The Guardian view on Egypt´s dictatorship: a war of Sisi´s own making | Editorial
(The Guardian Egypt)

Egyptian forces appear to have shot detainees in cold blood. There are too many signs that a military dictatorship in a key Arab nation is losing control in the sands of the SinaiThe news that Egypt´s army shot dead up to eight unarmed detainees, including a minor, in the Sinai peninsula and tried to cover up the extrajudicial killings by claiming they had happened in combat should alarm all those interested in the cause of democracy in the Arab world. Back in December the Egyptian army posted on its Facebook page that the military had raided a militant outpost, killing eight and arresting four others. But a three-minute video that emerged this weekend raises serious questions over the army´s version of events. It shows no firefight but does record the cold-blooded murder of prisoners. In one instance a soldier casually shoots a man in the head. In another, soldiers escort a blindfolded man into a field, place him on his knees and shoot him repeatedly. Predictably, Cairo´s military dictatorship calls this propaganda by its opponents. Just as predictable is that there´s to be no investigation into alleged war crimes.The video was leaked on the day the US defence secretary, Jim Mattis, sat down with Egypt´s ruler, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who seized power in a bloody coup in 2013. Possibly the most authoritarian leader in the Middle East, a title for which there is some competition, Mr Sisi bears responsibility for killing hundreds of Egyptians, jailing thousands of others and running his country´s economy into the ground. Continue reading...