Egypt Convicts But Suspends Sentence

By Micah Halpern

I've Been Thinking:

Yesterday the Egyptian court convicted and sentenced 76 people for plundering and pillaging the Israeli embassy. The trashing of Israel's embassy in Cairo took place last September.

That headline alone is misleading. .It might lead you to think that only 76 people were involved in the razing of the Israeli embassy. But there were thousands. And there were spectacular pictures of thousands of Egyptians reveling as they ripped down the walls of the Israeli diplomatic post.

But only 76 were tried and convicted for assault against diplomatic missions and sabotage.
Seventy-five of them were given one year suspended sentences. And one person named Oma Afifi who was tried in absentia was given a five year sentence. But he is not even in Egypt.

Is this some sort of joke? Are pictures not admissible in Egyptian courts? What message is Egypt sending to thugs who might attack other diplomatic missions?

Suspended sentences hardly make an example of the rioters nor do they help the international diplomat corps feel safe and secure.

Another example of the new Egypt.

 Micah@MicahHalpern.com

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