Political violence is the bane of modern states. Those who engage in violence of this sort negate the need for society to act in a cohesive manner, balancing the rights of one group of individuals against another. Their actions, if tolerated, would throw the entire country out of kilter. A modern state is a culmination of law and order, a place in which free people agree to devolve the right of enforcing law and order to elected authority. In a modern state, an individual is entitled to a well-defined set of rights, and any infringement on those rights must be defended through well-established measures, of which violence is not one. The abduction of the Egyptian soldiers in Sinai brings all of the above to mind. The crime, which shocked the entire nation, was unprecedented in its sheer gall. The soldiers have been freed, following what we are told were negotiations with the abductors. But where are the abductors? Where are those men who had the temerity to kidnap our own soldiers in Sinai? Where are the weapons they used in the abduction? Where are their lairs and arms caches? What is being done to purge Sinai of them? These questions scream out for answers. The abduction and subsequent freeing of the soldiers, incredible events as they are, were treated as common happenstances. We don't know the culprits, and judging by what happened in the killing of our soldiers in Sinai last Ramadan, we may never know. Criminals need to be deterred. Unless they are in no doubt that punishment awaits them, the temptation to commit crimes will be too much to resist. And in this particular case, the crime wasn't just committed against the soldiers. It was committed against the sovereignty of the state. Indeed, it was a stab against the nation's pride. One would expect, therefore, punishment to be swift and harsh. But so far the opposite is happening. The presidency is dragging its feet on the whole matter. We are told that the presidency knows who did it, but that Mohamed Morsi doesn't want to instigate a blood feud with the abductors. The opposite is true. Unless the abductors are brought to justice, the blatancy of this crime will inspire future perpetrators to try their luck. The role of the state is not to throw its weight around, or terrorise people, or side with one part of the population against another. The role of the state is to free its citizens from fear and allow them to have a secure life, one that they can enjoy and one that makes them productive and satisfied. Freedom, in a word, is the state's raison d'être. So when the state shirks its responsibility, when it fails to apprehend known criminals who threaten the freedom and life of others, the very essence of the state unravels. Until the perpetrators are brought to trial no one can feel safe in this country. Once you treat some individuals as being above the law, you've set a precedent. You've undermined the very function of the law. And by undermining the law, you've undermined society and the state. Lawlessness will breed fear, and fear is the enemy of freedom. When people live in fear for their lives, they will not be able to speak up. And that's when the state stops functioning as a modern state and becomes a ghost of its presumed self — corrupt, inept, and biased. A strong country is one that has a powerful legal system, a competent law enforcement apparatus, a pluralistic political system, and a free media. In such a country, crime is not tolerated, and criminals are brought to justice without delay. Once individuals are excused from the law, power becomes askew. Those with money and power will assume that they are safe from punishment, and they will take corruption to another level. It is a step down the ladder of human dignity when crime is tolerated. It is a terrible fate to live in a society when some individuals are above the law. It is terrible to see accountability brushed aside, like a redundant custom. This must be stopped before it is too late. We must establish accountability before lawlessness gets out of hand. We must let everyone know that a criminal faces retribution, along with his accomplices and accessories. Egypt's reputation is in the balance here. Having brought down a police state we cannot afford to tolerate another. But this is exactly what we are up against now. In the past two years, our authorities have thrown activists in prison, accused civil society organisations of working for foreign agents, killed protesters, and more. Things were supposed to improve once we'd put a civilian president in power, but the same pattern persisted. We cannot even speak of political reconciliation in this country before bringing to trial all those who committed human rights abuses, reforming the interior ministry, and investigating the crimes committed by the civilian and military police in the course of the last year. The attacks on demonstrators in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Ismailia and Assiut over the past three days must not go unpunished. Terrible memories are not going to be erased, and we cannot afford to whitewash the past. The state's job is to protect its citizens and enforce the law, not to ignore crimes and hope that we will forget about them. The state has a legal, institutional, security, and social duty to carry out. And we must make sure that it does so. We must defend our rights and never condone the state's covering up of crimes. If the current government presses on with this denial of justice it will end up being estranged from its own people. Without justice, we have no future.
