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Arab uprising: Country by country - Egypt

  • Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali
    Aged 75
    Deposed after 23 years

  • Hosni Mubarak
    Aged 84
    Deposed after 29 years

  • Muammar Gaddafi
    Aged 68
    Killed after 42 years

  • Ali Abdullah Saleh
    Aged 70
    Deposed after 33 years

  • Bashar al-Assad
    Aged 48
    In power since 2000

  • King Hamad al-Khalifa
    Aged 63
    In power since 1999

  • King Abdullah Al Saud
    Aged 89
    In power since 2005

  • King Mohammed VI
    Aged 50
    In power since 1999

  • Abdelaziz Bouteflika
    Aged 76
    In power since 1999

  • King Abdullah II
    Aged 51
    In power since 1999

  • Sultan Qaboos bin Said
    Aged 73
    In power since 1970

  • Sheikh Sabah Al Sabah
    Aged 84
    In power since 2006

  • "We had a clean revolution. The former president turned out to be a coward. He just ran away. Not like the others - like the poor Libyans, or in Syria - but it lit the fuse to all the other revolutions"
    Wassim Herissi, radio DJ
  • "Our country's condition was getting worse and worse. There was corruption, torture, injustice, inequality and no freedom. Someone had to stand up and say 'enough is enough'"
    Ahmed Raafat Amin, protester
  • "It's freedom. There's no Gaddafi, unbelievable. I feel the freedom. I smell the freedom."
    Lamin el-Bijou, Banghazi resident
  • "If they are trying to scare us, they are wrong. We will continue. Let them come and burn the whole square, we will not leave."
    Protester in Change Square, Sanaa
  • "The Tunisians had already been freed. The Egyptians were on their way to be free. We thought it was our turn to be free too"
    Amer Matar, organiser of the first major protest in Syria
  • "We don't fear death any more, let the army come and kill us to show the world what kind of savages they are"
    Protester, Pearl Square, Manama
  • "I don't believe that liberal democracy will be put in place tomorrow but we have to start somewhere. Equality, the rule of law - the country is ready for this. We have to start the process"
    Dr Tawfik Alsaif, dissident campaigner
  • "They dare to voice criticism that they haven't dared to before; they dare say we want a king who does not rule, but who is a symbol. They dare to say and discuss this. Before it was not permitted"
    Mohamed El-Boukili, Moroccan Association for Human Rights
  • "One day this will be bigger than Tahrir Square - but not today. We will keep returning every week though until things begin to change and Algeria has democracy"
    Young protester at a rally
  • "We have to keep the pressure on this government. We are in the streets and we'll stay in the streets until we see all these demands working on the ground"
    Muhannad Sahafiin, protester
  • "Oman's stability was always just a cover... Oman is still a bomb waiting to explode"
    Basma al-Kiyumi, activist
  • "We have a government that doesn't listen, doesn't see and all it does is deceiving the people."
    Obeid al-Wasmi, opposition politician

What happened?

Map of Egypt

Egypt has witnessed the overthrow of two presidents since the start of the Arab Spring.

Eighteen days of mass protests forced Hosni Mubarak to resign in February 2011, after three decades in power. He was convicted of complicity in the deaths of 846 people killed during the uprising, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

Following Mr Mubarak's resignation, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) assumed presidential powers. Parliamentary elections in 2011-12 saw overwhelming victories for the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and Salafist al-Nour party.

In June 2012, the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was elected president. He swiftly revoked a controversial Scaf decree that limited his powers, dissolved the House of Representatives and changed the military's leadership, naming Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi as chief of staff and defence minister.

Public opposition to Mr Morsi began to build in November 2012, when he issued a decree granting himself far-reaching powers, and were fuelled by the passage of what many considered an Islamist-leaning draft constitution.

Mr Morsi was deposed by the military in June 2013 after millions of protesters took to the streets and replaced by an interim government.

Security forces then launched a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, killing almost 1,000 people at two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo.

In December 2013, a constituent assembly finished drafting a new constitution to replace the 2012 charter.

Where are we now?

Egypt is polarised between supporters of the interim government and the military on the one-hand, and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and those who fear the authorities have become too repressive on the other.

Some analysts say Egypt has returned to the kind of police state which the revolution aimed to remove.

A referendum will be held on the redrafted constitution, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in 2014. It is unclear whether the hugely popular armed forces chief Gen Sisi will stand.

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