Thus was power thrust onto Mr. Morsi, who rarely wore it comfortably. He always looked like a man caught up in something much bigger than him. That he died in an Egyptian courtroom inside a soundproof cage designed to silence him, almost exactly six years to the day he took office and almost completely forgotten by all but his family and human rights activists, is a reminder of the bathos that surrounded him.
Several newspapers have written that defendants in Egyptian courtrooms are kept in cages. The humiliation is intentional. The silence compounding Mr. Morsi’s humiliation was a form of emotional thuggery befitting the military regime-on-steroids that currently rules Egypt. In three separate but politically motivated trials that made no pretense at fairness, Mr. Morsi was sentenced to more than 45 years in prison. He was kept in what was effectively solitary confinement for the past six years, during which he saw his family just three times, and was denied sufficient medical attention for his diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease, which his lawyers had long warned would lead to his death. One of his lawyers told The Associated Press that in his final comment to the court, Mr. Morsi continued to insist that he was the legitimate president of Egypt.
Another former president Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in public outrage a few years ago is well and kicking. The aged former President was unwell and people thought that he would die soon. And yet Hosni Mubarak, 91, is alive Mr. Morsi, 67, is dead. Their divergent fates and ideologies tell the story of Egypt that is ailing with problems of worst kind of dictatorship and massive economic woes.