First came the Egyptian revolution — whereupon it was only a matter of time before the show trials began.
Now Cairo’s military rulers have trumped up crimes-against-the-state charges against 19 Americans. Most have already fled the country, but six are holed up for protection in the US embassy, where all that stands between them and arrest are the Marine guards stationed there.
So consider them safe for now — but they’d better get out of Egypt soon.
The Americans facing trial work for US-backed pro-democracy groups, including the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute.
They aren’t spies — they’ve been working in Egypt legally since 2005, and the IRI and NDI were invited by the Egyptian military itself to be election observers at the polls this winter.
In late December, Egyptian troops led armed sweeps of their offices and seized computers and files. They were odd targets, but the message came loud and clear: Take your democracy and shove it.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said yesterday that the accused Americans “have done nothing wrong — their only assignment is to support Egypt in its transition to democracy.”
Which isn’t going that smoothly.
Islamists captured more than 70 percent of the seats in parliamentary elections. And in recent weeks, Egyptians have been pushing for a faster transition away from army rule — leading to deadly riots against the military, which is blaming the unrest on “foreign hands” and foreign dollars.
Thus the raids. And thus the possible show trials.
It’s the kind of lunacy the world is used to seeing from the Islamist goons in Iran — not from supposed US allies in Egypt, who rely on $1.5 billion in American aid each year.
The White House has hinted it could cut off military aid (1.3 billion of those dollars) if Egypt goes ahead with the trials and doesn’t return computers and files seized during the December raids.
But whatever comes next, Egypt has already spiraled out of control.
These are the fruits of the “Arab Spring”: Generals run the country today, Islamists likely will control it tomorrow . . . and the only people trying to save Egypt from devouring itself have prison cells waiting for them.