David Degner

Boston Photographer and Photojournalist

Jihadi Rehab

Al-Ha’ir Prison and The Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Center are two of Saudi Arabia’s five facilities holding its more than 5,000 inmates charged with terrorism-related offenses.

They are part of a reform program staffed by psychologists and religious officials who try to deradicalize inmates by teaching them what Nasser al-Ajmi, a psychologist with the center, called “correct Shariah thought.”

The prisons include many comforts and freedoms, including an on-site hotel. The hotel is designed to give jihadists who behave well a respite from inmate life and help them reconnect with their wives and children, and perhaps even conceive new ones.

Uighur Identity in Xinjiang

Before the camps

The Uighurs of Xinjiang are one of 55 minorities in China, but they are ethnically and historically closer to the Muslim Turkic groups of Central Asia. In 2008 the Chinese government was starting to cement its hold on the resource-rich Xinjiang by suppressing cultural and religious differences in schools and workplaces and by resettling millions of eastern Chinese into the wild western region.

Racism, language requirements, and lack of higher education prevented many young Uighurs from getting jobs in the new economy while their traditional roles as traders and farmers became unprofitable. As Han Chinese influence increases, many young Uighurs feel they must adapt, immigrate to coastal business centers, or be left behind economically.

Many young Uighurs saw opportunities in learning English to become international businessmen or studying the Quran in Arabic so they could go on to study at Al-Azhar. But I’m afraid that travel restrictions quashed these dreams.

Locks hung by couples in a park above Urumqi. Some have names inscribed in the distinctive Uighur script while some have names inscribed in Chinese. This particular lock has the name in UIghur, the date in Chinese, and the numbers in English.

A statue in Hotan’s main square shows Mao Zedong shaking hands with an old Uighur. As the story behind this statue goes, Kurban Tulum, also called Uncle Kurban or Uncle Kuerban was a Uighur electrician, born in 1883 in the Keriya oasis. When the People’s Liberation Army marched into Xinjiang, a few years after the 1949 revolution, Kurban Tulum wanted to show his appreciation so he rode more than 1,500 km around the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang to the provincial capital of Urumqi on his donkey to bring grapes or a melon as a symbol of appreciation for Chairman Mao.

Party officials saw the public relations opportunity and flew him the remaining more than 3,000 km to from Urumqi to Beijing to meet with Mao Zedong. They first met in 1958 and the handshake was reenacted some time later in front of a Communist party meeting, where the famous photo on which these two monuments are based was taken. The government likes to hold up Kurban as an ideal for Uyghurs, who they believe should welcome the government’s policies in Xinjiang.

A nearly empty bus winds over massive sand dunes as it passes through the Taklamakan desert.

One of the largest infrastructure projects in Xinjiang is a highway running through the middle of the Taklamakan desert connecting the southern road to the northern road and the capital Urumuqi.

I arrived in Xinjiang about 5 months before the 2008 Olympics and spent that time learning the language and slowly traveling around the region. My plan was to be in Xinjiang during the Olympics in case something broke out. A few weeks before the Olympics started I was in a rural area near Kazakhstan looking into reports of a torched police station. While in the small town of San Gong the police picked me and revoked my Visa, kicking me out into Kazakhstan.

center: The olympic torch was greeted by large crowds as it traveled around China but in Xinjiang residents were told to stay inside and and the streets were lined with police and a select few groups of workers and school children. In this picture police and military watch an Urumqi alleyway that runs parallel to the route.

right: Immediately after the olympic torch passed through Urumqi groups of workers line up for a photo.

Sudan’s Revolution

Protesters in front of the military headquarters during Ramadan
Protesters in front of the military headquarters during Ramadan
Volunteers cook for protesters at the Sit-In
Volunteers cook for protesters at the Sit-In

Awadiya Mahmoud: Union for the Development of Women participating in the Khartoum Sit-In

Awadiya Mahmoud hands out free tea to protesters on May 03, 2019 in Khartoum, Sudan. Awadiya started selling tea in 1983 and by 2013 she had organized 13 community groups for tea sellers and a union to organize them. The union worked together to fight police harassment, find homes for the women, and open a clinic. She says there are around 26000 women in the union. She started serving free food and tea to keep the protesters strong and is an a constant presence at the sit-in.

Neighborhood gatherings in Omdurman
Residents of Omdurman gathered in a soccer field of Abu-rof neighborhood to listen to speaches
June 30: Protesters Take To Streets To Call For End Of Military Rule

Protesters calling for a civilian government held large protests in Khartoum to commemorate those who were killed June 30, 2019 in Khartoum, Sudan. The protesters headed towards the Republican Palace but were stopped by security forces.

Security forces face off against protesters June 30, 2019 in Khartoum, Sudan. The protesters stopped in the main airport road facing off with armed forces.
Protesters Take To Streets To Call For End Of Military Rule
Protesters Take To Streets To Call For End Of Military Rule
A protesters faints from tear gas
Protesters run from the sounds of gunshots and teargas
Protesters set up barricades to prevent security forces trucks from attacking
Protesters set up barricades to prevent security forces trucks from attacking

Who still supports Morsy?

When President Morsy was removed from office by a military Junta thousands joined a month long sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya. State media reported that the protesters were terrorists, weapon wielding, foreign, mercenaries. These portraits are an attempt to directly photograph and quote the people I met in Rabaa al-Adawiya to decrease any distortion.

Taher Gamal El-Din, a software developer from Atfiha. “My grandfather was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but that was 40 years ago.” “I voted for the Islamists in the congressional elections, and Morsy in both presidential elections.” “There were things that I didn’t agree with about the constitution but they were relatively small.” “Under Mubarak there were only 5 families that controlled all the wealth and power in the country and this corruption existed at all levels.” “I had a friend that graduated from law school with very high grades, when he tried to get a job in the court system he was refused because he didn’t have the right connections. Now he is a teacher.”

