By Mai Shams El-Din
CAIRO: Family members of civilians tried in military courts led a march of around 2,000 protesters in Tahrir Square and around Downtown Cairo, urging the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to end military trials for civilians.
Organized by the “No to Military Trials for Civilians” campaign, the march attracted passersby around Tahrir Square, in solidarity with the mothers of those detained in military prisons.
“The SCAF said that military trials will only target thugs; what about my son who received a five-year prison sentence for breaking the curfew?” said the mother of Mohamed Ishak.
“He was registered in the military prison as a thug, anyone they do not like is called a thug while the biggest thug is resting in Sharm El-Sheikh Hospital,” she added, referring to ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
The march stopped in front of the High Court demanding the resignation of the Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, who is being accused of belonging to the toppled regime and mainly blamed for the slow trials of former regime officials.
The protesters chanted “The people want to topple the Field Marshal,” “Why military? Are we in Libya?” and “Trails! Trials! We do not want cases adjourned.”
The family of blogger Maikel Nabil also participated in the march. Nabil was arrested by the military last March and received a three-year prison sentence for writing a blog post titled “The army and the people are not one hand,” referring to what he called the army’s conspiracy against the revolution, and recounting torture allegations against the army.
A report issued by Human Rights Watch in April confirmed that over 5,000 civilians were tried in front of military courts in Egypt since the SCAF took over power in February after the popular uprising of Jan. 25 that toppled Mubarak.
Meanwhile, the military court gave six-month suspended sentences on Wednesday to those who were involved in clashes with police in front of Baloon Theater last June that were followed by bloody clashes between police forces and Tahrir protesters, leaving 1,036 injured.
The military court also adjourned the trial of Mohamed Gad El-Rab Sayed, known as “Sambo,” to July 26 to listen to testimonies of eyewitnesses.
Sambo was involved in the clashes with police forces last June in Tahrir Square, and was arrested from his home in El-Sharabiya after a photo of him holding a gun was circulating on social networking websites.
In a statement released by the Egyptian Center for Social and Economic Rights (ECSER) defending Sayed, lawyer Khalid Ali confirmed that Sayed did not deny holding the gun, but said he was not using it to attack police officers, but rather to hand it over to one of the workers in Omar Makram Mosque.
The center filed at the Administrative Court to appeal against the trial of Sayed in a military courts.
The lawsuit also accused the military prison warden and his associates of torturing Sayed.
The SCAF confirmed in its 68th statement released on July 16 that military trials will be only for those who are accused of any acts of thuggery accompanied with the use of guns or knives, rape, and attacking security officers on duty.
