Noora Faraj: Guilt Trippin’

Roughly half a year has gone by since the Arab Spring bloomed, with seedlings blossoming in Tunisia, followed by Egypt. These two nations have successfully overthrown their leaders in a matter of months, and within a matter of days, the fate of one has been sealed while the fate of the other is underway.

Tunisia’s Zein Al Abidine Ben Ali was sentenced to 16 years jail time for corruption charges while Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak awaits trial next week.

As dramatic as events unfolding in Tahrir Square, so is Mubarak’s health condition, and thank heavens he made it from the brink of death to finally attend a trial. Here’s hoping he doesn’t plead senility.

What these geriatrics need is to be in a sketchy nursing home, not prison, because most people would rather get shot in the foot than eat hospital jello laced with disinfectant. Besides, prison would be a playpen with all the possible corrupted shenanigans they could get up to. Being locked up will not prevent the possibility of continuing to do dirty work. What happened to the good old-fashioned Anne Boleyn treatment of rulers?

Ultimately, however, there’s no effective or justifiable form of “torture” quite like a psychological one, so here’s hoping their conscience comes back, with vengeance – self-consuming guilt.

(Noora Faraj, Senior Producer of Web TV at Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: [e-mail])