CAIRO: The retrial of Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad is set for next Tuesday, October 18. Nabil was sentenced to a three-year jail term for insulting the Egyptian military in a blog post published last March. The charges are up for appeal in the upcoming court session. He has been on a prison hunger strike since August 23, has been denied a transfer to a humane hospital and remains imprisoned. A few days ago he started to refuse water as well, as his health rapidly deteriorates. Nabil, a Coptic Christian, holds controversial political views. As such, he has received little attention from the activist and pro-rights community in Egypt. The blogger supports Egyptian normalization with Israel, causing him to receive harsh criticism. He came under fire when he evaded military conscription in 2010 on the grounds that he is a pacifist and sympathetic to Israeli troops. “I don't want to point a weapon at a young Israeli, recruited into obligatory service, defending his state's right to exist. I think obligatory service is a form of slavery,” he wrote in a blog post then. Human rights groups and activists have called for the immediate release of the blogger, stating that he is a prisoner of conscience, unduly held. BM
