CAIRO: Egypt's leading politician and presidential frontrunner Mohamed ElBaradei lashed out against the military on Sunday night over the detention and planned military trial against activist Asmaa Mahfouz over comments she made on Twitter. He said the military's actions are not in line with the revolution's aims and called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to end the crackdown on Mahfouz and activists over statements they make on social media networks. “Stop this farce immediately,” ElBaradei tweeted on Sunday. Mahfouz, who was brought before a military tribunal for defamation and incitement of violence, and was questioned for 6 hours before being released on 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($3,357) bail. The SCAF is accusing Mahfouz of inciting people against the armed forces and calling for political assassinations through her Twitter and Facebook accounts. Mahfouz will now be sent to a military tribunal where she could face a lengthy prison sentence. Rights activists in the country have strongly condemned putting civilians through military trials and say at least 1,000 civilians are behind bars due to these courts. Tens of Mahfouz's supporters and rights activists gathered in front of the military prosecutor's office to protest the army's move and chanted anti-SCAF slogans. The security forces arrested a number activists from the gathering, including Nour Ayman Nour, presidential candidate Ayman Nour's son, but released him soon after. The SCAF released a statement saying they respect freedom of speech, but “some people take that freedom to the point of slander,” and asked people to read Mahfouz's statements on her social networking accounts, without a direct quotation of what Mahfouz said. Reports say this following tweet might be the one that the SCAF is referring to: “if the judiciary system didn't give our rights, so no one gets upset if there are militant groups that preform assassination as long as there is no law and no legal system, no one gets mad.” In April, an Egyptian military court sentenced Internet activist and blogger Maikel Nabil to three years in prison for criticizing the armed forces. He was arrested on March 28 for his blog posts critical of the army's role during the massive protests across the country during the January 25 uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Nabil, 26, was a prominent secular activist who gained notoriety for his movement on Facbeook called “No for the compulsory conscription.” He was the first blogger to be jailed since Mubarak's regime fell on February 11. ** Manar Ammar contributed to this report. BM
