Over 130,000 activists on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter participated in an hour-long “electronic protest” against military trials for civilians, launched by a group of activists and members of the 6 April Youth Movement. The online protest began at 10 pm on Saturday and focused on writing comments against military trials for civilians on the official Facebook pages of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the cabinet, and the Interior Ministry. On the SCAF's official Facebook page alone, more than 110,000 activists demanded an end to military trials. Nearly 20,000 activists denounced military trials on the cabinet's official page, and 4000 did the same on the Interior Ministry's page. Members of a number of political movements participated, including members of Facebook pages supporting presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, as well as members of the National Council, Egyptian Liberal Party and the "We are the ones who said no" Facebook pages. The activists posted a number of slogans and imag Over 130,000 activists on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter participated in an hour-long “electronic protest” against military trials for civilians, launched by a group of activists and members of the April 6 Youth Movement. The online protest began at 10 pm on Saturday and focused on writing comments against military trials for civilians on the official Facebook pages of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the cabinet, and the Interior Ministry. On the SCAF's official Facebook page alone, more than 110,000 activists demanded an end to military trials. Nearly 20,000 activists denounced military trials on the cabinet's official page, and 4000 did the same on the Interior Ministry's page. Members of a number of political movements participated, including members of Facebook pages supporting presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, as well as members of the National Council, Egyptian Liberal Party and the "We are the ones who said no" Facebook pages. The activists posted a number of slogans and images denouncing military trials, which some described as “the militarization of justice,” and a violation of human rights and international conventions. A number of activists said the trials "were against everything the revolution stood for." Meanwhile, members of the page ”We are sorry, Mr. President” posted comments in support of trying civilians in military tribunals, saying the SCAF was the legitimate ruler and that it can act as it pleases. They were then criticized by the opponents of the trials. According to unofficial statistics, over 12,000 civilians are being subjected to military trials, some of whom were sentenced and are now serving time in military prisons, and some of whom are still being tried on various charges which include thuggery, expressing anti-military opinions and writing anti-military blog entries. Such trials do not meet international standards for fair trials. The hour-long protest was divided into four 15 minutes segments, with each one devoted to posting comments on agreed-upon Facebook and Twitter pages. Translated from the Arabic Edition Over 130,000 activists on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter participated in an hour-long “electronic protest” against military trials for civilians, launched by a group of activists and members of the April 6 Youth Movement. The online protest began at 10 pm on Saturday and focused on writing comments against military trials for civilians on the official Facebook pages of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the cabinet, and the Interior Ministry. On the SCAF's official Facebook page alone, more than 110,000 activists demanded an end to military trials. Nearly 20,000 activists denounced military trials on the cabinet's official page, and 4000 did the same on the Interior Ministry's page. Members of a number of political movements participated, including members of Facebook pages supporting presidential hopefuls Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, as well as members of the National Council, Egyptian Liberal Party and the "We are the ones who said no" Facebook pages. The activists posted a number of slogans and images denouncing military trials, which some described as “the militarization of justice,” and a violation of human rights and international conventions. A number of activists said the trials "were against everything the revolution stood for." Meanwhile, members of the page ”We are sorry, Mr. President” posted comments in support of trying civilians in military tribunals, saying the SCAF was the legitimate ruler and that it can act as it pleases. They were then criticized by the opponents of the trials. According to unofficial statistics, over 12,000 civilians are being subjected to military trials, some of whom were sentenced and are now serving time in military prisons, and some of whom are still being tried on various charges which include thuggery, expressing anti-military opinions and writing anti-military blog entries. Such trials do not meet international standards for fair trials. The hour-long protest was divided into four 15 minutes segments, with each one devoted to posting comments on agreed-upon Facebook and Twitter pages. Translated from the Arabic Edition es denouncing military trials, which some described as “the militarization of justice,” and a violation of human rights and international conventions. A number of activists said the trials "were against everything the revolution stood for." Meanwhile, members of the page ”We are sorry, Mr. President” posted comments in support of trying civilians in military tribunals, saying the SCAF was the legitimate ruler and that it can act as it pleases. They were then harshly criticized by the opponents of the trials. According to unofficial statistics, over 12,000 civilians are being subjected to military trials, some of whom were sentenced and are now serving time in military prisons, and some who are still being tried on various charges which include thuggery, expressing anti-military opinions and writing anti-military blog entries. Such trials do not meet the international standards for fair trials. The hour-long protest was divided into four quarters, with each 15 minutes devoted to posting comments on agreed upon pages on Facebook and Twitter. Translated from the Arabic Edition
