CAIRO: After months of anger and protests by Egyptian activists, the country's ruling military junta announced on Monday that it would end the use of military trials against civilians. The move comes ahead of planned mobilization from activists scheduled for this weekend against such trials. A top general told the state-run MENA news agency that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) would scrap such action. According to rights groups in the country, some 14,000 civilians have been imprisoned as a result of the military trials since the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February following 18 days of massive protests. Held behind closed doors, the verdicts in the cases are not up for appeal. But there is a catch. According to the MENA report, the trials will only be scrapped after the emergency laws are lifted, which remain in place despite the removal of Mubarak nearly 8 months ago. “General Adel al-Morsy, head of the Military Justice Commission, said that civilians will no longer be tried in military courts after the emergency law is lifted,” the official news agency MENA reported. In August, the government announced that it was beginning the process to end the state of emergency ahead of scheduled parliamentary elections in November, but activists are concerned that it is lip service in an effort to force protests off the street. “We have heard promises before from the military on the future of the country and right now we are uncertain as to if we can believe them,” said on activist. “If they wanted to lift the emergency law and end military trials for civilians they would have so I don't feel it is going to happen, at least not right away.” BM
