story on the Mubarak arrests

In AHRAM ONLINE, which is a good site to bookmark with if you’re interested in day-to-day detailed happenings in Egypt.

From news accounts people seem to be mostly happy about this. I haven’t been back long enough to talk to many people and give first-hand reports on the reaction.

I’ve still heard not one word about where Omar Suleiman has been all this time. Nor have I heard anything about Fathy Sorour, another prime target of protestor criticism. Otherwise, they’ve rounded up quite a large group of regime officials, and there could eventually be a season packed densely with trials.

I’d rather not see anyone get the death penalty, though in fact I’ve only heard that idea floated in the case of Habib al-Adly, the widely hated former Interior Minister. I even saw that sentiment up close: one of my taxi drivers a couple of weeks ago made the universal knife-across-the-throat gesture when he mentioned al-Adly’s name, and my driver is far from the only one who feels that way. He seems to be everyone’s favorite Poster Child regime criminal.