105 8 CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF ACTIVISTS IN EGYPT ElBaradei as a Target Alamira Samah Saleh Introduction “This is a giant that needs to be awakened to save Egypt. . . . look at what other diaspora com- munities are doing,” said one enthusiastic participant in September 2010’s London conference for the Egyptian National Assembly for Change (NAC) (Ashour, 2010). The conference was one of a series of public events designed to build connections, foster ties and coordinate new democratic efforts in Egypt between the Egyptian former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, and passionate political Egyptian expatriates. The NAC quickly found strong support among politically engaged Egyptians, who saw it as a step toward injecting new political dynamism into the long-dormant Egyptian scene. At that time, it had a presence in more than ten countries, including those that host some of the most significant Egyptian expatriate communities, such as Saudi Arabia (1 million) (Ashour, 2010). Austrian Airlines flight 863 from Vienna arrived in Cairo in February 2010. On board was ElBaradei, the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize winner and a potential candidate for the Egyptian presi- dency. His arrival seemed to mark a new chapter for many Egyptians, spurring them to advocate for their right to justice and freedom, and fomenting political competition that fundamentally altered the Egyptian political scene. By this point, ElBaradei had been in the Egyptian political arena – in a manner of speak- ing – for several months. Known in Egypt before 2010 for his online advocacy of political and social reform (via Twitter and Facebook), he entered the political fray of the 2011 Egyptian presidential elections by calling for constitutional change. This appalled many Egyptian media outlets, which saw ElBaradei – who dared to speak out against then-President Hosni Mubarak and his deeply rooted regime – as a threat. Nor was ElBaradei the only presidential candidate to meet with the media’s disapprobation. This led the media to engage in a variety of smear tactics against activists in the Egyptian pub- lic sphere: political discrediting, rumour-spreading, and anonymous online defamation, among others. Media outlets deployed abusive phrases and condemnation of personal attributes to embarrass their targets in front of supporters, making activists think twice before writing, pub- lishing, commenting or sharing opposition views. Thus, rather than accurately reporting on the country’s issues to help the public better understand the complexities of political circumstances, Egypt’s media reflected the on-going