Dr. Hossam Badrawi: From History to the Present: 13 Years Since June 30
Saturday 27/June/2026 - 03:37 PM
Hossam Badrawy
Morsi's July 2, 2013 Speech Was Unthinkable... He Threatened and Intimidated the People, Presenting Them with a Choice Between Keeping the Muslim Brotherhood in Power or Having Their Blood Shed. With That Speech, the Brotherhood Changed from a Chronic Illness into a Malignant Tumor That Had to Be Removed.
I firmly believe that what is not documented does not exist. From time to time, I like to revisit what I have recorded in my papers about my positions during pivotal moments in history, so that I do not forget how my mind was thinking at the time those historic moments unfolded. As time passes, events accumulate, and new facts emerge, opinions may change without us even realizing it—until we reread what we ourselves wrote, with our own hands, at the very moment the event occurred.
I have also found that human beings become accustomed, adapt, and sometimes discover that they have come to accept what they were once passionately opposed to. They may need to remind themselves of the necessity of publicly expressing their independent views whenever similar situations arise, even if the director, the script, and the actors have changed, out of respect for their principles and convictions.
A few days before Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, won Egypt's presidential election, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled to dissolve the People's Assembly—whose majority belonged to religious parties—because certain provisions of the electoral law were deemed invalid. The Court also declared several articles of the parliamentary elections law unconstitutional.
A few days after his victory, specifically on July 8, 2012, Mohamed Morsi issued his first presidential decree, No. 11 of 2012, reinstating the dissolved People's Assembly to resume its duties and revoking the decision to dissolve it.
At the time, I described the decision as follows:
"Disregarding the Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling on the illegitimacy of the People's Assembly's existence will render every subsequent decision issued by that Assembly illegitimate. It represents a lack of respect by the executive branch for the other branches of government—a practice that previously led to the destruction of democracy in Egypt. We are returning to the encroachment of the executive authority upon the other branches, which will become the seed of dictatorship in any political system. It is a declaration of insistence and a threat to all civil forces in Egypt that we are heading toward a new era of dictatorship."
Following this decision, Mohamed Morsi issued a Constitutional Declaration on November 22, 2012. Among its most significant provisions was the following:
"Constitutional declarations, laws, and decisions issued by the President of the Republic since assuming office and until the constitution comes into effect and a new People's Assembly is elected shall be final and effective in themselves, not subject to appeal by any means or before any authority. Nor may they be suspended or annulled by any decision, and all lawsuits relating to them before any judicial body shall be terminated."
At the time, I issued a statement saying:
"The President must not allow the intoxication of power or the narrow-mindedness of those who advise him to consume him. I have seen this scene before and have experienced its consequences... O God, I have conveyed the message; bear witness."
In another statement, I explained my rejection of the Constitutional Declaration:
"There are legal constraints on the executive authority concerning the detention of citizens on suspicion, judicial oversight within specified time limits, and every citizen's right to a fair trial. All of these safeguards become things of the past with the issuance of this Constitutional Declaration, which effectively imposes a state of emergency without declaring it or providing its guarantees."
I further declared:
"Preventing the judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court from convening their session will be remembered by history as a stain of shame against freedom and democracy, both of which cannot exist without the fortress of justice and the rule of law."
The following are some of my documented tweets from that period, recording what I believed and saw at the very moment events were unfolding:
December 2012
The real challenge posed by the politicization of religion is a cultural one. The Egyptian people are proving victorious—open-minded, accepting of pluralism, and believing in citizenship more than we had imagined.
January 2013
After the revolution, Egypt does not deserve another dictatorship under the banner of religion, nor a constitution that discriminates, excludes, and undermines rights, nor chaos and the collapse of the state's institutions.
February 2013
Lord, help me continue to speak the truth so that I may gain myself, and never speak falsehood lest I lose myself while pleasing the weak. Grant me the breadth of mind to understand.
April 2013
Conflict arises when one group imposes its vision on others and erases their vision as equal partners.
June 13
A message to whom it may concern: Those who do not learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it. Persisting in defying the will of the people is political suicide—I have witnessed this scene before.
June 25
A government that does not respect its opponents ultimately loses everything.
What happened in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan over many years is being overturned by the great Egyptian people in a single year through the depth of their history and civilization.
June 28
Egypt proves once again today that it is greater, deeper, and more deeply rooted than any individual or group.
June 30
What the Egyptian people are doing today in Egypt's public squares is unprecedented—a great people writing a new chapter of history.
If any president governs by the same standards as the current authority, this will be the people's response, because his continued rule becomes the greatest threat to the survival of the state, not merely to the stability of society.
July 1
The Muslim Brotherhood will not be able to ride this revolution; it is against them, against extremism, and against exclusion.
The lesson the Egyptian people are teaching everyone is nearly complete. Thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood for once again uniting the people alongside the army and the police.
A dictator is a ruler who believes his own entourage when they convince him that he still enjoys the confidence of the nation and the support of public opinion—even moments before his downfall.
July 2
Morsi's speech is beyond comprehension. He threatens and intimidates the people, presenting them with a choice between keeping the Muslim Brotherhood in power or having their blood shed. I believe it is a speech that ends the myth of the Brotherhood forever.
As a physician, I see that, through the President's unprecedented speech declaring bloodshed against those who oppose them, the Muslim Brotherhood has transformed from a chronic illness that could be treated and managed into a malignant tumor that must be removed.
Good heavens! Never in my life have I seen such threats from a leader directed at his own people, so utterly outside the bounds of reason and logic. The matter requires a psychiatric hospital.
They asked me who mobilized the masses, and I answered: the will of a people whose civilization is encoded in their very genes, whose collective conscience rejects fanaticism and incompetence, together with a free press worthy of respect.
Narrow-mindedness and intellectual absolutism can never occupy the mind of Egyptian society or force it into a way of life it does not accept. That is precisely what the Egyptian people are rising against.
The Egyptian people possess multiple identities, yet they are united in their love for the homeland. They are religious by nature—both Muslim and Christian—but intellectually open to the world and can never be subdued by any occupier.
What the Egyptian people are doing is directed against the Muslim Brotherhood: a rejection of incompetence, exclusion, lies, threats, intimidation, narrow-mindedness, and what they say and do in the name of Islam, which they thereby dishonor.
July 3
Congratulations on lifting the affliction, removing the curse, and restoring Egypt—bright, promising, joyful through the greatness of its people, God willing.
This is a revolution of both the people and the state, for all official state institutions stood behind the unprecedented popular will in history.
On the morning of a bright new day for Egypt, after the affliction had been lifted and the curse removed, I feel a happiness that I hope will embrace everyone, and I breathe the freedom that comes from liberation from the occupation of thought and conscience.
The Thirtieth of June will remain a shining milestone in the heart of every Egyptian—the day the nation regained its breath and rewrote its story with the ink of determination and faith in tomorrow.
