CAIRO: Activist Asmaa Mahfouz denied on Tuesday that she was referred to a military court, as reported by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA), while several activist were summoned to the military prosecution.
MENA reported that Mahfouz, released on Sunday on LE 20,000 bail by the military prosecution, had been officially referred to a military court on charges of inciting violence and defaming the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
"I contacted the military prosecution and they denied the news," Mahfouz said on her twitter account, adding that she did not receive any notification of a court referral.
Ali Atef, lawyer at the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) working on Mahfouz’s case, told Daily News Egypt Tuesday that investigations will either lead to the closure of the case or its referral to a military court.
"We checked with our [sources] in the military prosecution, the case is still under investigation," Atef said.
"According to our criminal law, if a defendant is officially referred to court, he/she must be notified at least three days in advance," he added.
Mahfouz was also accused of spreading false news and rumors about SCAF and disturbing public peace after writing on her Twitter and Facebook accounts: "If the judiciary does not grant us our rights, don’t be angry if militant groups carry out a series of assassinations since there is neither law nor justice."
Thousands of civilians have been referred to military courts since SCAF took power in February after the ouster of the ex-president Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolt.
Mahfouz’s interrogation by the military prosecution was slammed by various political powers and groups, who saw it as a crackdown on freedom of expression.
Islamist presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abo-Ismail on Tuesday condemned referring Mahfouz to military prosecution, describing it as "shameful".
"SCAF is my enemy as long as it is still neglecting justice and still refers civilians to military courts and until those civilians are referred to civilian courts, especially that military trials protect Mubarak’s regime," the official Egynews.net quoted Abo-Ismail as saying.
Presidential hopeful Mohammed ElBaradei said on his Twitter account the road to democracy is eroding, citing military trials as one of the signs of eroding democracy.
"Military trials for young activists, while Mubarak & co. stand before civilian courts, is a legal farce. Don’t abort the revolution," he wrote.
For the first time in six months, the Muslim Brotherhood released a statement condemning military trials for civilians.
"The Muslim Brotherhood completely rejects military trials for civilians, it is unconstitutional and contradicts the UN International Declaration of Human Rights, due to the lack of guarantees of fair trials for the defendants," Deputy Supreme Guide of the MB Mahmoud Ezzat said in the statement.
"We were very disturbed by the 11,000 civilians tried before military courts in the last six months, and we request that they are all retried in civil courts," he added.
The Egyptian Stream Party, co-founded by Mahfouz, condemned in a statement released Sunday the referral of Mahfouz to military prosecution for expressing her personal views, while former interior minister Habib El-Adly and his aides are tried before a civilian court on charges of killing protesters.
"The Egyptian Stream Party confirms that nobody is above the law, and strongly condemns referring activists to military trials, especially after the military council confirmed that only thugs would be referred to military prosecution," the statement added.
The SCAF said in its 68th statement that only cases of thuggery associated with using weapons, rape, and attacking security officials will be referred to military trials.
Meanwhile, one of the administrators of "I’m Sorry Mr. President" Facebook page, dedicated to support the ousted president, was also summoned by the military prosecution.
"One of the page’s admins will be in front of the military prosecution tomorrow [Wednesday] at 9 am," the Facebook page said without revealing his identity.
A statement circulated in the media and said to be released by a group supporting Mubarak had threatened to storm Tora Prison if the ousted president is transferred to the prison hospital.
"Our slogans will materialize; we will never let the hero who protected our country [meaning Mubarak] be humiliated instead of being honored," the statement said.
"We condemn any attempt by any member of the ruling military of giving a false testimony against the president [Mubarak], and we warned that our reaction will be very violent, and we are ready to die for our beloved father," it added.
Meanwhile, the military trial of 19 activists including Loai Nagati arrested in Cairo on June 28 and 29 was further adjourned to Tuesday Aug. 23.
The case was adjourned due to the absence of two defendants as a verdict cannot be issued in absentia unless defendants fail to attend after being summoned three times, lawyer Ahmed Heshmat previously told Daily News Egypt.
Activists and founding members of the Egyptian Democratic Academy (EDA), Hossam El-Din Ali, chairman, Bassem Samir, executive director and Ahmed Ghoniem, financial manager were also summoned for questioning by the military prosecution.
Samir said on his Twitter account that the reasons for summoning them may be due to the complaint they filed against SCAF member General Hassan El-Ruwainy who accused members of the April 6 Youth Movement of receiving foreign funds and espionage.
Others speculated that the three were summoned as part of investigations into receiving foreign funds.
"Spreading undocumented claims and accusations will be harmful to everyone including the government and the army who receive foreign funds as well," EDA media coordinator Esraa Abdel Fattah previously told Daily News Egypt.
Abdel Fattah, also the media director of the EDA, is a former April 6 member. She said that her organization receives funds from European embassies and that they presented their papers to the General Prosecutor requesting an investigation to prove that they have not done anything illegal.
She denied any interference from the funders in their work and stressed that any foreign funds received are in accordance with Egyptian law.
