CAIRO: An army officer broke into a conference held in Imbaba denouncing military trials, as he accused the organizers of espionage and ruining the relationship between the people and the army. He attacked the organizers and one of the activists was injured.
The conference organized by Facebook group “No to Trials for Civilians before Military Courts”, called for halting the prosecution of civilians in military courts. The families of civilian detainees in military prisons were also in attendance.
“We are sure that the army officer, lieutenant colonel Ahmed Ali Mohammed, 42, acted individually and was not authorized by the army to attack us,” said rights activist Mona Saif, one of the rally’s organizers.
“The officer attacked us with some residents of the neighborhood who wanted to stir violence out of nothing,” Saif added.
She told Daily News Egypt that the event was going smoothly until this officer came in and accused them of espionage, and that he was summoned by residents who were angry because they were told that this was a pro-Mubarak event.
“Residents told us after the violence calmed down that one of the people with the officer is a known National Democratic Party (NDP) thug,” Saif added.
The military officer and the group who joined him stormed the building and shouted that there were “foreigners” and “journalists”. The ensuing brawl resulted in the injury of Heba Naguib, and the arrest of Nour Ayman Nour, Nazly Hussein, and BBC correspondent Leanna Hosea by the police, though it was reported that they were soon joined by family members and treated very well.
“We went to the police station where officers treated us very well,” said Saif. “We wanted to issue a complaint against the officer but the police officers told us they cannot take any action against an army officer,” Saif said.
“It seemed as if the police officers did not want to get involved with both sides, especially that most of the people who were arrested are well-known activists and journalists.”
The activists filed a report documenting the incident, the injuries, and the cameras and the laptops confiscated by the army officer.
In an unexpected turn of events, an officer from military intelligence arrived at the police station to confirm that the army officer who stormed the event "acted individually and was not ordered to take any action against us," said lawyer Ahmed Ragheb from Hisham Mubarak Law Center.
“He told us that the army officer will be severely punished for what he did,” Ragheb told Daily News Egypt.
Activists will file another complaint to the military prosecution against the army officer, accusing him of abusing his power to intimidate the organizers, illegally confiscating their cameras and laptops, and injuring one of them.
“The fact that he abused his powers to impose his view and acted violently against us is a clear act of thuggery,” said Saif. “That is the reason why we are going to sue him.”
Ragheb confirmed that they are not going to file any complaints against the area’s residents although many of them are believed to be "NDP thugs."
“But we preserve our right to sue the officer for abusing his power,” Ragheb added. –Additional reporting by Marwa Al-A’sar.
