Egyptian military authorities have released activist Amr al-Beheiry after more than eleven months in detention for violating an army-imposed curfew, news outlets and activists reported on Monday. Liberal Wafd newspaper's website said Beheiry arrived home on Monday morning. Meanwhile, on her twitter page, political activist Mona Seif said Behiery had returned home. On Wednesday, a military court decided to commute Beheiry's prison sentence, issued in March, from five years to six months. The Arab Netwrok for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) had said that Beheiry's trial lacked the requirements of justice and lasted only for five minutes. Beheiry was detained in February 2011 after taking part in a massive demonstration demanding the removal of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, a military and government figure who is linked to the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak. The military court had convicted him of violating a curfew imposed by the country's military rulers during the events, which was later abolished in June. Beheiry was among the first of Egyptian revolutionaries and political activists referred to military courts. He inspired a campaign against military trials of civilians, which managed later to expose the prosecution of thousands of activists by the military. Days before the anniversary of the uprising on 25 January, the military ruling council released blogger Maikel Nabil and nearly 2,000 others arrested during the arrest who had tried before military courts. The No Military Trials group says that over 12,000 people have been arrested since the Supreme Council of Armed Forces came to power in Feburary of last year.
