Islamists face military trial

Defendants facing a military court on charges of forming a terrorist organisation say they are victims of the fallout of 11 September
In the first military trial in nearly two years, 94 defendants were charged on Sunday with forming an underground terrorist group, named "Al-Waad" (the promise) that targeted the lives of public figures and security officers. They were also accused of illegal possession of arms and propagating anti- government literature.
The defendants' families, who gathered in front of the Haikstep military camp 30 kilometres northeast of Cairo -- where military trials are usually held -- were crying foul. "These people have done nothing," said one angry mother. "We are paying the price for America's so-called war against terrorism, and the government wants to show that it is being cooperative."
The majority of the accused were arrested in early May and originally charged with illegally collecting money to send to Palestinians in support of their year-long uprising, and also to Chechens fighting Russian forces. Lawyers said that initially 83 defendants were detained. They included a prominent mosque preacher at the eastern Cairo suburb of Nasr City, Sheikh Nashaat Ibrahim. Also among the original detainees were: a Palestinian who holds a Yemeni passport, three nationals from Daghestan, which borders Chechnya, and three Egyptians who hold dual nationalities. Prosecutors invoked the Emergency Law, in force since 1981, to regularly prolong their detention periods. Nobody had expected that they would be put on trial before a military court.
After 11 September, authorities announced the arrest of 11 more defendants, including another prominent mosque preacher, Sheikh Fawzi El-Sayed, and two Egyptians who had received flight training in Texas. All were referred to a military court in mid-October.
Hafez Abu Se'eda, a lawyer and secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), said he personally felt that the case was "very much influenced by the events of 11 September." He told Al-Ahram Weekly that when he attended interrogation sessions with a client before 11 September, "there was no mention at all of any charges related to forming a secret organisation that uses terrorism to achieve its goals, or plotting to assassinate officials and policemen." He added that the charges at that time mainly focused on "illegally collecting money to send to the militant Palestinian group Hamas and to militant fighters in Chechnya." Abu Se'eda said that these charges were punishable by jail terms, but that the new charges "could send some defendants to the gallows." Under Egyptian law, joining a secret terrorist organisation is punishable by life imprisonment or death.
Security sources told the Weekly that some defendants had contacted an arms dealer in El-Arish, considered the "capital" of northern Sinai, in order to smuggle weapons to Hamas. But the plot was foiled.
After thorough security checks at the entrance of the Haikstep military camp, journalists were allowed into the courtroom, where the hearing session was already in progress. The presiding military judge, whose name cannot be mentioned for security reasons, called the name of each defendant, including seven who are being tried in absentia, and asked them whether they pleaded guilty or innocent. All those present denied the charges.
The judge then read out the indictment bill. The first eight defendants were accused of "establishing an illegal secret organisation ... which used terrorism to achieve its goals." The first defendant, Nashaat, was accused of "issuing fatwas [religious edicts] that justify the group's activities, providing financing and issuing orders to members of the group."
The next four defendants were accused of "leading several members of the organisation, inciting them to rebel against the government regime, providing group members with paramilitary training, making explosives and sending a number of members abroad for additional paramilitary training." One defendant was accused of using the Internet to coordinate group activities.
The rest were charged with "joining an illegal organisation aimed at assassinating public figures and security officers and using violence to target public and economic establishments."
All lawyers complained to the presiding judge that they were not allowed to see the case file before the opening of the trial and requested the adjournment of hearings for several weeks. Lawyer Abdel-Halim Mandour further argued that civilians should be tried by civil courts and informed the judges that he had already initiated legal action with the Administrative Court contesting the decision to refer the defendants to a military tribunal. The judge then adjourned hearings until Wednesday, promising lawyers to give them time to study the case file.
From the caged dock where he was held during the hearing, Sheikh Nashaat told reporters that "All accusations against us are false." Like all defendants and their relatives who spoke to reporters, he said, "We were all subjected to severe torture."
Nashaat added that he was a preacher at a mosque -- ironically, the Kabul Mosque, on Kabul Street, in Nasr City -- for over 27 years. "Over all these years, I was never questioned once by police. I have always opposed violence and the formation of secret organisations." Nashaat also denied the existence of a secret group called Al- Waad, saying, "This is the invention of security authorities."
Asked to comment on the 11 September attacks in New York and Washington, Sheikh Nashaat, 47 and a father of seven, replied: "This was definitely against Islam. We cannot justify the killing of innocent civilians."
Hussam Sami, one of the two defendants who received flight training in the United States, also denied the charges levelled against him. "I received training in Texas in order to work as a commercial pilot for EgyptAir. I have nothing to do with terrorism."
The families of the three Daghestan nationals named in the case were also present at the Haikstep military camp. "My husband has been studying Islam in Egypt over the past eight years, and the last thing we expected was that he would be named in this case," said Khadija Khodr, whose husband, Nassibof Habib, is described by authorities as an "explosives expert". She added: "If someone was involved in terrorist activities, would he continue living here with his two wives and children? And why would he come to Egypt to fight the Russians? If he wanted to [do that], he should have stayed there."
President Hosni Mubarak started referring militants to military courts in 1992 in an attempt to deter militant violence, which was on the rise at the time. However, after the largest militant organisation, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, declared a cease- fire in early 1999, no cases were referred to military tribunals.
Unlike civil courts, defendants before a military tribunal have no right to appeal. Human rights activists have also criticised military courts for their harsh sentences and swift procedures.
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