By Heba Fahmy and Mai Shams El-Din
CAIRO: The legislative Committee in the People’s Assembly (PA) agreed Monday to annul article 6 of the military judicial law, which gives the president the jurisdiction to refer civilians to military courts.
Adel Ramadan, legal consultant for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), said that the amendment was “long overdue” and “not nearly enough.”
“We have been calling for amending this law at the Supreme Constitutional Court for 16 years, but ousted President Mubarak’s regime wouldn’t let the court annul it,” Ramadan told Daily News Egypt.
The MPs also called for annulling the verdicts issued against civilians in military courts or pardoning them.
Around 12,000 civilians have been subjected to military trials, ever since the military council was handed over power on Feb. 11, 2011.
“The ruling military council [as an executive power] drops charges and pardons defendants in cases handled by military courts. Why should [it] consider a [basic] right as an infringement while they interfere in judicial affairs all the time?” said Ahmed Ragheb, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center.
“This is more than using double standards,” he added.
While more civilians were being subjected to military trials this past year, several jailed Islamist militant leaders who were detained during Mubarak’s reign were released, including Tarek Al-Zomor, spokesperson of Al-Gamaa Islamiya involved in Sadat’s murder. The group formed the Building and Development Party, following the 18-day uprising, with representation in the Islamist-dominated parliament.
On Monday, the military court acquitted Mohamed Al-Zawahri, the brother of Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman, and Mohamed Islambouli, whose Islamist brother Khaled assassinated president Anwar Sadat in 1981.
In 1998, Zawahri and Islambouli were sentenced on charges of undergoing military training in Albania and planning military operations in Egypt.
The MPs also debated annulling article 48 of the military judicial law. The article cites that the military judiciary as the only authority which can decide its own jurisdiction.
“This article is what allowed the prosecution of thousands of civilians in front of military courts ever since the revolt,” Ramadan said.
General Mamdouh Shahin of the ruling military council reportedly attended the committee’s meeting, expressing reservations on annulling article 48 and previous verdicts on civilians who were tried at military courts.
Ragheb slammed Shahin’s attendance of the PA’s legislative committee meeting, citing it as a flagrant interference in the powers of the legislative system in Egypt.
“Canceling article 6 without canceling other articles like article 5 and article 48 is nonsense and a baseless adjustment to the law,” the rights activist said, adding that article 48 should be completely canceled not adjusted.
The committee’s final approval of the law, will take place next week. The draft law will then be proposed to the PA to discuss and vote on.
Adel said that military judicial law needed to be reviewed as a whole, citing articles that allow the prosecution of civilians in-front of military courts, including children and workers in military owned companies, in addition to complete districts which have been under the jurisdiction of military courts like the Western desert.
“We are against subjecting any civilian to military trials and that goes beyond articles 6 and 48,” he said.
