CAIRO: The ruling military council has tried over 12,000 civilians in military courts in seven months, while ousted president Hosni Mubarak used military trials for silencing only 2,000 civilian political opponents in 30 years, lawyer and executive director of Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC) Ahmed Ragheb said Wednesday.
The No to Military Trials for Civilians and HMLC campaign released in a press conference Wednesday a report titled "Diaries Under Military Rule." The report described the legal argument against military trials of civilians and provided testimonies of violations committed by military police and recommendations.
"Military trials for civilians are a continuation of Mubarak’s selective justice which used to oppress his opponents. Trying civilians in front of military courts with the justification of the deteriorating security situation is a typical pre-revolution policy," said Ragheb.
"Military trials are expanding not only in terms of the numbers of civilians tried, but geographically as well; citizens in Suez, Alexandria, Ismailia, Qena, Assuit, and Gharbeya are tried in military courts."
Presidential hopeful Bouthaina Kamel said in the conference that while campaigning in a village in Fayoum, she discovered many cases of civilians tried before military courts.
"No single family in this village avoided military trials. I gathered signatures of 10-year-old kids condemning military trials," said the presidential hopeful who was previously summoned twice for allegedly insulting the military.
"I thought that military trials are a problem to a narrow circle of activists and political elite, but I discovered that the scope is wider than that," she added.
In a press conference held Monday, head of the military judiciary General Adel Moursy said that they looked into 3,863 cases between Jan. 28 and Aug. 29, in which 11,879 civilians were tried. Of these, 6,235 received prison sentences and 1,836 received suspended sentences.
Only 795 were found innocent, while 1,225 received prison sentences but awaiting confirmation, and 281 are yet to get a verdict.
Moursy stressed that the normal judge in such time of the revolution is the military judge, concluding that lifting emergency law is the only way to end military trials.
"According to the recent amendments to the emergency law in 2010, the law is only limited to cases of terrorism and drug dealing, which is not the case with military trials," said Ahmed Hossam, lawyer with the HMLC.
Moursy said that according to the recent amendments to the military judiciary law, it’s now entitled to setting its own jurisdictions, meaning that the military judiciary is the only institution that can determine whether to refer civilians to military courts.
"These amendments were made during Mubarak’s reign and were politicized to let Mubarak use military trials against his opponents," Hossam said.
"We outlined in our report the legal debate around this specific article of the law. The Supreme Constitutional Court said that military judiciary cannot set its own jurisdiction, while the Appeals Court said the opposite," he added.
Ragheb noted that most of those tried in military courts come from lower-income classes who typically can’t get enough attention to their cases. The verdicts are delivered in a matter of days, which constitute discrimination.
"Activists and political elite manage to mobilize huge support from political forces and usually receive suspended prison sentences or are easily pardoned by a statement from the military council like Asmaa Mahfouz and Loai Nagati," Ragheb said.
"Mohamed Gad El-Rab, known as Sambo, was arrested [for the same June 28-29 protest as] Nagati. While Nagati was pardoned, Sambo is facing a military trial," Ragheb added.
Blogger and activist Maikel Nabil was an exception. Nabil was arrested by the military police last March from his home in Ain Shams for writing a blog post titled "The Army and the People are not One Hand" citing what he called the military’s conspiracy to suppress the revolution.
"I read Nabil’s blog post," Kamel said. "He cited all the violations by the military police that we are all condemning, he was not tried for refusing to join the army like what was rumored."
Nabil, who sentenced to three years, started a hunger strike two weeks ago to protest the special treatment other activists got when they were pardoned.
"His condition is very bad. He was referred to the military prison hospital and when he slightly recovered they brought him back to the prison," Nabil Sanad, Maikel’s father told Daily News Egypt Wednesday.
"He is rejecting family visits too, so I cannot see him," Sanad said. "I asked the military prison administration to transfer him to a private hospital but they refused."
The report recommended ending military trials for civilians and referring those who were already tried to civil courts. It requested an investigation into the reported violations by military police’s to be conducted by independent investigations judge.
"We also recommend that the coming parliament amends the military judiciary law so as not [to allow] the trial of civilians in military courts and to add an article to the constitution completely banning the referral of civilians to military courts," said Ragheb.
"We also ask the new parliament to cancel Law 45 for year 2011 amended by the ruling military council that only allows the investigation of cases of financial corruption of military officers to be conducted by the military judiciary, and to give this authority back to civilian courts."
