Cairo: Seven years on from Egypt's revolution in January 2011, its descent into repression is well and truly entrenched, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi "contesting" the presidential election in March virtually unopposed.

Ahead of the elections, which have been condemned by human rights groups for their rampant violations, all serious challengers have been eliminated. Mostafa Moussa, who had been proudly collecting signatures for Sisi's presidential run, was convinced to submit his papers as a candidate to the National Electoral Commission with 15 minutes to go before nominations closed on January 29.

In a bizarre turn of events that have become symptomatic of the murky realpolitik of the region, one candidate after another dropped  (or was pushed) out of the race, ensuring Sisi a second, four-year term as uninhibited overlord of the Arab world's most populous country.

Within hours of announcing on social media his intention to make a second run for the presidency in November 2017, Mubarak-era prime minister and decorated air force commander Ahmed Shafiq was promptly deported from the United Arab Emirates, where he has been living in exile for years, in a private jet. As soon as he landed in Cairo, he was placed under house arrest in the Marriott hotel overlooking the Nile.