The cowards’ playbook: Why today’s prisoners expose the political cowardice of Muslim regimes

There is a pathetic, recurring sickness plaguing the halls of power across the Muslim world. Insecure regimes terrified of the ballot box and hollowed out by their own economic incompetence, have defaulted to the ultimate cowards’ weapon: the prison cell. From North Africa to South Asia and into the fragmented heart of Syria, Muslim regimes are locking up their most popular leaders, journalists and dissidents under the delusional belief that concrete walls can kill a political idea. Instead of this demonstrating any strength, though, these regimes are broadcasting their vulnerability to the entire world. They have abandoned even the pretence of governance, converting their courtrooms into theatres and their prison cells into monuments of state fear. In Tunis, for example, […]