By Heba Fahmy
CAIRO: The military prosecution released on Sunday editor-in-chief of Al-Fagr tabloid Adel Hammouda and journalist Rasha Azab without bail pending further investigations.
They were both interrogated on charges of publishing false news that disturb the public peace and negligence in the editorial process.
Hammouda was released at around 1 pm, while Azab was released later at around 4:30 pm after which she immediately led chants of “down with military rule.”
“The interrogations were conducted amicably, however this is an [official] case against us and these were official interrogations,” Hammouda told reporters after his release.
Lawyers said it isn’t yet clear whether Azab and Hammouda will be referred to military trial in the coming days.
“It’s up to the military prosecution to decide what the next step will be,” Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) Gamal Eid told Daily News Egypt.
Azab had written an article published earlier last week about a meeting between SCAF and prominent members of an advocacy group against military trials for civilians called “No to Military Trials”. Group members showed SCAF proof and evidence of the military’s violations against civilians, according to Azab’s article.
Azab said that Major General Hassan El-Roweiny was astonished when he saw the pictures and testimonies demonstrating the army’s violations.
She added that El-Roweiny apologized to one of the female witnesses for being violated in military prison, adding that individual actions don’t represent the morals or principles of the army.
The article cites in detail and openly condemns the violations of SCAF following the January 25 Revolution, including the military trials of civilians and claims that virginity checks were conducted on women arrested in Tahrir Square on March 9.
Mohamed Abdel Qoddous, head of the freedoms committee at the Journalists’ Syndicate, issued a statement on Sunday condemning the referral of journalists to military prosecution, according to Hammouda.
Around 30 protesters gathered in front of the military prosecution building in Nasr City condemning the military and calling for freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
“I don’t think the army is serving or protecting the revolution [by interrogating journalists],” engineering student in Ain Shams University Antony Essam told DNE.
Activist and photographer Nazly Hussein told DNE, “Now I’m seeing a pattern where journalists are being interrogated every single time they [criticize the army].
“I think SCAF is trying to scare people, but this will backfire because right now people are angrier than ever, especially journalists,” she added.
Activists said that the article presented facts that were common knowledge to Egyptians.
They added that people who attended the meeting along with Azab verified her statements regarding what happened.
Coordinator of the group activist Mona Seif, who attended the meeting with SCAF, vouched for what Azab said in her article on both twitter and her personal blog.
On the group’s website, Seif said that the SCAF members they met had made several promises including reinvestigating the cases of the four “revolution youth” who were given prison sentences; reviewing the case of the Petrojet workers currently facing military trials; considering their proposal to refer all cases against civilians who have been tried in military courts to a civil judge; as well as investigating allegations of torture by military police.
“Rasha Azab wrote an article that is backed by information, testimonies and claims that have been already filed about these violations,” political activist Gigi Ibrahim said.
“She was only doing her job as a reporter in exposing the truth,” she added.
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) denounced Azab and Hammouda’s interrogation.
“The ongoing interrogation of journalists by the military prosecution … reflects a threat to press freedom, a basic concept of human rights that guarantees soundness of the transitional stage and reform in Egypt,” ANHRI said in a statement Saturday.
“The SCAF is required to accept criticism since it plays a political role that entails right and wrong,” the statement added.
Azab previously claimed she was tortured by the military police after being arrested during an open sit-in in Tahrir Square on March 9.
“I was in Tahrir when army soldiers started to hit me and slapped me on the face,” Azab previously told DNE. “When I said that I was a journalist, they hit me even more,” she added.
Azab said that she was taken to the nearby Egyptian Museum where they tied her to a pillar for about five hours while soldiers continued to beat her violently.
Afterwards, she and five other journalists were taken to the military prosecutor who ordered their release.
Egyptian blogger and activist Hossam El-Hamalawy, television presenter Reem Maged and journalist Nabil Sharaf El-Din were also summoned for questioning by the military prosecution late May, after making critical statements of the army on OnTV’s “Baladna Bil Masry.” However no official charges were made against them. –Additional reporting by Marwa Al-A’sar.
