The Alexandria Military Court postponed Tuesday the verdict on the 26 Alexandria Shipyard workers to 18 September without providing any reasons, according to the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR).
The families expressed concern that their relatives will spend a month in jail awaiting the verdict.
In military trials, media personnel are not permitted to enter and members of the court are not allowed to make statements.
The case goes back to May when a group of 26 workers arranged an open sit-in, hoping that the company’s leaders would act in response to certain demands that they had previously brought before the company administration which did not receive attention.
As the strike escalated, workers were barred from entering their place of work and military units were deployed.
The Alexandria Shipyard Company falls under the supervision and administration of the Ministry of Defence and Military Production as of 2007. Martial law stipulates that if civilians breach the law inside a military zone, they can be referred to military court.
Before Tuesday’s session, a wave of solidarity from syndicates and parties came in the form of a statement, which said: “the trial lacks many guarantees of an investigation that civil courts in Egypt enjoy.”
“Putting the workers to military trial is a plain violation of international covenants that state workers’ rights to peaceful protests as well as their freedom of expression,” the statement of solidarity said.
The signatories warned: “the abusive procedures against civilian workers in military companies open the door for the militarisation of work relations and the outbreak of compulsory employment.” The statement then called on authorities to immediately release the workers.
