Remember, remember

“THEIR main objective is to create fear,” says Mohamed Lotfy of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, a pressure group, referring to a series of arrest of activists as the government intensifies a long-running crackdown on dissent. Indeed, even as Mr Lotfy speaks, his phone rings: the police have arrested three more people.

A colleague, Ahmed Abdullah, himself sought by the security services, is putting on a brave face. Sitting in a café in Cairo, Mr Abdullah is sure he will be arrested—perhaps worse, he says, implying that the police might shoot him. “It is part of the price that we should pay for freedom.”