Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Queen’s University expert on the Middle East, Houchang Hassan-Yari, is available to comment on the fifth anniversary of the protests in Egypt which led to resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. On January 26, 2011, protesters took to Cairo's Tahir Square demanding the president step down after nearly 30 years. Security has been tightened around Cairo by current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in anticipation of possible unrest.
“The winds of change that shook the dictatorship in Tunisia reached Egypt on January 25, 2011," says Dr. Hassan-Yari. "Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down by people after nearly 30 years of rule. Then the first democratically elected president in the history of Egypt (Morci) was overthrown and imprisoned by a coup to put Egypt in a similar situation to that of the coup in 1952."
"Egypt today is as far from a democracy today as it has been for the past sixty years.”
Please note, Dr. Hassan-Yari (who speaks French, English and Farsi) wants to be identified in the media as an expert on the Middle East from Queen’s University and Royal Military College. He is available for interviews by phone or Skype only.
To arrange an interview, please contact communications officer Chris Armes (613-533-6000 ext. 77513 or chris.armes@queensu.ca) or Anne Craig (613-533-2877 or anne.craig@queensu.ca) at Queen’s University News and Media Services Department in Kingston, Ont., Canada.
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