Retribution is in the hands of the people

Statement by the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists…

Mubarak’s regime has issued its judgment on the deposed president and his two sons, on Habib el-Adly and his supporters, a verdict that demonstrates the monstrous growth of the counterrevolution. The verdict issued by the Egyptian bureaucracy expresses its own standing, and that of its allies among the powerful businessmen and the military who continue in their positions with complete privileges and powers, accruing enormous dividends off the blood and sweat of the working classes over the span of thirty years.

During this time, Mubarak and his police apparatus played the role of loyal watchdogs for the interests of these elites, and, in return, these elites expressed their allegiance to their faithful men. For the essence of the verdict is collective innocence; as if the revolution had never occurred; as if the blood of the people had never flowed. For what could be easier than to appeal the rulings against Mubarak and al-Adly? The subordinates and assistants who carried out the executions of the people in cold blood have been completely acquitted.

These manifest contradictions in the rulings cannot help but reveal that ‘rule of law’ as it is understood and used by Mubarak’s regime in its executive and judicial powers, is nothing more than a huge farce. And we cannot observe the judgment of the court today without understanding the developments of the trial from its beginnings. We cannot ignore the excessive amount of delays and procrastination in the litigation process, to the degree that the first hearing did not begin until after direct popular pressure through the demonstrations and occupations of July 2011.

The chronic and repeated postponements continued for the hearings that followed, due to “prevailing conditions”! The absurd testimony of Field Marshal Tantawi that Mubarak did not issue the order to fire live bullets upon protesters, is all a motive for the reliance of the court upon the same familiar processes of gathering evidence carried out by the same security and surveillance apparatus that Mubarak himself had put into place.

Throughout those months, counterrevolutionary forces did not cease their efforts, waging repeated attacks to thwart those social and political forces seeking reform and the completion of the revolution goals, to lower the threshold of expectations and nurture false antagonisms – sectarian and otherwise – which are against the unified interests of the millions of exploited.

Just before the closing curtain of the “Trial of the Century”, just ahead of the announcement of the verdict by weeks, the final act was crowned with spectacle – the release of the accused officers in the legal cases of the murder of protesters. The triad of Omar Suleiman, Ahmad Shafiq and Amr Moussa ventured to put forth candidacies for the presidential elections. From all of this, we can conclude:

What occurred was a sham trial in its entirety, and it was incumbent that these trials be revolutionary trials with exceptional procedures that represent the revolution.

The extent of the tremendous danger has become such that the remnants of the old regime desire to complete their victory with the return of Shafiq, hero of the Battle of the Camel, and the family of Mubarak, with the return of confidence in all the thieves and demons of the regime, in preparation for aiming the final blow at the revolution.

And for this reason, the Revolutionary Socialists call upon the masses to unite in confronting the counterrevolution; to protest in demand of revolutionary trials for the prosecution of Mubarak and his family, and for the complete purging of all the institutions of the state, foremost the judiciary.

Wake up, Egypt… Rise, Egypt… Mubarak is returning to the palace.