Snapping the Trap

The fanatic Moslem Brotherhood used to be the terror of Egypt; it murdered two Premiers and a police chief, and created shivers of concern among British commanders in the Canal Zone. But last week in a small, second-floor Cairo courtroom, ordinary Egyptians openly laughed at the Brotherhood as, one by one, its high dignitaries, shorn of their imposing beards, shambled forward to stammer confessions and recriminations like so many cringing schoolboys. The occasion: the trial of the Brotherhood leaders accused of attempting to assassinate Premier

Gamal Abdel Nasser (TIME, Nov. 8).

Wing Commander Gamal Salem, Nasser's Deputy Premier, one of three extraordinary judges, acted as unofficial prosecutor, derisively leading the Brothers on, then snapping the trap on each. He got scrawny Deputy Supreme Guide Khamis Hemeida to admit that the Brotherhood bosses secretly negotiated with the British over the Canal Zone, then turned to the spectators and snorted: "Look at him. This is what wanted to be Premier."

He jockeyed Supreme Guide Hassan el Hodeiby, a onetime judge, into a legal argument with his lawyer, then broke in and taunted: "You are a shame to the law and a shame to all judges."

He invited the scared Brothers, self-professed keepers of the Moslem tradition, to explain precisely certain passages of the Koran. When they faltered, he sneered: "You call yourselves soldiers of God!" Under his searing tongue, the accused abjectly passed the buck to one another. Mahmoud Abdul Latif, the little tinsmith who fired eight wild shots at Nasser in Alexandria a month ago, burst into tears and sobbed that he was but a dupe led on by clever masters. Supreme Guide Hodeiby protested violently: "I stayed against my will and tried to resign, but the Brotherhood refused." At first, Terrorist Chief Youssef Talaat stood up to Salem and cried: "Please, you're going to kill me, but don't try to insult me." But soon Talaat too was saying: "I was nothing but an errand boy."

Salem turned to the court, spread his hands and cried: "See, people! There is the Brotherhood. They're all liars."

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