The situation that has prevailed in Egypt for past half century, if not more, has seen suffocating security measures, considerable police powers and limited accountability of the country’s enforcement agencies. The 30 year long ‘emergency’ laws that became the norm under Mubarak allowed the already considerable powers to expand, emboldened the police and security to take the law into their own hands and created an environment which eroded the populations’ basic rights to account, speak and practice Islam.