The Cairo slave-trial verdicts exonerated most Egyptian elites and freed the women.

Evidence

The slave trial ended with the conviction of the one pasha who had actually confessed to buying one of the slaves. The Bedouin traders were also found guilty and sentenced to five years’ hard labor.The court acquitted the other pashas of all charges, a verdict that the majority of Egyptian newspapers heralded as a national victory. Not all the slaves had been as clear as Zanüba about the identity of the men who had bought them, and not one had recognized Shawarbi Pasha at all in court. This weakened the prosecution’s charges against him. The khedive ordered `Alï Pasha Sharïf to resign from his position as president of the Legislative Assembly, and it was widely believed that he had lost all popular support. But, after making a confession, he was soon acquitted on the grounds of his age and poor health. Zanüba and the other five women walked out of the courtroom free.The Slave Trade Bureau gave them their manumission papers, and they rejoined each other for a time in the Cairo Home for Freed Slaves, where their stay was subsidized by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. When they left the home, either for employment as domestics or for marriage, they walked out into historical oblivion. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 714

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s theme of Egyptian vs British imperial competition over the right to civilize African peoples, mirroring the broader ‘civilizing savior’ dynamic seen in anti-slavery discourse.