At this moment Egypt was entering a very precarious time. A significant part of Egypt put their faith in the democratic system and Morsy to represent their needs and address their grievances. That system failed, and their dream disappeared. Now they are living together in Raba’a Adiweya.

Afraid of the police state that waits for them outside, waiting for God to intervene, believing that the army will split before it clears them out with force. The most important question in Egypt’s future is how the new government will re-integrate this significant portion of the population back into the system or will they be pushed further to the edges of society.

When Rabaa al-Adawiya was violently cleared and hundreds to about one thousand people were killed in the ensuing violence many in this section of the Egyptian population lost their lives and their peaceful voices. Some of the cell phone numbers of the people in these portraits have been closed and I don’t know where they are.

Amal Mohamad Hassan, a school teacher from Shubra, a district of Cairo. “In the 90’s, after the events in Luxor, State Security broke down our door and disappeared my husband for a week. They didn’t have any reason or warrant, just that he was a religious man. This same system is now returning.” “I know the brotherhood from their community service, helping, and teaching.” “Under Morsy was the first time we felt freedom and democracy. The media was free to be critical and we weren’t afraid of State Security. He was trying to rebuild Egypt from the ground up with many projects even though all the media was lying about him.” “I want you tell the American people that we are mad at them for supporting this coup. But we aren’t waiting for anything from America, we are only waiting on God.”

Ramadan Shehaf, 41, from Atfiha, a town south of Cairo. “State Security broke down my door and tortured me with electricity, attaching leads to my fingers, armpits and testicles. They told me to scream louder so that my neighbors would hear.” “The liberals said we would use a democratic system. We won the presidency, and 4 other votes because we have the majority. If you don’t want us in the government you don’t want democracy.” “I will sit here until I die. I came here to support his legitimacy, The secularists have played with the people using the media to lie to them.”

Ali Mohamed Saad, from Fayoum, a large agricultural area near Cairo. “I came to support legitimacy and because I love Morsy. I feel that he supports democracy more than any other president in the world.” Why do you love Morsy? “He protects our freedom and our Islamic identity.” How has your life changed under Morsy? “I daily feel the freedom of living under a civilian government, ruled by law. Especially during elections.”

Awataf Mohamed Ibrahim, from Shubra, a neighborhood in Cairo holds a portrait of deposed president Mohamed Morsy. Awtaf supports Morsy and wants him re-instated as president because “Under Mubarak people that lived outside of Cairo, especially those in the Sinai and Upper Egypt were forgotten, as if they weren’t even Egyptian. Morsy gave them their rights and the supplies they need to work and farm. He provides them with investment and services.” “He and the Brotherhood have worked to develop the culture and economy of Egypt.” “If we leave our children to these secularists they will grow up without morals.” “Under Mubarak Egyptians weren’t able to breath. He only helped those that were close to him and left most Egyptians hanging in the wind.” “I didn’t have any relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, but after the revolution I wanted to know more.” “They are from us, and listen to us.” “The military should return to just guarding the border and the people. But right now they are coming and killing their own brothers as if they didn’t even know it.”

Walid Ahmed, from Assiut, a majority christian city in southern Egypt. “I came to this protest because this is the first time we have chosen a president and I feel he should finish his term.” “I love Morsy because he is finally leading the country in a manner we want, and he respects us.” “Morsy has ended the war on Islam and there is more freedom.”

Shaban Hamada, 31, from Atfiha used to sell chickens. “State security took my brother and tortured him for 13 days, breaking his hands and arms, to the point I had to help him do everything including wiping his ass.” “I studied religion at Al-Azhar University. But the system is so corrupt and anti-religious that they continue to prevent me from taking my final exam so I can graduate.” “If the military doesn’t return Morsy to his rightful place we will set this country on fire, and if they come here they won’t have to kill just one, they will have to kill us all.”

Manal Mahmoud of Zeitouna, is a grade school teacher in a girls school. “I have family in the army that think opposite from me and we have been split. We can’t talk about politics when we meet, but the army is made of our brothers, sons, and uncles.” “I didn’t have any relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, but I heard they are good people and help others. They are part of the Egyptian population.” “The Brotherhood combine religion and politics in a way that helps spread the idea of love that is Islam. They speak the truth.” “The Mubarak regime was a failure. There wasn’t any freedom of opinion and if I said Mubarak was bad I would be taken to jail. I have friends that were woken from their sleep and taken to jail. But under Morsy is the opposite.” “I feel that they are laughing at us because they have returned the old system, the kill us, and close our media.”

Tamer Sakury, a 36 year old Civil Engineer, a Nubian from Luxor in Upper Egypt. Nubians have been forcefully kicked off their land and ignored by the government historically. “Morsy is the first president to respect the Nubians and teat us like full citizens.” “Morsy has increased pensions and social benefits to the Nubian community.” “He had the idea to give free health insurance to all.” “He has helped farmers get their chemicals and seeds.”

Alaa Mohamed, from Minya, a city in southern Egypt. “I came because I want to defend my freedom and my right to vote.” “I love Morsy because he is from the people, natural and simple. I think he is better than Nasser, because Nasser only tried to unite Arab nations, Morsy’s project is to unite all of the Muslim world.” “In Mubarak’s days if I went to the mosque too often someone from the Interior Ministry would start questioning me and possibly arrest me. But with Morsy we are free to pray as we want.”

The Al-Nahda Garden is located beside one of the Pro-Morsy sit-ins in Cairo and has been taken over as a place to relax in the shade, especially during the monthlong fasting of Ramadan. According to a report by Amnesty International, the garden has also been the location of torture and murder by the Morsy supporters.