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| AP Photo/Amr Nabil |
He didn’t know it, we didn’t know it, and they
didn’t know it, but Mohamed Morsi planted a time bomb on September 6, 2012,
when he appointed Hisham Geneina as chief auditor. Geneina had plenty of name
recognition and public esteem as a leader of the judicial independence movement
of 2005-2006, but unlike his fellow judges in that movement, he is not thought
to have Islamist sympathies. When the revolution broke out, he did not delve
into its politics, as did Zakariyya Abdel Aziz, who gave rousing speeches in
Tahrir Square, or Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, who was elected to the first and only real
parliament after Mubarak’s ouster. And he was not discredited in office as was Ahmad
Mekky, who frustrated many people as Morsi’s Justice Minister and then, frustrated
himself, huffily resigned in April 2013.
Morsi was fairly easily removed by the longtime
hoarders of state power, but ironically they’re finding it much harder to
eliminate his most fateful appointment. This March, Sisi dismissed Geneina from
his post, but the story is far from over. Today is Geneina’s first trial session,
where he stands accused of “disseminating false news that disturbs the public
peace.” But the coup makers had to take a tortuous path to get to this stage,
and the trial portends the beginning of a second and possibly more embarrassing
phase. Geneina’s shrewd tactics and unassailable reputation have made this a very
costly mess for Sisi and his confederates.