Notes From Egypt’s Show Trial

By SARAH EL SIRGANY, NYT

CAIRO — DURING a court recess on Monday, I approached the floor-to-ceiling, webbed-metal cage confining Mohamed Morsi, the deposed president of Egypt, and seven other defendants.

I sneaked a peek past a security guard. Mr. Morsi stood surrounded by his former aides and fellow defendants from the Muslim Brotherhood. They were dressed in white garments, as required by the authorities. He wore a blue business suit.

Mr. Morsi hadn’t been seen in public since early July, when the country’s military removed him from power. He looked healthy. He also looked quietly defiant in that dark outfit that inexplicably deviated from the rules.

Twenty minutes earlier, Mr. Morsi had walked into a makeshift courtroom at the Cairo police academy to answer to charges of incitement to murder and torture for casualties resulting from clashes between his Muslim Brotherhood and opposition protesters on Dec. 5-6, 2012. The defense lawyers welcomed his appearance by standing on the wooden benches, chanting in praise of his “resilience” and flashing the four-finger sign that has come to symbolize the military’s deadly crackdown on his supporters last August.

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