Trial of ousted Egyptian President Morsi adjourned after courtroom chaos

Egypt’s trial of former President Mohamed Morsi was adjourned until January 8, just hours after it began Monday. Morsi appeared in public for the first time since he was deposed on July 3 by the Egyptian military in a courtroom at the police academy. He is being tried on charges of incitement in the killing of protesters along with 14 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Morsi interrupted the proceedings repeatedly, calling the trial illegitimate. He addressed the court saying, "I am Dr. Mohamed Morsi, the president of the republic. I am Egypt’s legitimate president. I refuse to be tried by this court." The Muslim Brotherhood called for mass protests on Monday, and authorities have tightened security in response, deploying an estimated 20,000 security personnel. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Egypt for the first time since Morsi’s ouster. On Sunday, Kerry met with Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour and Minister of Defense General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and stressed the leaders should stick to their "road map" for restoring democracy. Kerry said, "The road map is being carried out to the best of our perception." He maintained that the government should be inclusive and avoid politically motivated arrests. However, he did not bring up Morsi’s trial. 

Syria

After an emergency meeting Sunday, the Arab League formally backed proposed peace talks planned for Geneva. The Arab foreign ministers called for the Syrian opposition to form a delegation under the leadership of the Syrian National Coalition to attend the conference. However, head of the coalition, Ahmad Jarba, said he would not participate if Iran attends, and additionally insisted on a specific time frame for President Bashar al-Assad’s transition from power. On Sunday, the Free Syrian Army’s Colonel Abdul Jabbar al-Okaidi resigned saying infighting within the opposition and failures of the international community were undermining military efforts. Okaidi, a member of the western-backed Supreme Military Council, was one of the opposition’s main recipients of U.S. aid. With the deepening divisions among the opposition, Syrian government forces have made advances in rebel held territory in northern Syria.

Headlines

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi leaders in efforts to smooth relations calling Saudi Arabia "the senior player in the Middle East" and a "very, very important" ally.
• The Israeli military has denied that a drone was shot down by Hamas over the Gaza Strip, saying it crashed because of a technical malfunction.
• Thousands of Iranians are demonstrating in front of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran marking the 1979 seizure of the compound, opposing President Rouhani’s outreach to the United States.
• Violent clashes between Salafis and Houthis in the northern Yemeni town of Damaj have continued since Wednesday with fierce shelling overnight raising the death toll to over 100 people. 

Arguments and Analysis

‘UN Should Mandate Unhindered Humanitarian Access To and Within Syria‘ (International Crisis Group)

"If, as some claim, the diplomatic and political climate has changed sufficiently to make compromise even remotely possible, the first gauge of such a shift must be swift and tangible progress on the humanitarian front.

A first priority must be adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling on all parties to guarantee safe, full and unhindered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, including through cross-border operations if and when provision of urgent humanitarian aid proves impossible from within Syria. The resolution should include establishment of a monitoring mechanism to name and — optimally — sanction any party that resorts to starvation as a war tactic or hinders, steals or diverts humanitarian assistance.

There is much else that can and should be done. But this action is long overdue. All it requires is for the Security Council to demonstrate the same unity of purpose with which it addressed Syria’s chemical arsenal and for Russia in particular to implement in practice the commitment it repeatedly voices to the well-being of Syria’s citizens."

‘Egypt’s Lose-Lose Mentality‘ (Magued Osman, The Cairo Review of Global Affairs)

"A number of exceptional personalities have accepted leadership positions at a time when public offices are a liability. The practice of intellectual terrorism and blackmail directed at these personalities, simply because they suggested initiatives for resolving the crisis and avoiding bloodshed, is astounding. It would seem to indicate that revenge on the Brotherhood comes before the country’s interests, and before its safety and integrity. It also demonstrates that there is an inability among many to organize their priorities, and that the appetite for revenge supersedes the nobility of justice; that controlling institutions in the short term is preferred to stability in the long run, and lastly, that there is an inclination towards reactionary and reckless action. Brotherhoodization of the state’s apparatuses may not have succeeded. Will the same remain true when it comes to Brotherhoodization of the liberals?

In some circles of elites, the matter has escalated to the ‘moral assassination’ of a number of personalities who have played a patriotic role, reaching its apex when personalities such as Mohamed ElBaradei were accused of treachery by the very same people who fought alongside him in the same ‘trench.’ That some would even accuse him of being part of a Brotherhood sleeper cell is no longer inconceivable. The issue, however, was not limited only to ElBaradei, but included a number of other respected personalities like Amr Hamzawy who was accused by one member of the media — in a futile attempt to characterize him as a remnant of Mubarak’s regime — of being Gamal Mubarak’s friend."

–Mary Casey & Joshua Haber