Khaled Ali
Khaled Ali is an Egyptian lawyer and activist. He is known for his advocacy for reform of government and private sector corruption and for promoting social justice and labor rights. He is the former head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, and co-founder of the Front for Defending Egyptian Protesters and the Hisham Mubarak Law Center.
Known as a "legendary anti-corruption crusader", Ali has been involved in several prominent court cases against the government, including a 2001 ruling that gave syndicates more freedoms, a 2010 case he won that mandated a higher minimum wage for workers, and a case leading to the nationalisation of three large companies that had been privatised. He won the "Egyptian Corruption Fighter" award in 2011.
Ali was an activist before, during, and after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. He has been involved in worker strikes before and since the downfall of Hosni Mubarak's regime, and has been an active supporter of the role of workers in the revolution and the labor mobilisation that took place during it. He has denounced violent acts by the police and military, and has represented revolutionaries and the families of those killed in court. He was against the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and supported postponing the drafting of a new constitution until after the 2012 election.
A latecomer to the 2012 presidential race, Ali announced his candidacy the day after he became eligible to run, making him the youngest candidate in the election. His platform was one of social and economic justice, including core issues such as regional economic strength, protecting natural resources, fighting corruption, addressing unemployment, and improving workers' rights. Ali laid great stress on education, which he believes will lift Egypt out of poverty. Having never belonged to any political party, he called himself the "candidate of the poor" was supported primarily by students, activists, farmers, and workers, generally on the left of the political spectrum.
Ali announced he would run for the 2018 presidential race, but ultimately withdrew.
Background
Ali was born in Dakahlia Governorate to a modest rural family He enrolled at Zagazig University’s law school in 1990 and graduated in 1994. Upon graduating, he undertook an unpaid internship at a local law firm before co-founding the HMLC in 1999.Activism under the Mubarak regime
Ali has been a prominent labor activist and lawyer. He is the former head of the ECESR, a founding member of the HMLC, a founding member of the Front to Defend Egyptian Protesters, and a founder of "the coordinating committee for the defense of the rights and freedoms of association." Al-Ahram Weekly called him a "legendary anti-corruption crusader". In 2011, he was given the "Egyptian Corruption Fighter" award by the Egyptians Against Corruption movement.Legal victories
Ali's career has been highlighted by several prominent legal cases and victories, most involving corruption and the private sector. He fought corruption by the Mubarak government, which had illegally privatised public land and public sector factories. Suing government officials for selling public property, he won a judgment ordering the return of several large companies to public ownership.A 2001 judgment in a case spearheaded by Ali saw labor syndicates gain more freedoms. His victory winning the renationalisation of large companies, sold by the former regime in corrupt deals, included retailer Omar Effendi, the Nile Cotton Weaving Company and several other factories. Ali also served on the legal team that halted the privatisation of Egypt's national health insurance and presided over the legal team advocating for transparency and protection of public insurance and pension funds.
Ali is known for filing and winning a landmark court case in 2010 that forced the government to set a minimum wage commensurate with the cost of living; it was raised to 1,200 Egyptian pounds per month and covers all workers. In February 2010, he said, "The government represents the marriage between authority and money—and this marriage needs to be broken up... We call for the resignation of Ahmad Nazif's government because it only works for businessmen and ignores social justice. We call for a minimum wage and a maximum wage, as well as the connection of wages to prices. We also call for annual wage increases in line with inflation rates. We are against the privatisation of the health insurance sector and call for the fixing of all temporary labor contracts." In April 2010, there was a demonstration outside the cabinet office, where approximately 300 workers protested the government's privatisation policy and against the Egyptian Trade Union Federation, which is controlled by the government. Ali said at the time, "We'll give them a month. If after a month the verdict hasn't been applied in a manner acceptable to workers, all the workers forces taking part in this protest will stage repeated protests until it is implemented," Ali said.
Supporting strikes and the public sector
Throughout Ali's career, he has been a strong supporter of worker's strikes and public sector activism. In 2007, Ali noted the growing trend of strikes as a sign of political change: "Taboos were broken during the past few years of political ferment, and workers grew less afraid," he said. Speaking to a reporter in April 2008 about the general strike taking place, Ali noted that its purpose was not to harm the economy, stating that "the point was to make a strong statement and to take a stand."Ali supported the December 2008 founding of the independent General Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Employees. In 2009, amid protests of the state-controlled ETUF and agitation for independent unions in a broad section of trades, Ali said of the tax authority and growing political action by workers in a number of sectors, "The RETA set the example for other workers and civil servants to follow. It's indeed the single most important independent political project in 2009." He also addressed the problem of Egyptian labor, distrust of political parties, which have tried to co-opt labor's causes, and the fear that demonstrations would be brutally suppressed by the government, stating that "there is also a tactical dimension to trying to avoid the wrath of the government and its security apparatus." Ali made the distinction between politics and political parties, however, citing the Muslim Brotherhood's control of professional syndicates, versus the intertwining of Egypt's progressive political movement and labor. "For years, labor constituted the social heart of the progressive political movement, which in turn served as the political brain for labor. That was important for the labor movement to articulate its discourse and negotiate its demands," Ali said.
Ali was interviewed in Cairo in February 2011 by a correspondent from Democracy Now!. Ali said that while middle class youth sparked the Arab Spring, which expressed the political will of the Egyptian people of different classes, the workers had set the stage. "Workers laid the ground for the emergence of this revolution, and I believe that any analysis which says otherwise is superficial," said Ali.
Ali has called on state authorities to allow workers to self-manage their companies when they are stalled, or when investors flee the country.
2011 Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath
Ali was active in the 2011 revolution, supporting worker's strikes and representing protesters and the families of martyrs against the government, while condemning the violence of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and Egypt's police forces.On 3 February 2011, Ali was among those detained by security forces after a raid on the HMLC in Cairo. Amnesty International condemned the raid, which it characterised as a "crackdown", accusing the Egyptian authorities of "attempting to suppress the wave of popular protest" then taking place all across Egypt.
Between 11 February and mid-April 2011 alone, the SCAF tried more than 5,000 civilians before military tribunals in trials generally lasting between 20 and 40 minutes in which groups of five to 30 defendants were tried at a time. Acting on behalf of a Rasha Azab, a former military detainee, Ali was one of two lawyers who challenged the military's decision to try civilians before military tribunals by bringing a lawsuit to Egypt's Court of Administrative Justice.
In June 2011, Ali was heard by the Administrative Court regarding a lawsuit seeking to overturn Law 34/2011, passed by the SCAF and the Cabinet and which criminalized certain protests and strikes. Ali said, "Protests and strikes have always been workers' only weapon … since they have no ability to negotiate with the government — depriving them of this right is depriving them from voicing their suffering." He said further, "The law was billed as the 'freedom of work and preventing sabotage' law, while it is actually meant to prevent workers and poor people from protesting." In August 2011, Ali took part in a press conference held by 36 non-governmental organisations to condemn a "fierce campaign" by the government and SCAF to limit protests. He criticised the Ministry of Social Solidarity for what he saw as their attempt to "monopolise" patriotism and decried the defamation of activists protesting against Mubarak and privatisation, as well as the practice of trying civilians before military tribunals as human rights violations committed by the Cabinet and SCAF.
In order to gain a more accurate picture of the revolution and gauge its success, Ali has been involved in efforts to collect information about its participants, especially those who suffered injury or were killed.
Ali condemned the violence in Egypt since the revolution and has been working with the families of 17 unarmed protesters killed by the military in October 2011, ten of whom were crushed to death when armored vehicles drove over them and seven others who were killed when soldiers fired into a crowd.