about the military council

so that we can move from a military regime  to a democratic one based on human rights.

How would you describe  the situation today?

Does the risk still exist  that the military will stay in power

and that things will remain as they were?

Yes, of course, the crackdown  has begun, and it’s very hard.

We are assaulted with all sorts of methods  which even verge on war crimes.

Various gases like poison gas  and tear gas are used against us,

as well as rubber bullets  and live ammunition.

This is the lot of everyone who dares to defy  the regime and to denounce the repression.

We are living through a very difficult period.

In the media things may appear to be not as  bad, but that’s not how it is on the streets.

I ask the media to be at our side on the  streets of Egypt, to be closer to the reality

and to reflect that in the press  around the world.

Asmaa Mahfouz,  thank you for this interview.