If you want to understand what is happening in Egypt now, look at what happened to Mariam and Isra, the two girls whose story will summarize it all for you.
Mariam is a brave schoolgirl who has been getting the highest grades, except in her last high school year where she got a zero in all sciences because her exam papers were deliberately switched with those of the daughter of some important person to enroll her in one of the top colleges.
And Mariam failed to prove her case.
I wonder how many others had the same fate like Mariam?
It is every failed official who has robbed Mariam of her rights. It is every second-class actor playing a leading role he is not qualified for who has robbed Mariam. It is every ignorant talk show presenter who has robbed Mariam. It is every corrupt businessman who has robbed Mariam. All of those pushed Mariam down to the bottom for them to float to the surface.
Isra, the girl who had a spine injury during the revolution, was arrested on charges of leaking pictures to foreign bodies. They were not pictures of military bases or such. They were just pictures of people staging demonstrations, a scene common even among schoolchildren these days.
In other words, Isra did not do anything that would harm national security or threaten the regime in any way. Still, she was kept in custody for more than 100 days under investigation into charges of working against the interests of the country, a charge that should actually be leveled at certain senior officials for their clumsy policies and provocative statements.
Is Isra, the physically handicapped girl, a threat to the regime? Is the regime so weak that it fears Isra’s crutch?
Mariam and Isra got something they didn’t deserve. This is how things are weighed in Egypt nowadays.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
