Hamzawy: I’m not leaving politics

Freedom Egypt Party founder and former MP Amr Hamzawy is not quitting politics, he told Mada Masr, despite rumors to the contrary after the privately owned Al-Nahar newspaper claimed he had written a goodbye letter to political life.

Hamzawy had written a column, “A testimony to the conscience of the country, which will not be lost,” that was published in the independent newspaper Al-Shorouk in two parts on Sunday and Monday. The column listed Hamzawy's political positions since June 30, as well as a list of his prescriptions for the way forward. However, Al-Nahra re-published pieces of the column in such a way that it seemed Hamzawy was declaring his retreat from the political sphere.

“News circulating about my retirement from political work is not true,” Hamzawy responded via Twitter late Sunday night. “My positions are published in the Egyptian daily Al-Shorouk and tweets that I have written on my Twitter account.”

In the original version of the article, Hamzawy wrote that he had recently been absent from politics because his mother was ill. However, he rejected the “militarization of politics” and the violence perpetuated by both the state and supporters of former President Mohamed Morsi.

“Democracy has entered a dark tunnel, and liberalism is in deep crisis,” he wrote. “For the foreseeable future this will not change.”