In the courtroom, as at the voting booths, there is little tolerance for challenges to the ruling party's hegemony.

The tolerance here is a quarter-inch of yellow, and there's another quarter-inch in the red. It was deep in the red.

I think that has to do with the intensity issue. The voting was only 21 percent of the eligible voters. The ?yes' side was more invested, so more likely to show up as voters. They wanted to make a statement. The ?no' side was less organized. Eighty percent of the people didn't vote.

President Chirac should tell him that this persecution undermines Egypt's professed commitment to democratic reforms, and threatens improved relations with France.

Attacks that intentionally kill and maim civilians flagrantly violate the most basic humanitarian principles. These are among the very worst kinds of crimes, and all states have an obligation to bring the perpetrators to justice.

There is still torture in Jordan, especially with regard to security suspects. All the good reasons that prevented the U.K. from deporting people to Jordan before August 10 remain unchanged by this agreement.