An expected decision by Egyptian soccer authorities to ban as terrorist organizations groups of militant soccer fans builds on the definition by Arab autocrats of legitimate, democratic opposition forces as violent threats to their grip on power.

For the United States and many other foreign leaders around the world, from Great Britain to Australia, this sentence was a vivid reminder of Egypt's grotesque reality: that of a country dominated by the military, where the right to a fair trial, a free press, and free expression are blatantly crushed.

It has been three years since the Egyptian revolution, and news out of Egypt has become a tinderbox for all sorts of melodrama: anger, fear, resignation, apathy and downright hysteria.

Egyptian soccer is adding salt to the run-up to presidential elections that are certain to be won by the country's strongman, newly retired general Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, with the announcement of the controversial chairman of one of Egypt's foremost clubs that he too was a presidential candidate.

Brotherhood supporters have been massacred, arrested, tortured and sentenced to die en masse. And yet, as the new leaders in Cairo (and the old ones in Riyadh) have argued, the UK appears to suspect that it is the Brotherhood who are the terrorists.

If the United States does not take an unambiguous position and demonstrate unmistaken resolve against Egypt's current undemocratic path, and if your administration decides to resume suspended aid programs in the face of growing repression and brutality, your words on democracy and human rights will ring hollow.

Mr. Hamdi, a former soccer player and Al Ahli captain, has headed the club, whose supporters played a key role in toppling Mr. Mubarak and have clashed repeatedly in recent months with security forces, for 12 years.

Human rights lawyers say the verdicts are subject to appeal and are likely be overturned. But many worry that the verdict, which has angered millions of Morsi supporters, will compel some Brotherhood members to take up violence, a move that will justify an even heavier crackdown.

In a rare demonstration of unity, several groups of militant soccer fans have thrown down a gauntlet for the Egyptian interior ministry and its security forces by effectively demanding ownership of sports stadia.

The only hope for creating real social change globally is when we as individuals create solid bonds of empathy and legal equality across racial, ethni...

The Egyptian military clearly has the upper hand at this time, but their hold on power is ultimately fragile. The younger generation of Egyptians will not likely be satisfied with military rule any more than they were with Mubarak or the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Egyptian government's effort to promote soccer and use the sport to garner public support amounts to a double-edged sword.