The Egyptian opposition contractor and actor, Mohamed Ali, has announced the closure of his Facebook
page, starting from midnight on Saturday, January 25, and that he has retired from Egyptian politics
and affairs and has returned to his life in the profession of construction and cinematic and television
acting.
Ali said that his view of the Egyptian regime may be wrong after the people did not move against him in
response to his calls to protest on the ninth anniversary of the revolution.
Ali’s announcement came in a video clip on his Facebook page “The Secrets of Mohamed Ali,” on
Saturday evening, after the streets and squares in Egypt were devoid of any protests.
Ali called for popular protests on January 25 in several videos, to coincide with the ninth anniversary of
the January 2011 revolution.
Ali denied, during the video, that he was frustrated at the failure of the movement, and said that he had
done everything possible to expose the Egyptian General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s corruption and that of the
army leaders who rule the country.
He added that Egyptians witnessed the campaign of arrest and repression launched by al-Sisi and his
regime against various groups of men, and women, stressing that he could not do more than that.
Ali said he considered the ninth anniversary of the 2011 revolution was a watershed day in which the
Egyptians had to show their anger at the ruling regime, but nothing happened on the streets.
He said, “What I did may be wrong. I was in a challenging game with al-Sisi, and the Egyptian people
were judging us.”
Ali cited a video clip of a TV presenter who is close to the authorities in Egypt, Ahmed Mousa, during his
daily programme on Saturday evening, as he mocked the lack of revolutionary movement in the country.
Ali said that he wanted the Egyptians to protest in front of media outlets and satellite channels so that
such a person like Mousa would not come out and speak in the name of the people, mocking the
revolution and the revolutionaries.
Ali considered that there are two explanations why there was no one on the streets, the first is that the
people are totally in agreement with the way that al-Sisi runs the country, and the second is that fear still
controls Egyptians and prohibits them protesting against the current regime.
He expressed his anger at the possibility that the people are still held captive by fear.
Ali concluded his speech by saying, “I love Egypt and the people of Egypt, and today at 12 midnight I will
close this page, and I will return to my work as businessman and actor, and I will not talk about political
matters or the affairs of the country again.”
Mohamed Ali developed a plan for the ninth anniversary of the January 2011 revolution, in which he
asked Egyptians to block major streets, roads and bridges in Cairo and other areas, especially near
airports, in addition to protesting in front of the official TV building in the centre of Cairo, and Media
Production City, west of the capital.
On November 20, Mohamed Ali launched the “National Opposition Project,” which he announced would
start by setting up a programme of work to be presented to the Egyptians, in preparation for calling for a
broad popular movement to overthrow al-Sisi’s regime.
In September last year, Egypt witnessed rare protests responding to Ali’s calls demanding the al-Sisi
regime fall, after he spoke out about corruption within al-Sisi’s family and some army leaders.

But this time Ali’s calls were not responded to, as the anniversary of Egypt’s January 25 revolution,
which swept Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, is being observed in a fairly low-key
manner.
Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square, where most of the major protests against Mubarak took place in 2011,
remained very quiet, except for some light traffic. Police were on alert along the major roads leading into
the city centre.