dna edit: Egypt’s broken state

The situation in Egypt has plumbed new depths with the mass death sentence handed down to 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is as blatant a demonstration of state dysfunction as any since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in 2011. The trial, lasting all of two sessions, has been farcical at every step — from the number of people in the dock for the murder of a single police officer during the clashes between security forces and Muslim Brotherhood supporters last year to the judge’s refusal to allow the lawyers of the accused time to mount a defence.

Given the glaring lacunae in the judicial process, there is a fair chance that the verdict will be overturned when it is referred to Egypt’s Grand Mufti for approval. But the damage has been done. Egyptian Islamists have been further alienated and the State has demonstrated that it is willing to disregard the basic tenets of the law in its persecution of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It is unclear at this point whether the verdict was mandated by the General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi-dominated government or spurred by widespread anti-Brotherhood sentiment. In either case, the judiciary has shown itself to be far from an impartial guardian of the law. Its actions dating back to the Arab Spring have hinted at its links to the deep state — the political, military and economic elite that dominated Egypt under Mubarak and is believed to be backing el-Sisi. Just as it freed almost all those accused of killing protesters during the 2011 revolution, the judiciary has been exceedingly harsh on Islamists protesting president and Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi’s deposal while overlooking state excesses. Security forces have killed hundreds of protestors during the clashes after the el-Sisi-led coup against Morsi without being called to account. Meanwhile, 16,000 Brotherhood supporters have been jailed.

This is particularly dangerous given that the judiciary will be overseeing the upcoming elections. El-Sisi is already expected to win handily; the judiciary’s role will undermine his legitimacy even more in the Islamists’ eyes. That, along with the coup and the brutal crackdown in its aftermath, will send a dangerous message to the Brotherhood: its brief experimentation with the democratic process was a mistake. The deck is stacked against it, and if it wishes to seize power again in Egypt, it must look at other methods.

An Egyptian public wary of the Islamists and looking to el-Sisi for leadership may be willing to overlook this danger right now, but the Brotherhood cannot be wished away or ended through State violence. In attempting to do so, Egypt runs the risk of repeating history. During the 1950s and ’60s, it had incubated Sayyid Qutb, the intellectual progenitor of a strand of Egyptian extremism that eventually merged with Saudi Salafism to form al-Qaeda. Now, its actions may likewise turn it into a rallying cry for radicals through the region. External pressure must be brought to bear on Cairo if this is to be avoided. Unfortunately, while the UN and various human rights organisation have condemned the verdict, Washington, London and Brussels have been conspicuously circumspect, their statements pro forma at best. This is counter-productive in the long term. It is time they spoke up.