Prosecuting the January 25th Revolution

The prosecution of the legitimately-elected President of Egypt, Dr Mohamed Morsi, on the farcical charges of storming prisons and the escape of several prisoners is basically the prosecution of the January 25th Revolution itself. The revolution gained its real momentum and strength on this particular day, when millions of Egyptians took to the streets and called for the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

This was the true day when the legions of revolutionaries emerged and when the police force fell, its men stripped their military uniforms and they ran frightened in the night to their homes. They will not forget this day and they have been given the opportunity to retaliate against the rebels and those who spread the revolution, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, thanks to the violent, neo-fascist military coup. It was not only the police who wanted to take revenge on the figures of the revolution, but also all of the members of the corrupt deep state and its degenerate and rotten institutions, such as the intelligence agencies, judiciary and media, which were and remain corrupt to the core. The revolution aimed to purify such institutions and uproot them, but unfortunately was unable to do so for many reasons.

As such, it was significant that January 28th was chosen as the date of the first hearing in the concocted case against the president. It was, after all, the day that the revolutionaries rejoiced in 2011, so it is hugely symbolic. As the elected president, Dr Morsi is the symbol of the revolution but, along with over 100 others, most of whom are members of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, he is charged with breaking into prisons to set the prisoners free. It is a bitter joke that one of the defendants mentioned in the indictment died before the revolution, while two others have been detained in Israeli prisons since the 1990s. What kind of mockery is this in which they claim the integrity of the investigation, the honour of the judiciary and the rule of law? There has been no law or justice in Egypt after the bloody coup; instead there have been retaliatory trials based on Al-Sisi’s law, which is no law recognisable as such.

One of the specific examples of these charades is the trial based on allegations by the Chief Prosecutor, who read out the entirely false claim that 70 members of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard occupied the border strip between Egypt and Gaza, and entered the country in 4×4 vehicles. For those who do not know, this border is 60 km long and hundreds of kilometres away from Cairo. How did they all reach the various Egyptian prisons at synchronised times, bearing in mind that some of these prisons are in Upper Egypt and in its valleys, which are also many kilometres away from Cairo? How could all of this happen without our brave army seeing them and dealing with them? Where was our courageous police force? Was it also standing by with the army and watching the incursion, welcoming the 70 to Egypt? By making such allegations, the coup-appointed prosecutors are incriminating themselves and it is they who should be placed in the defendant’s cage to be tried.

As expected from President Mohamed Morsi, he appeared strong and firm while the head of the court appeared weak and shaky in comparison; the latter even fumbled on the pronunciation of the word “Rahman”. Having been put in an iron cage in prison and a glass cage in the court in order to prevent him from being heard by the people, the few words we did hear from Dr Morsi were vetted carefully by the security services; they were, nevertheless, more powerful than bullets. That is why they fear him despite the fact that they possess all the physically powerful weapons, from heavy arms to a politicised judiciary and a lying media. This unarmed man, who only possesses the word of truth, frightens tyrants and dictators, and this is how God wants things to be. By His will, the situation will be an example for the people of the world, showing that even if an unjust state lasts for an hour, the state built on justice lasts until the end of time.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.