Egypt actor turned activist optimistic despite turmoil

British-Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla, a central character in the Oscar-nominated documentary about Egypt's 2011 uprising, remains optimistic despite spiralling turmoil and widespread fears of an even more repressive regime.
The brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood following the military's overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi last year, and the jailing of activists who led the uprising against Hosni Mubarak two years earlier, have raised fears of renewed autocracy.
But in an interview ahead of the three-year anniversary of the revolt, which captured the world's attention and fuelled hopes for a more democratic Middle East, Abdalla said he has not given up on the unfinished uprising.

"Are we moving in a direction which is likely to end in greater rights and greater freedoms and more social justice?... I believe we are, and that's what gives me great optimism," the 33-year-old actor told AFP in an interview.
Abdalla, who has acted in several Hollywood productions, gained international fame after starring in the award-winning 2007 film "The Kite Runner," set in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
He returned to Egypt for the 2011 uprising and is one of the central characters in "The Square," an acclaimed documentary that tells the story of the revolt and the unrest that followed through the eyes of the young activists who defied a decades-old dictatorship.

"When power tries to enforce something that people are against, people fight it," Abdalla said, speaking in English.

"If you want to chart the (progress) of rights we have managed to win, even though I have major issues with this constitution, the constitution itself shows we are winning the argument, at least on the level of rights and freedoms."
Last week Egypt's voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, which the interim military-installed government has billed as a key step in a democratic transition, with presidential and parliamentary elections planned for later this year.
But the Muslim Brotherhood -- which was the country's best-organised political movement before its top leadership was jailed and hundreds of its members killed in clashes following Morsi's overthrow -- boycotted the referendum.

The Brotherhood has led regular demonstrations against Morsi's overthrow, which came amid massive protests against his divisive year-long rule.
The 80-year-old Islamist movement, which won a series of polls after Mubarak's ouster, has been branded a terrorist group by the military-installed government, which has launched the most far-reaching crackdown on the group in decades.