Introduction

This introduction presents the book&s;s central argument about how digital media can be used to confront state crime under authoritarian rule. Focusing on the Mosireen Collective in post-2011 Egypt, it examines how activists used visual media to document political repression and challenge official narratives, creating a counter-archive of dissent. The opening section draws on critical criminology and visual culture studies, alongside Gramscian theory, to show how Mosireen documented state violence and mobilised memory to build grassroots resistance. Their work is situated within broader debates about the politics of visibility and the role of civil society in exposing harm often concealed by official discourse. The chapter also outlines the book&s;s methodological approach, framing images as interventions that record injustice while disrupting dominant systems of representation.