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Egyptians angered by the Iraq war have begun testing the limits of public dissent in their country, publicly criticizing President Hosni Mubarak and even ripping down his portrait.

Thirty-seven political activists have even petitioned the prosecutor general to charge Mubarak with breaking the law, accusing him of blocking a court-sanctioned demonstration, detaining some 50 anti-war protesters and arresting journalists.

The war has inspired rare public dissent in Egypt, where the president a key U.S. ally keeps critics on a short leash.

After he came to power in 1981, Mubarak allowed Egyptians more freedom than his predecessors, but he tightened state controls during an Islamic insurgency in the 1990s and he has kept them in place.

Government censors tolerate vigorous criticism of the Cabinet, but not direct attacks on Mubarak. The leading cartoonist, Mustafa Hussein of Al-Akhbar, says he and his colleagues do not lampoon the president because, "Mubarak is the symbol of our country ... but, with the prime minister, we can hit him over the head."

Mubarak, whose government receives about $2 billion a year from Washington and has asked for more to cover losses linked to the war, said he shares his citizens' opposition to the war on Iraq.

But in a televised address a day before the war began, he repeated that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein bore responsibility for the failure to find a peaceful way out of the dispute over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

"The president made a speech that put the blame on Iraq without saying a single word on the American aggression," said Hassan Nafa, professor of politics at Cairo University. "I think a lot of people here were shocked."

Two days after the speech, 28 intellectuals, among them Nafa and well-known columnists for the pro-government newspaper Al Ahram, issued a statement saying they disagreed with the president. They blamed the war on America's "imperialist aggression."

After the war began, thousands of Egyptians took part in sometimes violent demonstrations against America's role in the war and the killing of Iraqi civilians. Demonstrators tore a Mubarak portrait off the pillar of a bridge over the Nile and shouted slogans against the president and his son, Gamal.

In a second address to the nation, Mubarak warned March 28 that the war could inspire more militants and produce 100 Osama bin Ladens but he did not blame Washington for the conflict.

Nafa said the president tried to respond to criticism, but he still did not say what the people expected.

"There is a real gap between the stance of the government and what the people think the role of Egypt should be. Without a real attempt to bridge that gap, the situation will continue to be dangerous," Nafa said.

Government spokesman Osman said: "Public sentiment is one thing and pragmatism and the reality, as it dawns on all of us, is another."

Osman said emotions were high because of "what we see unfolding on the television screens" from Iraq. But analysts say the origin of critics' anger is much older.

"There is clearly seething rage below the surface" of Egyptian society, and it stems from factors such as "political and economic stagnation," said Judith Kipper, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

In an article in Al Hayat on April 4, Nafa wrote Egypt is headed toward "drastic changes" in leadership, owing to the government's political and economic failures. Whether change comes through coup, assassination or in a peaceful way, "only God knows," he wrote.

Kipper and Hisham Kassem, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, predicted the government would tighten limits on expression after the war.

But others were hopeful that the greater tolerance would continue. Nafa said no state official had rebuked him for his declarations he was interviewed live on state television this week "and that is a very good point."

photo credit and caption:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, meets with his Sudanese counterpart Omar el Bashir in Cairo Tuesday, April 8, 2003. The Sudanese president is on a short visit to Cairo for talks on the situation in Iraq and bilateral relations. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

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